'Tis the Express' headline and words, not mine.

Spitting Image used to portray a tiny David Steel peeping out of David Owen's jacket pocket. I imagine a tiny Varadkar emerging from Merkel's gusset.

The EU does not have a common external energy policy because the Member States wish to retain that competence for themselves, so it's every man for himself in negotiations with Gazprom. Don't believe everything you read on the Telegraph, pleb.

There's a real lack of political satire these days. I was listening to a podcast the other day commenting on it - no spitting image, Rory Bremner, even the kind of angry Ben Elton is absent.

In a time where we have absolute clowns like Boris, Rees-Mogg, Corbyn, Trump you think it would be easy pickings.

There's nothing like Saturday Night Live in the USA either.

Dead Ringers beg to differ !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRQnUIIp-HU

Is that still on?

We know you Irish like sucking on German cock, but this is just one example of the rot. CAP, forced austerity on poor countries that then pay huge interest charges to Germany, German trade surpluses.... It all stinks.

Yep, and blocking a withdrawal treaty just hardens the Irish border.

The article doesn't claim a common external energy policy does it ?

How's Diana?
That's the express' only metric.

No Bimbo but poor Terry has missed the point that each individual state negotiates with Gazprom so Russia through Gazprom been bullying smaller weaker states. Gazprom has been blocking gas selling between states. Also Gazprom have made promises to improve their behaviour but haven't. It is Russia playing divide and conquer and poor Terry has lapped it up and not realised that the best response might be for EU to negotiate a price for all of the EU but that would probably be the EU seizing power according to Terry. Also the EU Commission regarded a bilateral IGA between a Member State and a third country stands higher in the legal system than the EU Treaty which should make Terry happy which has made some of the EU competition directorate unhappy. Some in the german press want the EU to negotiate to stop Gazprom/Russia from doing this.

It is a sad decline for the Telegraph since the Sark tax avoiders took over.

The EU is pretty quick now to jump on "Abusive" companies like Google and Apple, obviously they're more important than basic gas supply.

Turning in her grave gawd bless her.

In fairness to the Express, they do care about the weather (coldest ever, hottest ever) as well as Brexit and Diana.

This is utter garbage. The fact MS negotiate individually is irrelevant. No, I will go further, f*ckin stupid. EU competition rules apply regardless.

Gazprom has been in flagrant breach for decades . And they are about to get a sweetheart remedy from the Commission.

Arrggghhh the monstrous EU destroying innocent lives again, who will save us from them?

Crikey.

Never fear, Blimpoman is here !

"No,you are "

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43788080

Interesting take on those negotiations. The UK will capitulate and give in with time.

Fluff piece from anonymous diplomat.

Of I see. Thank god for that.

What I don’t understand is that I’m a period of such uncertainty why people are spending so much money? The domestic building trade is in a massive boom, most people I know are booked two years in advance and turning work away daily.

Good to hear. Being part of the EU has its good side after all.

oh joy, this thread is back

You sure are

You are welcome.

You can visit the Trump or Putin threads as alternatives.

Yup, blood on the sheets etc.

I don't understand why the building trade is allowed to continue as an unregulated and untrained mob wherein one finds everything from the competent to the pikeys. Just another thing the Germans do better. Though why people are happy to keep spending even in the face of rising debt is sadly all too easy to understand, and, perhaps, is building another bust into the economy

I agree it should be regulated, and not by that ‘trust-a-trader’ type guff...put there are plenty of examples where you get f**ked by regulated people. The answer is for people spending big money to do thorough research beyond ‘he seems like a nice chap’.

It’s always been a boom and bust cycle, but the public seem confident and robust in the face of Brexit (outside of the internet obvs) and happy to plan way in advance. Usually boom means everything needs to be done TODAY.

Training should be much more advanced too with sensible qualifications being required of someone, and maybe even an ongoing registry of builders once qualified such actual shoddy work can see them lose their status or facing a possible suspended fine of such

And yes you can get done over by regulated folk, but that also tends to give you somewhere to go for redress

And maybe form guilds ?

The only decent guild type thing is the FMB who actually have work inspected by the BBA. I've seen things you people wouldn't believe (Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion) in peoples homes. Any Tom, Dick or Pavel can take the front of a building down for steelwork with zero qualifications, it’s outrageous. There should also be a minimum age and experience to start a construction company, not 21 with a good line in sales patter- but people are so desperate they jump at it.

Anyway, back to brexit

Guilds would work for me, though I don't have a preference for any particular model in advance.

And this sort of is on Brexit when some of the likely outcomes of Brexit will be very much the regulations we end up with. On the one hand we've the view of Boris and Jacob that we can deregulate (or even farm regulatory work out to private companies instead of public bodies as per the USA request to allow US private firms increased access to UK tax revenues) and on the other we have the Labour party who I don't know I'd even want to guess at what Corbyn thinks passes for acceptable regulation.

Cap is great for Ireland.
Greece has had more debt written off then it has paid interest.
German trade surplus is down to working hard and not being dicks (since 45)

But yeh... Love the aul bratwurst

It's amazing that in 40 years of membership we have had unregulated building sectors. And that from there you can predict what US "private" firms want.

Well that and the largess of the allies cancelling German debt in 1953 and so on and so forth. Ensuring that the economy of West Germany thrived was pivotal to the stability of the Atlantic bloc. By comparison the UK only finished paying the US back for lend-lease in 1996. A costly business being the good guys eh.

What debt has been written off and by whom ?

yeah, fools.