Wing Commander 1-4, space epics of my childhood.

Gee, it’s almost as if their religion’s name patron had preached to love and forgive each other and aid the poor and downtrodden. Crazy thought.

Say what you want about al Qaeda, but at least they know they’re evil

I’m pretty sure they think they’re the good guys.

Everybody is the hero in their own movie.

It’s not about who gets the sweeter deal. It’s not a transaction. Members don’t buy services from the EU with their contributions. If France gets more payouts, it’s because France has more of whatever triggers those payouts. It’s not the GDI though, so “same GDI, different net payments” is a flawed argument.

If we’re both in a tennis club and pay the same member’s fees, but I go to play on Thursday, when there’s less people, more space and a free drink at the bar for members, but you go on Saturday, when people are fighting for free courts and you can’t find a seat at the bar, I get the better deal. That doesn’t mean we’re not treated fairly, we’re just using different parts of what’s available.

Now, if you had to pay higher fees in the first place because I said “I"ll only join if I get a discount”, that would indeed be unfair.

That means it’s working.

You’re confirming that France pays less in.

I’m not. They paid more in fact. They just also got more back out.

Obviously I’m talking about Net. Gross doesn’t matter.

Wrong. What a country pays in and what it gets out are two entirely unrelated questions.

Payments to the EU are calculated by GDI and that’s that (except when there is a rebate). They are supposed to be fair based on that metric.

Payments back to the members are not “free money” the government can spend on whatever. They are subsidies bound to specific purposes that have their own specific criteria of distribution. They are not designed to be fair by comparison of GDI or similar metrics. If there were, as a hypothetical example, an EU program to subsidize local winemakers, you can see how France would very likely receive more money out of this fund than the UK.

It literally does. France does not receive a rebate on the normal calculation by gross national income.

France did receive more EU payouts than the UK in the past ( Example from 2017 ), leading to lower net payments. That’s not the same as paying less in the first place though.

I found a list, and while I was indeed wrong, as there are other rebates, France is not on the List.

I don’t know which numbers you are citing, but if you look at net contributions, payments from the EU to the members may of course also vary.

The UK was the first country to receive a discount though.

The UK is the only country that got a discount on their payments.

Edit: I stand corrected. One of a few

A major point the others fail to mention is that they got a special discount on their contributions to the EU Budget.

This reduction amounts to roughly 66% of the difference between the UK’s contributions to, and receipts from, the EU budget

Possibly. But some people really need it spelled out.

No violence

No stealing

No billionaires

Kinda. I set my office hours in outlook, so people see if I’m available. I mostly don’t actually work at unusual times. But I can, if necessary. What’s more important is that I don’t answer work calls outside my hours, unless it’s one specific co-worker or I know in advance that a certain thing may require my attention.

I don’t understand how people can live like this and not consider emigration.

I have flexible hours. What it means is not that I’m reachable around the clock, but that I decide when I work and am reachable.

All fun and games until somebody notices the groove in the road behind you.

Football? Isn’t the season over ?

Boy do I have bad news for you …

There are other types of value, of course. It’s just funny to specifically call the apple out for being a myth. The entire story is a myth, so they could have made it a pomelo for all I care.

What is “truth value” supposed to mean?