Are Europeans 'pathetic European free loaders'?

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WhatsApp chat released today from the US calling Europeans 'pathetic European free-loaders'.

One of our closest allies! What about support from European countries after September 11th?

AIBU to expect more professional language?

Apologies for the Mail link, but this rather underscores the present danger:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14535141/russia-china-trump-europe-ukraine-new-world-order.html

Comment of the thread for me

I did not mean to kill him.
(It had crossed my mind, at my lowest times, but it is not the solution LOL)

He only needs to lose power to a half reasonable opponent. Then be jailed, as he deserves.

The government told us we would be outside the single market:

19 April 2016
Thanks to Michael Gove we know that Britain's future outside the EU would also be outside the single market. So we can rule out our future looking like Norway or Iceland...

https://www.itv.com/news/2016-04-19/michael-gove-says-britains-future-outside-the-eu-would-also-be-outside-the-single-market-but-what-does-that-mean

12 June 2016
David Cameron confirmed that he will pull Britain out of the single market if there is a vote to leave the European Union at the upcoming referendum.

https://www.politico.eu/article/david-cameron-bbc-andrew-marr-ill-pull-uk-out-of-the-single-market-after-brexit-eu-referendum-vote-june-23-consequences-news/

Plus they do have access to a lot of our data.

Time to get our very own companies, based in Europe.
Own weapons.
Own manufacturing of anything that comes from US.

Although it was Trump who imposed sanctions on the Nord Stream gas pipeline in December 2019 and Biden who waived them in 2021:

Trump blocks Putin’s pipeline with US sanctions.
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/us-sanctions-block-putins-pipeline/
Biden under fire from Congress for waiving sanctions on Russian gas pipeline company.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/biden-comes-under-fire-congress-after-waiving-sanctions-russian-gas-n1267975

“The prime minister said he would accept the result as an “instruction” despite warning that leaving would be like planting a “bomb” under the British economy.”

“He said a vote for Brexit was a “DIY recession” that could leave the government with a £20-40 billion black hole in its finances.”

Cameron was half right. Suspect it’s cost a lot more than that.

I imagine Putin was pleased.

And now Putin is pleased again

Hasn't Rachel Reeves created a similar black hole? I hear she has six months to save her job.

Brexit costing £37 bn a year
Trade down 5% with the EU pa.

let’s all hope that something can be done about access to the single market.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-trade-cost-uk-business-labour-trade-billion-b2719830.html

Right well, that's okay then, if Michael Gove and David Cameron told us so.

(Despite the Leave campaign never highlighting what, specifically, life outside the EU might look like).

Obviously it was totally fucking transparent and democratic with regards to such a far reaching and impactful decision, and all of us who voted completely understood the ramifications.

Cool. Thanks for contributing.

I voted Remain, can you tell?

Leaving the EU was not the cleverest of ideas.
I thought the person who told me there was to be a referendum to leave the EU was pulling my leg. I laughed and all. Silly me. I really could not believe it.

David Cameron, with all his privileged arrogance, has an awful lot to answer for. I wonder if anyone ever questions him?

the UK’s total trade with the EU was 5 per cent “below the level seen in 2018”

So, how much of that 5% drop is due to Covid, the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis etc? It clearly can't all be Brexit.

I think we are stuffed -not only are we totally reliant on the US militarily but they control all social media, internet software, all office and banking software - our world depends on them so we better keep being nice to them.

The National Security Agency sent out an operational security special bulletin to its employees in February 2025 warning them of vulnerabilities in using the encrypted messaging application Signal, according to internal NSA documents obtained by CBS News.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nsa-signal-app-vulnerabilities-before-houthi-strike-chat/

Wonder if it also had a special warning about using Signal during a visit to Moscow, Witkoff 🤔

Keep being nice to their face while freeing ourselves from them for good with our hard work. We cannot live on eggshells forever. And now is a good time, as Trump has started this trade war, there is a list of aggravated countries that could stick together.

Yes, it can be. If you erect trade barriers with your major neighbouring trading partners there is going to be economic fallout. Brexit is costing us around 4% of GDP every year. Stop living in denial, please.

