Comments

  1. Saganite, a haunter of demons says

    Oi, baked beans are awesome. As awful as British cuisine might be, the one thing they absolutely got right was their breakfast, including baked beans.

  2. laurentweppe says

    The UK leaving the EU will benefit Russia. Putin must be happy.

    Why do you think he subsidize the European far-right?

  3. cartomancer says

    As a teetotal British boy born and raised, I have to say that apart from a few of the cheeses there’s nothing in the continental section there that I find remotely appealing. I do, however, really like baked beans. Given the choice, I would go with the beans in a second.

    I appreciate the sentiment they’re trying to express. However, this is not about being culturally europhile. It’s about cooperation and working together despite our differences. It’s perfectly ok to find French cuisine prissy and unsatisfying. It’s fine to have an aversion to the all-too-spicy German and Italian sausages. It’s acceptable not to like food you are unfamiliar with and which doesn’t appeal to the palate you have developed growing up. The mark of maturity and common sense is that you don’t let these things convince you that your tastes are somehow superior to those of others and you have no business cooperating with people who don’t like what you do.

  4. says

    I thought we eschewed unhelpful stereotypes here! :-)

    British cooking is extremely good and varied, and the beer is wonderful.

    The horribly named ‘Brexit’ on the other hand….

  5. says

    laurentweppe, comment 5, an answer.

    Here’s a summary from the International Business Times:

    […] Crisis in the EU is a blessing for Moscow: Without the U.K. — one of the most vocal supporters of the EU’s sanctions regime against Russia — Russian officials say pressure on the Kremlin will be reduced, leading to significant foreign policy benefits.

    A weaker Europe is a weaker NATO: The disintegration of the EU could translate into a weakening of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, long regarded by Russia as a political and military threat. […]

    Less financial regulation: […] restrictions imposed on the country’s [Britian’s] financial sector by the EU might be loosened, prompting a boost in financing for Chinese and Russian investment projects.[…]

  6. Rich Woods says

    @Lynna #8:

    Less financial regulation: […] restrictions imposed on the country’s [Britian’s] financial sector by the EU might be loosened, prompting a boost in financing for Chinese and Russian investment projects.[…]

    We’re already open to business from corrupt regimes, and happy to sell all our most expensive London property to the oligarchs and non-Comms seeking a good return for their ill-gotten gains (not to mention a domicile and a passport for when their personal shit hits the home-front fan).

    It’s difficult to imagine how much further we could bend over backwards to accommodate these cheeky chappies while still ranting on about immigration, but then I’m sure my financial imagination and political prestidigitation is not up to that of Boris Johnson and his band of merry pranksters.

  7. Cardinal Shrew says

    I could go for a snack, would someone pass me that franziskaner and a sausage.

  8. says

    Should’t there be some canned tomatoes and canned shrimp with the baked beans?

    Does this mean that the cost of wine will go up for brits? That’s an important consideration that should have been taken into account before the vote.

  9. pointinline says

    Marcus. Wine is already more expensive in the UK because of the duty paid. Duty on a bottle of wine in France is 2p. In UK it’s £2.08. This is unlikely to change, but it’s possible that limits on the amount of duty free wine brought into UK from europe may be reintroduced.

  10. says

    Wine is already more expensive in the UK because of the duty paid. Duty on a bottle of wine in France is 2p. In UK it’s £2.08.

    Probably the EU’s fault. But now the young people in the UK can really show they’re not spoiled brats and finally achieve something and do something about this!

    Well, does that mean the price of cheddar and whisky will go down?

  11. Saganite, a haunter of demons says

    @#18 Giliell, professional cynic -Ilk-
    It probably will, if only because of the weaker pound. It’ll presumably stay weak for a while. That said, once customs duties for non-EU countries are applied, they may become more expensive in turn.

  12. birgerjohansson says

    The only good thing about Brexit is that im makes it cheaper for me to order British books.

    I will try to write about Brexit without regurgitating too much of what has been written before (and more eloquently than I can do).
    A lot of the comments in media draw the wrong conclusions, like criticizing Cameron for promising a referendum, the idea being that democracy is a danger and the proles too dumb to be entrusted responsibility for their own fates.

    The EU rules have allowed a huge influx of immigrants and yes, they have been willing to work for lower wages, dumping the general level of wages in Britain. But the answer is not less democracy, but more social justice. Member states must be allowed to set a lowest permitted standard for wages (as well as a highest permitted level of pollution etc).

    The nationalist parties in Europe attract voters because they feel marginalised, without any power to influence the competing political blocs (in Britain, less than two thirds of voters actually use their right to vote). And economic insecurity makes people desperate and prone to choose “traditional” (that is, populist and xenophobic ) solutions offered by the extreme right.
    The economic insecurity is to no small amount the fault of Cameron and the Tories: Even the International Monetary Fund, normally a bulwark of conservative economists, is admitting that “austerity” economics during recession actually makes things worse (a conclusion already made during the Great Depression but wilfully ignored today).
    Cameron and his party pursued an ideologically motivated austerity program during the recession, and the slow recovery of the British economy must have been to the “Brexit” campaign what kerosene is to a bonfire.

    In regard to migration, the immigrants provide a big chunk of British taxes, and skilled foreign professionals make up a huge part of the workforce of the National Health Service. Meanwhile more than a million British citizens live and work in other EU countries. The consequences of brexit will hurt badly. :-(

  13. birgerjohansson says

    …But if you top off the Brexit breakfast with fermented herring and Absolut, it might stave off the pain for a while.

  14. birgerjohansson says

    I just realised; if Scotland decides to re-join EU and tells London to sod off, the antiquated election system of Britain is likely to give the Tories a permanent political majority!
    So Labour had better change their attitude to a more modern voting system, and do it fast!

  15. numerobis says

    “Permanent political majority” never lasts long — in this case, UKIP will see to that.

  16. Steve Watson says

    Seventy odd per cent is more than two thirds of the electorate. You might not like the outcome, but that is democracy.

  17. konservenknilch says

    @20, birgerjohansson

    “Member states must be allowed to set a lowest permitted standard for wages”

    But they are. See Germany with the “Mindestlohn”. Flawed, but it was entirely up to them. So I don’t see the point of the complaint here. The EU has no say in wage negotiations.

  18. Dunc says

    I just realised; if Scotland decides to re-join EU and tells London to sod off, the antiquated election system of Britain is likely to give the Tories a permanent political majority!

    Actually, no. Scotland’s vote has only changed the balance of the UK parliament twice since WWII, and in both cases it was extremely marginal and short-lived. England is perfectly capable of electing Labour governments by itself if it wants to.

  19. jefrir says

    “Member states must be allowed to set a lowest permitted standard for wages”
    They already can and do; the UK has had a national minimum wage since 1998. That it isn’t high enough, or is inconsistently enforced, has nothing to do with the EU.