melesian

Every single one of the predictions of the Brexiters has been exploded: migration, taxation, funding the NHS, better public services etc.

The cost of implementing customs controls ALONE amounted to more than the sum total of UK contributions to the EU budget from day 1 of the UK joining the common market. The losses to the UK economy have been staggering -- up to 8% of GDP on a recurring basis. And no the UK didn't have a cold-turkey exit from the EU, that would have been a "no deal" exit.

But... but... splutter Brexiters, "look at Germany". Always looking at growth rates and cherrypicking data. Germany has had a massive increase in energy costs, far greater than experienced in the UK.

Go on: tell us Brexit is a mere "flesh wound"

Brexit has been a bone-crushing failure and repeated polls show a majority of the electorate knows it. A toxic minority of older voters, the UK's MAGA cohort, is ready to double down, and all they will achieve if they get anywhere near govt is the breakup of the UK, wihch of course many younger non-English voters support. Either way it's been a quite boon to the EU.

Your condescension and arrogance is amusing. The British discoverer of the metal, Sir Humphrey Davy, named it aluminum, which Americans still use.

Patronizing rubbish. The EU builds plenty of EVs, rockets and fighter jets and has far more subway systems and public transport than the US.

Europe is already great. It's why hundreds of thousands of Americans moved here in 2025.

As for being a vassal: Trump was warned of the consequences of invading Greenland and he backed down immediately. Some vassal.

You can be very sure that millions of Europeans and large numbers of businesses are finding alternatives.

The absence of war in Europe is more down to the EU than the US. Polls do not consistently show anything of the sort.

The UK itself lost one third of its land area in 1921, following yet another insurrection in Ireland (always a coerced part of the UK subject to genocidal rule and expropriation).

The last straw for the Irish was summary executions of the insurrectionists and the ravages of the Black and Tans -- like ICE but with arsonists and criminals, but without masks. The US will be fortunate if the parallels remain only financial.

Oh look, an ignorant begrudger. I don't know many banana republics with a well-educated workforce let lone the best educated workforce in the world.

Perhaps you'd like to compare Ireland's position in the Human Development Index with that of its neighbours?

Ireland started by not leving tax on income from writing on writers for specific cultural reasons -- to support and encourage writers.

It's a cultural norm. Extending it to other generally penniless artists is too.

When universities in other countries start running courses on Irish food service workers we can reasonably expect them to be included.

On the contrary, the EU is the solution.

Blinkered nonsense.

Yes, of course Europe doesn't have any US laws but to suggest that it doesn't have legislation about accessibility is simply wrong. Guess what... the legislation generally applies to buildings and construction post-dating the legislation. Applicability to earlier structures will vary depending on feasability and justification (cost, traffic).

If American companies don't want to pay taxes in Europe they can easily avoid doing so by staying home. If they prefer to earn profits in Europe they can comply with the law. As it is they do everything they can to avoid paying taxes, full stop, not just in Europe.

I want a Linux phone based on open source hardware. I gave up an iPhone for Android then switched to Pixels. My current Pixel 7 will be my last Google phone. I want out of the surveillance economy. I want AI assistance as badly I want a hole in the head.

I carry an 8 inch tablet (fits in a jacket pocket) and do most of my mobile web, email, podcast listening etc. on that, using my phone as a hotspot. Can't buy a new 8 inch tablet with a fingerprint reader. Got a couple of 2nd hand ones on eBay and will soon look at putting LineageOS on them (they have out of date versions of Android).

> The fact that most research participants and their families are unaware that they are part of a vaccine trial, leaves no room for justice or compensation.

What an absolute load of tripe.

Straight from disease surveillance being a bad thing (it isn't) to this drivel /eyeroll.

Disease surveillance helps stop potential pandemics before the cost of addressing them and the damage the can cause, including loss of life, reaches colossal proportions. Recommended reading: The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett.

I note how the conspiratorial assertion of Africans being used, in effect, as guinea pigs is entirely unsupported by any evidence whatever. Vaccine trials happen everywhere, not just in Africa, and no national healthcare system in Africa blindly accepts vaccines as if people were experimental animals.

Did you give informed consent yourself for the childhood vaccinations you received?

National economic statistics -- GDP, GNI etc. only tell you so much. Measures of human wellbeing I'd argue tell you more.

Ireland is ahead of the UK on every metric, from child mortality to longevity and everything in between -- and the gap is widening.

French and Germans were not depicted in English publications as apes.

The Irish were coerced into the UK and were officially British citizens, that is ostensibly, co-nationals. They weren't treated as such because those in power regarded them as subhuman. If that isn't racism the word is devoid of meaning.