The Student Room Group

Eddie Izzard talks to you about the EU Referendum! Monday 23rd May

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Original post by Queen Cersei
Eddie is visiting Aston University on Monday and he will be logging on to TSR to chat with the community ahead of the EU referendum (time TBC).

Eddie Izzard strongly believes that Britain should fight for our right to remain in Europe.

On 23 May, Eddie will launch Stand Up For Europe, his campaign to encourage people of all ages across the UK to register and vote IN.

You are invited to put your questions to Eddie around voting and the EU referendum.

Don't miss out, post below to be involved :smile: (Even if you don't think you're going to vote in the referendum, see if Eddie can persuade you!)


I hope you will also be holding a q&a with a leave supporter. Otherwise disgraceful for a site aimed at promoting free speech and debate.
Here's a question: loosely related to the referendum (kinda)... outside of British comedians, what European comedians do you rate? I have to admit I can't think of any that regularly appear on our TV screens, which feels like a wasted opportunity.
(edited 7 years ago)
Hi Eddie,

We already have a two speed EU in which the Eurozone is headed towards full political union by 2025 - 9 years time. The Eurozone already holds meetings before each EU Council Meeting to decide common financial policy and speak with a single voice on financial matters in Council. After full political union the Eurozone will speak with a single voice on all matters and will, by then, have 90% of the vote with no vetoes available to the UK on most matters.

Do you think that when Eurozone union is complete we should have another referendum or accept a "Remain" vote in the current referendum as evidence that the UK should become politically (and hence financially) united with the Eurogroup?


(The Eurozone has almost completed stage 1 of unification so that member states must submit their National budgets to the Eurogroup and Surozone banks are controlled by the ECB. Stage 2, full political union, is beginning in 2017.)
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Queen Cersei
Eddie is visiting Aston University on Monday and he will be logging on to TSR to chat with the community ahead of the EU referendum (time TBC).

Eddie Izzard strongly believes that Britain should fight for our right to remain in Europe.

On 23 May, Eddie will launch Stand Up For Europe, his campaign to encourage people of all ages across the UK to register and vote IN.

You are invited to put your questions to Eddie around voting and the EU referendum.

Don't miss out, post below to be involved :smile: (Even if you don't think you're going to vote in the referendum, see if Eddie can persuade you!)


Why Stay in Europe if we are the most under-represented country in the union .... ? And what is your opinion on the lack of democracy in the EU ?
Original post by Jakir
The E.U. is great as it can encourage our businesses to thrive but is it worth it if we are spending so much money on it?


When they're not choking them with dumb regulation for the sake of it all the time. Having said that, this is good for big business since these regulations and red tape can often only be navigated by them as they have the money and heads to do it. So SMEs are strangled before they can grow enough to compete with the big boys. It effectively serves as a protection racket.

It's little wonder that big business tends to be pro-EU and SMEs anti.

My question for Eddie is: what did you think of the head of the In campaign's head - the ex M&S chief exac admitting that wages for the low-paid will go up if we leave the EU because we won't get the same amount of cheap labour from the continent competing and driving down the wages?

Everyone knows that the wages for these sorts of jobs get driven down but is this a good thing in the bigger picture since automation is taking over lots of jobs at the moment?
Reply 45
Original post by EuanF
EU regulations were placed on steel manufacturing to try and remove Chinese steel from the market (arbritrary standards, tarrifs etc), but it just got in the way of domestic steel manufacturing and we still lost out.

Fishing industries are because the rest of the EU voted to fish our natural reserves. We had to downscale our fishing industry as a result. Hell, just look at what it did to North and South shields. Sucked the soul out of that place.


Looking at the official EU document on the matter, it shows that other countries like China have been overproducing steel, and selling the excess at a lower price. We simply have not been able to compete, so the countries that were buying from us and the rest of the EU are buying from the countries like China and the US. This is a knock-on effect from the recent economic crisis.

