5 Warnings?
Stop talking and get on with it then.
Steelie Neelie has warned Germany – for the fifth time – that if it doesn’t sort out its proposals on mobile termination rates, the Commission will take legal action. The European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda may be on her way out, but Neelie Kroes has seemingly reached the end of her tether with the German telecoms …
"And "we" want to leave the EU and be left at the mercy of our own government's Quango's to "manage" pricing."
In case you hadn't noticed, it's Germany that might end up in the dock, not the UK, where the rules appear to have been zealously implemented. You might also stop to consider that the majority of EU competition and regulation approaches have been heavily influenced by the UK's pioneering approach to competition in utility markets.
But hey, if you want to go back to "big state" policies that ultimately amount to state-provided services, then feel free to move to Venezuela, or Cuba. Some of us are old enough to remember the shockingly poor, expensive "services" that government provided when it directly controlled the vast majority of UK water, electricity, gas, telecommunications, road haulage, bus services, railways, air transport, airports, ferries, docks (not to mention the state's "scorched earth" policy in manufacturing industry).
And perhaps you should reflect whether Brussels is really pro-competition and free enterprise, or is merely a shadow state looking to micro-manage all economic activity (a bit like France, with it's mangled and unproductive economy).
Ah, that would be the period when we had the best roads in Europe, a national railway system that was affordable to ordinary travellers, integrated bus/rail services in major cities (impossible since the balkanisation of both services), and a reliable utility infrastructure because money went into improving and servicing it instead of into shareholders' pockets...
Closely followed by the three day week, power cuts, The Thunderer not published, rubbish in the streets, bodies unburied and the military operating the fire service - and more.
I expect we disagree on cause and effect in this history. Me, I'm off on my bike with four friends for lashings of ginger beer. Bucolic or what?
Hmm, I was alive for much of that time and adult for quite a bit. You've taken all the problems of Callaghan (3 day week etc.) and spread them across the whole period. Ineteresting when midwives have just taken action for the first time now.
As for road haulage - wrong. My stepfather was a haulier, a successful one and not a small one: he was intensely independent. Name me the state version.
Trains were affordable and the ticketing system was "joined-up". Water and electricity worked rather well. The one thing that, after some stuttering, did benefit from privatisation is British Telecom. Increasing "competition" in television and radio seems to be a race to the very trivial bottom.
Of course, life was not perfect; but the British society as a whole was a nicer, more open one in the 50s and 70s, without the extradordinary, poisonous extremes of today and the galloping USA-isation and we had an awful lot more countryside apart from national parks.
As for the point about the EU: Britain did NOT take any useful steps to control the price of mobile telephony and, indeed, many of our most effective consumer support has come from EU-wide bodies (that, strangely, are influenced by their members, including dear old GB).
In countries without membership, such as Switzerland or Norway, that are closely linked for reasons of trade and movement, they still have to adopt most such measures to be allowed to trade; the difference is that they have sweet Fanny Adams influence on the process.
I am baffled why so many people imagine that giving up the personal freedom to live and work throughout Europe or just to move and shop freely in this vast area will be an improvement. I am baffled that these ignorant people seem to think the European court is an EU body.
Grow up and enjoy swimming in a big pond.
"she will write a very, very, very angry letter to say that the 6th warning is imminent."
Given that the German economy is by far and away the largest and healthiest in Europe, and that Germany's net contribution to the EU budget is 3x that of the parasites of France, I'd suggest that Steelie Neelie's gunpowder is very wet indeed.
Average GDP increase is only 1.1%, lower than both Britain and the US, placing it 156th out of 166 countries.
The population is forecast to decline by 17 million over the next 30 years. A third of the population will be over retiring-age. The current reproduction rate is only about 1.4 when at least 2.1 is the replacement rate, add in the cutting of retirement age and it's hard to see how they will balance the books.
In 15 years’ time Germany is likely to have more than 6 million fewer workers – even fewer if immigration falls below the current average annual rate of 200,000.
The education system is deteriorating. There are far fewer young graduates than in Britain (29% against 45%). Whereas the UK has 3 universities in the world top-five, Germany’s highest is a miserable 49th.
" Whereas the UK has 3 universities in the world top-five, Germany’s highest is a miserable 49th."
Some very selective stats there, my son. I'm a reactionary UKIP supporter, and I attended one of the top UK universities, but even I will (on the basis of experience) accept that Germany has an amazingly good education system, amongst the highest levels of productivity in the world, and better standards of living than the UK, and probably in most terms the US. Your selective comparisons that favour the UK and Mercania also ignore the fact that Germany has far more stable and balanced public finances than either country, with the US and UK addled with debt. The UK's lead in graduate numbers is based on offering degrees in hairdressing, media studies and similar shite.
Consider this: Who buys a British car for its engineering?
I'd really like things to be different, but they aren't.