Active discussions

Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Politics
Original poster

Can Remainers explain this?

89 replies

orgmatdane · 28/11/2025 21:16

If you are a Remainer who believes Britain needs to be part of the EU, can you just explain which country was the most powerful in the world in the 1800s?

OP posts:
murasaki · 29/11/2025 12:04

I'd give the Netherlands a shout. Come on OP, maybe have a nice restorative nap.

CaptainMyCaptain · 29/11/2025 11:58

SeaAndStars · 29/11/2025 11:01

What's with the Yorkshire user names siding with the OP? @ApplebyArrows and @YorkshireGoldDrinker ??

The same person?

SerendipityJane · 29/11/2025 11:51

orgmatdane · 28/11/2025 21:16

If you are a Remainer who believes Britain needs to be part of the EU, can you just explain which country was the most powerful in the world in the 1800s?

You might want this thread moved to "History".

222days · 29/11/2025 11:45

SeaAndStars · 29/11/2025 11:01

What's with the Yorkshire user names siding with the OP? @ApplebyArrows and @YorkshireGoldDrinker ??

Maybe next they’ll be campaigning for Yexit, and want to make York the capital city again… have to go back to before 1800 though. 😏

SeaAndStars · 29/11/2025 11:35

Britain as a country might have had power in 1800 but the vast majority of ordinary British people had none.

Women and most men couldn't vote, poverty was rife and if you were poor you were destitute. Especially for women, domestic service and manual labour were pretty much your only options and there were few protections for employees. Man traps were still legal and people as young as 17 were hung for stealing a rabbit. For most people life was a bit shit then to be honest.

You can sort of see why some flag painting types might like the sound of 1880.

Theyreeatingthedogs · 29/11/2025 11:34

orgmatdane · 28/11/2025 21:16

If you are a Remainer who believes Britain needs to be part of the EU, can you just explain which country was the most powerful in the world in the 1800s?

Ah Jacob. You still wittering on about the Empire old boy? We lost it remember, just like you lost your seat at the last election. Do keep up!

Noshadelamp · 29/11/2025 11:14

This isn't facebook 🙄

KateShugakIsALegend · 29/11/2025 11:13

In answer to the OP, @orgmatdane, turns out the answer is 'Yes'.

But the next question is 'So what?'. Would love to hear your answer.

Perhaps your solution is to start some Opium Wars?

I heard yesterday an idea that if the cocaine trade was legalised the tax revenues would be immense, and the human and environmental degradation could be regulated to reduce the massive impact.

Perhaps this could be the way forward you are proposing? Britain's new coke empire?🤔

SeaAndStars · 29/11/2025 11:01

Spexit would be a great name for an opticians.

SeaAndStars · 29/11/2025 11:01

What's with the Yorkshire user names siding with the OP? @ApplebyArrows and @YorkshireGoldDrinker ??

Topseyt123 · 29/11/2025 10:51

Bumblebee72 · 29/11/2025 09:54

I'm not sure that even the most ardent leaver was proposing we leave and then start to rebuild an empire by invading other countries. Britain was powerful in 1800 because it had one of the largest empires in history.

I remember in the immediate run-up to the Brexit referendum seeing a lady interviewed on TV who was going to vote leave because she wanted her grandchildren to experience just how good it was when we traded via our empire.

So I think maybe there were some idiots deluded enough to think that that could happen, and who even wanted it to happen. 🙄

Summerhillsquare · 29/11/2025 10:30

PatChaunceysFruitCake · 28/11/2025 21:37

OP, you’ve won the internet for me today. Opened your post and laughed out loud. Full belly laugh at the level of batshittery.

Not as funny as the getting behind Kemi Badenoch post 😁

ApplebyArrows · 29/11/2025 10:26

WinterHangingBasket · 28/11/2025 23:59

Ah, yes, an era notable for being able to buy and sell people as property. And put children in poor houses, up chimneys, down mines etc.

Is that you Jacob? Nanny called, it's way past your bed time.

On the other hand, Britain across the nineteenth century achieved world-leading progress in improving workers' rights, improving education, improving aid for the poor, reforming the electoral system, investing heavily in new railways ...

Sadly the political priorities of many anti-EU types today are completely different.

