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The Farmer and the Politician
A farmer named Sam was overseeing his herd in a remote hilly pasture in Hereford when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust.
The driver, a young man in a Brioni® suit, Gucci® shoes, RayBan® sunglasses and YSL® tie, leaned out the window and asked the farmer, “If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?”
Sam looks at the man, who obviously is a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing animals and calmly answers, “Sure, why not?”
The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell® notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3® cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.
The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop® and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany …
Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot® that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL®
database through an ODBC connected Excel® spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry® and, after a few minutes, receives a response.
Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet® printer, turns to the Farmer and says, “You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves.”
“That’s right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves,” says Sam.
He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.
Then Sam says to the young man, “Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?”
The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, “Okay, why not?”
“You’re a Member of the European Parliament”, says Sam.
“Wow! That’s correct,” says the yuppie, “but how did you guess that?”
“No guessing required.” answered Sam. “You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of pounds worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don’t know a thing about how working people make a living – or about cows, for that matter. This is a herd of sheep.
Now give me back my dog!
AND THAT Brydo IS WHAT THE PROBLEM IS ALL ABOUT.
We’ll be back in the EU in the next 15 years. Polls already show over 60% think Brexit was a mistake. The National Rejoin March are getting organised, they will be like UKIP putting candidates in seats to campaign for rejoining, not with the intention of winning seats, but taking votes from established parties who are pro Brexit.
The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.
Well that’s cleared everything up Mike and Brexit is actually working ??????
@Jojo Where did you get 60% let me guess the Guardian. A cover story from an EU research group published by the Business insider in 2020 who said nearly 60% (57%) wanterd to rejoin.
Similar figures have benn quoted by PoliticEU, Facts for EU, Euroactiv and the likes of Euronews have also run similar stories where the majority would want to rejoin the EU.
If we were to compare those figures with polls from yougov and other UK statistical polls you will find the percentage is vastly reduced. In 2021 it was 39%.
If I was asked if I ever wanted to rejoin the EU, the answer would be a resounding NO. If I was asked if I wanted to join the common market, to some extent the answer would be yes!
FWIW my brother who is high up in banking and somewhat similar to what @Mike 700 is/was would give more or less give the same response to Mike’s.
If you voted for brexit no matter the economic consequences then you will be happy whatever the outcome. I think it is clear however that, up until now, it has been a financial disappointment, to put it mildly.
I think it is clear however that, up until now, it has been a financial disappointment, to put it mildly.
I wouldn’t be happy whatever the outcome, but it has got to be given time. Since we left the EU on 31st Jan 2020, Covid was knocking on our door just as it was with are neighbours and indeed the rest of the world. The same can be said abiut every else such as rising prices and to some extent recession, which is now with us. This has happened world wide and most importantly to our european neighboures, who in somme wayshave been harder hit than us.
In this light its an unfair advantage to say Brexit has failed. None of us really know where we would be in those short 2 nearly 3 years if dissaster hadn’t struck. Even if none of this had happened we wouldn’t know the ansswer because its to soon to tell as it would need at least 5yrs or even longer to properly judge and hopefully get things running smoothly and ironed out between the the UK and EU. Once the world starts returning to normal then we will only see from that point on. As far as im concerned it should have remained what we joined in 73 and become the EU 20yrs later, which will undoubtably cause its downfall.
I think it is clear however that, up until now, it has been a financial disappointment, to put it mildly.
I wouldn’t be happy whatever the outcome, but it has got to be given time. Since we left the EU on 31st Jan 2020, Covid was knocking on our door just as it was with are neighbours and indeed the rest of the world. The same can be said abiut every else such as rising prices and to some extent recession, which is now with us. This has happened world wide and most importantly to our european neighboures, who in somme wayshave been harder hit than us. In this light its an unfair advantage to say Brexit has failed. None of us really know where we would be in those short 2 nearly 3 years if dissaster hadn’t struck. Even if none of this had happened we wouldn’t know the ansswer because its to soon to tell as it would need at least 5yrs or even longer to properly judge and hopefully get things running smoothly and ironed out between the the UK and EU. Once the world starts returning to normal then we will only see from that point on. As far as im concerned it should have remained what we joined in 73 and become the EU 20yrs later, which will undoubtably cause its downfall.
