Freggyragh

Bit early to be making predictions Woodtard.

All your graph shows is how the UK Westminster government has declined to invest outside of England, particularly the South East, for centuries.

Ireland is so wealthy the U.K. even had to bale out the Irish Banks because half of London and Birmingham are owned by Irish interests and the UK could not afford for them to sell up.

A better assessment of Scotland's prospects is to compare with The Republic of Ireland (under British rule - a starving backwater with a rapidly contracting population). 2017 - Average gross earnings for full-time workers in the Republic are £42,901. In occupied Ireland they are a meagre £21,836 (although living costs are cheaper). In Scotland they are slightly higher at £22,981, and, ok, that's higher than any region of England bar London and the South East, but imagine if Scotland could manage its own economy in the way the Republic can.

Look carefully and you'll see that Guzzi backed up his gloominess with three illustrations. Three of the most innocuous, granted. He didn't even mention Ireland, Scotland, security, academia, loss of prestige, recruitment of skilled workers, loss of any control over non-tariff trading regs and standards, the devalued pound, visas or the healthcare costs of 800,000 returning pensioners.

Why? Has he got a moat, or paying for a flat for a French MEP?

Child.

Hmm. A lot of people were maimed and killed in an avoidable war. The losing side, an unelected and politically isolated right-wing junta blundered into the war on a wave of populism and were seen off sharpish by a well connected nation that enjoyed support from the rest of the EU and the EU's major trading partners, especially the US.

1. Business will not be the same as before. 2. The bureaucracy you talk of is actually regulation. Regulation that ensure high standards of living, worker and consumer protection and fair trade. When we sell into a foreign market we have to meet their standards. The UK will now have to give regulatory powers to the British Standards Institute (kitemark) for the domestic market and yet still have to match whatever standards export markets require, but without any lobbying power within the regulatory body. Also, I'm afraid, if you've never been involved in importing from, or exporting to, foreign markets you're going to find the bureaucracy involved pretty eye-watering. Think of the extra bureaucratic hassle of travelling outside the EU. (Eg; the paperwork and the long queues) - Brexit doesn't just mean that level of bureaucracy for personally, but for British exporting and importing companies too. Then, there's also the reality that means, simply put, the smaller market will struggle compete when selling to the bigger market. Back before the trade agreements in place now, other countries could delay entry of foreign goods by; requiring testing that took years, by locating the testing labs in extremely inconvenient places, by subsidising competing products, slapping import quotas on competing products or just banning foreign products on spurious grounds. Brexit means UK exporters will have very limited recourse to the EU regulator.

UK is £1.7T in debt. Trade deficit is £166B p.a. The Eurozone countries have circa 9,000 tonnes of gold in their reserves, the US has circa 8,000, China 1,800, Russia 1,450, Japan 765. The UK has only 310 tonnes. In terms of economic potential, the The UK ranks below China, US, Germany, Japan, South Korea, France, Switzerland, Italy, India and Russia in number of successful patent applications. The UK has done really well out EU membership and selling itself as the gateway to Europe. Otherwise it is a poor country and is about to cut off its best source of income.

It's about time the UK repaid what it ripped out of India and China. If you've ever seen an Indian or Chinese history textbook's take on the Raj or the Opium Wars you'll think an Irish history textbook on 800 years of militarised occupation is very forgiving indeed. Shame, as China and India, along with the EU, Putin's Russia and Trump's US, are the big players who get to dictate trading terms and standards to Little England from now on.

Lenny Henry seems to have lost a lot of his talent and is now relying for laughs on his grandparents' accent, the colour of his skin, the size of his tackle and laughing out loud. He is much more interesting when he is speaks from the heart. I'm glad Adrian didn't have to trot out a load of cultural stereotypes for cheap laughs. Unfortunately, a couple of minutes of trivia on the Paul O'Grady Show is all modern Anglo-English culture can afford to spend on minority cultures, but well done to Paul for all that. SarahC, the culture of Manx Gaelic is not grasping or aggressive, if you don't like the sound of it, the complexity, history, Celticness, non-commerciality or non-conformity of it, well, fair enough - But it is in no way a threat to anyone, and no one is out to get you if you don't like it. Manx has survived against the odds because people who speak it love it, not by persecuting people for speaking other languages. I'll admit to letting out a sigh when placenames are changed, when we see a new set of stamps or banknotes issued with English and Latin but no Manx, and when I read comments like yours which make us out to be psychopaths for speaking or having an interest in our own language. Or is your paranoia that the Welsh will take offence??? There are many Manx speakers in all walks of life. Learning the language gives you a lot of insight into other European languages, for example Kitty, your name is a diminuative of "Cat" - a loan word from Gaelic, also found in proper nouns like Caithness and Catriona. Like you, Manx spelling has gone for a K rather a C, and is spelled "Kayt". Oh dear, I think I might be going on a bit here, it is just that I am so passionate about the language and bless the day I started learning it. There are loads of classes all over the island, websites, blogs, stacks of songs, novels, textbooks, radio shows, parties, coffee mornings, playgroups etc. I'll admit that Manx speakers would be quite willing to "get you" to enjoy this other side to life here, even, or especially, if you can't tell Manx from Welsh just now. Bio-Cultural Diversity is Good. Graih as Shee - Love and Peace.