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

[MadAmster]

Earlier this week I finally received a Brexit benefit, of sorts. My new, shiny, made in France blue UK passport..... which I'm quite sure is black, not blue. That reminded me that every silver lining has a cloud......

[ramAnag]

Earlier this week I finally received a Brexit benefit, of sorts. My new, shiny, made in France blue UK passport..... which I'm quite sure is black, not blue. That reminded me that every silver lining has a cloud......

Black! Surely not. That’s going to upset a lot of Brexiteers.
They’ll be as confused as the Dutch bowlers yesterday.

[Andy_Faber]

Earlier this week I finally received a Brexit benefit, of sorts. My new, shiny, made in France blue UK passport..... which I'm quite sure is black, not blue. That reminded me that every silver lining has a cloud......

If you are going to make a point, get the point right. As I've pointed out before, they are made in Poland.

[Trickytreesreds]

You can have any colour you like, as long as it's black.

[MadAmster]

If you are going to make a point, get the point right. As I've pointed out before, they are made in Poland.

..... by the French Thales Group with its headquarters in Paris.

[Ramshank72]

...but still, made in Poland by Polish based employees and Polish equipment.
Polish staff may be much cheaper than the French, but let's not do their skill and innovation a disservice. Europe has many wonderful locations and people with wonderful diverse skills and cultures, it's not just all about France, Spain, and Germany. Sadly something overlooked by many "remainers" who have some serious unconscious bias, and would rather these less wealthy nations were there to simply supply lesser skilled services to prop up their lavish lifestyles.

[Andy_Faber]

..... by the French Thales Group with its headquarters in Paris.

So I was right, makes a change.

Also shows UKPLC's willingness to engage in globalisation. I note your own adopted country get their passports printed locally. Oh, you Little Netherlanders

[ramAnag]

...but still, made in Poland by Polish based employees and Polish equipment.
Polish staff may be much cheaper than the French, but let's not do their skill and innovation a disservice. Europe has many wonderful locations and people with wonderful diverse skills and cultures, it's not just all about France, Spain, and Germany. Sadly something overlooked by many "remainers" who have some serious unconscious bias, and would rather these less wealthy nations were there to simply supply lesser skilled services to prop up their lavish lifestyles.

Really...and there’s me thinking how MA was just pointing out the irony that, in post Brexit Britain, that apparently most iconic of British artefacts is being manufactured, not in the UK, but abroad - by a French company of all things. Funny old world.

[Andy_Faber]

Really...and there’s me thinking how MA was just pointing out the irony that, in post Brexit Britain, that apparently most iconic of British artefacts is being manufactured, not in the UK, but abroad - by a French company of all things. Funny old world.

Not sure why its ironic rA, or why France should be singled out, correctly or incorrectly. I've worked a lot with Thales and they are just another multinational company who provide a lot of top notch products and services. Surely the awarding of such a contract into an EU country demonstrates exactly the opposite of the inward looking, jobs for the boys UK you seem to think is emerging

[swaledale]

Not sure why its ironic rA, or why France should be singled out, correctly or incorrectly. I've worked a lot with Thales and they are just another multinational company who provide a lot of top notch products and services. Surely the awarding of such a contract into an EU country demonstrates exactly the opposite of the inward looking, jobs for the boys UK you seem to think is emerging

Not really sure it demonstrates anything actually, just that they are made abroad in the EU!

Not sure where the suggestion that the UK had an inward looking jobs for the boys strategy either. I thought the slogan was global Britain! Except the price of a US trade deal is to lower our standards on food and chemicals, and its still in the balance. The price of the Australian trade deal, the one that might if we are lucky add 0.01% to our GDP! Is allowing in beef and lamb produced at inferior standards to our farmers and the one we are pursuing in India is for increased immigration from India.

Oh Brexit is going so well!

[ramAnag]

Not sure why its ironic rA, or why France should be singled out, correctly or incorrectly. I've worked a lot with Thales and they are just another multinational company who provide a lot of top notch products and services. Surely the awarding of such a contract into an EU country demonstrates exactly the opposite of the inward looking, jobs for the boys UK you seem to think is emerging

Maybe you don’t, but at the time Patel described it as a ‘national humiliation’.
Either way I suspect most people would recognise a degree of irony in that such a symbol (according to many Brexiteers) as the blue (or is it black?...I don’t know) UK passport has to be manufactured by a French company when there is so much anti French feeling amongst those who voted for Brexit and so much freshly acquired antagonism between the two nations as a result.

