Do you want to discuss boring politics? (212 Viewers)

clint van damme

Well-Known Member
Appreciate we’ve got our own problems, but at least we’ve only got ours to worry about…to some extent

We're about to put someone in charge who thought we'd get an easy trade deal with the US because viewing figures for Downton Abbey were good in the States.
We've certainly got a lot of'ours' to worry about!
 

Earlsdon_Skyblue1

Well-Known Member
I know I might be in a privileged position compared to some, but you can really tell how many people either don't travel outside the UK very often, or certainly haven't done it any time recently.

Are there issues with Brexit? Yes. Was it a shit deal? Yes. However, it is extremely lazy just to blame or hyper-focus absolutely everything on Brexit as a comfort blanket method because it wasn't what was wanted by a lot of people. The borders are a joke not because they have all these extra checks (honestly almost nothing has changed and the process of going through the booth/checkpoint/desk is not any longer than it was previously). It takes half a second to stamp the passport and half the time they don't bother anyway. The are just really badly manned, more people are travelling again, and they cannot handle it.

Land at an airport anywhere on the continent, and you will see the same issue. The travel industry just cannot cope. There are queues at passport desks, baggage claim, check-in, you name it... 2 out of 18 lanes were open at Calais when I drove through it a few weeks back, only 1 at Dunkirk last Thursday. In England it is the same and when I went the reverse way the French passport window was actually fucking closed at Dover because they had no staff. I drove straight through it and didn't get checked by the French authorities on either side. If it gets busy they cannot cope either and the same can be said for all the airport staff that got sacked during the pandemic. BA staff were going to strike, announced today a 13% pay rise. It isn't a desirable lifestyle to have with such shit pay and whilst Brexit may have made things a little bit worse, it really is a minor argument (which isn't how it is being painted).

Inflation: Has Brexit contributed? Yes, I am sure it has. Is it mostly to blame? Not even close. Go round any supermarket in the Netherlands, go to a bar in Spain, buy some cheese in France. I have done all three recently. The prices have gone up noticeably by an astronomical amount absolutely everywhere. Note - on a recent trip to Hungary it wasn't too bad, but is was a lot cheaper than most of Western Europe anyway.

So, to swing my cock one more time; in the last six months I have been to Spain, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Hungary, Germany, and Austria (all work other than one holiday) and have come in and out of the UK by all methods of boat, plane, and train on a near weekly basis (approximately 20 times in this duration). By all means if you are unhappy with Brexit then I can completely understand, there are many issues, but most of this stuff here is nonsense. The actual processes themselves for travelling (other than the fucking corona check station at Palma airport) aren't the issue and if you try and argue that they are I will laugh at you because you obviously have not experienced it and don't know what fuck you are talking about.
 

clint van damme

Well-Known Member
I know I might be in a privileged position compared to some, but you can really tell how many people either don't travel outside the UK very often, or certainly haven't done it any time recently.

Are there issues with Brexit? Yes. Was it a shit deal? Yes. However, it is extremely lazy just to blame or hyper-focus absolutely everything on Brexit as a comfort blanket method because it wasn't what was wanted by a lot of people. The borders are a joke not because they have all these extra checks (honestly almost nothing has changed and the process of going through the booth/checkpoint/desk is not any longer than it was previously). It takes half a second to stamp the passport and half the time they don't bother anyway. The are just really badly manned, more people are travelling again, and they cannot handle it.

Land at an airport anywhere on the continent, and you will see the same issue. The travel industry just cannot cope. There are queues at passport desks, baggage claim, check-in, you name it... 2 out of 18 lanes were open at Calais when I drove through it a few weeks back, only 1 at Dunkirk last Thursday. In England it is the same and when I went the reverse way the French passport window was actually fucking closed at Dover because they had no staff. I drove straight through it and didn't get checked by the French authorities on either side. If it gets busy they cannot cope either and the same can be said for all the airport staff that got sacked during the pandemic. BA staff were going to strike, announced today a 13% pay rise. It isn't a desirable lifestyle to have with such shit pay and whilst Brexit may have made things a little bit worse, it really is a minor argument (which isn't how it is being painted).

Inflation: Has Brexit contributed? Yes, I am sure it has. Is it mostly to blame? Not even close. Go round any supermarket in the Netherlands, go to a bar in Spain, buy some cheese in France. I have done all three recently. The prices have gone up noticeably by an astronomical amount absolutely everywhere. Note - on a recent trip to Hungary it wasn't too bad, but is was a lot cheaper than most of Western Europe anyway.

