Is the EU falling apart...?

[Frownette]

My mother seems to be convinced it is. She hasn't given a compelling reason.

And someone at the Halifax told her that it was!

Now, now mystery. Quoting the IMF and other experts. Thought they were no good?

Now, now mystery. Quoting the IMF and other experts. Thought they were no good?

The ones in UK aren’t which is what the Guardian article was about.

The IMF made very similar predictions in 2016 to the BOE, the Treasury and others.

It also makes dire predictions for a no deal brexit.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/business-36284200

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/business/2016/jun/18/imf-says-brexit-would-trigger-uk-recession-eu-referendum

Look at a World map on a flat table. The EU is in the middle.

US can push from West. Japan and China from East. Russia from the North. That leaves only one direction for the EU to run - South into the African continent.

Don’t need to be an economist expert to work that out. Surrounding the enemy in overwhelming numbers is an ancient military tactic. Either kill them off in one go or force them into unfamiliar territory.

@malylis (AKA the floundering Straw Man)

Where is the recession that the articles in both links forecast?

Yes, the ones forcast by the IMF experts, who you are now quoting on other things.

Thought they knew nothing?

Look at a World map on a flat table. The EU is in the middle.

Depends whose map.

Yes, the ones forcast by the IMF experts, who you are now quoting on other things

Both links refers to Frenchie Christine Lagarde. You will never hear anything objective from France if it concerns the UK (more accurately the English). Still in the huff that French is not the World's mostly used language among many other reasons.

Depends whose map

The map with GMT passing through London is the most common.

Not really an adequate response.

You think Lagarde completes the studies?

This is really, really funny

You think Lagarde completes the studies

Maybe not, but surely she would some assurance that what she is presenting to the rest of the World in public was reliable (which in this case it wasn't).

The map with GMT passing through London is the most common.

Not in China, The USA or Russia, and increasngly not in India and SE Asia. Arab maps are centered on Mecca.

Yet you are happy to rely on the analysis of the IMF experts in other places when it suits you? I thought if they were wrong on one thing then their entire output could be discounted.

@MysteryTripAgain are you alright? You seem a little nuts tbh

Not in China, The USA or Russia, and increasngly not in India and SE Asia. Arab maps are centered on Mecca

The international date line is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean as the most practical place. When drawn on on longitude around the World is passes thrown London. That’s why time zones are quoted + or - GMT. A + GMT is taken as East and vice versa for Westerly. Hence places like Saudi Arabia, UAE are referred to as Middle East and Japan far .East.

I thought if they were wrong on one thing then their entire output could be discounted

That’s the point the Guardian article was making about UK economic “experts” they way it read to me.

No they were talking about the profession. However you dismissed the experts because they made an inaccurate prediction, the same experts you then invoked to make your point later.

It really is rather amusing.

Except that not everyone does refer to the Middle East.

GMT came into being when the various voyages of discovery in the 16th and 17th Century needed a reliable way of ascertaining longitude. By the time it was adopted internationally, in 1884, Britain was at the height of its Empire and its time keeping system already standardised nationally as a result of the railways. Until 1883 the USA had over 300 local time zones, so were not in a position, nor had the international clout, to dictate where the prime meridian should be.

If we were trying to establish such a system today, IMO I suspect it would not be based on Greenwich.

Basic stuff Mystery - didn't you learn anything in school?

Look at a World map on a flat table. The EU is in the middle.
That depends on the map and where it has been printed. But it doesn't really matter as the earth is round and not flat.

Surrounding the enemy in overwhelming numbers is an ancient military tactic.
I'm pretty sure that (slow movement of tectonic plates aside) US, Japan, Russia and China aren't moving closer to surround Europe or consider it the enemy.

I've said it before and it bears repeating that Mysterytripagain is so much of an expert on the EU that I had to inform him last year that MEPs are elected by the public. This was just weeks before the election. He really doesnt have a clue. But he does occasionally make me ROFL. Which is nice.

China (Zhonghu) means 'middle-kingdom.' Chinese maps reflect this. US School maps are centred on Washington DC. Russian maps show the curvature of the earth and show Russia at the centre of the world.

Most controversy over global cartography is over the north-south issue, with the Mercator Projection making Greenland the size of Africa.

No they were talking about the profession

Other than reference to 2008 it was all about the UK.

Also so much of an expert that they didn't understand the "future relationship" part of article 50 and accused the EU of breaking their own rules (they didn't).

They also thought that Cameron said he would stand down if he lost the referendum (he didn't).

No, but it remains on shaky ground. The single market (And everything that went with it) was introduced way way way too soon. If anything I think that the U.K. leaving (giving how different it is from other members) will give it the best chance of long term survival.

"Andy Haldane says his profession must adapt to regain the trust of the public"

Profession, not UK economists.