[Andy_Faber]

Maybe you don’t, but at the time Patel described it as a ‘national humiliation’.
Either way I suspect most people would recognise a degree of irony in that such a symbol (according to many Brexiteers) as the blue (or is it black?...I don’t know) UK passport has to be manufactured by a French company when there is so much anti French feeling amongst those who voted for Brexit and so much freshly acquired antagonism between the two nations as a result.

RAL 2602010 which is in the blue Pantone Range
The whole symbolism thing has been whipped up by the media and remoaners, and stupidly responded to by HMG which merely fed the media hopper even more. 'Most' people don't even have an opinion red/blue/black/pink IMO. And where doe this 'freshly acquired antagonism' come from, again apart from the obovementioned overexcitible minorities. There's always an element of antagonism between nations, and I haven't seen any increase (or decrease) in recent years. The main increase has within our nation, not without

[MadAmster]

rA was on the right lines with the irony of UK passports being manufactured by the Polish branch of a French company, both of which are in the EU that the UK just left.....

Is there much manufacturing left in the UK? Pre 2014, the Scottish shipyards were "promised" orders to build new Royal Navy ships. After that and other [scratch] lies [/scratch] promises were broken following the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, the Scots seem to have finally learned not to trust a word that comes out of Westminster and in October next year I'm sure there will be a majority vote to leave the Union and England will be the one to suffer IMO. Only last week a senior Tory said in an interview that England couldn't afford Scotland gaining independence.

I remember in another thread some time back I commented that globalisation needed reversing because more and more money, and the political power that comes with it, was ending up in ever fewer pockets. The total wealth of billionaires is said to have doubled in the past 2 years. The poor have got poorer and there are even more of them. I truly believe the time for a political revolution is here and unless there is a new movement which does more for the poor and the "working class" and the "middle class" and forces the rich and the multinationals to pay tax rather than evading it, we shall all become slaves to the few (if we're not already there, many people worldwide working 50 odd years, making money for the bosses and still having absolutely nothing themselves).

I'm not against people being innovative, taking a risk and making money at it. It provides work but let's look at who produces the wealth of the 1%. Elon Musk has made billions out of Tesla. The basis is the batteries and computer chips used in the cars. Mined by kids on a dollar or two a day. There is no fairness in that situation and a lot that is morally reprehensible.

Time for the revolution.

[ramAnag]

RAL 2602010 which is in the blue Pantone Range
The whole symbolism thing has been whipped up by the media and remoaners, and stupidly responded to by HMG which merely fed the media hopper even more. 'Most' people don't even have an opinion red/blue/black/pink IMO. And where doe this 'freshly acquired antagonism' come from, again apart from the obovementioned overexcitible minorities. There's always an element of antagonism between nations, and I haven't seen any increase (or decrease) in recent years. The main increase has within our nation, not without

Okay...the entente cordiale is alive and well and Brexit hasn’t jeopardised our relationship with our European neighbours at all, least of all the French.
Neither is there going to be a recession, our Prime Minister is a paragon of virtue and truth telling, the Transport Secretary is a genius and the ‘levelling up’ strategy is working perfectly. Back in the real world....

[Andy_Faber]

Okay...the entente cordiale is alive and well and Brexit hasn’t jeopardised our relationship with our European neighbours at all, least of all the French.
Neither is there going to be a recession, our Prime Minister is a paragon of virtue and truth telling, the Transport Secretary is a genius and the ‘levelling up’ strategy is working perfectly. Back in the real world....

You're being over-partisan/over sensitive again rA, 'our' relationship with, for instance, France, ebbs and flows. Politically, and in the eyes of the media-influenced, it may look daggers drawn, and I accept bureaucratic burdens are currently higher (see below), but at a working level (no disrespect but I guess that now excludes yourself), hard working, pragmatic, eyes on the prize individuals are just getting on with things. I've just helped, in a small way, resolve some cross-border issues which allow French and Belgian musicians to visit UK for some gigs later this year and for two DJs to work in a resort in Spain. I don't think there was a single reference to Brexit or deteriorating intra-country relationships throughout the transactions.

Sticking to my non-partisan viewpoint, I'll actually go further than you and say most of our administration appear ****ing useless, but 'we the people' gave them 5 years and I'll take my ultimate view on supporting them further after 4 years and 364 days, not day 1.