Can Remainers explain this?

[orgmatdane]

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?

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

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.

Not as funny as the getting behind Kemi Badenoch post 😁

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. 🙄

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

Spexit would be a great name for an opticians.

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?🤔

This isn't facebook 🙄

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!

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.

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. 😏

You might want this thread moved to "History".

The same person?

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

Don’t forget the slave trade boosting the wealth of Britain - let’s start that up again. Someone needs to watch that Empire series or Civilisations on BBC2.

And the same person who persistently posts on Britain’s past greatness and why it ‘gave away’ its empire and apparently allowed other countries to copy British tech advances from the Ind Rev. I gather from other posters that it’s someone contemplating a history degree, and who believes that there they will find answers to their Big Question — why isn’t the UK dominating the world the way it used to?

Im already feeling sorry for the tutors who set an essay on the Counter-Reformation or the French Revolution and get ten pages of the OP’s monomania in response.

I reckon.

why isn’t the UK dominating the world the way it used to?

All empires fall.

Small technical point about the OP. If you believe Britain needs to be part of the EU are you a Rejoiner rather than a Remainer?

Given the OPs historic slant, using the past participle would seem entirely appropriate.

What about having another go at Danelaw? Any legs in that?

The OP is using the name @orgmatdane. Maybe they are busy oiling up their Viking Longship and waiting for the sails to come out of the wash as we speak?

Oh lordy @RainbowBagels you’re right! But I’ll cringe inside out (again) if she paddles into Whitby wearing horns on her hat.

THE VIKINGS ARE COMIIIING !!!!!!!!
I'm in Norfolk so we'll be under Danelaw too. Might be nice!

Anyone that bases their current political opinion on what happened in the 1800s is probably just a tiny bit old fashioned and behind the times?!

Slavery happened then too and I suppose that's fantastic as well is it?