Ordinary people vs the elite/establishment

westernpromise

I think the Boaty McBoatface poll was a pretty clear signal that you can't trust the plebs to vote on a single issue and get it right.

Mistermeaner

boaty mcboatface was quite the opposite; proof that the people can be trusted.

they've f'd up this one though

Wednesday2000

I think it's the same issue as they have in the US when a large number of people blame the elites/ immigrants for any and every problem they have.

Carl31 wrote: »

the answer is both, the Brexit was an economic decision, and the arguments from both sides were all economic. The problem is 95% of the voting populace have little or no understanding of economics, and the powers that be made no proper attempt to address this issue, instead of explaining the facts in an easy to understand manner, they both went down the fear route, meaning most voters were fed a pack of lies, or extremely questionable projections, using their place in society to support their claims

I don't think it's 95%, but it's certainly more people than I would have guessed last week.:p

kabayiri

kinger101 wrote: »

The one where we're not allowed to have vacuum cleaners with a motor more than 1600W. If we want to reduce energy consumption, reducing the size of the EU parliament and ending the monthly travelling circus between Strasbourg and Brussels would have been more effective.

..or trying to persuade India's rising middle classes not to install air conditioning and own their own gas guzzlers, perish the thought.

Initiatives like the vacuum cleaner one are classic piddling in the wind.

The EU is now like SkyNet. It exists to serve itself. It has realised that it can dispense with human voters. I expect T1000s made with Merkel-Metal to patrol the streets soon.

wotsthat

Hooray. Can we have more powerful vacuum cleaners now?

After all the power of two horses to suck fluff off the carpet just doesn't seem enough. Good news for manufacturers because it's far easier to add power than increase efficieny.

Anyone seen a straight banana yet?

mwpt

wotsthat wrote: »

Hooray. Can we have more powerful vacuum cleaners now?

After all the power of two horses to suck fluff off the carpet just doesn't seem enough. Good news for manufacturers because it's far easier to add power than increase efficieny.

Anyone seen a straight banana yet?

I myself have been putting off buying a new vacuum cleaner and boy am I glad I did.

However, my bananas are a weekly purchase so I'll have to suffer bendy ones a little longer.

Scarpacci

Mistermeaner wrote: »

So you think jobs should be guaranteed for life from age 16? Regardless of global economic factors and environmental / technological advancements. Dear god please explain your vision of the UK economy where we are still mass mining coal.

You can say it's ridiculous in this age to think anybody has a career guaranteed from 16 to retirement, but has any politician ever stood for election in Stoke, Boston or Dudley telling their people this? Has any politician won an election by telling those people to get on their bike and move south? To go to university and become a social media analyst or financial derivatives trader? Or learn Polish and move to Krakow? Of course not.

Those people have, as we've learned, as much of a right to vote as anyone. Their "demands", if you can call them that, may be unrealistic or incoherent, but since when are voters' demands not? The middle-class want good schools, good hospitals and lower taxes for themselves. People vote for a government which will cut expenditure, but not on any area that affects them.

These people hark back to a different economic time. Perhaps one that wasn't even that good back then. But they have as much right to have an unrealistic view of the future as the middle-class who hope for tax cuts and spending increases.

Mistermeaner wrote: »

Re sports direct - if this company and its practices are so abhorrent how come it is still trading. Surely the people would revolt and gladly pay many pounds more for their lonsdale trackies in a shop that guarantees jobs for life and final salary pension schemes. You should start such a business and give all thgthge profits to charity.

The small benefits to people of cheap sportswear, made in factories in Bangladesh and packed in poor working conditions in Derbyshire, flow widely. The significant damage to quality of life affects only a few people who might be a distant thought for most shoppers, so they're not motivated to change their behaviour.

This is true when you look at all these instances of closed factories, mines, outsourced jobs, imported EEA labour, etc. The benefits are small and felt widely, the losses are deep and felt locally. Well, those local people have finally found a voice.

Mistermeaner

The 1600W restriction was so easy to circumvent:

There has been no restriction on lawn mower power - i use my petrol lawn mower in the house. The boy has learned not to leave his toys on the floor

kinger101

mwpt wrote: »

No, what he is doing is called telling the truth based on facts.

It is a concept quite unfamiliar to the leave campaign who had only hyperbole, soundbites and outright lies. I do believe it is time to...

Stop the lies!

The point about directives is the national parliaments are obliged to enact them. In that sense, it's still legislative acts that originated in the EU. I voted in BTW, but pretending EU directives don't count as EU law is disingenuous to say the least.

Thanks for implying I'm a liar.

kinger101

wotsthat wrote: »

Hooray. Can we have more powerful vacuum cleaners now?

After all the power of two horses to suck fluff off the carpet just doesn't seem enough. Good news for manufacturers because it's far easier to add power than increase efficieny.

Anyone seen a straight banana yet?

Someone asked to give an example of a pointless piece of EU legislation. Clearly you don't care about the power of vacuum cleaners, like 99% of the rest of the population. So why on Earth should the EU?