I am constantly reminded by Remainers on social media that Brexit is done. There’s nothing we can do about it, and we should shut up and accept Brexit. Although I find this daily capitulation to Johnson’s Neville Chamberlain moment deeply depressing, I have decided to take their words seriously as I’m tired of fighting a war on two fronts. Groups such as The European Movement have put forward this false narrative, as have some notable people such as Femi Oluwole, to the detriment of the Remain movement. The correct time to switch horses is when the ink is dry on the Brexit deal and not before. So here I’m setting out the reasons why No Deal (also called the Australian deal by Johnson) Brexit is a much better outcome for Britain than any other Brexit deal.
We already know the impossibility of securing a good Brexit deal from four years of vacillation and nonsense from our government in terms of economic, social and political outcomes. Theresa May’s Brexit deal was the high-water mark of Brexit and everything else has been a degradation of what could be said to be Brexit. Even Jacob Rees-Mogg and the ERG have derided recent Brexit proposals from David Frost as not being a true Brexit, positioning themselves in order to avoid responsibility for the Brexit monstrosity that they created.
In any case, No Deal and the most likely Johnson Brexit deal are not very far apart in terms of the economic and social costs. Already Brexiteers are saying that the Brexit on offer will not be a real Brexit. This is rather like arguing about whether the real IRA was better than the Provisional IRA. This shapeshifting by the Brexit antagonists mitigates against securing a Brexit deal of any kind. Experts predict that the impact of Brexit will be a sustained loss of between 5-7% GDP over 10 years, compounded by COVID losses. I coined the word “Britastrophe” to describe the combined impact of Corona crisis + Brexit disaster. Remember, it only took 3.5% loss of GDP to give us the 2008 crash. Imagine the exponential impact of Corona + Brexit on lives and livelihoods?
A No Deal Brexit is the most likely Brexit to help us regain an entry to the EU. Two to three months of abject chaos on the streets through food shortages, supply chain breakages, tariffs, delays, queues at borders, gridlocking of Kent and so on should be enough to bring Brexit Britain to its knees. Of course, there is no guarantee that the EU would let us rejoin at this point, although they have kept their powder dry on this matter, unlike our testosterone filled bloated Prime Minister. Nonetheless, a No Deal Brexit offers us the quickest shortest sharp shock to Britain, whereas a Brexit deal simply delays the “boiling of the British frog”. Note that no frogs were injured in the making of this video.
No Brexit or No Deal?
Why then is a Brexit deal worse than No Deal I hear you ask? Well, simply this. A Brexit deal will mean waiting 5 to 10 years to rejoin the EU whilst we “try the Brexit experiment”. Brexiteers will argue that it took 5 years to get Brexit done so we should at least allow 5 years minimum to try it out. When Remainers talk about rejoining the EU, they seem to forget that we would rejoin on a completely different basis than the current state of the United Kingdom. It is quite likely that Scotland will have left the UK within 5 years. It’s also quite plausible that Northern Ireland will be on the way to reunification with Ireland. Wales will probably join in the contagion of countries wishing to leave broken Britain and possibly even Cornwall. I said as a joke at No 10 Downing Street in 2017 that Britain would be reduced to the people’s republic of Thurrock. An exaggeration? Yes, but also containing certain grains of truth.
At the same time, the economic state of Britain will not be the same. Company departures, realignment of business models such as JLR, BMW, Toyota, Nissan, Airbus, Honda, HSBC, Santander and total relocations away from Brexit Britain could likely mean that the UK does not even meet the criteria to rejoin the EU. At the same time, the experience of Britain’s aggressive approach to Brexit will undoubtedly harden the EU’s view on our potential to rejoin without conditions, such as the adoption of the Schengen zone, the use of the euro as a currency etc. However, trade is trade and everything could be put on the table again. At the point of writing this however, I would not want us back, so why would Brussels?
Doomsayers united
“Don’t be so pessimistic Peter”. I hear you say. “You are one of those doomsayers”. OK, I hear you. Perhaps you are right, so let’s be positive.
By September / October, it is quite likely that there will be severe unemployment, once the protective umbrella of furloughing is removed by “Dishy Rishi” Sunak, aka Mr “Whatever it takes”. At the same time, we are likely to be into a second Corona wave by then, given that the R rate in England is now at 1.00 or above, thanks to Tim Witherspoon and his ilk for insisting that pubs must be opened. I predict severe social unrest as people reach the bottom of their Maslow triangles. Mr “No Plan Johnson” has no plan for this. There are simply not enough police officers and army officers available to deal with mass civil unrest. What happens then? Is this positive enough for you?
What can you do about it?