I’m sure Mike 700 would answer this in a far more sophisticated way than I have.
I think it is clear however that, up until now, it has been a financial disappointment, to put it mildly.
I wouldn’t be happy whatever the outcome, but it has got to be given time. Since we left the EU on 31st Jan 2020, Covid was knocking on our door just as it was with are neighbours and indeed the rest of the world. The same can be said abiut every else such as rising prices and to some extent recession, which is now with us. This has happened world wide and most importantly to our european neighboures, who in somme wayshave been harder hit than us. In this light it’s an unfair advantage to say Brexit has failed. None of us really know where we would be in those short 2 nearly 3 years if dissaster hadn’t struck. Even if none of this had happened we wouldn’t know the ansswer because its to soon to tell as it would need at least 5yrs or even longer to properly judge and hopefully get things running smoothly and ironed out between the the UK and EU. Once the world starts returning to normal then we will only see from that point on. As far as im concerned it should have remained what we joined in 73 and become the EU 20yrs later, which will undoubtably cause its downfall.
How true!
I voted remain, but the country voted leave and in a Democracy, it behoves us to get behind the majority and make a success of things, no matter that the majority was not that large- just ask Keef Charmer if he would like a majority of one in Parliament ?
Powerful forces ,suddenly deprived of subsidies from the EU, invariably paid by the British tax payer, came into play, dragging the Government down with them in their haste to put down their own country?
No party facing a Global disaster of epic proportions like the Pandemic, followed by the Russian Bear sticking his dirty paws into other people’s honey, on top of trying to clear up another problem of epic proportions I.e . Labour’s complete mismanagements of the economy, would have done much better, if at all?
Brexit is a realty, it’s not going away, so either we get behind it and make it a success, or we continue to bitch and moan and keep shooting ourselves ( and our family and friends) in the foot?
I think it is clear however that, up until now, it has been a financial disappointment, to put it mildly.
I wouldn’t be happy whatever the outcome, but it has got to be given time. Since we left the EU on 31st Jan 2020, Covid was knocking on our door just as it was with are neighbours and indeed the rest of the world. The same can be said abiut every else such as rising prices and to some extent recession, which is now with us. This has happened world wide and most importantly to our european neighboures, who in somme wayshave been harder hit than us. In this light its an unfair advantage to say Brexit has failed. None of us really know where we would be in those short 2 nearly 3 years if dissaster hadn’t struck. Even if none of this had happened we wouldn’t know the ansswer because its to soon to tell as it would need at least 5yrs or even longer to properly judge and hopefully get things running smoothly and ironed out between the the UK and EU. Once the world starts returning to normal then we will only see from that point on. As far as im concerned it should have remained what we joined in 73 and become the EU 20yrs later, which will undoubtably cause its downfall.
I’m sure Mike 700 would answer this in a far more sophisticated way than I have.
Sophisticated – me?
Something I wrote back in 2014, as part of my Parkinson’s Therapy
Sophistication, just like grammar of course.
Not always comes from your stock & source
It is usually taught and often drummed in hard
For instance “we must have an appreciation of the immortal bard”Speaking posh & hiding accents is also not for me
But correct use of grammar is essentially
paramount in how we successfully communicate
Well it normally is for me at any ratePlums in mouths are not signs of good grammar, or sophistication
Especially now in our wholly diverse nation
They tried the plum on me whilst at the Academy
But being Welsh & also a something of a rebel , it was not for meI will admit however that my working clothes in the very recent past.
Were quite expensive & good quality which meant that they would actually last
So not so much sophistication , more frugality
And saving money in the long run was the realitySo I have no time for the classics or for the plum
No sophistication for me so, I’ll just stay a ‘know nothing’ bum
My rhymes and my language will therefore remain quite crude
But my friends i’ll do my very best to not be ( too ) rude.
