EU referendum - Reality Check (BBC)

It's called the United States... anyone remember why?

Hmmm

Another sensible speech from the straight speaking Scot

It was a sensible speech, something which is in very short supply regarding the referendum, there isn't anything the remain campaign can come up with that will make me change my mind, far too much bollocks and speculation coming out of the remain camp.

I would say exactly the same about the wrecking crew - the Out people. No facts, just promises that "somehow" it will all be fine.

I would ask the "Outers" to consider very carefully indeed how they will live with themselves and how they will face their neighbours, their colleagues and their families in a couple of years time.

I have considered Andrew old boy, what my neighbours, colleagues and family think is totally irrelevant, we all have our own choice to make and we all have our own reasons to stay or go, I feel a song coming on

Remember, the majority of things we worry about rarely happen, do not be afraid of the dark.

I don't meet many people who are happy with the way our country has become and I bet some other countries think the same.
Rampant unchecked immigration has destroyed the fabric of the UK and we have to try to stop it.
I would rather we take our opportunity out of Europe than live with being controlled from outside.

Unemployment in East Anglia stands at 3.8% according to my regional BBC news report, which covered stories of local engineering companies desperately short of skilled staff - fitters, engineers and designers - and having to recruit from the EU.

I wonder if we live in the same country?

East Anglia is mostly market gardening - not a place that skilled people want to move to.

In the Midlands I mostly hear Polish.......
I drive to many areas and it seems the same.

You don't know East Anglia. The two firms covered in the report were a manufacturer of wood chipping machines in Stowmarket wanting to recruit 90 engineering staff due to export expansion and a firm making crash test dummies in Huntingdon who are looking for 1o3. I think you will find that Lotus Cars are in Norwich...

East Anglia is a London Subhurb hic

When I drive through East Anglia, it looks very different to more industrial regions like the Midlands for example.

Yes, it is different, we don't have heavy industry but we do have high tech and we are not just a bunch of yokels. Our local port - Felixstowe - has been the most efficient in the country for forty years. House prices are high here, because we have full employment.

Probably just means they are not offering a good salary and conditions, the above skilled labour you have quoted command high salaries.

I expect the company in question will have to make do with some not so skilled eastern Europeans

I worked in Gt. Yarmouth for a while (Offshore navigation business) and passed Ipswich Town F.C. "The Tractor Boys" not so long ago.

From Wiki:
In the UK, yokels are traditionally depicted as wearing the old West Country/farmhand's dress of straw hat and white smock, chewing or sucking a piece of straw and carrying a pitchfork or rake, listening to "Scrumpy and Western" music. Yokels are portrayed as living in rural areas of Britain such as the West Country, East Anglia, the Yorkshire Dales and Wales. British yokels speak with country dialects from various parts of Britain.[1]
Yokels are depicted as straightforward, simple and naive, and easily deceived, failing to see through false pretenses. They are also depicted as talking about bucolic topics like cows, sheep, goats, wheat, alfalfa, fields, crops, tractors, and buxom wenches to the exclusion of all else. Broadly, they are portrayed as unaware of or uninterested in the world outside their own surroundings.

It is an unfortunate stereotype for sure, it is something we should collectively smile at knowing full well that there are dynamic companies there:

My point was really that there is a massive difference between the Midlands (for example) and East Anglia in terms of industry versus agriculture.

A bit topical:



And besides, I could see from your wedding photos that you both look far from the grass-chewing stereotype

I think this will happen if we remain in or go out to be honest. The wheels are in motion and too many people stand to get very rich from it regardless of what we do with our vote.

I'm still a fence sitter.

Well, I rest my case