To feel extremely depressed about how Brexit is limiting the lives we once knew.

[Persiantrio]

Presumably now, if you want to go shopping in Paris on the Eurostar, you will have to declare, queue and pay customs on any clothes / goods over a given amount at the border. How crap and inconvenient is that?

Same with any holiday purchases from anywhere in the EU? Not worth it.

Also if you order anything online that happens to come from the EU and costs over over £135, you get hit with massive customs charges of about 40%. Companies like Etsy etc are taking a massive hit as a result.

How is this “taking back control?” Its so depressing and backward. The only reason nobody is kicking off about this yet is because nobody could go anywhere anyway. People don’t realise the freedoms they had and that are now gone. What a shit and insular place to live this will be.

And I don’t wait to hear any predictable ‘vaccine nationalism’ waffle either (because that has nothing whatsoever to do with what I’m asking in this instance and we could have done exactly the same within the EU anyway).

Yes I understand that LoveIsland and, in fact, I’ve written a dissertation on it. The only reason there were vacancies in the agricultural and processing sectors is because these industries could not recruit U.K. citizens to do these jobs. Only last week, it was reported that daffodil farmers in Cornwall simply can’t get anyone locally to pick the flowers this year - the flowers have just gone to waste. The notion that EU migrants drive down wages is a total economic fallacy, I’m afraid. They were prepared to work flexibly in a way that kept many industries afloat - such as the hospitality sector as a notable example, or fruit farms. Do you see a rush of U.K. natives into these jobs now? Er, no. Childminders and nannies from these countries enabled many women to return to work who might otherwise not have been able to afford to. Economic perception is a totally different thing to economic reality.

@Iremembertheelderlykoreanlady

1st post OP? You wouldn't happen to have a thing for importing expensive art and italian glass vases would you?

Yes, as soon as I read this I wondered if OP had a sister...

Positive thing is that lits of people will stop smoking now ciggies can't be brought over in unlimited quantity.
I did. No way.am I paying tenner for a box instead of 4 quid...

I've just got got £140 goods from eu and there was no extra duty one it😳

In an age of globalisation, we have cut ourselves off from the opportunity to live, work (and yes, shop) in the EU. Yet I can’t see one single thing we have gained.

Many people simply were never in a position to avail themselves of those opportunities.

The thing about a lot of policies which are driven by their "economic" value is... the economy is a pie, of which we all get a slice. Politicians love to focus on things which make the pie bigger, in the assumption that a bigger pie means a relatively bigger slice for everyone. In reality most people care only about their own slice of pie and its relative size, because its relative wealth that affects your purchasing power, by and large. That's before you even get into the mess that is the distribution of wealth and the fact that actually the "trickle down" effect politicians love to believe in doesn't always play out.

Oh no!

Is your wallet too small for your 50s and your diamond shoes too tight?

Immigration was ever thus, learn some history. Even ask your own parents or grandparents.

@adrianmolesmole

I agree with you Op. Many people did take the Eurostar to Paris and it was a common thing pre- Brexit actually

There seems to be a collective erasing of memory happening in Britain at the moment, we're not allowed to remember how it was, we must accept that now is better! Bit like in 1984, when that guy shouting immediately starts changing what he's saying as soon as the government changes its mind on something.

They'll all be complaining after Covid when they find they can't travel to Spain as easily though. Hope they look forward to all the forms they'll have to fill in then!

Wtf? I literally know no-one who has popped to Paris for shopping. For a holiday, yes, but to shop?!

Is this something wealthy Londoners do?

The bitter and loony brigade are out tonight.

I agree with you OP, my nephew has had his study options curtailed by no longer being able to access a specialised course in a EU university, one of my U.K. friends has lost her job due to exports collapsing, another friend was let go from her job due to the drop in overseas student numbers, I’ve had to find a non U.K. supplier for some components I’ve been buying for my company for the last 7 years (I am in the EU), the account team who I’ve remained in touch with have told me that they’ve lost a large chunk of repeat orders due to deliveries taking a lot longer and costing more and will probably need to lay off people. Their components were sold as JIT supply, no one pays for large volumes of stock anymore.

And yes, the pissy and no doubt to some irrelevant issue of standing in a separate passport queue to the rest of my family is also a fucking nuisance. We are allowed to get pissed off about so called trivialities, much of the Brexit vote was about small minded trivialities. Let the OP get annoyed about not popping over to Paris, it is nothing compared to the idiot who apparently voted Brexit because there were too many people speaking foreign languages in fucking Tesco and he couldn’t understand what they were saying.

The only reason there were vacancies in the agricultural and processing sectors is because these industries could not recruit U.K. citizens to do these jobs.

But that means they were not offering high enough wages/decent working conditions to recruit UK citizens to do these jobs. Where is the sense in having whole industries totally reliant on migrant labour paid piss poor wages living in converted chicken sheds on insecure short term contracts for long hours that can't accommodate family life?

Has anybody appreciated that it works both way ? 😳

Pre EU ( in olden days) we still went on holiday and bought stuff and maybe had to fill in forms and pay duty on stuff, and magically we survived. I remember that when we were having a financial crisis late 60s, early 70s you were only allowed to take £30 out of the country for holiday money.

Assuming you’re in the U.K. - a country where people have to use food banks, where some children get their main meal of the day at school, where countless millions are reliant on social security to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table even if they work 40hrs/week - you have a very skewed idea of “freedom” and “restrictions”.

It may well become more costly and/or time-consuming for the somewhat rich to enjoy certain privileges. Whatevs. Seriously not the biggest worry in the world.