Mike what can be done to get behind it? Making brexit a success or otherwise has nothing to do with Joe Public we just live our lives and hope that the future is better than the past. This unfortunately has not been the case over the past three years.
luckily I sold out of nearly all of my U.K. shares and funds minimising the damage from a disastrous U.K. economy.
It is a bit of a cop out to say it will take five, ten or fifteen years to work properly as, if this is true, many of those conned into voting for brexit will be long gone before any benefits arrive. I don’t remember Boris mentioning this.
Brexit is a realty, it’s not going away, so either we get behind it and make it a success, or we continue to bitch and moan and keep shooting ourselves ( and our family and friends) in the foot?
My business of 20 years went down the pan 6 months ago, largely thanks to Brexit, so excuse me if I don’t join you in getting behind it.
How did your stocks and shares do elsewhere? None of mine have done particulary well and I invest heavily and not limited solely to the UK. The only time I got overly concerned with my UK investments was after the Truss mini budget!
Its not a cop out looking at brexit over 5-10yrs. No one in the right mind would think of leaving club after 50yrs and think it will be hunky-doory the day after or 3yrs later. As @Mike 70o rightly pointed out the EU have been deprived of alot of money by one of the top 3 coffers into the EU system. They are pIssed and will do anything to drag us down. It won’t always be like this. The biggest mistake Bojo did was to get Brexit done at any cost, not ratyifing the whole divorce agreement when it was signed. This left so many areas open to be worked on at a later date, which prolongs the back and forth rows, A foolish mistake by Bojo thinking the EU would play nice.
I also drink with many who voted both remain and leave. Many remain voters have come over to the leave camp soley becasuse they have seen how childish the EU can be, Others remain staunch remainers, but we still remain friends and drink together and wish the best for the UK we live.
I would be more concerned in your position about Sturgeons latest anouncement, thinking the EU will let Scotland in with its half baked krankie £ and wont have to adopt the Euro.
Overall I respect your vote and anyone elses 🙂
Sorry to hear that @Jojoe what did you do if you don’t mind me asking.
kezoParticipant
Sorry to hear that @Jojoe what did you do if you don’t mind me asking.Cheers Kezo, I had a business selling online, across the UK and Europe, only small but kept me and a relative employed for the last 20 years.
Mike what can be done to get behind it?Making brexit a success or otherwise has nothing to do with Joe Public we just live our lives and hope that the future is better than the past. This unfortunately has not been the case over the past three years. luckily I sold out of nearly all of my U.K. shares and funds minimising the damage from a disastrous U.K. economy. It is a bit of a cop out to say it will take five, ten or fifteen years to work properly as, if this is true, many of those conned into voting for brexit will be long gone before any benefits arrive. I don’t remember Boris mentioning this.
As previously stated, I did vote to remain, but looking at the lies and rubbish put out by Project Fear, , and the indiscriminate use of insults, mainly to the intelligence, which is continuing unabated, together with the abject failure to produce anything tangible as proof of their arguments, as an example ‘ the multi million miles of trucks lined up at Dover with drivers starting out quite young , but collecting their pensions before they get to the Boat or Chunnel – ok I exaggerate, a bit, and I do have sympathy for businesses now struggling, some ,not all, because they no longer receive subsidies from the EU?
I soon realised that I was wrong voting to remain, and nothing that I have seen or heard since has convinced me yet that I was wrong to change my allegiance, in fact, from reading most of the remain, anti Tory, anti Boris nonsense has reinforced my decision to change ie. to become a leaver, but I am retired and somewhat protected from day to day problems, but we are all entitled to an opinion Brydo, which must be tested from time to time, hence General and Local Elections, every 4-5 years as well as once in a generation referendums Etc.,but things must be given time to work !