I don't blame the people who voted for it; they were lied to, both by omission and comission, by our media and our politicians, for decades before the referendum happened. I blame those who should have known better than to ever ask the question.

LauderSyme
Brexit is costing us around 4% of GDP every year

That was the OBR's long-term assumption - after 15 years.

@LauderSyme ha, totally agree and 5% might seem not that huge in the scheme of things but overall it’s huge. Our previously very consistent business is 35% down in our EU markets and it’s mainly due to the mail order side of things- EU countries are nearly all with a few exceptions charging ‘handling tax’ even on small things at point of delivery ( and we know this as we lived in Denmark for 2 years going just before end of the year in limbo ) basically we could never order from Uk anymore without postie knocking on door and asking for £14 handling fee for maybe a £12 item . Any business with a lot of D2C outside the UK will know about this.
i could understand people defending the whole shebang if there had been any great improvements/gains from it - but i think people would struggle to find any. You cant run businesses on sovereignity and flag waving-and their are limitations on who wants to invest (of any size ) in a purely UK market - it didn’t reduce pressure on services as Johnson bought in more legal immigrants from the 3rd world instead to shore up key workers who left in droves. Key workers plus families in fact , many of whom no doubt will never leave and need all of the services , not just a lot of younger Europeans plenty of whom just came for a few years and shared houses etc.
even my 85 year old FIL who did indeed buy into the ‘we could be Norway’ now thinks he was utterly misled and it was totally pointless. I can only conclude some people posting may have vested interests or benefitted from the hiding of offshore assets etc that was coming in.

Looks like we are being nice;

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump spoke about progress on an economic deal between the UK and US in an unscheduled late night call on Sunday night, Downing Street says.

The call came amid reports that a tax on tech giants could be slashed, as the government eyes up cuts at the spring statement and seeks ways to win over the US president.

Media reports have suggested Britain could slash the digital services tax – a levy on big tech companies – in order to stave off American tariffs.

https://www.itv.com/news/2025-03-24/pm-and-trump-spoke-about-progress-on-economic-deal-in-late-night-phone-call

And how is that working out for your average UK subject right now? Never mind in 15 years time when our % spend of GDP on defence will have to be higher because of Trump's America?

Our Labour government has antithetically cut benefits for pensioners, and will cut benefits for disabled people, and will announce even more spending cuts in the Spring Statement tomorrow, because tax revenues are not coming in. Because our economy has shrunk because of Brexit. More pain is to come.

Economic moronic self-harm. D'oh.

No way he is going to get away with reducing disability payments to fill the pockets of multibillionaires.
I do not think this will actually happen.
We no only need to tax these guys more, but actually replace them with our own brand. Maybe the tax relief can be applied to new tech companies created here.

Crikeyalmighty
not just a lot of younger Europeans plenty of whom just came for a few years and shared houses etc.

The surprising diversity of the EU national population in the UK

'There are roughly one million people living in the UK under EU freedom of movement rules, who were born outside of the EU ...'
[People who had obtained EU citizenship plus their non-EU partners and dependents]

'during the UK’s membership of the EU, freedom of movement was a major driver of immigration to the UK of people born outside of the EU'
Continent of birth:
Africa - 245,770
Americas - 182,066
Asia - 392,128...
https://ukandeu.ac.uk/diversity-eu-national-population-uk/

I can only conclude some people posting may have vested interests or benefitted from the hiding of offshore assets etc that was coming in.

Ha, ha

LauderSyme
Our Labour government has antithetically cut benefits for pensioners, and will cut benefits for disabled people, and will announce even more spending cuts in the Spring Statement tomorrow, because tax revenues are not coming in. Because our economy has shrunk because of Brexit

Rachel Reeves is seeking 'to blame deteriorating public finances on a global rise in borrowing costs'.

The economy was doing quite well when Labour took office;

https://ifamagazine.com/uk-economy-continues-recovery-as-q2-notches-up-second-consecutive-quarter-of-gdp-growth-reaction/

Tax receipts have quite clearly gone up since the Covid dip - rather the claim is they might be higher;

https://www.statista.com/statistics/284298/total-united-kingdom-hmrc-tax-receipts/