It was easier to get to Paris from London than to get to Liverpool by train, for instance. This is because I live nearer to Waterloo than Euston. Sometimes it could cost hundreds for myself and three kids to buy a return to Liverpool. Ridiculous.

I think we all have more to worry about than shopping in France right now to be honest

What kind of life experience is this, where you think the average European worker picks daffodils for a living while you lot go over to Paris and Amsterdam to buy diamond rings and to have shopping trips?!

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

It's quite common to buy pieces on holiday such as jewellery eg diamonds in Amsterdam

I'm sitting here rolling on the floor laughing. It's really not common to buy pieces on holidays such as jewellery eg diamonds in Amsterdam.

Can you hear yourself? These are activities that are probably only common among the wealthiest 10% of the UK. DH and I are in that bracket easily and even I would absolutely not say its "common" to do that.

I’m part of the wealthiest 10% and have literally never done this. Sounds like a 0.001% issue.

Sorry your shopping habits have been curtailed. Vast majority (ie. 99.9999999%) of the UK won’t notice.

I agree OP, my sister not able to do holiday rep job in Europe in summer due to Brexit, pointless and damaging exercise to all of us

A lot of very bitter people in this thread who are very triggered by your shopping in Paris comment. I wouldn't really be one for big shopping trips but I dont see anything unusual or very extravagant in what you said.

The examples you give might be the life that you knew but the rest of the country were always buying from places like China because they don't have the money to go to Paris and buy more than the duty free limit in one trip. People have lost their jobs- it's insensitive to be annoyed about paying customs on parcels costing £ 140 when the mere are people struggling to even afford Primark.

Now we have moved on from the White Heat of Brexit, I understand some stuff more.

I am a committed Remainer; but I do understand that many of the obvious losses people like me feel mean nothing to many, many Leavers.

Up front, buying stuff from the EU has become so fraught with hidden, unknown costs, I'm not buying (and, to my surprise, 😉 Britain doesn't appear to make these things); but, it's quite possible many Leavers neither had the cash or interest in buying such stuff.

Our retirement plans, a villa in Spain, are shot out of the water; however, I imagine most Brexiters had never imagined the possibility. They correctly say they'll still get their week on the Med, though I doubt many will be able to afford it.

My DC can't do Erasmus (and we aren't rich enough to afford Turing); but I guess the possibility of a child doing that wasn't even a consideration for many Brexiter voters.

Your average Brexiter probably had zero interest in the importance of international ties in the worlds of science and research.

Of course, I can plainly see the lies and manipulation that caused people to vote that way. I guess the vast majority had not the faintest concept of how the EU worked (which would explain why the most googled term on June 24th 2016 was 'what is the EU?').

Educated, reasonably well off people like us will, one way or another, weather the oncoming storm.

But my sympathy for the fate of the Tory, Brexiter voter is all but gone.

I feel my life is diminished by Brexit, but the effect is more cultural than financial. Though that hasn't helped. I suspect that once the smokescreen of Covid clears, some nasty realities will dawn. Tho many will take longer than your average shell-fisherman.

HOWEVER, and here's a thing: I actually think that, in terms of maturity, Britain -certainly England- kind of needs the kicking that's coming its way. We need to learn our place in the world. We have openly, democratically and loudly chosen to diminish our influence in the world. We had a bloody good innings, sitting at many top tables we'd long since lost our right to sit at.

But maybe we might, as a country, due to Brexit, along with many other missteps- grow up from our little Englander, flag waving, Rule Britannia mentality.

This spanking may well yet do us good.

Luckily in my family we all hold Antipodean passports... 😂

I doubt we could have handled the vaccine rollout in the same way pre Brexit- I thought the EU wanted to manage it all from one central point?

I believe if you want to pop over to Amsterdam and purchase diamonds without all the bureaucracy you can hire a boat in Hull and turn right at the oil rigs

Agreed. There are many things that are leading me to consider a move to an EU country. People haven't yet felt the full force of Brexit in lowering the quality of life in the UK.

• it's going to v become very expensive to buy certain things. My husband has to order parts for his IT work. Because of new restrictions these have become very pricey and affect anyone who needs to repair a computer or phone...
• labour rights. Not a fan of the EU as I consider largely a free market institution BUT it's still more regulation heavy than the UK and acted as buffer for successive governments that wanted to do away with basic workers rights
• Ditto for environmental rights and food standards.
• Ditto for privatised healthcare
• the only Europeans we'll soon have here are the high net worth ones and sorry as a prole I like hanging out with the poorer ones!

The nail in the coffin for me is the awful deregulation of the education sector here (academies, free schools..) and even if I had the money, I wouldn't send my daughter to a private school. We're lucky up have european passports. I don't want to leave, there's a lot I would really miss (common culture I grew up in, friends, the open mindedness of the job market....) but I really feel pushed in order to have a better quality of life.

In terms of shopping, I've never found clothes type shopping in France that much of a bargain compared to the UK, particularly with outlet villages.

I have to admit to bringing back an extra suitcase of clothes and shoes when we go to the US every few years. I suppose it depends what type of clothes you like, but RL, Levi's, A&F etc are a lot cheaper there, even though the exchange rate isn't what it was (showing my age but I remember getting over 2 dollars to the pound when I first holidayed in the US).

Yabu. This is just getting embarrassing now. Whilst there are undoubtedly benefits of remaining in the EU, the last 3 posts have been;

1. My £k artwork has been taxed and nobody told me it would be
2. My £k glass vase has been taxed and nobody told me it would be (same poster a few weeks later)
3. I have to queue/fill in a form to buy clothes in Paris now.

Fuck me. Go and volunteer in a food bank in the time you would have spent on the Eurostar.