On this Date

In 1940, France fell to Germany in World War II.

In 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union.

And on this day Ukraine marks 75th anniversary of Nazi German invasion in WWII!
http://uatoday.tv/society/ukraine-marks-75th-anniversary-of-nazi-german-invasion-in-wwii-677030.html

Littering the Continent with useless regulations, wasting EU funds on vanity projects

Littering the Continent with useless regulations, wasting EU funds on vanity projects

Aha. You mean EU regulation litter:)
Then we have lot.
All these vanity fundings that wouldn't exist if it not where to those EU MEPs having a "vision" of a Europe like Eutopia.
The regulations are countless...

I guess that all the UK people are now queuing up to vote on their big decision.

Cheers.

The weather is maybe an obstacle today.
Red “immediate action” flood warnings were issued for parts of south-east London and Essex as parts of the capital were expected to see a month’s rainfall in a matter of hours.
Is this an omen?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/23/torrential-rain-and-flooding-in-london-and-south-east-on-referendum-day

Well. The weather seem better now.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/23/eu-referendum-boris-johnson-says-a-brexit-will-be-a-turning-poin/

We had a good storm here in south London last night, rain, almost continuous lightning but only distant rumbles of thunder.

Rain has stopped at the moment

Went to vote about 10.30 AM and whilst there wasn't a "queue" there were definitely more people than at the recent London Mayor election.

---

Come on Turkey, please vote for Christmas :-)

Turkey considers holding referendum

Come on Turkey, please vote for Christmas :-)

Turkey considers holding referendum

ErdoÄŸan said Turkey had been promised membership in 1963 but that nothing had happened despite the passage of 53 years.
“Why are you stalling?” he asked.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-could-hold-uk-style-referendum-on-stalled-eu-bid-erdogan-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=100803&NewsCatID=338
LOL
Could it perhaps be that Turkey doesn't share the same values on human rights that EU have?
There are also some other issues.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_of_Turkey_to_the_European_Union#Turkish_membership_issues

And that Turkey thinks that the EU would consider an enlargement now:)

Some light relief :-)

In the other European debate which is still ongoing, we have some early exiters & some remainers carrying on...



...so as one can see, the Trade argument doesn't count :-)

Like it:)
Iceland has qualified for the final tournament in Euro 2016!
And England of course.

Now Roy Hodgson are meeting Lars Lagerbäck in a friendly match!

Roy Hodgson has managed sixteen different teams in eight countries, beginning in Sweden with Halmstad BK in the 1976 season and later Malmö FF amongst other.
Lars Lagerbäck managed the Swedish national team from 1998 until 2009, leading Sweden in five consecutive championships.

No matter what happens today we still play football:)

King Lars.

There are polling stations
Halesowen, in the Black Country

And there are polling stations
The White Horse Inn in Priors Dean, Hampshire.

Love or hate the man, what a speech. To find that it was October 2015, I wish it was today!

What a speech

I dare anyone to point out where he is wrong in that speech.

Love or hate the man, what a speech. To find that it was October 2015, I wish it was today!
What a speech
I dare anyone to point out where he is wrong in that speech.

The gauntlet is thrown:)

He added: "We saw virtually a stampede and we learn that 80 per cent of those that are coming are not Syrian refugees.
"In fact what you've done is open the door to young, male economic migrants, many of whom behave in a rather aggressive manner quite the opposite you would ever expect to see from any refugee.

When stating numbers like 80% he ought to have some stats from for instance UNHCR to back it. He is just guessing.
"The rather aggressive manner" is was what he felt when being approached by some refugees or immigrants when he was droving his car near Folkestone or Dover.
From that experience you cannot judge that so many more refugees or immigrants have this manner.
Yes there where others how had the same experience but how many of the total immigrants?

Whatever way the vote goes we will have to live with it and only thing i'm fairly sure about is the result is going to be close maybe 47% / 53% either way .
Way things are no one can say what the outcome is going to be

True, but there's no reason we couldn't have a bit of fun and guess :)

I'll go first:

44% Remain
56% Leave
(UK - Overall)

40% Remain
60% Leave
(England only)

Maybe a high-score of 70% Leave in a few of the "shires".

Hmmm... looks like the markets & bookies totally disagree with me.

(Will watch above linked video now)

Edit: watched video
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that just like Bernie, Farage is considered a caricature for no other reason than the fact he is a political "outsider". IOW not part of the status quo. What I don't understand is that when things are f'ed up because the status quo f'ed them up... Well it's time to change the status quo, isn't it?