The architect of Project Fear, a certain George Osborne, ought to be thoroughly ashamed by the absolute nonsense he promoted over jobs, the economy and anything and everything he could to upend Brexit, but none of his predictions have come true directly because of Brexit – NONE, however those designed to frighten the vulnerable have taken their toll, along with those casualties who have suffered a combination of Brexit, Covid, Russian energy blackmail Etc.
Spilled milk remains spilled, and it’s no good us crying over it, or criticising those who , in some people’s eyes ,spilled it – it is far far better to look to the future, and to find a new source ‘ even in India? ‘ just like Astra Zeneca, rather than standing over the rapidly drying milk puddle and complaining about what we have lost. As I stated earlier ‘ I am retired, so not directly involved, but I am no armchair warrior, I am drawing on my recent past experience ,including a banking full board directorship .
Trade , quoted regularly, is falsely presented, it is not between governments it is invariably between companies and/ or individuals, and most will continue to trade whether in or out of the EU, and all the EUrocrats will do is ‘punish’ if they can , but they would be shooting themselves in the foot in the long run – but there are and will be casualties, but we cannot judge if there is going to be long term damage until we are free of Global outside pressures like Covid
Unfortunately, the Common Market which we voted in our millions to join, and would probably vote for again, is dead, killed by the underhanded escapades of unelected federalists, but there still is a market place in Europe for us, if these inward looking people would take the blinkers off, and over time, a massive opportunity for us to trade more with the rest of the world.
As Kezo has indicated, we still remain friends , especially with Europe and with Europeans , and I have close relatives , children and grandchildren living and working there – we left the European Union, not Europe.
kezoParticipant Sorry to hear that @Jojoe what did you do if you don’t mind me asking.
Cheers Kezo, I had a business selling online, across the UK and Europe, only small but kept me and a relative employed for the last 20 years.
It certainly wasn’t made easy for small businesses and maybe extra support from the government. Are you still selling accross the UK or just ceased trading.
It certainly wasn’t made easy for small businesses and maybe extra support from the government. Are you still selling accross the UK or just ceased trading.
I ceased trading, the rent on the premises was too expensive, the UK trade alone wouldn’t cover it and the other fixed costs. I’ll probably trade again in the future but on a much smaller scale, working from home with minimal costs.
Brexit adding to cost-of-living crisis, Mark Carney says
Brexit has added to the UK’s economic woes by lowering the value of the pound and contributing to price rises, an ex-Bank of England governor has said.
Mark Carney told the BBC the fall in the pound and shrinking economy after the UK left the EU had added to “inflationary pressure”.
No 10 says soaring prices are being driven by Covid and the Ukraine war.
On Thursday, the Bank warned the UK was facing its longest recession since records began.
In an attempt to cool rising prices it raised interest rates from 2.25% to 3% – the biggest jump since 1989.
A recession is defined as when a country’s economy shrinks for two three-month periods – or quarters – in a row.
Five ways a falling pound could affect you
What is a recession and how could it affect me?
Inflation – the rate at which prices rise – is at the highest level for 40 years.
The invasion of Ukraine has driven up the price of food and energy, as supplies are disrupted by the war and the West tries to phase out Russian oil and gas.
However, Mr Carney, who was governor of the Bank of England between 2013 and 2020, said Brexit was also helping to fuel inflation and had “slowed the pace at which the economy can grow”.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the pound had fallen “sharply” against other currencies after the Brexit referendum in 2016 and “hasn’t recovered”.
“If I can actually cast your mind back to a few years ago, this is what we said was going to happen, which is that the exchange rate would go down, it would stay down, that would add to inflationary pressure,” he said.
“The economy’s capacity would go down for a period of time because of Brexit, that would add to inflationary pressure, and we would have a situation – which is the situation we have today – where the Bank of England has to raise interest rates despite the fact that the economy is going into recession.”
He added that the UK had experienced “a big hit to our productivity” and “we have to take some tough decisions in order to get it back up”.
But Downing Street blamed the impact of the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine for the problems in the UK economy.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “What we are seeing is challenges caused by the pandemic and by war in Europe which have been driving factors in terms of inflation, and we’re seeing high inflation in a number of countries around the world.”
