New? I wish I was! However, I am new to this site.

Well said. I'm very pro EU, but accept that the rules are in need of a considerable rehash!

London's position is untenable

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...conomists.html

Does anyone think being in the club is worth paying £3000 pa. For every person.

I don't know if that's true or not. But it sure appears there is a major disparity between what the US buys from Europe and what Europe buys from the US.

Whenever I go to the US, it's quite obvious that so many European products are readily available in stores. Foods and wines / liquors especially. And a big selection too. German products everywhere. For example, you can find most Spanish wines in almost any supermarket in the US - at only a slightly higher price than it is here.

In contrast, it's nearly impossible to buy a decent California wine in Europe. Yes, you can buy Gallo or some other mass-produced cheap brand at a premium price, stuff which sells for $1 per bottle in the US, but try to find any of the many truly great California, Oregon, and other wines that are available in most shops in the US. You have to go to a specialty import shop and pay a fortune.

I tend to believe that disparity is more about EU protectionism than offering the consumer more choice. The yanks tend to believe in a free market, and prefer choice over protectionism, whereas the EU prefers the latter, at the consumer's expense.

Certainly difficult to find wine from any other country in Spain. Decent French wine (if you can find it) is more expensive than the UK.

The Telegraph article is excellent, but written by economists for the benfit of economists and as such, may be a trifle biased.

That's true, HIC!

Hasn't done the Norwegians any harm whatsoever, it's about the seventh richest nation in the world, and like Switzerland they sell double php than we do to the EU, so do we need to be in the EU? 95% of the world's trading block is outside of the EU, the EU's share of world trade has dropped from 25% to 15% and still heading south whilst most of the world is heading up, I know where I think we should be. We sell more outside the EU than in it, we'd manage fine on our own. Our membership of this exclusive cost has tripled over the last ten years, any ideas which way you think our contributions will go in the future as more paupers enter with their begging bowls?

You also struggle to find good Australian or other southern hemisphere wines at affordable prices.
The " cheap " wines come in by the container or tanker load reducing the cost bottle on the shelf, duty is a fixed cost/bottle.
If you are an importer of smaller volume wines then the shipping costs are much higher, duty is the same, any labelling regs the same.
It could simply be that the volume of the better wines is only enough to supply the local markets and there is simply not enough to make it worthwhile for any importer.
We have seen the " popular " UK industrial wines in supermarkets which cater for the UK holiday market but never anywhere else.
Probably because local wines are much better value and much, much better quality.
I do not think it is protectionism simply that the demand for premium wines would not be enough to make it worthwhile for any importer.
How many Spaniards would pay more for a Napa Valley than a good Rioja .

If you really think the average Brit can compete with the highly educated Norwegians?
"We'd manage fine on our own" Aren't you retired now Aggy? Who will manage fine on their own?

Exactly. The range of Spanish wines is fantastic - why go to the cost of importing??? Plenty of Scottish (and Irish) whiskies around in Spain.

Norway has small population and huge energy reserves of oil and gas, that is why it is so wealthy.
Ask any UK exporter, Airbus, Bae, Rolls Royce, the Japanese car companies that moved to the UK because we are part of the EU etc etc if they would want to lose their unfettered access to the rest of the EU.
You do not need to be genius to know the answer.

It was the people old enough to vote on ratification in 1975 who feel cheated, we were told not worry about anything as the UK had a veto, some use that has been.

WHY!

Same as Russians or Americans or any other nation that isn't in the EU.
If the UK is not in the EU, we will not have the right to work or live automatically in the EU, including Spain. We will say goodbye to EH1C too.
Of course, the same as you get privileged/lucky/rich Russians or Americans who can wrangle it, some Brits will still be allowed to have residency/own a business.