EU Crumbles: How Johnson's Brexit Success Could Spark Collapse in Bloc

Express ^ | Fri, Jan 31, 2020 | CHARLIE BRADLEY

[Samurai_Jack]

“hard Brexit may be the only option on the table if he doesn’t want to be trapped into Remaining.”

precisely!

[shaggy eel]

,,, the UK carried a disproportionate amount of funding for the EU and as the EU headed east, collecting more peasant States, it got a whole lot less for their contributions. Brussels said when and where UK trawlers could fish and that was just one example of the control the UK was under. Thatcher, whether you liked her or not, was smart enough to keep the Sterling. Germany has done particularly well from the Euro. If anything, their costs from re-unification with the eastern bloc have been a drag on their economy. Better days ahead for the UK, I’m sure.

[Winniesboy]

The Euro was only introduced in 1999, long after Thatcher’s departure. Blair was very keen to join, but he was dissuaded by (then chancellor) Gordon Brown. And btw the fishing issue is much more complex, and the Uk had much more power to influence, than you suggest. It was the UK government which decided to auction fishing quotas to the highest bidder (most of them from outside the UK). It was not required to do so - other EU states restricted their quotas to their own fleets. As to the quotas themselves, the UK had just as much influence in negotiating them as any of the other maritime member states.

[cloudmountain]

I liked Margaret Thatchers.
I played some slow-pitch softball when we were overseas in the K.S.A.
Slow-pitch softball was a way to help us women stay out of trouble.

All the teams were fairly well set so I played with a team of British women and we were THATCHER'S CATCHERS.

Our coaches were American men, a couple of good ole boys who faced a GIANT hurdle with us. The women were SO bad that I played shortstop. That shows you the level.
But I knew the game. I have always loved baseball and if I had been born male I would have tried to be a baseball player...somewhere.

Well, every once in a while the good Lord gives me a "gold star."
One evening we were playing a great team who had played together for years. There were two people on base and one out. The opponent ROLLED a hit to me. I scooped it up, tagged the woman running from second to third base and lobbed the ball to the second baseman, who was just about standing on second: DOUBLE PLAY, a smooth, easy one at that.
Well, our two coaches just about came outta their socks with joy. They were SO happy. We didn't win but they saw us produce a DOUBLE play.

I had one or two goodies when I returned to the USA and played slow pitch with other adults. I was on a team of computer folks and optometrists: the EYEBYTES.
But that's another story.

So my memories of Margaret Thatcher always include "Thatcher's Catchers"--a happy memory.