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mmarq

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We, as humanity, really need to stop equating democracy with direct votes and referenda. There are reasons why some bodies are nominated indirectly and through convoluted procedures. In many countries these processes exist to prevent the rise of fascisms or totalitarianism in general.

The EU, in particular, is a community of relatively different states, where you can’t have just direct elections with proportional representation, otherwise the most populous countries will decide for everybody. This is why there is a zoo of directly elected bodies, bodies nominated by the Parliament, others expressing the will of countries’ governments, and complex voting procedures with qualified majorities and veto powers.

In practice the EU has struggled to make national governments ratify trade treaties because their devolved regions were worried about beef prices. It’s not an unstoppable dictatorial behemoth that decides against the will of the people, if 10 farmers in Wallonia can stop it. They still haven’t convinced Germany that an Italian baker can open a bakery in Bavaria without attending a local mandatory 5 year Meister training.

In one you have the head of government of each member state, in the other the relevant minister depending on what is being discussed.

These are not European bureaucrats, they are the ministers of justice of each member state.

it's because they are bad at reading/writing as a skill and might make e.g. spelling mistakes.

Reading and writing are part of language proficiency. If someone struggles to understand complex written texts, then their command of the language isn't as strong as that of a proficient C1/C2 user, even if they are a native speaker.

they have to talk about a topic they don't know.

When I took my C1 exam, I had to read and discuss a text about polymers used in aircraft wings. The definition of C1 describes someone who can understand complex texts and use the language in academic and professional contexts. Many native speakers are not even close (eg I know a number of people who were born and raised in Italy who don't understand all the moods and tenses, so I have to simplify my language when speaking with them, as I would with a foreigner).

What you have in mind is “sounding like a local” or “not having a foreign accent” or “knowing most of regional idiomatic expression”.

The US has a guy who occasionally can screw things up for a few weeks, but who will be gone in a while.

We have all just realized that the American Constitution is the jurisprudential analogue of the Albanian virus (https://github.com/AriBjornOlafsson/Albanian-Virus). I wouldn’t take it for granted that what has happened up to now, before this new twist, will continue to happen in a world where being Trump’s friend is enough to change the NASDAQ listing rules.

I’m a parent, children should be banned from social media and enforcement should include serious fines for parents who don’t monitor their children.

After the first 2-3 fines, people will magically learn to use parental control and the idiocy of age verification will end.

Some effects of Brexit began right after the referendum (eg a business investment flattened since 2016).

2019–2020 are the worst years to start a comparison, because the UK uses a different accounting method to measure the government's contribution to GDP. So, COVID looks much worse in the UK and the recovery looks much better.

Some of these "tourist trap" activities are locals trying to make an honest living doing what they can.

The local working in hospitality is earning minimum wage, the premium you pay goes to the landlord.

The problem with this is that private health insurance is very cheap because there is an NHS that takes care of emergencies and does more than 50% of the rest. So your taxes keep your health insurance premia low.

Otherwise a comprehensive health insurance wouldn’t cost 200£ a month per person (I just requested a quote from AXA, as a 45 year old with no health problems, adding all packages, unlimited specialist visits and no excess)

A modern server can be power cycled remotely, can be reinstalled remotely over networked media, can have its console streamed remotely, can have fans etc. checked remotely without access to the OS it's running etc. It's not very different from managing a cloud - any reasonable server hardware has management boards. Even if you rent space in a colo, most of the time you don't need to set foot there other than for an initial setup (and you can rent people to do that too).

All of this was already possible 20 years ago, with iLO and DRAC cards.

My wife and child are regularly stopped at the border if I’m not with them, because they don’t have the same surname. I live in the UK.

The reality is that these letters are written in a kind of pseudolegalistic language, where a phrase like “the employee was punctual” means they were usually late. If they were actually punctual, you'd see something more like “the employee consistently demonstrated exceptional punctuality”.

You usually need the reference letter to be reviewed by the works council or by an employment lawyer.

Assuming these numbers are relevant and correct, there is a reason why qualified migrants prefer other countries.

If you were a French or a German doctor or an engineer, would you spend 3 months fighting with the Home Office for the questionable privilege of earning £50K per annum in a country where a half decent flat costs £2500 a month?

And Germany being overzealous in fiscal and monetary policy has stagnated growth and limited policy options.

German fiscal discipline is a tool of strategic independence. It started in ‘49 when they knew they would eventually had to reabsorb East Germany. Today it allows them to re-arm without having to ask permission.

Over the past 20 years, Germany grew more than Italy, France and the UK.

The biggest issue is giving up one of the biggest instrument of control over the economy to a supra-national non-democratic organisation

This is the point. Germany managed to set up a really independent central bank (which is a non- democratic, bureaucratic, etc… thingy) and inflation was at the target for decades. Italy, France, etc… didn’t, and inflation was 2-3 point above target and above the German levels. So they joined the Euro, which has a governance very similar to the Deutsche Mark.

To this day, inflation in European countries outside the Eurozone is higher.

If I recall correctly, the UK changed the way in which they compute the government contribution to GDP (going from G being just cost to some estimate of the output). This caused both the COVID drop and recovery to look steeper.

My understanding is that when you transfer large sums (such as 30K) to an overseas account for the first time, the British bank is required to block it and ask you questions.

The first time I transferred money to an overseas account in my name, the bank blocked the transfer for a day until I gave them proof that I was the owner of the account, what I was doing with the money and that I wasn’t being scammed.

In the USA you can purchase prepaid SIM card in Wallmart with cash, put it in your phone and you have anonymous phone number, again, this is illegal in Europe in a typical stupid European way

This is illegal in some European countries but not all. I more than bought one phone and one SIM card with cash in the past.

The old, which have been ‘criminally’ favoured by Britain’s mistakes, have overwhelmingly voted for Brexit. While the young, who have been royally screwed, voted Remain.