A big thank you to those who voted for Brexit

Very much so- as OH had just finished at UCH and we often visited the area. And the Agra curry house- the first one I ever ate at. Byriani, nan, pint of lager- 10 bob and 6. But we truly do digress. I think Schmidt's was Austrian btw.

and the Swiss Centre of course- expensive nonsense. And the revolving restaurantat the top of PO tower.

Back to OP?

There must have been an even bigger north/south divide in the 1960s/1970s than there is now. In 1963 I was taken by my godmother to a Chinese restaurant for my birthday. There weren't as many restaurants serving Indian, Chinese or Italian food as there are now because there simply weren't as many restaurants full stop; but there was a fair choice in the Northern town that I grew up in. How strange that so many southern towns and cities were so bereft.

How strange that so many southern towns and cities were so bereft.

No, just mine, apparently, Chewbacca

All the rest of the south of England was clearly a sophisticated multicultural melting pot of wall to wall supermarkets and Chinese curry houses.

I remember going to a Chinese restaurant in the northern area I grew up in. I went when I was about thirteen or fourteen with my Sunday school class for our Christmas outing. That would have been in the sixties. I also remember going to a different Chinese restaurant with my sister when I was a bit older. My parents would no more have gone to a Chinese restaurant than they would have flown to the moon. I don’t think there were many Chinese restaurants around, or Indian, but they were definitely starting to appear in the sixties.

Cannot speak for the South of England as I lived in London, multicultural in school, shops and restaurants.

The first Cantonese restaurant opened in London in 1908. Who knew? Well not me for sure. Apparently his son opened another one in London in 1958.

We have a business which sells all over the world and have been collecting VAT for each country in Europe . Nothing has changed. I can only assume European countries have not been collecting VAT for the UK. Someone might enlighten me.

Well that's good news Lyndie - pleased it's working for your company. Wonder what's going on then... ?‍♀️

Lyndie

We have a business which sells all over the world and have been collecting VAT for each country in Europe . Nothing has changed. I can only assume European countries have not been collecting VAT for the UK. Someone might enlighten me.

As I understand it, the change is that VAT is now collected at the point of sale by the seller (who has to register with HMRC) whereas before it was collected on the point of import (by the importer?). This has added extra costs and inconvenience to people selling into the UK.

I don't really have any practical experience of VAT so I don't know how this affects what you have been doing, Lyndie, but it's reported that businesses aren't too happy about it.

Just like Trump, Brexit will be got rid of.

Will Hutton

It took four years, but the teller of the Big Lie has gone.The sense of relief and hope is palpable everywhere. In Britain there is neither.We live with the unfolding Big Lie of Brexit. However support shrinks by the day. Be sure it, like Trump,will go. Sooner than anyone expects

What an embarrassing country we are becoming!

We refused to recognise the EU ambassador, which means he can’t present his letters to the Queen and set up an embassy.

We are the only bloody country to do so.

Why does the EU need an Ambassador, it is not a Country posters have been repeatedly pointing out that the EU is a trading block ?

The member states of the EU have Ambassadors

Here is a list of countries which have accorded their EU ambassador full diplomatic status

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ambassadors_of_the_European_Union

GrannyGravy13

Why does the EU need an Ambassador, it is not a Country posters have been repeatedly pointing out that the EU is a trading block ?

The member states of the EU have Ambassadors

I can see you've been reading different newspaper's, GG13

The EU has had ambassadors since 2010 and the UK was one of the Member States that voted for this.

To refuse to recognise an EU Ambassador now just looks like an act of petty spite and further sours relations with our largest trading partner.

Isn't enough that the UK has acted to cripple huge swathes of our business sectors, much to the astonishment of the rest of the world, without lowering its global standing much further by refusing to acknowledge an EU ambassador?

I can understand why a trading block would have need of a representative but have no idea why a trading block needs an Ambassador with full diplomatic status.

GrannyGravy13, The EU is more than a trading block. EU ambassadors are there to support and educate non-EU nations about EU and to strengthen EU's influence in the wider world. It's not just about trade as you seem to think. In all areas we are stronger together.

No wonder people vote to leave the EU if they think it is only a trading block. It is much more than that, but leavers don't care about that. With comments like GG13's it's no wonder that some remainers, myself included, still continue to rail against brexit.

Greta

*GrannyGravy13*, The EU is more than a trading block. EU ambassadors are there to support and educate non-EU nations about EU and to strengthen EU's influence in the wider world. It's not just about trade as you seem to think. In all areas we are stronger together.

The very idea of educate non-EU nations is verification of my vote.

I was being facetious using the term trading block in hindsight I should probably of used the expensive club that has the intentions of controlling the whole of Europe and beyond

I agree with your last paragraph Grannygravy did I read somewhere they now have a uniformed security service. Macron has aspirations to be President of Europe.

Not my own work, but:

Precisely why not recognising EU Ambassador is petty idiocy

It's NOT a philosophical debate on whether the EU is a country or not. That certain competencies have evolved to EU level is a diplomatic fact. Why would you not want direct mutual access?

GrannyGravy13

Greta

GrannyGravy13, The EU is more than a trading block. EU ambassadors are there to support and educate non-EU nations about EU and to strengthen EU's influence in the wider world. It's not just about trade as you seem to think. In all areas we are stronger together.

The very idea of educate non-EU nations is verification of my vote.

I was being facetious using the term trading block in hindsight I should probably of used ^the expensive club that has the intentions of controlling the whole of Europe and beyond^

You have no idea how stupidly hysterical this sounds.

It's like Trumpism transferred in a different form to the UK.

Over many years this country has been persistently derided and laughed at by the EU, we are according to them, a cold damp inconsequential little island off the northern coast of Europe, completely unimportant to the point of obscurity! If this is the case, as we have been told umpteen times, why on earth are they so furious at our leaving to the point of punishment leading hopefully to bankruptcy? I would have thought they would have been thankful to see the back of this ridiculous unimportant idiotic island and not cared what we did! Weird or what.

Anyone who even pretends that the EU doesn’t have ambitions to become a country similar to the USA, with what we now know as countries actually becoming states, is at best, being disingenuous. Even Winston Churchill promoted the idea of a United States of Europe as being the only way Europe could enjoy peace and prosperity after WW2. Whether or not he was correct is debatable. However many people believed the lies told by Sir Edward Heath that the EEC as it was then, was nothing more than a trading block. It is not a trading block, although trade has an important role. The EU is first and foremost a political organisation, and basically that’s why remainers and leavers will never be able to agree. People either support a political union, or they don’t.