We cannot rely on an opposition to help suspend Brexit. Sir Keir Starmer is lovely, but he is also playing the long game of waiting for this Government to fail. Labour are also embroiled in their own internal battles of anti-semitism and wokeness at this time. We must do it ourselves. Here are some things to do:
We must write to the 40 or so wavering Tory MPs and present the arguments for suspending Brexit in the wake of Corona. In fact, just write to your MP, full stop, using any of these arguments to make your point.
Get out on the streets. Visit your MP and demand that Brexit be suspended in the wake of Corona.
Write to the newspapers. Present compelling arguments for suspending Brexit in ways that Brexiteers can understand.
Work on individual soft Brexiteers and weary Remainers through “Brexorcism”.
Keep reminding people that Corona + Brexit = Britastrophe. Grab a roll of stickers from EU Flag Mafia to help you paint your town yellow.
Brexit is the product of “Parliamentary Paralysis”. We change parliamentary paralysis by influencing our MPs. We change the will of the people by writing to the newspapers and presenting the arguments. So, we need to target our MPs and we still need to target the general public to change minds. A “Brexorcism” takes skill patience and time. You can find out how to do these by reading the books.
Today we visited Cooling Castle, home of Jools Holland with the Bollocks to Brexit Mini Cooper. Here is a report from our resident maritime consultant and Brexit sea dog Don.
I arrived at the rendezvous at 5 bells in the Afternoon Watch. That is 14.30 for landlubbers and when the big hand is on the six and the little hand is on the two for Gammons and Tories. My fellow Saboteurs came separately. For those who have not been paying attention “Saboteur” is the term of derision that Gammons and Tories chose to refer to decent people who oppose Brexit. The term quickly fell out of favour in Gammon and Tory circles when we pointed out that “Saboteur” was what Vichyites called the French Resistance. Comparing me to the French Resistance is about the nicest thing anybody ever said about me. I took it as a compliment: Vive les Saboteurs! “Vive la Resistance” Merde a Brexit!
The Bulwarks to Brexitmobile led the convoy and we drove around the environs. We set up a stall in Gillingham High Street near the church and our musical director set up his gear and serenaded us with anti-Brexit music. I chose a spot where I could keep a look out for Gammons, Tories and nobbled coppers. We did not hand out leaflets for social distancing reasons. I saw somebody advance purposefully towards our musical director. I thought I might be needed but I did the newcomer an injustice. He wanted to get involved. Took a couple of our flags and joined in the fun.
A few people gave filthy looks and made vulgar gestures then moved on quickly. For the most part people were supportive, gave the thumbs up and wanted to photograph us. After a while we set off for Rochester. It was much the same there. Some people walked off pointedly refusing to look at us while others gave the thumbs up. By this time my old knee injury was playing up so I decided to call it a day. I can walk for miles and feel better for it but standing around plays havoc with my old injuries.
People in Ashford are unhappy about recent developments. It has sunk in that Brexit is going to cause delays at Customs so this hopeless inept government is setting up a huge lorry park for stranded trade vehicles. The site had been chosen for a new Amazon facility that would have provided employment. Instead they are going to get trucks belching diesel fumes because the drivers will need to run the engines to keep refrigeration plants working. That will not improve the atmosphere at all. This is not the earthly paradise that the people of East Kent thought they would get when they voted for Brexit.
Tomorrow we go to Tunbridge Wells on a circular tour starting at 11.00:
Route will include London Rd, High St, Sainsbury car park, Mt Pleasant, Town Hall, Monson Rd, Camden Rd, Powdermill Lane, Southboro High St. Then back down St John’s Rd, Mt Ephraim Rd, brief stop at Victoria Place, back up Lime Hill to London Rd.
There remains a possibility to visit Hythe and East Kent later on tomorrow
Here are the details of our marathon road trip from Islington to Old Durham Town … in the B*llocks to Brexit Mini. Please support the venture via Go Fund Me.
PRESS RELEASE
I’m gonna leave old Durham Town … to check my eyesight
The “B*llocks to Brexit” Mini Cooper known as “Johnson” is making an unprecedented historic trip from Dominic Cummings house in Islington to Durham under strict COVID-safe conditions, so that the driver Peter Cook can get his eyesight checked. Peter is taking the excursion from Islington to Barnard Castle for his wife’s birthday and will be stopping at a few beauty spots along the way. The trip, inspired by Dominic Cummings, has been arranged by EU Flag Mafia in conjunction with Rage Against The Brexit Machine, to highlight the problems of adding Corona crisis to Brexit disaster, creating a “Britastrophe”. We will be performing songs from our catalogue of anti-Brexit songs, including ‘Alo Vera – Brexit’s Comin’ ‘Ome and a Chas & Dave Cockney Brexit Knees Up.