Anyway, in a hypothetical election it would be great to see a Farage vs Bernie type choice (or replace Farage with Maggie in this example if it helps you). That way people can actually vote on Right vs Left which is what we all imagine democracy to be about. Even after the Crash though, it appears to still be Sell-outs vs Sell-outs all across the Western world. WTF? What does it take for people to wake up? Does it always have to come to pitchforks?

FFS.

You have said something similar previously, you yourself have no exact information to confirm or deny so...

...any comments on the speech regarding the EU or the running of it?

Just for Alex :-)

When you watch the video, look at Merkel's face when he brings up Germany & Greece.

You have said something similar previously, you yourself have no exact information to confirm or deny so...
...any comments on the speech regarding the EU or the running of it?

The UNHCR doesn't have the exact (perhaps none) information either.
I don't know. But if I was Nigel I would checked something before standing in the EU parliament and giving a speech.

Now for the rest of his speech I must say he is correct.
He is saying what many EU countries think.
EU has become more like a State of Germany with some outer provinces and the further you are from Brussels and Germany your voice is not being heard.
Thats one of the reasons why we dont like Brexit cause Northern Europe will be neglected.
So if Brexit then I think Swexit and Fixit will follow sooner than we think.

Anyway Nigel was happy when he voted earlier today. Very happy if you ask me.

But just recently Nigel Farage says it "looks like 'Remain' will edge it"

First of all let's ignore the immigration part of the speech for a moment.

Farage nailed it 110% in under 3 minutes. I can't even quote anything because I'd probably end up quoting... everything!

I'm also happy to say that I watched the vid before reading your comment and I didn't even need the pointer (don't get me wrong, pointers are ALWAYS welcome).

So I was watching the video going all tunnel-vision on Merkel and Hollande and... hot damn! I wish channels like the Beeb had a "Lie to Me" type analyst & psychiatrist combo.

Farage called France a bunch of pu**ies and Hollande appears inches away of breaking out a... smile! Normal narcissistic reaction would be to throw a weeping, screaming, bratty tantrum (ala Schultz). Instead he's either sitting there with bird sounds chirping and wind sounds playing inside his head OR he's thinking, "Don't I know it!" (which would be a very welcome miracle). Anyway, that's my first impression, I admit I was a bit more focused on Merkel.

On Merkel.
Well, well, well. What a pleasant surprise. A completely USELESS surprise, but a pleasant one nonetheless:
She's about to cry. Anyone paying attention already knows she's perfectly capable of it.

She's also a bit like Frodo: semi-incapacitated and whimpering through the whole Euro-crisis movie because she's under the spell of her "precious". I seriously doubt there's anyone on the planet that honestly thinks Angela will throw the ring into Mordor though. Hell, even if she does it tomorrow (fat chance), it'll still be a few years too late :(

While it's awesome she has a heart, it's not of much use when every single decision ends up favoring Germany and screwing over every other EU country. Everyone knows you can't have your cake and eat too, yet miraculously Germany has managed exactly that. Tag-team her with a genuine psychopath like Shoebbels and the result is a duo that has the audacity to turn around and preach... solidarity!!!

As for Farage, well he's just awesome. I underestimated his clear-headedness, I will shamefully admit. It takes a genuinely rational person to say Kohl/Mitterrand had the right idea (Snark, please ignore this whole comment... you've got a perverted view of the definition of "rational". It'll just mess with your head).

On a personal note:
A Kohl/Mitterrand Europe? I still say YES (for now)
A Shoebbels/Merkel Europe? You gottabef'inkiddingmetheycanshoveitwherethesundon'tshine.

The result are now coming in.
Gibraltar Remain 95.9 %
http://www.bbc.com/news/politics/eu_referendum/results
Turnouts much higher then I thought it would be.
Early turnouts: Newcastle 68%, Orkney 68%, Kettering 76%

As to the referendum:

For the sanity of all souls within the UK's borders I still say...

Run to the hills. Run for your lives. And don't look back. Get as far away as possible from these incompetent megalomaniac brats.

However, if the bookies got it right (I still can't figure out how/why) then it looks like Varoufakis get's his wish, but I'll go out on a limb and predict a very different result. Instead of "change from within" I bet we see the UK get stonewalled again by the EU ('cause that's the only response these enlightened people have) at some point down the road.

Then hopefully anybody that voted REMAIN will feel like rioting just hopefully without the actual riots.

At which point I'm hoping the UK politicos & press will get severely vitriolic. It would be a joy to watch, since it's one of the things England does best :)

Now THAT scenario might bring a bit of change in the EU.
Maybe.

On a personal note:
A Kohl/Mitterrand Europe? I still say YES (for now)
A Shoebbels/Merkel Europe? You gottabef'inkiddingmetheycanshoveitwherethesundon'tshine.

Thanks :-)

Thought I was the only one seeing that.