Ricco1

You're right that you don't want to be living on the pittance that's handed out to single job seekers in this country. You could try moving to Ireland, double your money?

I disagree. The referendum question was should the UK remain in the European Union or leave. It was not "Should the U.K. leave the European Union, if the elite decide that the terms of exit are acceptable, or remain." The vote was to leave, article 50 should be served without delay. Like, today.

The Brexit result didn't come about because of lies about spending more money on the NHS. Neither was the majority vote reduced by the lies told by the remain side. Both sides of the argument were facing the prospect of lessened quality of life, as the islands become more crowded. Those who voted 'remain' were prepared to tolerate this reduction in quality of life because of the the reasonable certainty that they could continue as before. Their status quo: they can enjoy a high standard of living brought about by 2 things: 1/ relatively low prices caused by high competition for unskilled jobs, this being ensured by freedom of movement from much poorer countries whilst 2/ protecting themselves from this competition by excluding foreigners from their jobs by the veiled racism of 'language skills are paramount'. Or otherwise invoking the old pal's network: 'it's not what you know it's who you know'. They are even protected from the increasing over crowding; how many Polish supermarket workers can afford to live in shire villages? The leavers on the other hand are unable to protect themselves in any way. Any attempts to do so are met with derogatory terms from those who benefit from the status quo. 'Racist', 'bigot' and more recently; 'little Englander'. It might be honourable to equalise the wealth of Britain and say, Estonia. If this brings a higher likelihood of long term peace it might be a price worth paying. But while one group, a slight minority, benefit from this equalisation, the slight majority suffer, it wouldn't seem to be particularly fair. This is the reason why Britain voted out.

I live on a 35ft boat. Built in 1998, I paid £18,000 for it 3 years ago. It has a fixed double, kitchen with 2 ring cooker, oven and grill. Small gas fridge. Shower and cassette toilet. A wardrobe that's small but me being a bloke, it's big enough. Plenty of storage under the bed and under the seating in the lounge. Ideally I'd have another area for eating as that all goes on in my living room, on the fixed table I have there. Other than that though, it's perfectly livable, providing that you get rid of most of your 'stuff', that being things you have but don't really need.

Sure, agree with that. Then those who don't take the opportunity will be rewarded with the peace of mind, inner happiness if you like, that the person who made the immoral decision will miss out on. Not every facet of happiness can be measured in money terms. If you're happy, that's it, whether you have your 'fair share' or not.

The reality of sharing downwards is higher taxes. We know that if a political party proposes higher taxes it becomes unelectable. The solution is?..

There is no equality anywhere in the world, in any sphere. No equality in work or careers, no equality in sport, no equality in the arts. Equality is an impossibility, and actually, a misnomer for what is trying to be achieved. What we should strive for is fairness which in many people's language would be equality of opportunity. If people have an opportunity and choose not to take it they should have no complaints that they are not 'equal' to others, others who took their opportunity. The only alternative to this is communism and we all know how successful that was

It's true that more should have been spent on infrastructure. Ours in an embarrassment to a supposedly developed country. On the other hand, while we have the highest in work benefits and child related benefits in Europe if not the world, continue to spend on foreign aid, and get involved in foreign wars that are none of our business, something has to give. OK, taxes could be increased but any party including that in a election manifesto is guaranteeing itself to be in opposition. Something has to give. It seems that it's easier to keep our infrastructure like that of a third world country; rather than move a little responsibility from the state on to individuals and their families.

People need to get over this. OK, there may be uncertainty for a while but uncertainty adds a bit of spice to life, does it not? The EU is all about Germany empowering itself without resulting to arms; its previous tactic. What could be better for Germany than creating a currency across different sovereign nations; taking away their ability to manage their economies by monetary means. Germany knows that its workers are more productive and efficient than those of others and that over time that difference would grow. This has led to the demise of Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal with France likely to be next. Meanwhile the Baltic states are buttered up with heaps of money in order to enslave them into the German hate project against Russia. Britain shouldn't be frightened of going it alone. OK we're not the hardest working people but we do tend to be quite resourceful and are likely to do quite well in our new future. It will just need a bit of patience. We could kick off with negotiating a trade deal with Russia. There's a big opportunity here and if we can get on with a million people from Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, as we mostly do, we could certainly get on with the Russians. We should ignore the negative hype about Russia, it's all U.S. and German propaganda.

Indeed. To many Brits, freedom of movement is far more damaging than would an exit from the single market. The single market is looked upon by some as being some kind of eutopia. But is it really? The worst that could happen would be that British exporters would be faced with 10% tarrifs and some additional paperwork. 10% isn't a huge amount demonstrated by the fact that the pound has devalued more than this since the Brexit vote, this doesn't seem to have changed much. The argument that Britain has to supply to standards on which it will have no control is another red herring. I mean, how much control is 1 in 28 when the majority carries the day? But to respond to an earlier post, I think it matters not a jot that May has a so called 'red line' regarding freedom of movement. The EU have said that they will not renegotiate but they will, they have too much to lose. May would not reject further concessions without putting them to a second referendum. This is what I believe will happen.

I do hope so. If May wins and backtracks on either freedom of movement, or sovereignty, she is likely to have to deal with significant civil unrest.

Ah right thanks for that. As I said my memory of it is a bit sketchy. I certainly wouldn't have filled the lock if it was empty, and I'd seen another boat approaching. I guess I should make more of an effort to look beyond any bridges or other things that obstruct my views, in the future. Nice boat by the way!

To Bill (quote button isn't working) I think I remember going through that lock, there were 2 boats coming up, including an ex. BW workboat. Is that the one you were referring to? I've tried to cast my mind back to what happened there, it's sketchy. I recall one of the boats being in a hurry, the one behind I think. Id be really grateful if you could explain what I could have done differently in order to make progress through the lock a happier experience for all. Genuine request this, I'm in no hurry to go anywhere, I'd prefer to sit back and let everyone do their thing then do mine. I don't want to be seen as an arse on the canal. Cheers.

Yes I do use Edge. Funny really, I'm someone who thrives on logic but find computer issues baffling. I used Edge last week, the quote button worked. Now it doesn't. I never try to do anything clever with my computer because in that respect; I'm not clever. So I haven't updated anything or similar. I've simply switched my computer on, visited forums I use, bit of Ebay, couple of other sites I visit, then switched the machine off. I don't think I've worn it out or anything. But now it doesn't work. As I said, baffling.

Re. Sir Nibble's post; quote button isn't working. I don't agree that the silent majority betrayed themselves by not voting, prior to the referendum. Let's look at their options: Labour: Where their votes would traditionally have gone but this party tells their core vote that to have concerns for their livelihoods makes them either a racist, a bigot, or both. Conservative: Few working class people are going to be comfortable voting for this bunch of toffs. Liberal Democrat: Again a bit toffish, a bit weird and geeky,. and a bit green. The working man or woman might vote for them but they wouldn't admit it in the pub. Whilst quite a few might vote for UKIP the U.K.'s system means they might as well not bother. So as we can see, overall, they didn't bother.