And Then They Came for Richard Tol
Richard is a very hard worker, a grinder in the language of physicists and if you disagree with him, well it will annoy him exceedingly, but his approach to anybunny who questions him is Donald Trump's approach, nuclear war. As a result he has managed to shout down a lot of folks, marginalize others and has a raft of people who would rather not be in the same postal code as him.
Which brings us to Brexit, a policy favored by, in general, the leaders of the British Global Warming Denial Foundation (ok change Denial to Policy but Denial is Policy to them). Tol, of course, because of his luckwarmer model calculations, guided by a judicious choice of data and use of the +/- key on his calculator, is an academic advisor to them.
Which has now put him in a bit of a bind, as he and his wife are not Brits, but are stealing jobs from Brits, which has lead to an interesting interchange between Dickie and the local Sussex MP
Dear Ms Caulfield,
Yesterday you voted against a motion that would guarantee the right of EU citizens already in the UK to continue to live and work here.
I am one of a family of four of such EU citizens. My wife builds sewage treatments plants, a vital if often underappreciated service, for Southern Water. I teach economics at the University of Sussex, probably one of the largest exporters in the area. Our alumni quickly find well-paid and secure jobs. Our children attend the local primary school. We pay our taxes. My wife volunteers in the local PTA. I regularly volunteer my expertise in energy and environment to the Houses of Parliament. We spend most of our income in the local economy. Frequent visits by friends and family from abroad support the local tourist industry. We love Sussex and its people. To the dismay of their grandmother, our children speak English in a Southeastern accent.
I can interpret yesterday’s vote in one of two ways. Either you think it is acceptable to play politics with other people’s lives, or you would like to see us leave this country. Could you kindly explain why you voted as you did?
And, what did you expect, she blows him off by saying it wasn't a real vote, he tries to bludgeon her and they agree to disagree.
Which raises the question of what Richard thought he was throwing in with. The GWPF folk were always coming for him.
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12 comments:
Tol needs to relax. I'm not a EU citizen and I have a visa. Furthermore, USA, Mexican, Brazilian and Japanese can get visas to work in the UK (the same way Nirwegians, Brits, Italians and Mexicans get visas to work in the USA). I don't agree with the Brexiteers approach, but there's a lot of bs floating in the air.
Richard may have to move back to Ireland, whose shores he departed a few years ago in that lofty vehicle, High Dudgeon.
FL the is no via system for EU citizens in the UK at the moment. The one that was touted is a points based system. Perhaps that's why he's scared.
The problem with a points based system is that it encourages immigration of well qualified people. It's not a policy that endears itself to the middle class who can't understand why their little Johnny and Jane can't find a decent job even with a useful degree.
FL having spent considerable time and money recently to obtain a long stay visa for a sabbatical, let alone a work visa, allow Eli to disabuse you. It is not a walk in the park and you spend considerable time sitting on the bench for re-entry while they figure out if you have permission. Then every time you try and enter afterwards for a vacation or whatever, you spend considerable time waiting for them to decide you are not trying to sneak back in.
Stories like this are not uncommon
"Immigration official: “So you are telling me that you will graduate from this course at the age of 30, having never held full-time or valuable employment?”
Me: “I hope to be a professor.”
Immigration official: “I’m sure you do. I said ‘valuable’ employment. You are 25. You are an adult, not a child. School is where we put children.”
Lovely Southeastern village High Dudgeon, midway between Great Saffering Saxifrage and Disgusted in Tunbridge Wells
Another good example of the UK borders agency being stupid.
Eli, you are just too pampered. For example, try getting a visa to work in Iran. The fact is that hose visas can be obtained. And I'm pretty sure Tol won't mind paying a local lawyer £5000 and two sheep to grease the right skids.
While I'm at it, I've worked in a few dozen countries, lived in quite a few. I've advised people on the steps to get political asylum, go through point systems, which languages to learn, and right now I'm working on getting Venezuelan number 55 out of the country and settled elsewhere. I'm thinking I'll send her to Argentina, somewhere away from Buenos Aires. Does anybody you know there need a maid with a law degree?
So, the one occaision when I agree with Richard has come around. Shame it's taken such a country wrecking thing as this to bring it up. But the question of why he threw his lot in with the GWPF is indeed a good one.
O, Fernando knows how to raise the bar so low: "try getting a visa to work in Iran."
Next he'll praise UK cigars by comparing them to Sierra Leone's.
-- Willard
And I'm pretty sure Tol won't mind paying a local lawyer £5000 and two sheep to grease the right skids.
Either you think Richard is somehow independently wealthy or you think Professors at UK universities earn a great deal more than they actually do.
An economist from the local university here wanted to spend some of a sabbatical visiting his economisty mates at Chicago Uni. After moving heaven and earth for the appropriate visa, and with time running out, he and his wife grabbed tourist visas and flew in on those. Mistake.
After some hours of grilling - separately - by the Gestapo for the crime of changing your visa application, the pair were jailed for the night and slung out of the country. Shame the wife is a widely read writer - for the US tourist industry that is.
Guthrie, ask not for whom the Bell curves, the Tol trolls for thee.
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