As for the fishing industries, I will admit that the EU and their Common Fishing Policy has had an effect; the fish the UK is known-for and got established through are fish such as the Scottish Salmon (a fresh water fish that the EU's policy didn't affect), Haddock (which seems to be flourishing), Mackerel (which also seems to be doing well, looking at Chapter 4 from the Annual Report from the Office of National Statistics) and Cod. The two which are in decline are the Salmon, which is due to conservation after overfishing; and Cod, which is due to the Cod Wars. These lasted from 1858 to 1976, where Iceland fought us for fishing territories in the Arctic Sea (which was where most of our stocks came from); Iceland won and this crippled the fishing industries in Northern towns, such as: Fleetwood, South Shields, North Shields, and my hometown of Grimsby.

Sometimes it pays to do further research with several sources, as all sources have some bias.
Reply 46
Original post by Captain Jack
Here's a question: loosely related to the referendum (kinda)... outside of British comedians, what European comedians do you rate? I have to admit I can't think of any that regularly appear on our TV screens, which feels like a wasted opportunity.


Henning Wehn?
Hi Eddie

As someone not extremely well versed in politics, can you help me understand the pros and cons of being in and out of the EU? How do we benefit or suffer because of it? I want to be able to form an opinion with all the facts. Right now, I'm pretty lost on what is for the best. And will the change affect students in anyway? I don't think we can handle taking on more struggle for the sake of our education.

I'm a big fan of yours and have a lot of respect for you. Thanks :h:
Hey Eddie,

One of the biggest turn offs and difficulties for myself, and I expect a lot of other people that are trying their very best to read up on this (massively) important subject, is that neither of the remain or leave camps are willing to concede (as far as I have seen) a single negative to their preferred outcome.

I haven't heard David Cameron, Jeremy Corbyn et al once say what the biggest benefit of leaving would be, and likewise the other way round from Boris' Brexit camp. This is really frustrating, and difficult to get the fuller picture... so...on that note, what do you think the biggest benefit to both LEAVING and REMAINING would be?

On a separate note, there have been comments regarding the outcome potentially affecting national security, and our ability to deal with threats and data sharing for serious crimes across the continent. If this really were the case, should this be a matter for the public to decide, with the possibility that such a serious decision could be swayed by media and popularity? Or is this just a scare tactic from the remain camp?

I'd love to hear your thoughts :smile:

P.S. how are the feet?
(edited 7 years ago)
Hi Eddie, what is your feeling about unelected, completely undemocratic bureaucrats in Brussels being able to dictate 60% of British Laws, while being paid extortionate salaries courtesy of british taxes? And also, shouldn't there be a lot lot more transparancey about the whole EU project?

If so, I'm sure you will agree true reform is impossible, judging by the direction it has been going for decades, and will want to vote OUT next month.
(edited 7 years ago)
According to Cameron (below), the referendum is simply about whether, in 10-50 years time you want to be governed by Brussels rather than Westminster. Is this a fair summary?
Original post by newpersonage
According to Cameron (below), the referendum is simply about whether, in 10-50 years time you want to be governed by Brussels rather than Westminster. Is this a fair summary?