So, to swing my cock one more time; in the last six months I have been to Spain, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Hungary, Germany, and Austria (all work other than one holiday) and have come in and out of the UK by all methods of boat, plane, and train on a near weekly basis (approximately 20 times in this duration). By all means if you are unhappy with Brexit then I can completely understand, there are many issues, but most of this stuff here is nonsense. The actual processes themselves for travelling (other than the fucking corona check station at Palma airport) aren't the issue and if you try and argue that they are I will laugh at you because you obviously have not experienced it and don't know what fuck you are talking about.

I don't think one person has tried to blame all the current issues on brexit. But it's certainly exasperated all the other shit going on, especially given the clowns that are over seeing it.

And both Ryanair and Port of Dover authorities have came out today and said it is contributing to their woes.
 

PVA

Well-Known Member
Well at least we're doing better than Russia.

Brexit is a big factor in the state of the economy. Of course it is.

You can't look at this and say otherwise


20220722_182040.jpg
 

SBT

Well-Known Member
On what planet is this against the economic orthodoxy is the last twenty years? And how is that different from the 20 before it?

Well assuming she wants these tax cuts passed before the next election, it would mean an almost 600 basis point hike in the space of two and a half years. That might be economic orthodoxy in Turkey, but not sure the BoE is going to go along with it.
 

Sick Boy

Super Moderator
I know I might be in a privileged position compared to some, but you can really tell how many people either don't travel outside the UK very often, or certainly haven't done it any time recently.

Are there issues with Brexit? Yes. Was it a shit deal? Yes. However, it is extremely lazy just to blame or hyper-focus absolutely everything on Brexit as a comfort blanket method because it wasn't what was wanted by a lot of people. The borders are a joke not because they have all these extra checks (honestly almost nothing has changed and the process of going through the booth/checkpoint/desk is not any longer than it was previously). It takes half a second to stamp the passport and half the time they don't bother anyway. The are just really badly manned, more people are travelling again, and they cannot handle it.

Land at an airport anywhere on the continent, and you will see the same issue. The travel industry just cannot cope. There are queues at passport desks, baggage claim, check-in, you name it... 2 out of 18 lanes were open at Calais when I drove through it a few weeks back, only 1 at Dunkirk last Thursday. In England it is the same and when I went the reverse way the French passport window was actually fucking closed at Dover because they had no staff. I drove straight through it and didn't get checked by the French authorities on either side. If it gets busy they cannot cope either and the same can be said for all the airport staff that got sacked during the pandemic. BA staff were going to strike, announced today a 13% pay rise. It isn't a desirable lifestyle to have with such shit pay and whilst Brexit may have made things a little bit worse, it really is a minor argument (which isn't how it is being painted).

Inflation: Has Brexit contributed? Yes, I am sure it has. Is it mostly to blame? Not even close. Go round any supermarket in the Netherlands, go to a bar in Spain, buy some cheese in France. I have done all three recently. The prices have gone up noticeably by an astronomical amount absolutely everywhere. Note - on a recent trip to Hungary it wasn't too bad, but is was a lot cheaper than most of Western Europe anyway.

So, to swing my cock one more time; in the last six months I have been to Spain, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Hungary, Germany, and Austria (all work other than one holiday) and have come in and out of the UK by all methods of boat, plane, and train on a near weekly basis (approximately 20 times in this duration). By all means if you are unhappy with Brexit then I can completely understand, there are many issues, but most of this stuff here is nonsense. The actual processes themselves for travelling (other than the fucking corona check station at Palma airport) aren't the issue and if you try and argue that they are I will laugh at you because you obviously have not experienced it and don't know what fuck you are talking about.
I’ve had zero issues landing in Italy since the start of the year. The UK on the other hand has literally taken hours to get off the plane and through passport control.
 

Earlsdon_Skyblue1

Well-Known Member
I’ve had zero issues landing in Italy since the start of the year. The UK on the other hand has literally taken hours to get off the plane and through passport control.

Yeah, I believe you. I have not been to every single airport on the continent, but I can tell you that is the exception rather the rule.

The UK is a mess, but the majority of Europe is also the same or even worse.

Next time I'll fly to Verona Airfield ;)
 

Sick Boy

Super Moderator
Yeah, I believe you. I have not been to every single airport on the continent, but I can tell you that is the exception rather the rule.

The UK is a mess, but the majority of Europe is also the same or even worse.

Next time I'll fly to Verona Airfield ;)
Haha it’s actually an international airport - not sure it’s changed in over 10 years though. 😂😂😂
 

Grendel

Well-Known Member
Haha it’s actually an international airport - not sure it’s changed in over 10 years though. 😂😂😂

must have been a lucky day

 

CCFCSteve

Well-Known Member
Well at least we're doing better than Russia.

Brexit is a big factor in the state of the economy. Of course it is.

