BeechBaby wrote:
What would be your starter for 10 then on the subject, Private Pilot?
I think that my perception is irrelevant. I know hundreds, or thousands of them and can synthesise and antithesise everything I know about them and come to a conclusion.
I am talking of the perception of the average Sun reader who has probably never met one. A bit similar to asylum seekers really. Or FTSE 100 chairmen.
This (supermarket) man is way at the honourable range.
I am very honourable too, but that doesn’t mean I am always right 
Supermarkets work on tiny margins.
Ahem, nooo. The average gross margin of say Tesco is of the order of 50%. Most of “big retail” is in that sort of band. Petrol stations are smaller at 5-10% but they have a very rapid stock turnover and relatively much smaller fixed costs (BTW avgas is c. 15% in N. Europe). Net profit is of course much less but that’s a different discussion.
whilst every supplier was stuffed senseless.
Indeed – “big retail” generally operates the worst practices in the way they treat suppliers. But, to be fair, Harry Truman got it right.
Timothy wrote:
A bit similar to asylum seekers really. Or FTSE 100 chairmen.
I have met a number of both. Good and bad in both camps. The UK corporate scene is an old boys club. There lies the problem. And sorry Timothy, large supermarkets do not work on tiny margins, they ensure that their suppliers cope with that little game.
When I talk of margins, I don’t mean the difference between what they pay and what they sell for, I mean the whole operation. The RoI is not great and will be hugely affected by big investments in new distribution networks.
BeechBaby wrote:
Good and bad in both camps.
Exactly my point. Which is why the broad brush denigration of the whole group in order to undermine the opinion of one is worthless.
That is the problem of this whole debate. High in polemic and rhetoric, low in analysis and sense. It will drive us into the ground.
Well, latest after today, all those who were still planning on a soft Brexit or even reversal should wake up and get working on their plan B’s ASAP if they have not yet.
But I don’t see the big things in terms of food shortages e.t.c. unless the EU goes full balls to the walls and institute a trade blockade, which as far as I know is not in anyone’s planbook. But I may be wrong, only if the EU were to try to strangle the UK with a blockade, they should know that Britain has managed to survive such before. Yet, what would simply happen is that EU imports and exports will be more complex and subject to taxing. Big deal yes, but it will not stop the flow of goods as some of the people think.
Apart, in the hard Brexit scenario Britain will not shell out one penny to the EU in separation payments. 40 billion is a seizable amount of money which then will be used internally, if it exists at all that is. After all, it is cheap to extort money out of someone but if he doesn’t have it, no game. And the UK will need every cent they have to sort themselfs out.
But what I think it is time for now is for Mrs May to step aside and for one of the leading Brexiteers take the helm and steer Britain through this. After all, it was them who said it was all no problem, so now, get that seat in 10 Downing Street and show the rest of us how it is done.
Timothy wrote:
The RoI is not great and will be hugely affected by big investments in new distribution networks.
Simply not true
Timothy wrote:
Which is why the broad brush denigration of the whole group in order to undermine the opinion of one is worthless.
Nobody actually did that. However in this case the whole group is pretty insidious.
Timothy wrote:
High in polemic and rhetoric, low in analysis and sense.
Not sure what you actually mean and to which debate you refer.
Mooney_Driver wrote:
But what I think it is time for now is for Mrs May to step aside and for one of the leading Brexiteers take the helm and steer Britain through this. After all, it was them who said it was all no problem, so now, get that seat in 10 Downing Street and show the rest of us how it is done.
Agree, let all the brains behind this show us their mettle.
I thought that EU was also committed to the principle of good neighbourliness. I can’t see attempting to blockade the UK would help that.
All this talk of soft and hard brexit only seemed to pop up following the vote. Beforehand all the remain people were very clear that brexit was what would now be considered “hard brexit”
The eu is not in a good way itself, Hungary potentially having its voting rights removed. Denmark not very happy with the EU direction, the recent Sweedish election, Greece, Italy, etc.
Business will continue and we will get on.
let us not forget that it appears 2/3rds of brits and about 2/3rds of Americans want a UK-US trade deal. That would be great. Especially for aircraft parts
This scenario gets played out at all levels of life; in business, in divorce, you name it. If (a) you are dealing with somebody clever (and people running governments are generally very clever… I am not talking about politicians but about the permanent civil service staff) and (b) you push them into a corner, you usually end up worse, because they now take drastic action to protect themselves. In divorce, most of the people doing this are badly advised by their lawyers, plus they are out to get an extra pound of flesh (I am sure everybody knows exactly what I mean) but in top level politics you are dealing with a clever and cunning animal which has a lot of resources. You cannot just screw a big country like the UK against the wall. Greece, yeah, easily, as we saw, but not the UK. So today’s news might be bad for the UK (actually I think not, because the UK side needs some butt-kicking and a catalyst to pull in the same direction) but it is most definitely bad news for the EU.
Aircraft parts are already duty-free, BTW (unless the shipping company screws up, which happens all the time).
I don’t think that you can classify the government as very clever. It has been a disaster since Cameron decided to consult the EU on a revised deal and they concluded that the UK would not be stupid enough to vote to leave so why concede anything to Cameron. Now the best solution is to stop any negotiation with the EU and press ahead with a clean exit strategy and keep the 40 billion. The EU budget will take a huge hit and hopefully th whole pack of cards will collapse. It has only been sustainable through extravagant use of QE by the ECB and the impact of the EU policies is now showing the signs of stress in many countries. Perhaps we could invite them to join the sterling zone sometime in the future. We have had to bail out the European countries on two previous occasions so it wouldn’t be unusual to have to do it again.
