Boy, do you guys post!
Anyways, on the Great Britain stuff, thanks for correcting me. According to Dictionary.com, our official name is "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
Heres more info on our beloved country:
A country of western Europe comprising England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Beginning with the kingdom of England, it was created by three acts of union: with Wales (1536), Scotland (1707), and Northern Ireland (1800). At the height of its power in the 19th century it ruled an empire that spanned the globe. London is the capital and the largest city. Population, 55,648,994.
BTW, finti, why do you think it is a good reason not to be in the EU??? I've always considered it to be a positive thing.
Yeah, but hasn't that reason been lost, buried beneath so much burocracy. When someone can be prosecuted for using lbs and oz instead of kilos then something is definately wrong.
The European Union (Community) is a double edged sword. There are some good points and some bad. Guess you can't have everything...
Of course Eu has good sides. But level with me here, all those nationalities act as one. What about currency? Are you Brits willing to give up the £ for the ECU. Denmark voted no and I think Sweden will follow, so the point of one currency is lost before it began. I`m a Norwegian, why should I pay for farmes and fishermen in Portugal or Greece?
Us Northerners have a diffrent culture and a different way of life than the southerners. EU, nah we cant build a US in Europe. Language barrier, what would be the main language?
English, the French would have a fit. French, the British would refuse and the Germans would march on Paris again. Dutch?😂 , German? Wann ich genug hab hau ich ab. Makes sence doesent it. Leave Europe as it was, I think we would be better off that away.
This is what I like to see! A good international debate.
Anyway I don't like the EU either. It worked for years but as always people want more power and now it's terrible. They had debates for months on what curve a bannana should have. Now if bannanas are too curved they get sent back! It's rediculous. They even want to change bannanas!?!
And according to the EU you aren't supposed to wave a Union Jack anymore or other national flags or you could get fined.
The EU is run by bankers (that's with a "B"😉 and corporations who are only interested in a single currency because it means they can compete more with Japan and America. It doesn't have anything to do with what's best for the individual countries. IMHO.
Hey! I get to meet King Jedi at last. Welcome, oh mighty master etc.
The EU has its faults, but I reckon that reform from inside has fewr disadvantages from isolationism. The re-distribution of resources may seem mad, but that's what international co-operation is all about. Although they really MUST drop Common Agricultural policy ASAP...
In any case, resist globiisation and you will be left behind. The US is already causing it just by existing. English WILL be the language of the future, regardless of protest. The Euro may already be an outdated concept- with any single currency in the futre going to be either dollars or some arbitrary currency unit- but at least it acknowledges the inevitability of harmonisation.
The EU can be made to work. Seriously. Abandoning it won't help it.
EU is only about money. Money, money, money. For banks, insurance companies and big holdings, so they won't loose any money by transferring it to another currency. Strong economies will suffer from the weak and the weak will be taken over by the strong. It's a political disaster area with politicians who have hardly any feeling with the country they come from, let alone with other countries. The Euro was forced on the citizens. In Holland no one even asked if we wanted it. These hypocritical politicians who claim to represent us just decided it, because the Germans want it. And the Dutch always do as the Germans do because our economy depends on it. Ergo, EU sucks. Norwegians are smart and here's their top 10.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING NORWEGIAN:
1. You get to pay the highest taxes in the world.
2. You can kill baby seals and eat Rudolf the Reindeer.
3. You live in total freezing darkness half the year and get 24 hour ozone-hole radiation the other half.
4. You can get capital punishment for smoking dope.
5. You can go skiing in your knickers.
6. You get to hate the Swedes and beat the Brazilians in football.
7. You have to be a woman to get anywhere.
8. You don't need to worry about land prices rocketing - its fairly spacious.
9. When abroad you can impress people you meet with stories about killing polar bears and shagging penguins - and they believe you.
10. You can actually get bored with blondes.
It doesn't matter if the French on't accept it- the globalisation of English is a FACT. It't not an EU matter. Even if arguments about it bring down the EU, it will still happen.
It's the same with currency markets- it's an inevitable trned. Economics decided that long before the politicians did. The politicians merely noticed they could either go with it, or ignore it and hope it will go away.
The only way to undo this stuff would be to re-make the world as we know it, from the ground up. Not feasible.
But if we can make the EU work,if it can be about co-operation and not domination, sharing and not ridiculous re-allocation, open markets and not chaotic finance... that would be wroth the current hassle.
There will be a HUGE financial choas and IMHO this is the final opportunity for the big three (France, Germany and England) to conquer Europe. The one with the biggest control wins. After 2000 years we will have a new Roman Empire. Yeeeeehaaaah. 🙁
Talking about the French:
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING FRENCH:
1. When speaking fast you can make yourself sound gay.
2. Experience the joy of winning the World Cup for the first time
3. You get to eat insect food like snails and frog's legs.
4. If there's a war you can surrender really early.
5. You don't have to read the subtitles on those late night films on Channel 4.
6. You can test your own nuclear weapons in other people's countries.
7. You can be ugly and still become a famous film star.
8. Allow Germans to march up and down your most famous street humiliating your sense of national pride.
9. You don't have to bother with toilets, just @#%$ in the street.
10. People think you're a great lover even when you're not.
Just one minpr point, it's the Euro, not the ECU. Or does ECU stand for European Currency Unit, in which case that must be what the call it over there.
As for all the other stuff, I persoanlly wouldn't want a currency that so far has performed worse against the dollar than the pund, which takes some beating anyway...
The euro is called ECU, and its and old French currency.
The strongest will win eventually, but it wont happen until Norway joins. They really want our fish, oil and money. Too bad we will never join and the opposition have grown stronger since the election in 1994.(we did to well in the winter olympics held in Norway which boosted the national feelings)
Shagging penguins, no no that`s the eskimos, and yes we ate Rudolf we used hi nose as a potato. No way there are top 10 reasons for being French.
It's the other way around really: the ECU is now called the EURO.
Here are our Belgian brethren.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING BELGIAN
1. You get to speak three languages, but none of them intelligibly.
2. If other countries want to fight a war, they will do it in your country
3. You can brew drinks out of fruit, and still call it beer.
4. You are either
a.like the Dutch, just less efficient
b.like the French, just less romantic
c.like the Germans
5. Decent fries. Real mayonnaise. Great chocolate. The best beer.
6. No one knows anything about you, except for the Dutch and French and they make fun of you.
7. More scandals in a week than any other country in a decade.
8. You can drive like a maniac on the road and nobody cares
9. All your famous countrymen are either imaginary, or sex-offenders
10. Face it. It's not really a country, is it?