Whilst in the Gym

[DodgyAgent]

I have just returned from a session at the gym. I usually go there during the evening so going in the morning was a new experience for me. Anyway two things:

Firstly I got onto a running machine that I had never used before, and it occured to me why. This machine has a perfect view of the swimming pool and I was able to stare at some rather lovely girlies in swimsuits. This has to be because the evenings are far busier than the mornings. Anyway I bought a debenture for the running machine whilst I was there.

As I tired of watching people in the pool I couldnt help noticing the news on telly that was concentrating on the EU summit in Brussels today. talk is of the UK giving back its budget rebate of between £2-£3 billion. Pushing this are of course the French and the Poles who have teamed up against Britain to apply pressure on to Blair.

Now the Poles have a bit of a cheek I reckon. First of all why are they teaming up with the French, when the French have banned their workers from working in France? Secondly I did some mental calculations as I was pumping away on the running machine.

If there are 500,000 Poles currently living and working in the UK that equates to a cost saving to the Polish government in reduing their unemployment.
I dont know what it costs to support an out of work Pole interms of welfare health housing etc, but the figure must be around £2000 per annum. So that is £1 billion straight off Polands bottom line. I also understand that the average Polish worker in the UK sends home £1300 per annum which equates to £.65 billion.

So all in the Poles enjoy direct subsidies from the UK of at least £1,65 billion whereas they get nothing whatsoever from the French.
The hypocrisy of these people astonishes me.

[darmstadt]

Now the Poles have a bit of a cheek I reckon.

Don't worry. If it is found out that Poland has been helping the CIA with their flights and secret prison camps then they're suspended from the EU.

Article here

[Daywalker]

How long did you run for??

[XLMonkey]

Now, I do agree with you but....

given the choice between watching women in swimsuits and calculating the net outflow of cash from Britain to Poland in my head.....

DA, you are getting old old old before your time.

[Rebecca Loos]

Dodgy,

Your email betrays a lack of knowledge of Polish affairs

First, there is a history of friendship between the Poles and the French, with lots of Polish immigrants in France - not a recent wave like in the UK, but one that dates before WW2. So it is not hugely surprising they side together despite France closing its frontiers to Poles (much like the rest of Europe apart from the UK)

2nd, why is everyone in the UK hung up about this rebate? I know the British press has always tried to connect it with the huge farm subsidies that the Frogs receive, but in fact it's not - people pay into a budget and then what's done with this budget is voted and approved by the commission. Oh and also don't forget Britain receives lots of farm subsidies too, something the UK press - oddly - never mentions.
That rebate was a very clever piece of work by Mrs Thatcher, but is not really fair - no other country receives a rebate -not even those Frogs.

The whole thing is dodgy anyway, and works a bit like GB's tax credits: pay first, and then get some of your money back later. Uh? Great bit of bureaucracy but it doesn't really make sense, why don't you pay less to start with?

[Dundeegeorge]

But there's something you're missing Rebecca

The bottom line is that few people are convinced that the EU is useful to anyone, let alone the UK.
Do you have the figures for who pays what?
I heard on the radio yesterday (so it must be true!!!!) that in fact the UK has always paid more than France, even including the rebate. If this is the case, then the French have got a ******* cheek whining about how much we pay. (That would of course be typically French behaviour, the arrogant, smelly, cheese-scoffing little tulips, we should have let Hitler cleanse Europe before taking up arms against him!)

[expat]

I heard on the radio yesterday that in fact the UK has always paid more than France, even including the rebate.

This is true, and Rebecca is being a little misleading in saying that no-one else receives a rebate. It is true that France does not get a "rebate", but it does get a huge whack out of the budget, because their farming just naturally attracts lots of subsidies.

On the other hand, we shouldn't complain really, because that's what the (originally Common Market) budget was designed to do - give lots of money to France.

Originally it was supposed to take that money from Germany, but the UK just happens to fall on the wrong side of the rules, i.e. small efficient agriculture and lots of international trade, so in the basic non-rebate system it gets whacked for French peasants too.

Of course the French translation of that is that the UK has a small agricultural sector that doesn't need budget money; and the UK will insist on trading outside the EU so it must expect to pay for that.

The more private French translation is, if you insist on buying lamb from New Zealand instead of from French farmers, the French farmers still need paid, so you're still going to pay them. Tant pis!

[DodgyAgent]

£2 Billion is an awful lot of money. Just think we could build 20 millenium domes for that.

[DodgyAgent]

Now, I do agree with you but....

given the choice between watching women in swimsuits and calculating the net outflow of cash from Britain to Poland in my head.....

DA, you are getting old old old before your time.

The pool started to get taken over by a few fat women and blokes, so my mind began to wander, and yes I was on the running machine for a long time. Tomorrow I hope to be able to switch it on.

[PerlOfWisdom]

£2 Billion is an awful lot of money. Just think we could build 20 millenium domes for that.

or a 1/3 of a medical database.