OT. The futures Bright, the Futures Brexit!!!

[ramAnag]

**** me, are you still nickel and diming over the cost of travel post brexit and/or covid. I wonder how much these tests would have cost if we'd still been in the EU Actually no I dont, just deal with it, but if you are so hard up that the UK test costs more than an EU one, send me your bank detail and I will give you the difference.

To set this in context, long ago, pre Brexit, I could but a pint in Greece for £ 2 when it was £ 4 in UK. Was that due to the EU - no, its just that within or without an economic union the cost of goods and the wage levels are different. End of.

**** me...you still missing the point completely?
It was a simple aside about travel from someone who is about to travel to someone who’s already there and, as explained, ‘not one necessarily related to Brexit’.
The observation was...as a member of a ‘captive audience’ in a foreign airport the charge is €25pp. At home, a DIY equivalent that has to be sent off costs more than twice that amount at £49pp.
Maybe you can explain why...otherwise wind your bloody neck in.

[MadAmster]

And on the subject of Covid tests, in Greece lateral flow tests are £20 whereas in U.K. they are free so I guess it’s swings and roundabouts

UK tests are free UNLESS it's a test for travel purposes in which case it costs an arm and a leg. We got free tests in NL to travel to the UK. In the UK we we had 55 hours between landing and taking off again. That meant a PCR test because we were in England longer than 12 hours. We also had to have one in order to fly back, taken no longer than 48 hours before the due departure time. They are both PCR tests. My logic said that, if I took a test 47 hours before the flight, we could cover both bases with a single test. That's where the Jobsworths stepped in. No Sir, the first one is a Day 2 test. The other is a fit to fly test. You have to do both. They're both the same though aren't they? Technically yes but you have to take the test with the right name........ Upshot of it was £300 in PCR test costs. Daylight robbery.

[Geoff Parkstone]

Andy...not for one moment am I referring to either you or your two friends as ‘liars’ and I really don’t understand that comment.

I am simply saying that an increase in the ease of trade with the two nations you mention isn’t really a ‘POSITIVE’ if there is a simultaneous increase in the complexity of trade with the EU nations as a direct result of Brexit.
Similarly it is impossible to judge the impact of Brexit on the NHS because, thus far, the far greater impact of the pandemic has covered the same time frame.
I’m not trying to ‘win’ on the HGV front and I genuinely wish the problem didn’t exist, however the following three statements are all true.
1) There is a shortage of HGV drivers throughout Europe and elsewhere.
2) The shortage is described as being more acute in the UK.
3) That shortage has been exacerbated by Brexit as a result of the exodus of foreign workers. (The same applies to more seasonal occupations too.)
4) The aforementioned shortage is likely to lead to an increase in the cost of many goods, including food, and that increase is significantly (NOT entirely) attributable to Brexit.

You and TTR repeatedly insist that I won’t ‘accept’ Brexit. That’s nonsense...I have no choice. It does seem to me however that the two of you (he more so than you) simply refuse to accept the downsides and are struggling to demonstrate any benefits.

1) Of course its a bloody positive. If Derby had signed Ronaldo on a free transfer and on £ 1000 a week wages, does this mean that you'd be moaning that it wasnt a positive because we could have spent that £ 1000 employing an extra cleaner? On day one post brexit there was an enormous pile of trade negatives, offset by positives (in my view) soft issues. Every trade negative that is converted into a positive is a "win" - unless you are so one eyed as to regard everything as a negative.

So now whereas we were, let us say, 75% negative, we might be 70%. Even your limited understanding of numbers must see that as a positive - in that it is the reduction of a negative? We've already suffered and factored in the initial negatives, so in theory it can only improve.

2) The HGV drivers et al debate rolls on, but I'm glad to see that you are finally backtracking from it completely being down to brexit, to a "brexit has just exacerbated the problem" stance. It may lead to increased cost of goods or services, supply chain shortages always do, but post covid, inflation is an absolute given anyway, if for no better reason than the fact that our, and all other country's governments that increased public borrowing, government will be comfortable with inflating their way out of the debt crunch.

You want to see benefits of Brexit? Lets list a few that you wont like

Enhanced sovereignty
Cancelled exposure to the United States of Europe programme
Regaining control of borders

Basically all those little englander things that you despise, but most brexit supporters hold dear. So its no great surprise that you cant see positives, because you are blind to them. So to expect anyone else to magic up some positives that you see that way is pointless. Any brexiteer positive will be set aside by you as not a positive, and any slowly emerging benefit of trade will always be belittled by what you perceive as a hug economic negative.

I remain sceptical as to how the leaving of the EU will play out, but I sure as hell dont expect any "hard" long term benefits to emerge in under 5 years. But those positives that you reject are here and now, we no longer have an unelected European overlord - we've just got our own unaccountable overlord now!

[Geoff Parkstone]

**** me...you still missing the point completely?
It was a simple aside about travel from someone who is about to travel to someone who’s already there and, as explained, ‘not one necessarily related to Brexit’.
The observation was...as a member of a ‘captive audience’ in a foreign airport the charge is €25pp. At home, a DIY equivalent that has to be sent off costs more than twice that amount at £49pp.
Maybe you can explain why...otherwise wind your bloody neck in.

Incidentally IM on the Grecian trail in a fortnight as well, although as a client is paying I am immune to the costs.

In order to explain why one test costs more than another in a different country, I refer my learned friend to my previous post in which I observed that a pint of beer costs different amounts in different countries, because the cost of living, disposable income and so on is different. So does a tin of beans, a pound of tomatoes, a packet of fags, a hooker on the street corner or a gallon of petrol. Why should a covid test being consistently globally the same?