11% loss in GDP from Corona, when added to 9% predicted loss from Brexit will make an exponential impact on jobs, lives and livelihoods of people in Britain. Johnson the Mini will make the journey in order to wake people up to the oncoming economic and social tsunami. We only needed 3.5% GDP loss to create the 2008 crash. Corona is a natural born crisis and we must endure it. However, we don’t need to add the man-made Brexit disaster to the mix.
I coined the phrase Britastrophe in the bath
“Johnson’s driver” Peter Cook is taking a four-year-old baby “Bobo” on this historic journey. Bobo has promised not to urinate for the entire trip, although the Mini will be making stops in Rugby, Manchester, North Yorkshire and Newcastle, also taking in Southampton, Dorset, Wiltshire and Kent in the coming weeks. For Baby Bobo, it is a UST (Urination Stamina Test).
“Rules are rules and we must stick to them for everyone’s safety, even if Johnson, Cummings, Farage, Jenrick, Half Cock Handcock and Papa Bojo choose not to”
The last time “Johnson” made an appearance on Britain’s roads, we were stopped by an Essex Traffic Policeman Smith, in a rage on the M25 motorway. PC Smith asked us to remove the signage on the car on the hard shoulder of the M25, putting the police officer and the passengers at risk of death. We are hoping to return to Essex to meet PC Smith for a cuppa. Smith has not been located by Essex Police some 8 months after we provided his full details to the force …
Peter hopes that “Dick and Dom” aka Boris and Dominic will hear our call that this is the worst time to take Brexit out of the microwave. If they checked their eyesight, they would now realise that there is a substantial gap in the will of the people, with nearly a ten-point gap of people now wishing to remain a member of the EU. All that is needed is courage and political will to change the oncoming “Britastrophe”.
“We must re-boot Britain in the wake of Corona. It’s time for our leaders to show true courage and take a bold move to build, build, build a Better Britain in a Better Europe for a Better World. To this end I have formed an unpolitical party to end all political parties. It’s time we had leaders that we could look up to and trust. Our movement is designed to help achieve that. I’m proud to work with EU Flag mafia to help put the great back in Britain.
3 Dec 2019 – London, UK – Minis in Essex Street, London in a stunt organised and crowdfunded by anti-brexit campaigning group EU Flag Mafia. Click on the image to connect with the Mafia.
p.s. We have just received a request to take “Johnson” to Greece to check our eyesight, via Bulgaria. We are just checking the logistics of the trip, although all seems well, since Stanley Johnson recently made a similar pilgrimage to check on a holiday let.
For an exclusive interview on our “Unprecedented Ocular Pilgrimage” around the UK, please contact Peter Cook, Brexorcist in Chief via peter@academy-of-rock.co.uk
We were part of the farmer’s march in London yesterday. I experienced the bizarre spectacle of following a load of vegetables who were marching on parliament to a load of … er … vegetables. Our vegetables were fresh, alive, full of vitamins and so on, whereas the Westminster crop are genetically modified with its leader hormone infested …
Support our tour – click the image
See Farming Today for an account of our day in Parliament.
We also did a piece of media coverage about Dominic Cummings at his house in Islington for the Ham and High. We spoke with one of his neighbours who demonstrated the ‘English condition’ in terms of not wishing to speak ill of his neighbours. Instead, he spoke of the Cummings child and how nice Mary Wakefield is. I imagine people said the same of Eva Braun … ‘Englishness’ is responsible for three losses – the referendum and two elections. Vote Leave did not have the same regard for the law or everything in moderation. We must not copy Vote Leave but we must better them.
We next move on to the West Country at the weekend. Starting early on Saturday am, we will visit Stonehenge at sunrise for photos, then on to Salisbury, Blandford Forum and Dorchester. Then a tour of the Dorset coast – Bournemouth, Poole, Weymouth etc.
Stonehenge – a perfect metaphor for Brexit
On Sunday we head to Wiltshire with places like Cricklade, Devizes, Chippenham and Swindon in mind.
The long and winding road
If you wish to host the car with a static or mobile pop up event, please contact me to arrange. We will perform some music in each location.
Written about the Brexiteer with buyer’s remorse
The wonderful Rachel Ashley EU Flag MafiaFarming todayPaoloBrexit vegetablesRock against TractorsFarming TodayRock Against BrexitFarmers Against Brexit
If you like this article, please support us with a regular donation via GoFundMe or Patreon. Give us a tip viaPaypal.We need support to continue doing this. It takes considerable time. Thank you in advance.
