The Brexit referendum thread: potential consequences for GB, EU and the Brits in CH

	Quote:
	Push bike attached to a generator in the garage?

No, I'll be taking a few private jet flights to Japan to harpoon a couple of Whales, then running the heating off their oil and trading the ambergris for diesel.

	Quote:
	No, I'll be taking a few private jet flights to Japan to harpoon a couple of Whales, then running the heating off their oil and trading the ambergris for diesel.

That seems like a lot of work. You should maybe consider the push bike/generator combo.

	Quote:
	No, I'll be taking a few private jet flights to Japan to harpoon a couple of Whales, then running the heating off their oil and trading the ambergris for diesel.

I read "aubergine".

	Quote:
	I read "aubergine".

Cor. Imagine the size of a whale's aubergine.

[k_and_e]

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	Imagine all the Teslas you could power with that!

https://youtu.be/fCjsUxbNmIs?t=62

[TonyClifton]

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	Maybe it is because they want people to use fewer plastic bottles. Not everything is about you.

This is how it is being reported.

	Quote:
	As the EU27 prepare for fractious negotiations over the next seven-year budget which runs from 2021, officials and diplomats have told the Financial Times that member states are ready to agree a plastics recycling tax — the first new EU-wide revenue to be directed to the bloc’s coffers since the establishment of VAT. “We have a Brexit gap. Member states know this and will eventually have to accept new revenue streams,” said a senior EU official.

Revenue streams dependent on people using plastics.

[amogles]

	Quote:	Tom1234
	yes, the bus is a much better option for the environment but not so visual in the way of virtue signalling.

It's all a question of marketing.

And to be honest, I think in Switzerland the bus does have a certain edge. Back when Josef Estermann was major of Zürich he went virtually everywhere by public transport and would sit next to and even chat to normals. Even I exchanged a few words with him on two occasions.

In other countries, especially Germany at the time, the fact was occasionally mentioned with a considerable amount of drooling by the press, where that level of approachability and normality (and absence of security) was interpreted as being ultra democratic, akin to the bicycle riding monarch of Denmark..

I think there was also a CEO of one of the big Zürich banks around the same time who also went to work by tram every day and when his successor decided to go by car it was quite detrimental to his public image.

I don't think the choice between a petrol car and an electric car has in any way the same level of hands-on oomph as the choice between a car and a tram.

	Quote:	TonyClifton
	This is how it is being reported. Revenue streams dependent on people using plastics.

The two sentences you have written there are entirely independent, aren't they? The unnamed source (always reliable) isn't commenting on the preceding paragraph.

That's really poor manipulation TC, must try harder.

[John William]

	Quote:	amogles
	I don't think the choice between a petrol car and an electric car has in any way the same level of hands-on oomph as the choice between a car and a tram.

Well you will be surprised at the amount of umph you can get from the top of the range Electric Cars these
days like the Tesla in Ludicrous racing mode.

Tesla Model S v AMG GT 4 v BMW M5 v Porsche Panamera Turbo S Race

[MusicChick]

	Quote:	Tom1234
	They do generate electricity too from burning rubbish that cannot be recycled rather than using it for landfill - not many countries in Europe have managed that yet.

Not sure how much they burn. They export an awful lot to CZ. Sod the EU and their "green cooperation".

[st2lemans]

	Quote:
	smokers cost the govt about £14bn a year and smoking revenues contribute about £12bn...

And how much do non-smokers cost the govt?

Tom

	Quote:	st2lemans
	And how much do non-smokers cost the govt? Tom

Depends on what's wrong with them. I believe obesity (and related conditions like T2 diabetes) are increasingly an issue and cost a lot. Don't know if more or less than smokers.

[k_and_e]

If you want to be totally fair, then you shouldn't look at health costs only but also at the value that people add to society (monetary and non-monetary).

	Quote:	k_and_e
	If you want to be totally fair, then you shouldn't look at health costs only but also at the value that people add to society (monetary and non-monetary).

How would this be defined? Huge can o' worms.

[fatmanfilms]

	Quote:
	How would this be defined? Huge can o' worms.

The amount of tax they pay would be a good starting point.
Why is this a huge can of worms?

	Quote:	st2lemans
	And how much do non-smokers cost the govt? Tom

I believe this is the extra figure from smoking - i.e. there are about 4m smokers in the UK costing an extra net £2bn, or £500 extra each a year.

[MusicChick]

	Quote:	k_and_e
	If you want to be totally fair, then you shouldn't look at health costs only but also at the value that people add to society (monetary and non-monetary).

Yeah but that also starts to resemble Chinese social credit that's turning human life value into numbers. Easily devaluated. There is no way to quantify without being unfair one way or another.

Making people responsible for their own health/life management is the only way. Swiss do that pretty well, imho. Though it is not so easy to navigate for everybody. Health (and other ins. policies) only kick in pretty much only when something really bad (really costly) happens.

	Quote:	fatmanfilms
	The amount of tax they pay would be a good starting point. Why is this a huge can of worms?

Because it would presumably have someone like a bus or taxi driver being more "valuable" than a nurse or a teacher. All fine professions I am sure, but I'm not sure anyone would say that Mesut Ozil is 750 times more valuable to UK society than a nurse, for example.

	Quote:	fatmanfilms
	The amount of tax they pay would be a good starting point. Why is this a huge can of worms?

Find a definition of value that doesn't discriminate or marginalize.

	Quote:
	Because it would presumably have someone like a bus or taxi driver being more "valuable" than a nurse or a teacher. All fine professions I am sure, but I'm not sure anyone would say that Mesut Ozil is 750 times more valuable to UK society than a nurse, for example.

This.
A CFO of a huge company may be valuable in terms of tax paid but FA use when you actually need a fully staffed maternity unit. For example. Then a midwife who, comparatively, is "worth less" in terms of tax paid, is actually worth more than their weight in diamonds.