Tell me, what other countries could we trade with and what would we actually trade ????

Even if we completely left the EU, that doesn’t mean we couldn’t trade with EU countries. Look how much trade Asia and North Africa does with Europe! We would do well to tighten our relations with India and Africa currently rather than our immediate neighbours.

As for what we can sell, unfortunately much of it services (to be fair if you’re 40+ I’m sure you know much more of the nature of the decline of our manufacturing industries and the increase of service based business than I do) But financial services are obviously a huge part of our economy. Our law and business practices are probably peerless world wide.

However, we still have large gas and oil reserves we can exploit, pharmaceuticals are a huge industry world wide and one that we are successful with. Engineering in this country is also arguably second to none and that is something we ought to exploit more than we do.

I would be keen for us to trade on our abilities rather than who we are pals with.

How sad, and tragically British, that a discussion that should be about the future shape of our continent, its future and Britain’s role in driving that future forward should descend into an argument about the Second World War and if we could have won it on our own.

Forgetting hard learned lessons that specifically apply to EU countries is very foolish!

…..and the moon is made of green cheese!

So, we could have invaded Europe without the Americans……barking.

The US eneterd the war to “promote the US”. Tell that to all those Americans that gave their lives for our country amonst other things.

I am flabagasted at your arguments…..I started replying but they are so rediculious it is not worth wasting my time.

Do you really think imperialism and empire building are good things?

Please explain how the UK economy could stand alone, outside Europe and isolated from the US? Because that will happen.

What business would want to operate from such a country ? The City would be a ghost mile withinin a year. We have no natural resources to speak of. A little Gas and oil which will not last much longer and Maggie got rid of coal mining.

What is the colour of the sky on your economic planet.

Did you read any of my post? I didn’t say imperialism was good, I acknowledged it as a part of our past. I also welcomed American intervention in the war, as it increased our chances of success. We certainly could have invaded the mainland without US manpower, even the minority in India that supported us during the war outnumbered the US population by almost 2-1!

However, the US did benefit from the outcome of the war in many ways, including the death of our Empire. As anothe example, The American space program would also have been impossible without their intervention in the war.

If we have so little to offer, why would the EU want us as a member? We still have plenty of things to offer, including probably the best higher education in the world (I can go into further detail if you wish 🙂 ) and a population of over 60 million still grants us significant buying power.

We have the minds and wealth in our country to keep us (relatively) prosperous, there are also plenty of countries that would want to do favourable trade with us.

Unfortunately, you seem to be a victim of 10 years of Labor propaganda that told the public that we are less without Europe. Your attitude wouldn’t have gotten us very far over the last 200 years!

Actually, your argument is very niave.

If we leave the EU, there’s nothing to stop us trading with the EU and the rest of the world. We can negotiate our own terms, not be tied up to deals that favour other European powers.

No one ‘won the second world war. It wasn’t a competition! We survived and were defeated our enemies. We are and we’re not dependent on the USA. Again, you speculate that we could not have won the war without them. This is something you can not prove.
It is entirely possible that we could have defeated the axis given;

– the size, population and wealth of our empire
– Russian participation
– Germany’s lack of raw materials (given the heavy use of it in the first months of the war)

While I thank the US for their entry into the war, much of their motivation was to promote the US to the front of the world stage and to see off the last of our Empire.

Much of the world is still very much influenced by our imperial days (just look how wide spread our language is) and we still have much to offer the world as an independent nation.

If you wish to be a European, by all means move to Europe 🙂 we can (and will) go it alone and we will be just fine. We don’t need the rest of Europe, and they don’t need us.

You can’t prove it’s economic suicide. It could be to our benefit as far as you know.

I honestly can’t understand why anyone wants us to be ruled by the rest of Europe, we’re a strong, independent race that happens to thrive when things get tough (look at the last 100 yers of our history if you want any proof 🙂 )

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We cannot survive on our own and to go down such a road is economc suicide.

Yes we can. Oh wait, I used a statement that’s impossible to substantiate…

Would it not be better to be liked and part of the club rather than peering through the window and wondering what was going on?

Many if not most of the countries in Europe have made their own sacrifices in the past and many who now get on together were bitter enemies in the past. Maybe they have ability to remember what went on before but are also able to move on and let bygones be bygones.

Some governments have shown recently that they can’t trusted to control their own budgets and yet expected others to bail them out. When a large proportion of that bailout is German money then they should have a say in how it is spent.

Europe is and has always been a complex issue but we shouldn’t let 70 year old prejudices colour our judgment.

I don’t think you appreciate how many sacrifices have been involved in your ‘bygones’

While we must always move forward, forgetting the past is both stupid and disrespectful to those who fought (and often died) for our freedom.

Is it surprising that Germany want to forgive and forget? Maybe forgive, never forget.

There’s a difference between isolation and being dictated to.