I was delighted to attend a superb event hosted by Professor Anand Menon of UK in a Changing Europe. Even more delighted to meet Michel Barnier and present him with copies of the books Reboot Britain and Private Eyelines.
Here are my takeaways from the event. It was necessary to attend in person to gain the full value of the conversation between these two giants. Just click the link to Twitter below or go direct to the the full article on Linkedin.
— Reboot Britain – Rage Against The Brexit Machine (@BrexitRage) February 3, 2023
Merci beaucoup pour tout ce que vous avez fait pour essayer de sauver notre pays de lui-même. Le Brexit est perdant. Nous allons nous réveiller doucement.
Life long Tory voter Rod Stewart has just declared that the country is a mess and the Tories need to hand over power to someone more competent. This prompted me to think of the song he covered on his Atlantic Crossing album. Apologies for the lyrical changes which are occasionally grating !! 🙂
From Adrian Ekins-Daukes, Brexorcist in Chief and ex-Conservative from Tunbridge Wells.
Tories open the door to gerrymandering
When the Elections ID Act comes into force this April, there will be controversial changes. One will be that voters will have to prove their identity (ID), for the first time in local elections this May, or be refused a voting slip and be turned away.
The range of ID forms qualifying to the government’s rules is limited. They include: passports and driving licences, bus and other passes for older and disabled persons and an ID ‘PASS’ card currently available. The procedure for obtaining this PASS card is not straightforward, requiring photos, birth certificates and some form of attestation and registration.
Was there a need for this ? Does electoral fraud really threaten our democracy ? The Electoral Commission produces annual reports on this subject :-
In 2021 there were local council elections across Britain in May – many postponed from 2020 – as well as six Parliamentary by-elections. The police investigated 315 cases of alleged electoral fraud, none of which led to a court conviction. In 60% of the cases there were no grounds for taking any further action and 30% further cases were locally resolved. In just one case, a caution was issued.
In 2019 there was a general election, local elections and a European Parliamentary election as well as seven Parliamentary by-elections. The police investigated 595 cases, on which over 60% no further action was taken and a further third were locally resolved. In that year there were four convictions for electoral fraud and two cautions were issued … from 68 MILLION people.
Overall. more than half reported cases concerned campaigning breaches – failure to include required information on campaign literature or making false statements about a candidate.
The figures for 2019 and 2021 are typical of those produced by the Electoral Commission for the whole period 2017-21. They bear out the Commission’s own conclusion that there is no evidence of large-scale electoral fraud in Britain.
As there is no clear need for ID legislation for elections, the government must other reasons for giving it priority at this time of emergency. The choice of acceptable ID proof other than driving licences and passports provides a clear indication, There are numerous free passes for the elderly, who are deemed more likely to vote Conservative,. The disabled are also looked after. But there are almost none suited for younger people, who are less likely to be Torie.. Efforts to widen the choice to include, for example, student ID cards and rail cards were voted down by the Tory majority in the House of Commons. Labour MP Russell Moyle who worked on the legislation at the committee stage has said that “ young people will be discriminated against much worse than older voters,” and that “there is clearly an element of voter discrimination. “ A New York City Councillor has advised that the level of discrimination in this Act is worse than that practiced in any US state.
The estimated cost of implementing this legislation over the next 10 years is £180m – this at a time of austerity and hardship caused to a considerable degree by Tory dogma and incompetence. But for today’s Tories, power by any means is the overwhelming priority. In comparison, the interests of our country, the health of our businesses, the well-being of people are of little. consequence. Respect for democracy counts for even less.
As well as legalised voter suppression, the same legislation will remove the independence of the Electoral Commission, placing it under Government control. This opens the door to all forms of malpractice. It is our own Government, not a handful of minor offenders, who are the real enemies to our democracy. We need to fight if we want to keep it.
Some will know that, in 2016, Britain voted to become an isolated country via the Brexit vote. The marginal 52:48 popular vote was pumped up by:
Outlandish promises that we would fund our healthcare system with the proceeds of Brexit.
Brexit ‘freedoms’ from EU laws, 98% of which Britain helped to make.
The weaponisation of migrants ‘swarming’ into the UK, using the very same language used by the Nazis to justify the Holocaust.
It then took five years to leave our membership of the club we call the European Union, mostly because nobody in our Government could agree what Brexit meant. Some wanted total isolation with free market capitalism on steroids, a kind of ‘Singapore on Thames’. Others wished to retain all the benefits of trade and co-operation from Europe without any of the responsibilities of club membership. The battle raged on between the various factions, consuming four Prime Ministers in the process, with our fifth currently sitting in the departure lounge. Ultimately, it seems that Brexit consumes all its offspring.
