Dear British People,

@4185philip Isle Of Skye please! 😁

@helenS As soon as you have it sorted and we stay in the union.

@4185philip I will do what I can do.

@helenS tonight the news included a tidbit stating that there is evidence that the Russians may have been involved with the Brexit vote!

@samueltyler2 I believe that "Brexitism" is a home-grown disease; Russian activities in this context are predominantly of a parasitic nature. The host is already weakened, so it may harbor the parasite.

@helenS I find the rise of selfish nationalism in England and USA very sad

@4185philip It's a world-wide phenomenon. In my opinion, it's mainly a result of the 2008 financial crisis.

@helenS I agree. Firstly a lot of governments & media blamed their problems on other countries and the bankers. Greece blamed Germany for the imposing of spending cuts, in the UK it was the banks and the USA not having strong enough banking regulations.

Greece had been overspending for decades. In the UK a right wing government looked to cut welfare spending using the crisis as the excuse.

Much of the financial crisis was blown up. Look at HBOS in the UK nearly bankrupt over fears buyers would default on their mortgages. Bought by a competitor who saw an opportunity via government assistance to strengthen its business. It paid the government back way before expected and hardly anyone defaulted on the mortgages. So it was never a real problem.

RBS was just badly run and should have been left to go bust. When they over borrowed to buy ABN Ambro despite the USA investment arm (only really attractive bit) was already sold off quickly that was just stupid. Nothing to do with the sub prime mortgage issue they were just appalling management.

@SW-User banks and bankers are corrupt and we paid the price with years of austerity

@SW-User People were told many times there is no money available to repair school buildings and bridges, but when the financial industry collapsed, "fantastillions" of Euros, Dollars, and Pounds were availabe overnight.

@SW-User You surprise me, I have to say. 🌷

@helenS why?

@SW-User Because most members in your age group prefer talking about pop stars and boys.

@helenS I like politics and current affairs. I play in a quiz team so knowing about this stuff helps answer questions

@SW-User one point of view.
However it was successive governments who relaxed regulation from the mid 80s onwards. I remember when they final fined Barclays for manipulating the Liber rate. I worked in the city from 84 to 91 everybody knew it was happening. I never knew it was illegal!

The interesting thing with brexit that has never really been pushed is that one of the major sectors that will be heaviest hit is financial services. London is a major hub for corporate banking and insurance all of which is under threat. Neither of the two deals or obviously no deal allows for so called passporting of financial products.

A lot of banks have relocated big units. Its easy they only need a pc and a phone not like moving a production line.

The downside is potentially losing £75billion tax income approximately 11% of all UK tax receipts.

@SW-User the government didn't fix the LIBOR rate .. it was Bob Diamond and other bankers which is obviously a spelling mistake

@SW-User auto correct. I know I'm saying that manipulation was known about for decades. Everyone knew it happened and no one acted. The government allowed a regime of deregulation that essentially gave banks a feeling of carte blanch.

You're too young to remember the BICC failure. That was when the BoE had only a handful of supervision staff.

@SW-User you mean the BCCI (the bank of credit and commerce international) that collapsed in 1991. I learned about it in GEC in school

@SW-User why does my phone change everything I type 🤬

@SW-User yes year I left working there.

@SW-User blame Huawei or the Russians 😂🤣😂🤣

@SW-User Well it's a p20 so it's Chinese government interference clearly

@SW-User we learned all about it and the ERM (exchange rate mechanism) , the failed forerunner to that Mickey Mouse currency the Euro

@SW-User good job you're not in Hong Kong then

@SW-User I was there the weekend we went into the snake. And supported the first day's trading in the dealing room. What a bonkers day that was!
Again it was currency speculators (and others I believe Farage made a killing in his fund) that forced UK out in black Wednesday. I remember reading the paper in a hotel in CT thinking I'm glad I got out of that job!

But again a deregulated investment sector affecting the whole country.