Have you made your mind up about the referendum?

No,I think it was just when talking to other people. I don't think expats put that on forms. It was the Syrian man who said that expats and immigrants were the same. They are expats from where they came from. He was just showing up the meaning of the words, and how one is accepted and the other isn't.
It was really a spoof thing.
At one time they had someone set up a coffee bar, one of the mobile ones. It was to prove that the British never complain, and they didn't, not even when he coughed and sneezed all over the food and drink, and stirred the coffee with his fingers, or put chili or tabasco in their coffee.

Bided not see that DJ when you say call themselves expats does that mean on official documents in UK?

Did anyone watch An Immigrant's Guide to Britain last night?
They were asking various people questions abut immigration. The only one who answered all the questions correctly and understood the difference between migrant, asylum seeker and expat was a Syrian.
Apparently if they call themselves expats, they will be accepted.

Putin must be delighted the way Boris and his gang agree with him about leaving and he is even getting the support of the Express, Mail Sun and Telegraph and even quite a few Grans. Strange bed fellows.

Whilst those of of us that continue to worry about our economy and leaving the Euro, will be concerned to read that Brexit has had an adverse affect in trying to,find a buyer for Austin Reed. How many other of our main retailers and businesses will,follow"if we leave the EU?

All 120 Austin Reed stores will close by the end of June at the cost of 1,000 jobs, the administrator said.

Jalima If you had read my subsequent post in reply to Day6 I did not say that all Torys are voting out and Labour in.
To be perfectly truthful I wasn't sure who had said it in the first place
Did Day6 misquote the original statement? If so, apologies.

Lower? Why?
Because we have paid for our pensions already through NI so should not contribute to that; a lower rate to go specifically to the NHS.

We don't pay any NI at all after State Pension age.

I think floating voters might to well to talk to their grown-up grandchildren if they have them, or other student age family members. It is their future in the long run.
For older people, if there is an Exit, we can expect with some confidence:
* More austerity in the immediate future (even more) due to the predicted short term dip in the economy. This could affect the jobs and/or benefits of older workers or their family members. Economic uncertainty may continue for some years but no knowing how it would level off.
* Currency fluctuations while this uncertainty continues.
* Immigration will continue, because the economy, particularly in the SE, will continue to need workers. However they will be of more mixed nationality - fewer EU and more from Africa, Sub Continent and Far East.
* Likewise a more ethnically diverse bunch of people will be caring for us when we need care.
Other than that the effects of an Exit are guesswork and will to some extent depend on who is governing the UK.

Oops, sorry! Being on the "over the hill downward slope " from pension age I hadn't realised!

Jalima If you had read my subsequent post in reply to Day6 I did not say that all Torys are voting out and Labour in.

Er, sorry Alea but those of us who don't get our pensions until aged 66 will and do continue to pay NI.

We don't pay any NI after the age of 60. (So that we can spend it instead on and and maybe ?? or ???)

Lower? Why?

but fact that older people do need more support and treatment
that is why I think that pensioners who can afford it should pay a lower rate of NI towards the NHS.
Red Herring I know, back to the EU vote.

Firecracker- most returnees would be retired, older, and as such quite a 'burden' for the NHS- and they would not be taking up the jobs that the immigrants do that need doing either. This is not an ageist comment- but fact that older people do need more support and treatment.

I made up my mind and then changed it. Floating voter. I do not know

Lukewarm?
You haven't seen the news, then, showing him in various places in the country, always with a microphone in his hand doing what he does best, speaking to the people who have a vote?
Not really, no. (I must watch the 'wrong' news.)
Well, far from the firebrand we expected when he became Leader of the Labour Party, as far as I can tell he seems quite luke-warm about many things.
Probably because he has had to compromise and tone down his views to appease the wide spectrum of the parliamentary Labour Party.

My postal voting papers arrived today so I am going to put X on the spot and post it tomorrow- then I need not think about it until the results.

Ah yes, remember now:

Greene is most familiar to Shakespeare scholars for his pamphlet Greene's Groats-Worth of Wit, which alludes to a line, 'O tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide', found in Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 3 (1623):

"...for there is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tygers hart wrapt in a Players hyde, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes fac totum, is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey".

Greene evidently complains of an actor who believes he can write as well as university-educated playwrights, alludes to the actor with a quotation from either the True Tragedy or Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 3, and uses the term "Shake-scene," a unique term never used before or after Greene's screed, to refer to the actor. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that it is "Of uncertain or vague meaning: used by Greene in his attack on Shakespeare."

1000's of EU migrants returning home would make room for them

"I didn't see any poll either, but it doesnt surprise me that a majority on here will be voting out. It has been said many times before that posters on here are of an older demographic, and are more likely to vote out, as they are to be members of Tory party. It's not rocket science.
I am rather by that statement, as it is the leader of the Tory party and many Tories who want us to stay in, and there are many Labour people who do want us to leave but are not getting the publicity that BJ is getting.

Up-start crow was the name given to Shakespeare, but forgotten by whom.

1000s of expats returning home would certainly put pressure on housing, NHS, schools, etc, etc.

If the Swiss Franc goes up significantly post Brexit- as always happens when there is a financial crisis in Europe- and the £ goes down significantly, we would certainly be in trouble and probably have to go back. We only have our UK pensions and already lost 40% in value since we came here. And if we lose the reciprocal arrangement healthcare and had to subscribe to private system- it would just be the last straw.

We would however make a tidy profit on the sale of our house here and re-change to £s - but not at all what we would wish. We are VERY lucky that we have a flat in the UK, currently a holiday home, we could go back to if need be.

Oops, AnyaI was a bit slow there! Yes, I am enjoying Upstart Crow - what does the title refer to?
A bit worried the humour of the concept could wear thin, but like Blackadder, lots of "in-jokes"!

I am glad for you Mamie, as you are in a position similar to ours. I worry about the thousands of Brits in Spain, and other countries who will be in trouble if the Britain leave the EU

i read an interesting thing today - this EU ruling about citizens being able to live and work in any other member state does have strings to if the host country wishes to implement them. The citizen has the right to find work but not to sponge off the host country. The host country can insist any person who cannot support themselves and their family returns home. Spain has introduced a minim income level if anyone wishes to remain longer that three months. This is why France and other countries do not pay benefits to people if they have not contributed to the system or if their birth country does not have a reciprocal arrangement - such as the one the UK has at present with UK pensioners and healthcare.
The UK could have been doing this for years but just chose to ignore this section of the treaty. Of course a Brexit would make no differences to the illegal immigrants or asylum seekers who try to get to UK viaCalais and in fact that would be easier for them if France stopped allowing UK Border Control to have posts in Calais.