Mrs Roops

There are two ways 'round this, re-join EFTA with an opt out or in to the EEA or the default position of WTO rules.

Which "Indian economic genius" would this be?

Your problem is that you only watch bite-sized chunks designed for people with short attention spans, in any case, what rout? There is no rout. When the Brexit terms were announced, I said straight away that the document amounted to a massive fudge. A week and the subsequent joint political declaration only serves to confirm my original assessment. The difficult bit remains to be resolved (which I predicted more than a year ago). The terms' address this by saying that both parties will continue negotiating and act "in utmost good faith". The uncertainty is the reason why a number of Brexiteers and Remainers will vote against he terms put before parliament. The problem was both parties were reluctant to play hardball. What was needed was tough international commercial negotiators on both sides and not this sorry bureaucratic politically-driven fudge-farm.

Amazing. You've just had yer arse shredded by m'learned colleague and you still bandy the "stoopid" word.

Of course it will. Outside the EU, the UK will and can trade with Europe.

Stubbs, whilst you're not stupid, its safe to say you'll never be accused of being the brightest star in the firmament. You would help yourself immeasurably if you seek help to deal with your delusional paranoia.

Its a poorly conceived attempt to segue two noms with good potential, namely Car SOS and the petty feminist furore surrounding a Marks & Spencer Xmas window display.

Well, you're an excitable one. Can you provide any link to corroborate? I'm aware of reciprocal arrangements to mitigate double taxation especially with regards to Aussie dividend payments to those residing and working in the UK (which replicate many such arrangements with other countries) but I was unaware of rules granting Aussie nationals a tax free income in the UK.

Any one who earns less than their personal tax-free allowance will qualify for a tax rebate, Australian or otherwise.

Cosy club it ain't, rather think of it as a sovereignty-hungry fledgling super-state ruled by an unelected politburo (or EU Commission as they prefer to call it). Ironic that you mention China...

Well, they are not "my" punters. However in answer to your question I have very gently and slowly widened the parameters as to who qualifies for termination. So far no one seems to have noticed this. Over time and based on my subjective and wholly unscientific assessment of the site's critical mass the cull zone will be further widened.

The culling takes place every 4 to 8 weeks.

Please avoid this kind of cheap inference otherwise you'll be kicked off the site.

Hardly an imposter, she secured the country's mandate in the 2017 general election.

So...what's the gist of the nom then?

Despite Raab's resignation letter we still don't know the full dynamic of yesterday's cabinet meeting. I think there is more to this than is being let on. 99.9% of the Brexit negotiations are undertaken by a team of civil servants. The politcos simply give broad direction and sign them off "on advice". The Bexit Secretary and Prime Minister only become involved on contentious political issues such as the N Irish question. There has been a suspicion that politically neutral civil servants have been undermining the political will as understood by the electorate, however there is a disquieting theory that the negotiating civil servants have been receiving instructions from the PM via the Cabinet Secretary. The UK has now seen two Brexit Secretaries resign, both after key meetings, firstly at Chequers then Downing Street. You may now draw your own conclusions...

The seeds of discord were sown on the 5th June 1975 when the country voted to join the Common Market largely based of the unequivocal assurance that the trading club would not morph into the political and economic union that now exists. Long before Johnson, Farrage et al, awkward squad politicos warned the EU not to intrude, interfere and regulate into every aspect of life. Eurocrats, perhaps emboldened by the number of countries seeking membership to free money, ignored the warnings. There are interesting times ahead: Merkel is now in the same position as May was at the outset of her premiership, Macron is similarly weakened and dissent is slowly growing throughout Europe, with a number of citizens fed up of being told what to do by an unelected commission which they finance. Italy has now woken up to the realisation that it cannot set its own budget, unless it ditches the Euro.

I haven't read the proposals in its entirety, but at first glance it looks like a massive fudge concocted by UK & EU bureaucrats which pleases no-one. There are unconfirmed reports that senior civil servants were shouting down elected politicians at yesterday's Downing Street summit. That being the case, the civil servants, who are there to advise on technicalities and administer political decisions, should be fired on the spot. There are three main problems, 1/ The political leaders on both sides of the house are scared of the electorate 2/ Too many actors hell bent on subverting the will of the British electorate 3/ The bloody Irish, on both sides of the border.

In view of your propensity to spew unmitigated bollox, if you could have, you would have, but you didn't. I believe you don't actually have an informed opinion on the matter - you certainly don't appear to have a handle on EU constitutional & economic issues, so I'm guessing you just recycle newspaper opeds from whatever red-top rubbish you read in your part of the world or maybe you're a sucker for t'interweb fake news.

...and in E. Asia by all accounts.

Lovely. Straight down the A61.

You've been watching too many reruns of Heartbeat.

Again, pure panzerbollox. Incidentally, have you ever set foot in mainland UK?

Currently in Seattle, looks like I'm hitting Toulouse mid December.

Oh crap. Busted.