YorkshireGoldDrinker · 29/11/2025 10:23

slightlyunimpressed · 29/11/2025 10:18

We didn’t really have much of an empire in 1800. The US had just won the war of independence and India was not part of the Empire (the East India company was not the same thing). India became part of the empire with the Government of India Act 1858. France was the predominant superpower in Europe for the first decade or so of the 19th century.

Show quote history

Yes, empires get too big and lose power. The British Empire went through the same rise and fall as others before it

AlwaysTheEldestDaughter · 29/11/2025 10:19

YorkshireGoldDrinker · 29/11/2025 09:49

Britain, obviously. We had a whole empire without the bloody EU.

It doesn't stop pro-EU ideologues from stepping around a very simple question and attempting to make you feel stupid, though.

Okay, but it’s 2025. Not 1800.

slightlyunimpressed · 29/11/2025 10:18

YorkshireGoldDrinker · 29/11/2025 09:49

Britain, obviously. We had a whole empire without the bloody EU.

It doesn't stop pro-EU ideologues from stepping around a very simple question and attempting to make you feel stupid, though.

We didn’t really have much of an empire in 1800. The US had just won the war of independence and India was not part of the Empire (the East India company was not the same thing). India became part of the empire with the Government of India Act 1858. France was the predominant superpower in Europe for the first decade or so of the 19th century.

MurdoMunro · 29/11/2025 10:13

YorkshireGoldDrinker · 29/11/2025 09:49

Britain, obviously. We had a whole empire without the bloody EU.

It doesn't stop pro-EU ideologues from stepping around a very simple question and attempting to make you feel stupid, though.

What’s the simple question? All I’ve seen is the plopping of a ludicrously complex question with the stink of ‘gotcha’ hovering around. I reserve the right to take the piss when people are that silly. Where’s my plantation?

EyeLevelStick · 29/11/2025 10:12

YorkshireGoldDrinker · 29/11/2025 09:49

Britain, obviously. We had a whole empire without the bloody EU.

It doesn't stop pro-EU ideologues from stepping around a very simple question and attempting to make you feel stupid, though.

What point are you making, though?

Are you suggesting we invade other nations again?

Are you saying that the entirely different geographic, economic, political and technological landscape (not to mention all the people being long dead) between 1800 and 2025 is irrelevant?

Can you explain yourself at all, or are you capable only of slogans?

EyeLevelStick · 29/11/2025 10:07

didntlikeanyofthesuggestions · 28/11/2025 21:39

I think this person and the eyeball cleaning person were seeing who could get the most replies. Eyeball is definitely going to win. Good try though.

Eyeball woman was awesome and joined in. This one has just plopped and run.

Not very sporting.

Very un-British, in fact. 😉

RainbowBagels · 29/11/2025 10:04

Bumblebee72 · 29/11/2025 09:54

I'm not sure that even the most ardent leaver was proposing we leave and then start to rebuild an empire by invading other countries. Britain was powerful in 1800 because it had one of the largest empires in history.

Oh I dont know. Some were fairly keen on resolving the NI border problem by getting the RoI to become part of the UK!

Bumblebee72 · 29/11/2025 09:54

I'm not sure that even the most ardent leaver was proposing we leave and then start to rebuild an empire by invading other countries. Britain was powerful in 1800 because it had one of the largest empires in history.

YorkshireGoldDrinker · 29/11/2025 09:49

Britain, obviously. We had a whole empire without the bloody EU.

It doesn't stop pro-EU ideologues from stepping around a very simple question and attempting to make you feel stupid, though.

Topseyt123 · 29/11/2025 09:44

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Did you know that the EU didn't exist in the 1800s?

Also, time travel still hasn't been invented even in 2025.

Thanks for a great laugh on a dull and wet Saturday morning though. Brightened up my day.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

BishyBarnyBee · 29/11/2025 09:43

didntlikeanyofthesuggestions · 28/11/2025 21:39

I think this person and the eyeball cleaning person were seeing who could get the most replies. Eyeball is definitely going to win. Good try though.

I suspect you're right and we should just drop engaging. They have posted a variation of this quite a few times this week, it's just goadyfuckerism now.

WhisperGold · 29/11/2025 09:41

Well around then we could get a great trade deal with China by threatening tp bomb the shit out of them. Might be a risky option now though.