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Preparations companies are making for Brexit

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Re: Preparations companies are making for Brexit

#151

Post by coldtea »

nmeofthestate wrote: post #148
coldtea wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a condescending non-response. I don't seem to be the only "somebody" with an opinion about the cultural and historical differences and power plays between the Scotts and the English playing a role: https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/adam-ramsay/eight-reasons-s... The alternative is what? One or the other ethnicity having the unique capacity of rational thinking to vote Brexit/Bremain? Or one side for some reason…

The Scotts are a family of people with the surname Scott. The Scots are the people of the country Scotland. Since you know why the Scots voted Remain, I'm surprised you keep making that mistake.

Are you also surprised to learn that not everybody on HN is a native english speaker (and could make the mistake easily since the people are also called "Scottish" with double ts)?

Or just wanted to add another ad-hominem to the non-responses?

Re: Preparations companies are making for Brexit

#152

Post by wink »

boombust wrote: post #93
keiferski wrote: post #16

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the financial industry the primary reason London has become extremely unaffordable for normal people? Is it possible that the negative economic effects of Brexit will have positive cultural ones, by lowering prices and allowing for more non-financial workers to live there?

No, the financial industry has close to nothing to do with affordability in London. The main causes are the UK's cultural obsession with owning property, speculative property buying, and regulations put in place across successive governments to encourage property buying and keep house prices artificially high. In the UK we historically associate wealth with land holdings and this has persisted to the present day. 'An…

I'd say the UK is too centralistic. Back when my field of work included "media" it was said that every company with a foothold in the UK needed to be in London, anything else wasn't so important. I think it's a bit the same in France - be in Paris or be bust. Take Germany as a contrast. If you exclude weird fringe stuff (not on this site, you should get my point) like startups - it's all over the place. Sure, the banks are in Frankfurt - but the media stuff is pretty much divided between Hamburg, Munich, Berlin, Cologne, Stuttgart. Also all the "big" well-known companies have their headquarters either in any big, or even a small city. That's why the rent in Munich is quite high, but nothing compared to London - and Berlin is quite cheaper.

Re: Preparations companies are making for Brexit

#153

Post by _Understated_ »

Jaruzel wrote: post #147
_Understated_ wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought I'd reply (being a Scot and living in Scotland I see th propaganda first-hand). 1 - They seem to be playing their cards close to their chest rignt now as I believe people are being turned off by the independence thing. I'm sure there were figures earlier in the year from polls saying two thirds don't want it now. Anyway, we voted already 2 - I agree. The EU have been quite clear on this. Also, I believe a f…

Thanks for your direct viewpoint. I married into a large Orcadian family, and now have relatives scattered all over Scotland, and what I know is from them. Personally, I'd like to see an Independent Scotland, but only if it is truly viable and the right thing for the country.

I've debated the independence thing with many people over the years and, for me, it always comes down to this:

I will look at all the other benefits to independence when I get an answer on the £20bn deficit... this trumps everything for me.

I honestly can't see anything being more important than this.

If SNP truly came up with a viable plan to fix/mitigate this deficit I will, with an open mind, look at all the other things they say independence brings.

Another poster mentioned the anti-English rhetoric and, being a Scot living here all my life, I honesly think there is an element of that: It's not the driving force by any means, but it's a factor... imo.

Re: Preparations companies are making for Brexit

#154

Post by rezeroed »

piokuc wrote: post #132
rezeroed wrote: post #33

Edwin Hayward is a mega-remainer, I've seen him on social media, so the chance of this being a balanced piece is zero to none. Presumably seapunk is also. I work in a company that is largely foreign, and no one has left because of brexit. This is project fear.

It's just a bunch of facts on a specific subject: "companies leaving UK because of Brexit". How would you "balance" a list of facts to make you happier and avoid what you call "project fear"?

Can't believe you actually asked that. How about a list of the opposite?

Re: Preparations companies are making for Brexit

#155

Post by BjoernKW »

grey-area wrote: post #145
BjoernKW wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely agree on the matter of nation states. Because they have been the reality for longer than any living human being can remember we usually consider them to be the natural order of things. However, on a historical scale nation states are a fairly recent concept. Before the 19th century allegiances for the most part were much more local on one hand and centred around religion (rather than concepts such as nat…

That doesn't mean, however, that a supranational entity such as the EU necessarily is the right solution to each and every problem in the future. Sure, perhaps a federal superstate isn't the answer - I certainly don't think it's a great answer for local gov, taxes or accountability, though given the world we live in surrounded by hostile autocracies I think having armed forces and trade at that level is advantageous,…

> why should the place of your birth dictate the rights and opportunities accorded to you? Why should nation states claim the right to bestow and strip citizenship?

