melesian
The cost of implementing customs controls ALONE amounted to more than the sum total of UK contributions to the EU budget from day 1 of the UK joining the common market. The losses to the UK economy have been staggering -- up to 8% of GDP on a recurring basis. And no the UK didn't have a cold-turkey exit from the EU, that would have been a "no deal" exit.
But... but... splutter Brexiters, "look at Germany". Always looking at growth rates and cherrypicking data. Germany has had a massive increase in energy costs, far greater than experienced in the UK.
Go on: tell us Brexit is a mere "flesh wound"
Brexit has been a bone-crushing failure and repeated polls show a majority of the electorate knows it. A toxic minority of older voters, the UK's MAGA cohort, is ready to double down, and all they will achieve if they get anywhere near govt is the breakup of the UK, wihch of course many younger non-English voters support. Either way it's been a quite boon to the EU.
Europe is already great. It's why hundreds of thousands of Americans moved here in 2025.
As for being a vassal: Trump was warned of the consequences of invading Greenland and he backed down immediately. Some vassal.
The last straw for the Irish was summary executions of the insurrectionists and the ravages of the Black and Tans -- like ICE but with arsonists and criminals, but without masks. The US will be fortunate if the parallels remain only financial.
Perhaps you'd like to compare Ireland's position in the Human Development Index with that of its neighbours?
It's a cultural norm. Extending it to other generally penniless artists is too.
When universities in other countries start running courses on Irish food service workers we can reasonably expect them to be included.
Yes, of course Europe doesn't have any US laws but to suggest that it doesn't have legislation about accessibility is simply wrong. Guess what... the legislation generally applies to buildings and construction post-dating the legislation. Applicability to earlier structures will vary depending on feasability and justification (cost, traffic).
I carry an 8 inch tablet (fits in a jacket pocket) and do most of my mobile web, email, podcast listening etc. on that, using my phone as a hotspot. Can't buy a new 8 inch tablet with a fingerprint reader. Got a couple of 2nd hand ones on eBay and will soon look at putting LineageOS on them (they have out of date versions of Android).
What an absolute load of tripe.
Straight from disease surveillance being a bad thing (it isn't) to this drivel /eyeroll.
Disease surveillance helps stop potential pandemics before the cost of addressing them and the damage the can cause, including loss of life, reaches colossal proportions. Recommended reading: The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett.
I note how the conspiratorial assertion of Africans being used, in effect, as guinea pigs is entirely unsupported by any evidence whatever. Vaccine trials happen everywhere, not just in Africa, and no national healthcare system in Africa blindly accepts vaccines as if people were experimental animals.
Did you give informed consent yourself for the childhood vaccinations you received?
Ireland is ahead of the UK on every metric, from child mortality to longevity and everything in between -- and the gap is widening.
The Irish were coerced into the UK and were officially British citizens, that is ostensibly, co-nationals. They weren't treated as such because those in power regarded them as subhuman. If that isn't racism the word is devoid of meaning.
The estimated cost for the UK to implement full controls amounts to more than the entire sum of the UK's near 50 year contributions to the EU budget. And that's only one of dozens of areas where the EU saves money by agreeing common standards.
What the Chinese do with cheap products sold on AliExpress isn't important. Obliging big manufacturers to adopt common standards reduces environmental waste and helps cut down on gratuitous exploitation of consumers.
You can find plenty of 2nd hand devices for sale with non-USB-C connectors and no, the police, aren't arresting people for selling them, nor is their sale illegal.
Very simply, maintaining two production lines or trying to engage in pointless differentiation from the standards of your largest export market is costly and potentially futile.
No need for any EU-bashing conspiracy theory nonsense. It's an association of democracies with a democratically elected parliament that approves EU legislation.
I'll help (there's plenty more if you care to look): https://www.trethowans.com/insights/is-this-the-end-of-the-u...
What the EU is regulating is fair competition for very large platforms, defined as having 45m or more users. These benefit from network effects and may be operated in ways that inhibit competition.
Do you also believe that John D. Rockefeller never did anything anti-competitive? lol
If Apple wants to sell in the EU it will have to abide by EU rules decided by democratically elected politicians. The US has proven incapable and or unwilling to regulate big tech. The EU has been slow and won't always get it right first time but it's trying. This is why EU citizens have e.f., privacy rights Americans don't, why broadband costs way less in the EU than the US etc.
If parasitism is what interests you I suggest directing your attention to rentier capitalism and the never ending upward flow of wealth to the 1% and the extent to which US politicians are owned by billionaires.
The data are for sale.
This is how Trump got elected and the UK got Brexit. Microtargeted political messages to persuade a proportion of the population to vote the way the very rich wanted them to vote.
There's nothing wrong with traditional advertising. That's not the world and surveillanace economy we now live in, where you don't have to click on anything.
And you should be as or more worried about democracy than the web. We managed without the web. Living without democracy would be far worse, imo.
Clearly, you have have no idea whatever what you're talking about, and subscribe to conspiracy theory BS without bothering to do any homework because it fits your prejudices
It can and has fired the entire Commission in the past, and it must approve EU legislation.
Much more fun to subscribe to a conspiracy theory about all-powerful people behind the curtain though.