You can't look at this and say otherwise


View attachment 25427

If they come through as actuals then fair enough, however, the pandemic has meant countries have recovered at different times so we’ll probably grow more than many of them this year, so might the US

In any event they are extremely unlikely to be accurate. I’ve just googled Germany and think the projections are already down to 1.3% from 1.7%. Unless the war ends I would be surprised if it’s even positive…for them, us and a few others unfortunately
 

Sick Boy

Super Moderator
must have been a lucky day

Yeah because everyone writes airport reviews. 😂😂
The lack of seating is a joke and hasn’t changed in the 14 years I’ve even flying there.
Some of your reviews are insane - €10 for a bottle of water at the gate - I paid €1 less than a week ago.
 
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SkyBlueCharlie9

Well-Known Member
I know I might be in a privileged position compared to some, but you can really tell how many people either don't travel outside the UK very often, or certainly haven't done it any time recently.

Are there issues with Brexit? Yes. Was it a shit deal? Yes. However, it is extremely lazy just to blame or hyper-focus absolutely everything on Brexit as a comfort blanket method because it wasn't what was wanted by a lot of people. The borders are a joke not because they have all these extra checks (honestly almost nothing has changed and the process of going through the booth/checkpoint/desk is not any longer than it was previously). It takes half a second to stamp the passport and half the time they don't bother anyway. The are just really badly manned, more people are travelling again, and they cannot handle it.

Land at an airport anywhere on the continent, and you will see the same issue. The travel industry just cannot cope. There are queues at passport desks, baggage claim, check-in, you name it... 2 out of 18 lanes were open at Calais when I drove through it a few weeks back, only 1 at Dunkirk last Thursday. In England it is the same and when I went the reverse way the French passport window was actually fucking closed at Dover because they had no staff. I drove straight through it and didn't get checked by the French authorities on either side. If it gets busy they cannot cope either and the same can be said for all the airport staff that got sacked during the pandemic. BA staff were going to strike, announced today a 13% pay rise. It isn't a desirable lifestyle to have with such shit pay and whilst Brexit may have made things a little bit worse, it really is a minor argument (which isn't how it is being painted).

Inflation: Has Brexit contributed? Yes, I am sure it has. Is it mostly to blame? Not even close. Go round any supermarket in the Netherlands, go to a bar in Spain, buy some cheese in France. I have done all three recently. The prices have gone up noticeably by an astronomical amount absolutely everywhere. Note - on a recent trip to Hungary it wasn't too bad, but is was a lot cheaper than most of Western Europe anyway.

So, to swing my cock one more time; in the last six months I have been to Spain, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Hungary, Germany, and Austria (all work other than one holiday) and have come in and out of the UK by all methods of boat, plane, and train on a near weekly basis (approximately 20 times in this duration). By all means if you are unhappy with Brexit then I can completely understand, there are many issues, but most of this stuff here is nonsense. The actual processes themselves for travelling (other than the fucking corona check station at Palma airport) aren't the issue and if you try and argue that they are I will laugh at you because you obviously have not experienced it and don't know what fuck you are talking about.
The M20 35 mile approach to Dover (operation Brock formerly Stack) has been on and off for last 5 years... to respond to bad weather/bloxkades/ ferries breaking down etc. It became permanent start of year for Brexit and was compounded by P&O shambles. I drive this commute several times a week and see miles and miles of lorries waiting for extra checks on goods that didn't exist.
Council I work for has had to employ 100+ people as its now an inland port authority doing checks on goods coming in and out of Europe. They have sat doing nothing over last year (sit on floor above my office) as the offices and legal Brexit frameworks are not finished. The 100+ acre site of tarmac and warehousing has cost an absolute fortune yet still not fully operating due to fuckwit Conservatives. So chaos at Brexit is down entirely to our poor planning and under investment in Dover and yet spunking cash in other areas to portray Brexit is running smoothly.
Government need to invest in more ferry boats and ports such as Sheerness, Tilbury, Harwich, Ramsgate, Folkestone and Newhaven to reduce pressure on Dover and Kent roads.
This goverment have no vision other than tax cuts and less investment in the society and the working classes and people in poverty.
 

Grendel

Well-Known Member
The M20 35 mile approach to Dover (operation Brock formerly Stack) has been on and off for last 5 years... to respond to bad weather/bloxkades/ ferries breaking down etc. It became permanent start of year for Brexit and was compounded by P&O shambles. I drive this commute several times a week and see miles and miles of lorries waiting for extra checks on goods that didn't exist.
Council I work for has had to employ 100+ people as its now an inland port authority doing checks on goods coming in and out of Europe. They have sat doing nothing over last year (sit on floor above my office) as the offices and legal Brexit frameworks are not finished. The 100+ acre site of tarmac and warehousing has cost an absolute fortune yet still not fully operating due to fuckwit Conservatives. So chaos at Brexit is down entirely to our poor planning and under investment in Dover and yet spunking cash in other areas to portray Brexit is running smoothly.
Government need to invest in more ferry boats and ports such as Sheerness, Tilbury, Harwich, Ramsgate, Folkestone and Newhaven to reduce pressure on Dover and Kent roads.
This goverment have no vision other than tax cuts and less investment in the society and the working classes and people in poverty.