These questions give rise to an ethical dilemma. On one hand you're absolutely right: The birth lottery shouldn't determine your opportunities in life. However, communities also have a legitimate right to try and ensure their continued sustainable economic welfare, which might be endangered if there are more immigrants over a period of time than that economy can reasonably handle.

This is why - again - economic development not only has to tie in with but often is a prerequisite for pursuing desirable ideals.

Re: Preparations companies are making for Brexit

#156

Post by rezeroed »

oblio wrote: post #130
rezeroed wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you wait until after the event to react to it? Knowing it was coming?

Personally? Probably not. Large groups of people? Quite likely, yes. "Common sense is not that common", and all that :)

You make it sound like their leaving is probably a good thing.

Re: Preparations companies are making for Brexit

#157

Post by guitarbill »

richardwhiuk wrote: post #46
contravariant wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>also helps that a lot of business expenses, such as hardware, are USD, so GBP losing value hasn't affected dev salary budgets much I don't quite understand, wouldn't a falling GBP make expenses higher?

If you are paid in USD, and expenses are in USD, then the GBP salary budget looks better.

Right, a lot of multi-national budgets are USD, so even if you aren't directly "paid in USD", that's what the beancounters see.

And of course, you can always simply pass on the price increase to the customer, e.g. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/24/microsoft_price_ris...

Re: Preparations companies are making for Brexit

#158

Post by boombust »

wink wrote: post #152
boombust wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the financial industry has close to nothing to do with affordability in London. The main causes are the UK's cultural obsession with owning property, speculative property buying, and regulations put in place across successive governments to encourage property buying and keep house prices artificially high. In the UK we historically associate wealth with land holdings and this has persisted to the present day. 'An…

I'd say the UK is too centralistic. Back when my field of work included "media" it was said that every company with a foothold in the UK needed to be in London, anything else wasn't so important. I think it's a bit the same in France - be in Paris or be bust. Take Germany as a contrast. If you exclude weird fringe stuff (not on this site, you should get my point) like startups - it's all over the place. Sure, the ban…

I wouldn't say it is a problem on its own. Look at Japan. Almost everything being in Tokyo is not a problem because their transport system is excellent.

The UK's problem is that transport policy is abysmally backward and our property market is outrageously disparate and historically overvalued (as land was how a person demonstrated their wealth which has perpetuated unlike other countries where industry holdings are valued much more, e.g. America and Germany). Take your example of Paris, much smaller but equally historic, yet prices there are much lower than in London. London is a more global city than Paris but not so much as to explain the discrepancy in property market values.

Re: Preparations companies are making for Brexit

#159

Post by guitarbill »

alecco wrote: post #109
smackay wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just anec-data but from a friend who has spent a lot of time in London this year. It appears that the EU nationals are leaving in droves. As a result many IT departments are becoming seriously understaffed. So there may be a boom in jobs for UK nationals or the companies may be forced to go where the employees are and move to an EU country instead.

> It appears that the EU nationals are leaving in droves EU nationals in low-skilled jobs left in droves. UK is very lenient to give visas to skilled immigrants of any country in the world.

> UK is very lenient to give visas to skilled immigrants of any country in the world.

That doesn't seem quite right. Getting a visa isn't harder than Australia or the US, but they don't just hand them out willy nilly. I know a few Americans in the UK who find it very hard to even change jobs. Again, that's always a risk until you get permanent residence, but it's hardly lenient.

Re: Preparations companies are making for Brexit

#160

Post by piokuc »

rezeroed wrote: post #154
piokuc wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just a bunch of facts on a specific subject: "companies leaving UK because of Brexit". How would you "balance" a list of facts to make you happier and avoid what you call "project fear"?

Can't believe you actually asked that. How about a list of the opposite?

List of companies that are not moving outside of UK after Brexit? Sounds pretty useful. Go for it, compile it. The author was apparently interested in those that are moving out, though, but you are free to create a "list of opposite" if you think this is more interesting. Or, even better, perhaps you want to create a list of companies that are moving to UK because of Brexit? I would really like to see it.
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