I'm really sorry Okenobi...... "that we know and trust"

I have met Norman Baker he seems a decent sort and Tony Benn too, but thats as far as I'm willing to go on this.

I think WEEE is very effective - where do you think the funding comes from for all the electrical recycling at local tips? Or why all these "trade-in" schemes at places like Comet have suddenly popped up (they'll offer you money for your fridge etc or take it away for free).



All member states flout the rules, and they all invariably get prosecuted for it. The UK is in the dock for quite a few things at the moment.

As for the CAP, yes it needs reform but let's not forget that British farmers don't benefit as much because the UK sought a "rebate" on its contributions instead.



Again, most of this is down to member states not handling EU budgets correctly.



Spain and Ireland made their own beds, being part of the EU had no part in it. Sure being part of the Eurozone makes it harder for them to get out of their current mess (as with Greece), but the current mess they're in is of their own making.

The why is kind of irrelevant. The fact is the EU hasn't had it's books audited properly for what, 17 years? I don't really see how any organisation in that situation can be considered very credible.

Jon

That's if your local tip has it or isn't already full when you've drove all the way there, or refusing to take particular items (I'm going on Belfast standards). Realistically, a lot of stuff just gets thrown out in the back entry over here for some member of the council to move, almost no matter what size it is. Or dumped in a nearby skip/side of a railway line

Joe Average probably has no idea WEEE exists, or cares. And over here at least we had electrical goods dumping facilities quite some time before WEEE came in



Yeah, but does it ever actually result in the fines or whatever costing more than what was gained?



Isn't it up to the EU to sort that out? Presumably it has a system to deal with that sort of thing, or it should do by now, and one that's actually effective...



Not being able to set your own interest rate and seeing local decisions hamstrung are big problems to my mind.

I think it's brilliant. Countries like Italy used to "cheat" and alleviate debt through inflation and artificially lower the interest rate and increasing the money supply to provide a temporary boost to the economy. That's not being fiscally responsible, IMO. They now have no choice but to put the economy on a sound footing.

I don't know enough about economics to say whether I'd like to be in the euro zone or not.

However, making it easier for tourists to come here really doesn't bother me at all. If they want to come, they'll come whether they have to transfer cash or not.

The lack of £500 notes is just laughable. Who carries that amount of cash with them anyway? I rarely spend more than £20 in cash. I've never seen the need for a £50 note, and certainly never used one.

Who the hell needs to carry around £500 notes? Apart from drug dealers.



That's a good thing, and should continue to be the case. It's our right to know who is coming into the country and to check exactly who they are.

But who cares?! That's up to the Italians. If they don't like it, they vote in another government. Western democracy is largely hideously flawed. Added further layers to it does not improve things.

I'm sure the Italians did, perhaps they got sick of carrying baskets of Lira around and thus opted to join the Euro in the first place.

So, they got sick of the problems in their own country and opted to let a collective of other countries sort it out, rather than tackling it head on?

WHISKY TANGO??!!

There's enough external control in our lives without giving it away. Your avatar is in complete contradiction to your stance.

LOL! The EU (and, to be fair, the ECHR) has done more to safeguard my personal liberty and privacy in the last 5 minutes than Westminster ever has, ever, ever ever ever.

I like the way the EU have been taking on Microsoft in the last few years.

I doubt individual countries would have the muscle. Sure, it's not personal liberty and freedom but meh - you get my point?

you dont like MS

I'd argue that the current government has largely been the problem with regards to liberty and the perception of it.

And the ECHR seems to have lead to more rights for criminals than innocent people in a lot of cases, though that may just be down to our idiotic judges and the way the thing seems so unbalanced in practice...

And yet Berlusconi persists.

I'm not sold on either stance. Heaven knows our governmental systems are far from a shining beacon of right in the western world, and I'm not sure the EU is much better. However, they have done a lot of good and don't forget much has been by the likes of the Daily Mail about 'crazy EU laws' which are nothing of the sort and were the public to trouble themselves into doing a 5 minute bit of research online would see it as such.
A lot of the coverage in this country is, of course, massively skewed by personal politics.

Or the way the media chooses what to report...