Operation stack was formed in 1988 Charles
 

Earlsdon_Skyblue1

Well-Known Member
The M20 35 mile approach to Dover (operation Brock formerly Stack) has been on and off for last 5 years... to respond to bad weather/bloxkades/ ferries breaking down etc. It became permanent start of year for Brexit and was compounded by P&O shambles. I drive this commute several times a week and see miles and miles of lorries waiting for extra checks on goods that didn't exist.
Council I work for has had to employ 100+ people as its now an inland port authority doing checks on goods coming in and out of Europe. They have sat doing nothing over last year (sit on floor above my office) as the offices and legal Brexit frameworks are not finished. The 100+ acre site of tarmac and warehousing has cost an absolute fortune yet still not fully operating due to fuckwit Conservatives. So chaos at Brexit is down entirely to our poor planning and under investment in Dover and yet spunking cash in other areas to portray Brexit is running smoothly.
Government need to invest in more ferry boats and ports such as Sheerness, Tilbury, Harwich, Ramsgate, Folkestone and Newhaven to reduce pressure on Dover and Kent roads.
This goverment have no vision other than tax cuts and less investment in the society and the working classes and people in poverty.

The lorries are to one side and you drive right past them. They at no point interfere with the car traffic and use completely different lanes at the ports themselves anyway.

If you are suggesting there is issues with freight, sure I agree with you, that's one of the genuine problems with brexit, but it's absolutely nothing to do with what I'm talking about, or the discussion that was raised on here.
 

clint van damme

Well-Known Member
The lorries are to one side and you drive right past them. They at no point interfere with the car traffic and use completely different lanes at the ports themselves anyway.

If you are suggesting there is issues with freight, sure I agree with you, that's one of the genuine problems with brexit, but it's absolutely nothing to do with what I'm talking about, or the discussion that was raised on here.

Someone's just been on the radio saying it took them 7 hours to move 2 miles approaching the port, (think they said they were heading for the tunnel).
 

Earlsdon_Skyblue1

Well-Known Member
Someone's just been on the radio saying it took them 7 hours to move 2 miles approaching the port, (think they said they were heading for the tunnel).

Yes, but it isn't anything to do with operation stack or brexit. Yet, the BBC and twitter seem to think it's the only reason and keep banging on about it.
 

clint van damme

Well-Known Member
Yes, but it isn't anything to do with operation stack or brexit. Yet, the BBC and twitter seem to think it's the only reason and keep banging on about it.

It's nothing to do with stack, (which I'm quite familiar with due to my old job), but I can't see how you can saying its nothing to do with Brexit.
And Simon Calder was saying, it's added at least 30 seconds to each car being allowed through, that adds up to a significant amount of time.
I agree Brexit isn't the only reason, and knowing this was coming we didn't give the ports enough extra resource.
Its a textbook tory fuck up.
 

Earlsdon_Skyblue1

Well-Known Member
I have a lot of time for Simon Calder, but this isn't really correct either. The checks on cars especially when busy are no different to what they were before, I can promise you. Even if we allow a small increase in time for the sake of argument, this is still a minute factor compared to the fact the French border agency effectively didn't show up for work yesterday, and the knock on effect that is now there. Add in that it is the busiest weekend of the year for cross channel travel, and that neither the UK border, or the ferry companies have enough staff on compared to before the pandemic either, and that is what is causing this shit show for 99%.

I am happy to have a go at brexit when it is good and fair, but I am seeing so many lazy comments all over the internet (and many from people who should be reputable) about this situation, and none of them know what the fuck they are talking about.
 

clint van damme

Well-Known Member
I have a lot of time for Simon Calder, but this isn't really correct either. The checks on cars especially when busy are no different to what they were before, I can promise you. Even if we allow a small increase in time for the sake of argument, this is still a minute factor compared to the fact the French border agency effectively didn't show up for work yesterday, and the knock on effect that is now there. Add in that it is the busiest weekend of the year for cross channel travel, and that neither the UK border, or the ferry companies have enough staff on compared to before the pandemic either, and that is what is causing this shit show for 99%.

I am happy to have a go at brexit when it is good and fair, but I am seeing so many lazy comments all over the internet (and many from people who should be reputable) about this situation, and none of them know what the fuck they are talking about.

Ironic that you go on about lazy arguments then try and blame the French!
The port authorities not having enough staff is down to the government not preparing properly for Brexit. Look on the Brexit thread, it was hilighted in there ages ago how many extra staff were required.
I don't know what the ferry companies reason is.
 

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