Two years on from our departure, it is possible to see the beginnings of the realities of Brexit. In this film, I have taken what could be described as a ‘Brexit Stock Take’. This piece deals with the economic realities of Brexit. Others in the series will deal with Social effects, Political futures, Legal outcomes, Environmental impacts and Technological effects.
Please take a look at the film and subscribe to our EU TUBE channel. The film is 17 minutes long but well worth your time as a case study in populism which is sweeping Brazil, the USA, India, Russia and several other places. Paradoxically, the world needs collaborative leadership and joined up thinking to face climate change and the many other global issues we must address if we are to survive. Instead, many think that ‘strong men’ are the answers to such problems. We shall see who prevails.
From Don Adamson, Brexorcist in Chief from Yorkshire.
This week’s quotes: “government has been so stupid that it has gone from multibillion pound giveaway but only for those paid more than £150,000 a year … record austerity … soaring taxes … how much worse it can get will reveal itself in the next year … government’s declared policies … almost certainly impossibly optimistic, frankly unsustainable and nothing short of self harm … absurd and very damaging … energy bills to soar … Treasury will be force to borrow even more to fund a U-turn when the economic damage will already have been done … no sign that British economy will boom … house prices will fall … huge hit to growth … spending power of consumers is melting away … the coming storm … further disincentives from Brexit … government’s inane plan to tear up EU regulations … nobody will have any idea what the rules will be … recession will hurt millions of people in ways that we have not seen since before WW2 … welfare state has been eviscerated … government has run out of money … does not care enough to heal the pain … Tory MPs now boast about food banks in their constituencies as if the desperate need for charity is something to be applauded .. people will die this year for want of basic essentials … we are aging, cold, poor, badly governed and appallingly led by a selfish and uncaring, divisive elite pursuing damaging fantasy policies … post Brexit trading arrangements have complicated purchase and delivery … a part that would have arrived in no time takes nine months to arrive … one more buggeration to add to the long list of Brexit buggeration … Andrew Bridgen lied under oath … abusive, arrogant and aggressive … Tory MP for West Leicestershire … Richy Scumbag updated the ministerial code but has yet to publish interests held by his cabinet … it would mean disclosing his wife’s his wife’s £700M stake in Infosys … Tim Shipman;, Sunday Times chief political commentator, was a major cheerleader for Brexit … now appears to have recanted …. brought down the wrath of the Tory hard right … he managed to commit the ultimate blasphemy for the Brexit extremists … ‘just as Brexit was the consequence of just a few people … so 2022 is a story where people searched for greatness and fell painfully short ‘ …Richard North, Telegraph man’s contention that Brexit was always a people’s movement is undermined … latest polls indicate that people are no longer behind it … it was always about personalities … without Cameron’s weakness and Johnson’s opportunism, it would never have happened … Tories appointed … Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Mansur as party treasurer … former transport minister Egyptian government … Mansur has donated £500,000 to the Tory Party since 2015 … Government’s Test & Trace was the most indulgent of payers … Perkin Elmer (LAS)UK made profits of £79 M on income of £142M … PCR Bio systems bagged £32.4M … profit of £20M … few questions have been asked … Health chiefs cannot guarantee patient safety … demand for health and social care outstrips our capacity to deliver … managed decline of NHS and Social Care over 15 years is a far greater threat to patient safety and striking nurses … it is the mother of downward spirals … Dysfunctional Health and Social Care Act of 2012 … sudden injections of cash after years of austerity seldom get results … a government that loses the support of NHS staff has no chance of improving the health service … Politicians only ever think and plan for the short term … Fox News was always bad but under Lachlan Murdoch it has degenerated into a sewer of misinformation and prejudice … James Murdoch … FT interview … those outlets that propagate lies have unleashed uncontrollable forces that will be with us for years … Lachlan Murdoch does not understand and will not stop …A decade of turmoil in British politics … 2016 Brexit vote exacerbated the British malaise … a destructive strain of magical thinking … Brexiters have been high on Pixie dust from the start … growing numbers of Brits regard to vote to leave as a mistake … Brexit depressed investment by over 25% over five years … the economy would be more than 5% bigger if Britain had stayed in the EU … Among Brexit faithful truth telling is heresy … pointless disruption … Labour must watch its own tendency to magical thinking … scenario of Britain becoming a dynamic Singapore on Thames is remote … the reality of Brexit is hitting home … leaving the EU has inflicted a lot