So you want broadly protectionist policies, regardless of costs incurred and more tax that may be needed to fund them -- gotcha. Fair enough. At least you're are honest. The British electorate isn't particularly keen on all three though. How would you sell it to the public, and win the referendum?
Although my worry would still be, if we cannot out compete a few 'types', as some people here refer to Eastern EU chaps, on our home turf, what would happen to us in the big wide world with such a competitive 'advantage'?
I agree with helping people to skill-up, retrain and stay above the water out of work; but someone has to pay for all of that with economic activity, and migrants who come here fill that gap and create wealth.
Yes. The world is ending every day on the TV, in the rags and online; people who believe them are either ignorant of history, or haven't actually looked at their adult life that closely. Perception of crisis isn't crisis; just like people's opinion about levels of crime is wildly divergent of actual crime on the ground. And yes, I did look at historic crime stats, body counts before and after the EU, frequency of regional conflicts, etc. The trend doesn't back you up.
Of course, we will always have geopolitical rivals and risks. Heaven on earth isn't really what I'm suggesting. NATO+EU makes a concentrated attack on or prolonged military conflict across Europe a remote possibility. If Europe remains together, countries like Russia can be economically crushed, without a shot being fired. It's hard to make war, or be the archetypical Russian autocrat, on an empty purse. Then we will all be back at the negotiating table, bashing out deals for gas and oil. Putin has his tactics, we have ours.
Greece wasn't allowed to fail and is in remission. Hardly a failed state in the making. But it had a lot of debt on its books. So recovery won't happen overnight, as some people expect. I don't necessarily agree fully with how negotiators handled the bailout terms, but then again I'm not providing most of the funds either.
Send this definition of refugees to the UNHCR, see if he agrees. We treat people as individuals equal before the law. It really is that simple.