[Trickytreesreds]

**** me, are you still nickel and diming over the cost of travel post brexit and/or covid. I wonder how much these tests would have cost if we'd still been in the EU Actually no I dont, just deal with it, but if you are so hard up that the UK test costs more than an EU one, send me your bank detail and I will give you the difference.

To set this in context, long ago, pre Brexit, I could but a pint in Greece for £ 2 when it was £ 4 in UK. Was that due to the EU - no, its just that within or without an economic union the cost of goods and the wage levels are different. End of.

Contrary to how he put it. We will see no immediate improvement for the first few years. I notice how RA twisted what I said, to say 40 years for the benefit? I said to make a true argument comparison, we would have to be out as long as we have been in.
The next five years will for me will show what is possible. COVID has tits upped the time table, I accept.
Truss, to her credit has been wheeling and dealing. We aren't stopping trading with the EU, but aren't tied to just one market either.

We are an island, and as such the shipping opportunities are there. The EU's worst nightmare? A Singapore on the doorstep perhaps?
Coming out of COVID, doesn't seem to be slowing us down at all.
https://www.starspost.com/german-eco...y-three-times/

My point is, can we just stop crying about it for 5 mins. Its done/finished/over/finito
Yes there are areas to revisit and redo. But out we are.
It's time to make it work. There are problems occuring that are not unsolvable. We all knew that, but the EU has tried its best to exasberate the problems. ( even Irish peace doesn't stop them)

I'm not going to change your mind Ra, no more than you can change mine. But until we've tried lets stop turning petty inconveniences into disasters. As for holidays, I can give you an alternative. Fly to Thailand ( once COVID is sortedfor £500, stay in a 4 star hotel for £500 for 2 weeks, spend next to F- ALL in comparison to Spain/Italy/Greece. The cheapness of Euro holidays has gone, unless Albania/Kosovo is on your list.

Anyway welcome back,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxIHd4GvxiU

[ramAnag]

Why should a covid test being consistently globally the same?

Because it’s the same bloody thing and meant to be in the interests of public health.
Who mentioned ‘globally’...I’m talking about a test in one’s own country costing more than twice as much as one in Southern Europe.

[ramAnag]

Contrary to how he put it. We will see no immediate improvement for the first few years. I notice how RA twisted what I said, to say 40 years for the benefit? I said to make a true argument comparison, we would have to be out as long as we have been in.
The next five years will for me will show what is possible. COVID has tits upped the time table, I accept.
Truss, to her credit has been wheeling and dealing. We aren't stopping trading with the EU, but aren't tied to just one market either.

We are an island, and as such the shipping opportunities are there. The EU's worst nightmare? A Singapore on the doorstep perhaps?
Coming out of COVID, doesn't seem to be slowing us down at all.
https://www.starspost.com/german-eco...y-three-times/

My point is, can we just stop crying about it for 5 mins. Its done/finished/over/finito
Yes there are areas to revisit and redo. But out we are.
It's time to make it work. There are problems occuring that are not unsolvable. We all knew that, but the EU has tried its best to exasberate the problems. ( even Irish peace doesn't stop them)

I'm not going to change your mind Ra, no more than you can change mine. But until we've tried lets stop turning petty inconveniences into disasters. As for holidays, I can give you an alternative. Fly to Thailand ( once COVID is sortedfor £500, stay in a 4 star hotel for £500 for 2 weeks, spend next to F- ALL in comparison to Spain/Italy/Greece. The cheapness of Euro holidays has gone, unless Albania/Kosovo is on your list.

Anyway welcome back,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxIHd4GvxiU

‘Come back in 40 YEARS FOR A COMPARISON’ were your exact words Tricky...and that is nonsense.

What I can and cannot afford is completely irrelevant and something neither you or GP have a clue about. My finances are fine thank you very much but I’m not so self obsessed as to only consider myself.
At the moment appropriate Covid testing for a hypothetical family of four would cost €100 or about £90 before leaving Spain and an additional £196 two days after re-entering the UK.
What’s wrong with asking why that should be?

P.S. Who mentioned cheap Euro holidays? But as you’ve brought it up...Villa...same price, Car hire...up about 10%, Flight...up about 50% on last year when they were desperate for folk to go, but only about 20% on pre-pandemic costs.

[Geoff Parkstone]

Because it’s the same bloody thing and meant to be in the interests of public health.
Who mentioned ‘globally’...I’m talking about a test in one’s own country costing more than twice as much as one in Southern Europe.

Jesus H Christ......

[Andy_Faber]

Some observations from an overcast, therefore more chatty, Greece. If you think there’s animosity about EU in U.K., talk for a while to the average Greek punter, they hate EU and by extension they hate Germans, whose project they see it as being. The local restaurant owner (who I’ve mentioned before, his son voted in the Scottish referendum) referred to me, as he seems to all Brits, as ‘brave Leonadis’ for our personal Brexit performance - ignoring of course that a) I voted Remain and b) Leonadis lost. You gotta love the Greeks!

[ramAnag]

GP...if you’ve got a sensible point to make, then make it.
We’ve heard from MA how his Dutch test to travel here was free but how he felt ripped off by the charges in the UK in order to enable his journey home.
You’ve heard from me how a test in a Spanish airport costs €25pp but a diy test over here two days later costs at least twice that.
Your ‘I’m alright Jack’ attitude as regards your own forthcoming trip to Greece is noted, but what is your problem with identifying the fact that the British public, and visitors to the UK, appear to be being ripped off via Covid safety precautions?