of damage … GDP 5% smaller … investment down by 11% … Brexit made a bad situation worse … dream of a ‘sovereign global Britain’ has fizzled … 60% of Brits think leaving the EU was an error … false dawns … Johnson and Thick Lizzie left behind ticking time bombs … things can quickly fall apart … a big chance squandered … here we go again – cherry picking … political damage is immense … 50 years ago the EU began enlargement. It is the secret of its success … Like Denmark; Ireland’s membership has been a triumph… Fascism is flourishing in many places and we need to appreciate its many guises or we may find our heads under its foot … If Keith Starmer thinks the localised control agenda is a powerful weapon for Labour he is right. If he thinks it is easily delivered he is wrong … our ability to do the politics of control has been eroded over the 40 year free market revolution … How long can Richy Scumbag survive … what is he actually trying to do … what is the goal of his government. What does he want? … Promises quickly disintegrated … deal with the acute NHS crisis by simply denying it … promised to cut the national debt … in 2010 national debt stood at £1,200 Billion … in 2022 national debt stood at £2,400 Billion … cut NHS waiting lists … tin eared promise … NHS is on the brink of collapse … years of neglect … 500 excess deaths a week … ignoring daily tales of devastation in British hospitals … as surreal as it is horrifying … Scumbag refuses to call it a crisis … stupid promises … sounds callous … even the people to whom the message was delivered do not believe it can be done … delivered nothing … vague promises … no vision, no clear ideology … Scumbag is trying to cast himself as an efficient manager … one key component mission … you have to be an effective manager … UK is having one of the worst economic downturns in the developed world … economic hard times … collapse in public services … saying noting and hoping it gets better feels like the panic reaction of a hedgehog … he needs to display some kind of competence … looks increasingly more like a hollow man … it used to be possible to read a news page and discern genuine news in there, as opposed to the news bias fusion than masquerades as news in most of the press … Sunday Times Editor Allister Heath, backer of Brexit, former colleague of Johnson, truly, madly, deeply lover of Thick Lizzie in her brief and catastrophic premiership now says ‘Nobody wants to confront the truth: Britain is becoming a poor country … even people like Heath are forced to accept that the decline in real … in the extensive right wing bollocksphere the wronger you are the higher you fly … debate is dominated by the right wingers who got us into this mess … it is not just the Tories but the ghastly army of cheerleading hacks who have twisted and turned to back every manifestation over the last decade that has done incalculable harm … Michael Heseltine does not accept for one moment that Brexit irreversible … Brexit has made fishing industry’s plight even worse … swallowed the lie … promised the earth but found it was deceived … many in the fishing industry ignored the facts during the referendum … hopes turned out to be fantasy … industry was promised it would get more … it was not true government claims the whole sordid mess is a success … industry is being hit … the government is not listening … Britain is in recession … failure … it is a stark reminder in the reduction of negotiating power since Brexit … majority of the industry is worse off … it was lie … once the photo opportunities were over the truth hit home … after being the poster boys of Leave … the fishing industry has been betrayed by Brexit … Dido Harding’s underlying loyalties to money spinning private healthcare now clear … Harding has kept a low profile since she presided over the £37 Billion test and trace fiasco … has accepted a consultancy role at Vitrifi … a company that donates to the Tory Party … history of failing upwards … test and trace was an eye watering waste of money … Harding pins her hopes on Johnson returning as PM … Johnson is not too discreetly laying the groundwork for a return … Mail on Sunday obediently carried a piece that Starmer’s chances of being PM would harmed if Johnson returned … Johnson charged the taxpayer for a Remembrance Day wreath … Jacob Rees Mogg’s ambitions to be Tory leader … quietly abandoned … his firm up for sale … no buyer … having to get buy on £500,000 a year .. lower than the £9.7 Million that he banked a year earlier … in 2011 a group of newly elected Tory MPs … forgotten book ‘After the Coalition’ … Britain’s unique strengths … including membership of the EU … they were Priti Patel, Dominic Raas, Toilet Kwarteng, Thick Lizzie … loathsome characters we must thank for the 2016 referendum result … resulted in so much damage … Rees Mogg deserves a large share of the responsibility … Rees Mogg is a fake … his persona is a parody … preposterous … clownocracy … political manipulators … Brits used to see the |National Health Service as a source of pride … in December over 5,000 sick people in England waited more than 12 hours to be admitted to hospital from A & E departments … one in four excess deaths recently attributable to delays in emergency care … the system is buckling … “
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