QUOTE OF THE DAY. TRIPPS ORIGINAL

[Cathy]

Have we had this one...
In 1949, when playwright George Bernard Shaw was rehearsing his new play, he sent Winston Churchill a telegram saying:
"Have reserved two tickets for my first night. Come and bring a friend. If you have one."
To which Churchill replied:
"Impossible to come to first night, will come to second night, if you have one."

[plaques]

So many variations of this one its hard to say which one is true, if any!
Lady Astor: "Mr. Churchill, you're drunk!"
Winston Churchill: "Yes, and you, Madam, are ugly. But tomorrow, I
shall be sober."

[Stanley]

My favolurite Winston quote is supposed to have happened in his earlier days when he was on the stump and being heckled. Someone at the back kept shouting a very nasty name at him. WSC said "If the gentleman at the back would stop shouting his name and phrase his question properly I will endeavour to answer it!"

[Tizer]

From the BBC News site:
Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesman Tom Brake said Mr Gove's "temper tantrum" showed "deep divides within the cabinet" and the "petulance of Brexiteers who can sense their lies are being exposed". He said the cabinet "need to act less like toddlers and more like senior ministers negotiating one of the most important deals in UK history".

[Stanley]

I'd say that it shows they are totally 'unfit for purpose' so that can be my quote of the day!

[Tizer]

Michael Howard this morning talked about the `exciting future' that we'd all have once Brexit is sorted. I think his `exciting future' will be like Confucius's `interesting times'!

[Stanley]

Pursuing the Confucian allusion.... We may be sat on the river bank watching the bodies of the Brexiteers floating past.......

[Tizer]

I loved this one, and it's so apt...
Senior Tory MP Sir Nicholas Soames said Mr Rees-Mogg should 'shut up' and accused him of making empty threats - saying he was 'all gong and no dinner' .

[Stanley]

I think there is little doubt he loves the sound of his own voice..... I wonder if he realises how ridiculous many of us find it......

[Tizer]

Michael Gove's warning to the EU: 'Be generous or we'll walk away'.
The Brexiteers live in their own strange world where they're desperate to find a way to abandon the EU yet believe they're in a position to make demands of it.

[chinatyke]

Michael Gove's warning to the EU: 'Be generous or we'll walk away'.
The Brexiteers live in their own strange world where they're desperate to find a way to abandon the EU yet believe they're in a position to make demands of it.

Why cant the UK make demands? 54% of our imports come from there. Doesn't that give UK some leverage?
Exports of goods and services to other EU countries were worth £240 billion in 2016, while exports from the rest of the EU to the UK were worth about £320 billion. That's 80 billion POUNDS or 220million pounds per DAY in their favour. Are they going to risk that?

[Stanley]

"Britain used to produce world leaders, now it can't even lead itself."
A foreign diplomat said this yesterday.

[Tizer]

Michael Gove's warning to the EU: 'Be generous or we'll walk away'.
The Brexiteers live in their own strange world where they're desperate to find a way to abandon the EU yet believe they're in a position to make demands of it.

Why cant the UK make demands? 54% of our imports come from there. Doesn't that give UK some leverage?
Exports of goods and services to other EU countries were worth £240 billion in 2016, while exports from the rest of the EU to the UK were worth about £320 billion. That's 80 billion POUNDS or 220million pounds per DAY in their favour. Are they going to risk that?

China, as you noted, the UK has a large trade surplus (negative balance) with the EU, i.e. it imports more than it exports, and it gets 54% of its imported goods from the EU. However, when you look at the statistics for intra-EU import of goods you will find that the UK's imports represent less than 6% of the total goods imported between EU countries. Therefore the UK is not as important a destination for EU goods as it might seem.

As well as recognising the relative insignificance of the UK's trade with the EU (from the EU's perspective) we should concentrate on what would happen if the UK made a `hard Brexit' (which is getting more likely day by day). Trade within the EU would not be seriously disturbed. In contrast, the UK would have to find 54% of its imports from elsewhere and find new markets for many of its exports. The Brexiteers would tell us that this is easy, but it isn't. Setting up trade agreements (and we would need many) is very time-consuming and difficult, especially so when those sitting on the other side of the table know how desperate you are.

If we go ahead with Brexit the EU is not going to bother looking for trade agreements with the UK; it will give priority to trade among its members and with those countries with whom it has long-standing agreements. They will have lost little. In contrast we will have lost a major part of our trade, the benefit of being able to trade with 27 countries and allies using agreements, rules and regulations developed over many decades.

[chinatyke]

So, despite being the 5th largest GDP in the World, UK should be worried? Germany is #4 and they should stand alone too.
Of course, if you take the EU as a single entity then that is the 2nd largest GDP.
Stand on your own 2 feet and stop acting like shivering wusses.

Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_c ... _(nominal)

[Stanley]

We did that 1939-1945 China and look where that got us! Tiz is dead right and one thing he hasn't mentioned is that UK manufacturers who rely on free trade with Europe have the solution in their own hands, relocate.
In another part of the forest..... "They think it's all over. It is now!"

[Tripps]

Here is Jacob Rees-Mogg’s response to the white paper:

“This is the greatest vassalage since King John paid homage to Phillip II at Le Goulet in 1200."

I thought that as well. . . .

[Stanley]

We pay these loonies to do it. That makes us fools as well.....

[Tizer]

“This is the greatest vassalage since King John paid homage to Phillip II at Le Goulet in 1200."

...and Rees-Mogg has never forgiven him!

[Stanley]

"The worst of both worlds" Justin Greening a Remainer who is in favour of another referendum because she says Parliament is deadlocked. She could be right......

[Tizer]

I would rather we had another referendum now that people have had a better chance to understand the madness of Brexit. But better still would be for us to stop flirting with populism and concentrate on representative democracy. In other words, Parliament should do what it knows is best for the UK.

[Tizer]

Anna Soubry on T. May: `The problem is, I don't think that she's in charge any more. I've no doubt that Jacob Rees Mogg is running our country.'

[Stanley]

I heard her Tiz. I agreed with everything she said.

[Tizer]

Trump, after his mix up over Putin, Russia and election meddling:
"The sentence should have been: 'I don't see any reason why I wouldn't' or 'why it wouldn't be Russia'. Sort of a double negative."
I wonder what he'd be like if, in a crisis, he was asked by his generals "Should we bomb the Russian missile sites?"

[Stanley]

Don't even think about it Tiz. Too horrifying to guess.

[Tripps]

I watched the Real Marigold Hotel' last night. This from Selina Scott made me smile. Not verbatim.

"Older people are very competitive when it comes to telling each other what is wrong with them."

I try to resist the temptation. . .