Asked if he was denying Brexit had caused financial issues, he said: “Our focus is on ensuring we have stability and fiscal credibility. That’s what the chancellor and the prime minister are focused on rather than on a decision taken a number of years ago where people made a clear decision.”
A fall in the value of the pound makes goods and services which are imported from overseas more expensive, while making exports more competitive.
In September the pound fell to a record low against the dollar, after then-Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced sweeping tax cuts without saying how they would be paid for.
It has since recovered to the level it was at before the so-called mini-budget, after new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt reversed almost all the planned tax cuts.The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business-63581510
The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.London loses position as most valuable European stock market
By Faarea Masud
Business reporterBritain’s stock market has lost its position as Europe’s most-valued, with France taking the top spot, data shows.
A weak pound, fears of recession in the UK and surging sales at French luxury goods makers are thought to be behind the shift, according to data from Bloomberg.
It’s the first time Paris has overtaken London since records began in 2003.
It comes as the UK is expected to fall into recession this year, although the French economy is also under pressure.
The combined value of British shares is now around $2.821 trillion (£2.3 trillion), while France’s are worth around $2.823 trillion, Bloomberg calculates.
It marks a huge reversal of fortunes for the London Stock Exchange, which was worth about $1.4 trillion more than its Parisian rival back in 2016.
France has been catching up for some time but shares in the UK’s medium sized companies have been doing particularly badly this year, as consumers cut back their spending and businesses struggle with higher costs.
London’s FTSE 250 share index – which is made up of medium sized companies focused on the UK – has slumped by almost 17% in the last 12 months.
Why is the UK struggling more than other countries?
Recession looms as UK economy starts to shrink
We’ll deliver finances markets expect, Sunak says
One of the biggest fallers has been pub chain Mitchells and Butlers, which lost over 37% of its share value in the past year. Gambling company 888 has fallen 70% and retailer Marks & Spencer is down 40%.
UK firms have also been hit by a fall in the pound since Liz Truss’s mini-Budget, which has made it more expensive to import goods and raw materials.
The euro has also fallen against the dollar but less sharply than the pound. The French stock market has also been boosted by its luxury goods makers, which have seen a bounce-back in demand from China.
Shares in LVMH, which owns fashion brand Louis Vuitton, have surged 22% in the last six months, while Hermès is up 37%.
Chinese shoppers accounted for around 35% of global demand for luxury goods before the pandemic, according to Bloomberg data.
“London’s loss of the top spot by stock market valuation to Paris will be seen as a blow to the City’s prestige,” Russ Mould from AJ Bell investors told the BBC.
“Since the [Brexit] vote in June 2016, Paris’ CAC-40 index is up 47% and London’s FTSE 100 has advanced by just 16% – but the gap is not down to Brexit alone. The London market is more heavily exposed to unpredictable sectors such as miners and oils; ones that have struggled in a zero-interest rate environment such as banks and insurers; and ones which can be seen as dour plodders, such as utilities and telecoms,” Mr Mould added.
Recession looms
As in other countries, energy and food prices have soared in the UK this year in part due to the war in Ukraine.
Many British homeowners have also seen a sharp rise in mortgage rates after the mini-Budget drove up UK borrowing costs.
It has put pressure on consumer spending and added to existing problems in the economy, experts say, including weaker trade since Brexit. The UK is the only G7 nation whose economy is still smaller than it was before the pandemic.
Between July and September, the economy shrunk by 0.2% and the Bank of England has warned the country faces its longest recession since records began.
Last year Amsterdam ousted London as the largest financial trading centre in Europe, although this was based on the total value of traded shares rather than companies.
“International companies, which make up the bulk [value] of all major exchanges, choose where to list and can vary that choice swiftly and with little apparent reason,” Brian Tora, consultant to wealth managers, JM Finn, said in a note to the BBC.
“The future will depend more on London retaining its edge in professional services in terms of money raising and attracting international businesses to list in London. The jury, post Brexit, is still out on that.”The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.
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