And then he wakes up :smile:
Reply 52
Dear Eddie First of all congratulations on the awesome feat of endurance you put yourself through recently. Spending all that time with Prof Greg White..... Remarkable. Seriously though well done. A superhuman feat.
Heres one for you to find an answer to for all us Brexiteers. We know of course that ALL European citizens have a right to come to the Uk to work find housing. When they settle they are justifiably at present allowed to claim support as well as access to our services as we are in their countries of origin. Our numbers have grown by the millions as a result. When European countries give citizenship to migrants in their millions those NEW european citizens also have a right to settle wherever they like in Europe. They tend not to stay in Greece, Poland, Spain but head North for obvious reasons. Even the likes of France and other N.European countries are not their primary option as we know, we see them enduring further hardships in camps and jungles to come to the Uk. They head to where health and social support is world renowned. When the european countries give citizenship to the millions of people fleeing hardships around the world, we should be ready to take the lions share of those millions not because we have a choice but because we have no right to stop them once they become Europeans. Millions more will come to our tiny, overpopulated island with its lack of housing, strained infrastructure, overburdened public services and utility provision and we will have no control or right to say when enough is enough. Even when this country is on its knees we will be unable to say stop. If your argument is that we need to do something to help then i would agree but argue that to help we shouldnt allow millions to come here to live of the street or off the state but instead should assist these brave and industrious people to rebuild lives and countries at home wherever possible. European Councillors have proved that they are hopeless at making difficult decisions as a group. We need to look after our own country first and foremost so that we are then better placed to help other countries with support, aid and training. Europe is simply a leaking dam, near collapse. Ineffective and without resources or concensus. We cannot control the borders of Greece, Italy, and others, but we should regain our own ability to control our own mass.
Reply 53
Dear Eddie First of all congratulations on the awesome feat of endurance you put yourself through recently. Spending all that time with Prof Greg White..... Remarkable. Seriously though well done. A superhuman feat.
Heres one for you to find an answer to for all us Brexiteers. We know of course that ALL European citizens have a right to come to the Uk to work find housing. When they settle they are justifiably at present allowed to claim support as well as access to our services as we are in their countries of origin. Our numbers have grown by the millions as a result. When European countries give citizenship to migrants in their millions those NEW european citizens also have a right to settle wherever they like in Europe. They tend not to stay in Greece, Poland, Spain but head North for obvious reasons. Even the likes of France and other N.European countries are not their primary option as we know, we see them enduring further hardships in camps and jungles to come to the Uk. They head to where health and social support is world renowned. When the European countries give citizenship to the millions of people fleeing hardships around the world, we should be ready to take the lions share of those millions not because we have a choice but because we have no right to stop them once they become Europeans. Millions more will come to our tiny, overpopulated island with its lack of housing, strained infrastructure, overburdened public services and utility provision and we will have no control or right to say when enough is enough. Even when this country is on its knees we will be unable to say stop. If your argument is that we need to do something to help then i would agree but argue that to help we shouldnt allow millions to come here to live of the street or off the state but instead should assist these brave and industrious people to rebuild lives and countries at home wherever possible. European Councillors have proved that they are hopeless at making difficult decisions as a group. We need to look after our own country first and foremost so that we are then better placed to help other countries with support, aid and training. Europe is simply a leaking dam, near collapse. Ineffective and without resources or consensus. We cannot control the borders of Greece, Italy, and others, but we should regain our own ability to control our own mass.
Reply 54
Original post by 2016_GCSE
Seems rather Bias.

(Just having an IN voter.)


Original post by similarBlank
In the spirit of democracy and not being bias, which celebrity will be coming on TSR promoting the Leave campaign?


Why does TSR need to be unbias?
Dear Eddie,

In 2001 you supported Euro membership, and were quoted as saying:

"We either do the European project or we forget it. But not this half-hearted thing that we do in Britain."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1736151.stm

Do you still support Euro membership and, if Euro membership is off the table, do you still think we should forget about the European project?
Original post by Aj12
Why does TSR need to be unbias?


To keep a balance.
Reply 57
Original post by 2016_GCSE
To keep a balance.



Yes :colondollar:

But TSR is a private organisation providing a free service that you are under no obligation to use or support. If it wishes to promote a particular view point ( which it does constantly on a variety of issues) then it is perfectly entitled to do that. You are just as free to stop using the service. TSR has done quite a few things over the years that its members haven't liked, and have quite vehemently opposed. It has absolutely no obligation to neutrality or to be representative of what its users desire. Naturally it'd be wise to listen to the general feel of the user base, but there is certainly no obligation at all there.
(edited 7 years ago)
@Aj12

If TSR can be unbiased, which it can, I see no reason why, for the sake of just basic democracy, it should only promote one side of the argument.
Reply 59
Original post by similarBlank
@Aj12

If TSR can be unbiased, which it can, I see no reason why, for the sake of just basic democracy, it should only promote one side of the argument.


TSR is not a democracy though, it has never pretended to be. TSR has its own interests as decided by those who run it. Much like any private business it can choose to make a case either way, or none, and align itself behind any cause that it wants.

Having some experience of how decisions are made by TSR leads me to believe they will do something for both sides. But what I am arguing is that they have absolutely no obligation to.

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