Bananas

[Mrs Steve R]

No problem. The EU had an agreement with its former colonial countries that allowed preferential trade into the EU. This was called the Lome Agreement. The US (under lobbying pressure from Chiquita who grow no bananas in the US but have extensive interests in Latin America) challenged Lome at the WTO and won. The EU responded by trying its best to defend the African Caribbean Pacific Countries most effected but the US challenged again and won. The EU had to significantly revise its banana regime as a consequence. The cheaper dollar banana from Latin America as a consequence of US pressure decimated the Caribbean industry in economies far more dependent than Jamaica such as the Windward Islands. The EU scrambled to install a regime that at least alleviated some of this damage that was WTO compatible whilst also brokering a compromise with the US. The Cotonou agreement that replaced Lome gives significant funding to the affected countries and their producers that tries to soften the impact of US commercial aggression. The key reason why (if you lived in South Wales) you won't see many Geest/Fyffes bananas landing in South Wales ports.

What do yo farm in East Anglia by the way? I have a reasonable understanding of the agricultural sector in that area and how it operates that we can chat about?

Thinly veiled 'I don't believe you' post imo

[cyril evans awaydays]

Thinly veiled 'I don't believe you' post imo

Interesting interjection on Ronnie's behalf. Still it might give him a bit of time to work out (sorry remember) what kind of holding he had and how much he was generating in agricultural subsidies.

[Mrs Steve R]

Interesting interjection on Ronnie's behalf. Still it might give him a bit of time to work out (sorry remember) what kind of holding he had and how much he was generating in agricultural subsidies.

Interesting take on a little joke that I would make to anyone on the forum

[cyril evans awaydays]

Interesting take on a little joke that I would make to anyone on the forum

The last 25 seem to be almost exclusively on Farmer Ronnie's or WB posts but I take your point

[Mrs Steve R]

The last 25 seem to be almost exclusively on Farmer Ronnie's or WB posts but I take your point

On WB's maybe but not Farmer Ronnie, although the one thread was about both of them so I dunno if that counts

[cyril evans awaydays]

On WB's maybe but not Farmer Ronnie, although the one thread was about both of them so I dunno if that counts

Yeah fair enough. I got so confused by this multiple id ying and yang and both Ronnie and WB offering to meet in Beddau with duelling laptops that when I decided to spend a bit more time here I thought the easiest way back in was to ignore some of the historical noise and just chat to Farmer Ronnie. Just have to see what crops (pun intended) up I suppose!

[Mrs Steve R]

Yeah fair enough. I got so confused by this multiple id ying and yang and both Ronnie and WB offering to meet in Beddau with duelling laptops that when I decided to spend a bit more time here I thought the easiest way back in was to ignore some of the historical noise and just chat to Farmer Ronnie. Just have to see what crops (pun intended) up I suppose!

I'm always at work these days so I don't have time to read all the threads, I'm pretty sure I'm more confused than you

[Wales-Bales]

Interesting take on a little joke that I would make to anyone on the forum

Haha, nice joke, WB and I really appreciate your humour!

[Mrs Steve R]

No, not at all. That's what they're for.
When I joined I left it blank but then a bunch of people who don't like WB started claiming I was him. You'll have seen that I reasoned with them and I filled in the profile really to make it obvious that wasn't the case.
The reason I said he's a WB nutter is that he's trawled through that profile in order to pick up things, ( in this case the fact that I had a farm before I retired), then use them to try and catch me out. He won't because I've never lied here about myself ,WB or anything else.

Re your own comments about whether your sane, well I expect you like a laugh etc but you equally don't seem fixated on a false idea that I'm WB and you don't troll me about that all the time

I don't care who anyone is, answer the post not the poster

Haha, nice joke, WB and I really appreciate your humour!

[Wales-Bales]

I don't care who anyone is, answer the post not the poster

Sorry it was a slip of the finger, R and W are very close together on an ASCII keyboard, I meant to say RB and I really appreciate your humour!

[Mrs Steve R]

Sorry it was a slip of the finger, R and W are very close together on an ASCII keyboard, I meant to say RB and I really appreciate your humour!

[RonnieBird]

Haha, nice joke, WB and I really appreciate your humour!

Very good, but I don't know whether that'll work a second time WB.

[cyril evans awaydays]

Very good, but I don't know whether that'll work a second time WB.

I don't know. One minute you are bemoaning anyone who accuses you of being an echo account and saying how tedious it is and the next minute you think its all a jolly jape when the person in question starts some predictably self-indulgent games. Is this the self-proclaimed consistency you seem so proud of, #54 if you need a quick reference.

[RonnieBird]

Thinly veiled 'I don't believe you' post imo

It's not even thinly veiled. It's plain bloody rude in fact.
I posted back to him, but I'm perfectly on the level - I only reply to your post there because you seem to be a sane person !

[Mrs Steve R]

It's not even thinly veiled. It's plain bloody rude in fact.
I posted back to him, but I'm perfectly on the level - I only reply to your post there because you seem to be a sane person !

Give it time

[cyril evans awaydays]

Give it time

286 posts in and he hasn't sussed you yet

[Mrs Steve R]

286 posts in and he hasn't sussed you yet

If he can think for himself maybe he will never think I'm a loon

[cyril evans awaydays]

If he can think for himself maybe he will never think I'm a loon

To be fair I am quite surprised that you had any involvement in a thread entitled "Bananas" but then again what do I know?

[Mrs Steve R]

To be fair I am quite surprised that you had any involvement in a thread entitled "Bananas" but then again what do I know?

Not as much as you think you do?