English Pound set to Rocket

[Brian Peacock]

That's not a problem. A weak pound makes imports more expensive but it means that people are really keen to buy our exports and make our lovely exporters lots and lots of extra money. Brexit is going to be a new Nirvana as we export our goods and wares all over the globe again. All we have to do is just get round all those WTO rules and international trade deal things...

A weakening of the pound is the way of getting round all those WTO rules and international trade deal things. China has kept its currency low for precisely that purpose. Despite cries of "foul" by the USA and just about all other importers of its goods it has done pretty fucking well with that simple strategy for decades. Those WTO rules and international trade deal things were totally impotent to do anything about it.

I guess the UK only needs Chinese levels of wages and employment laws plus a lo- to no-tax environment and we're good to go.

(You do know I was aping the oft-heard enthusiasm of those unicorn sniffing Brexitarians right?)

[Rum]

We could be like Hong Kong. Hardly any taxes, no import duties, the guy in his Rolls driving past the guy breaking rocks for a pound a day. Squalor next to excessive luxury - that was it when I was a kid.

Look what happened there

[Brian Peacock]

You're basically describing a Capitalist's wet dream of a perfect society. We've had that already in the UK - it was called The Victoria Era, and anyone who's read Mayhew or Dickens knows how that turns out; and yet they go and do it anyway.

[Rum]

You're basically describing a Capitalist's wet dream of a perfect society. We've had that already in the UK - it was called The Victoria Era, and anyone who's read Mayhew or Dickens knows how that turns out; and yet they go and do it anyway.

I’m not seriously proposing it, but the main difference is the time scale. HK changed from being a sleepy harbour city in the 1950s to one of the richest cities in the world in a generation. I watched it and it was fucking exhilarating!

Of course circumstances are everything.

[Scot Dutchy]

I was told once to take off my hat and bow my head by grandmother when we were walking a border country road when The Duke Of Buccleuch came past in his Rolls. I was five.

[Svartalf]

I call shananigans, british nobility has not rated that kind of demonstrations of respect since before Victoria passed

[JimC]

I call shananigans, british nobility has not rated that kind of demonstrations of respect since before Victoria passed

That was pretty well when Scot was 5, though...

[Hermit]

I call shananigans, british nobility has not rated that kind of demonstrations of respect since before Victoria passed

Ya reckon? I don't. The aristocracy in the UK, and most of Europe for that matter, was of high standing in more ways than one until the end of WWI



Edward VII reigned from 1901 to 1910.

Besides, Scotty's grandmother could have been in the late teens or early 20s already when Queen Victoria died.

[Scot Dutchy]

I call shananigans, british nobility has not rated that kind of demonstrations of respect since before Victoria passed

That was pretty well when Scot was 5, though...

The lands in the Borders are more or less owned by Buccleuch and Roxburgh. The bastards had and still do have incredible powers. Their managers were tyrants and were known to evict for little reason. Buying a fishing licence for salmon fishing is only reserved for their rich friends for the best stretches.

[Rum]

You are well behind the times. That’s what happens.

[pErvinalia]

He once lived there 400 years ago. He knows how it works today.

[Rum]

It is true to say that there is still inappropriate (in my view) deference to royalty from some people, but I suspect it is of a different kind and more to do with celebrity. I’m sure I’d be tongue tied if I ever met Paul McCarney or Tom Hanks. Despite myself I couldn’t just talk to the queen as an ‘ordinary’ person either despite having no time fit the monarchy as such.

The days of doffing one’s cap as the local lord of the Manor goes by are however long gone.

[Scot Dutchy]

The days of doffing one’s cap as the local lord of the Manor goes by are however long gone.

You really believe that? Done venture onto the Buccleuch estates (most of the Borders).

[Rum]

The days of doffing one’s cap as the local lord of the Manor goes by are however long gone.

You really believe that? Done venture onto the Buccleuch estates (most of the Borders).

I suspect if you are a tenant farmer/crofter on a large estate you would feel obliged to show a degree of respect for the person who has so much control over your life and livelihood. However - and you probably aren’t aware of this as you ran away from Scotland so long ago - but the number of people who live that sort of life is now very small relatively speaking. Times change Mr Hate.

[Scot Dutchy]

Really? You have no idea. I was down in the borders a few years ago and nothing has changed in fact due to the present economical situation in the Borders it has got worse. Buccleuch Estates are viscous land owners.