I’m gonna leave old Durham Town … to check my eyesight – 06 July
The “B*llocks to Brexit” Mini Cooper known as “Johnson” is making an unprecedented historic trip to Durham under strict COVID-safe conditions, so that the driver can get his eyesight checked by taking an excursion to Barnard Castle for his wife’s birthday and stopping at a few beauty spots. The trip, inspired by Dominic Cummings, has been arranged by EU Flag Mafia in conjunction with Rage Against The Brexit Machine, to highlight the problems of adding Corona crisis to Brexit disaster, creating a “Britastrophe”.
11% loss in GDP from Corona, when added to 9% predicted loss from Brexit will make an exponential impact on jobs, lives and livelihoods of people in Britain. Johnson the Mini will make the journey in order to wake people up to the oncoming economic and social tsunami. We only needed 3.5% GDP loss to create the 2008 crash. Corona is a natural born crisis and we must endure it. However, we don’t need to add the man-made Brexit disaster to the mix.
“Johnson’s driver” Peter Cook is taking a four-year-old baby “Bobo” on this historic journey. Bobo has promised not to urinate for the entire trip, although the Mini will be making stops in Rugby, Manchester, North Yorkshire and Newcastle, also taking in Southampton, Dorset, Wiltshire and Kent in the coming weeks. For Baby Bobo, it is a UST (Urination Stamina Test).
“Rules are rules and we must stick to them for everyone’s safety, even if Johnson, Cummings, Farage, Jenrick, Half Cock Handcock and Papa Bojo choose not to”
The last time “Johnson” made an appearance on Britain’s roads, we were stopped by an Essex Traffic Policeman Smith, in a rage on the M25 motorway. PC Smith asked us to remove the signage on the car on the hard shoulder of the M25, putting the police officer and the passengers at risk of death. We are hoping to return to Essex to meet PC Smith for a cuppa. Smith has not been located by Essex Police some 8 months after we provided his full details to the force …
EU Flag Mafia are hoping that “Dick and Dom” aka Boris and Dominic will hear our call that this is the worst time to take Brexit out of the microwave. If they checked their eyesight, they would now realise that there is a substantial gap in the will of the people, with nearly a ten-point gap of people now wishing to remain a member of the EU. All that is needed is courage and political will to change the oncoming “Britastrophe”.
“We must re-boot Britain in the wake of Corona. It’s time for our leaders to show true courage and take a bold move to build, build, build a Better Britain in a Better Europe for a Better World. To this end I have formed an unpolitical party to end all political parties. It’s time we had leaders that we could look up to and trust. Our movement is designed to help achieve that. I’m proud to work with EU Flag mafia to help put the great back in Britain.
Peter Cook
p.s. We have just received a request to take “Johnson” to Greece to check our eyesight, via Bulgaria. We are just checking the logistics of the trip, although all seems well, since Stanley Johnson recently made a similar pilgrimage to check on a holiday let.
For an exclusive interview on our “Unprecedented Ocular Pilgrimage” around the UK, please contact Peter Cook, Brexorcist in Chief on 07725 927585 peter@academy-of-rock.co.uk
If you like this article, please support us with a regular donation via GoFundMe or Patreon. Give us a tip viaPaypal.We need support to continue doing this. It takes considerable time. Thank you in advance.
So we went to Barnard Castle from Durham to get our eyesight checked. Sadly we forgot that the four year old child in our care was locked in the car whilst we performed and “Baby Dom” expired, due to our not leaving the windows open. I guess Cummings and Boris Johnson would see that as part of herd immunity …
We also had a piece in the Yorkshire Post – the most trusted newspaper in Britian see Henry Moore Art Institute
We are considering continuing the tour if there is demand – see Go Fund Meto help us continue the work.
We also seek writers to contribute to this platform, both in terms of scholarly articles and Op Ed pieces as well as more populist / short pithy pieces to reach outside the bubble. Please e-mail us your details at peter@academy-of-rock.co.uk
If you like this article, please support us with a regular donation via GoFundMe or Patreon. Give us a tip viaPaypal.We need support to continue doing this. It takes considerable time. Thank you in advance.
People ask me “Surely it is too late to reverse Brexit?” Of course we can. Brexit is a political process and the law is merely a servant to the politicians. If political will changed, the law would be made to fit the circumstances with a suitable narrative created for the media and people. We must therefore change political will across all parties. A political backbone has been absent for four years and Remain have sometimes gold-plated the strategy that lost them the referendum, with the best of intentions. Please support our work via Re-Boot Britain.
We cannot allow the greatest disaster next to climate change to threaten the next generation’s futures to continue. Our continued resistance is both moral, a fight worth having and certainly not a waste of time, given how much people have sacrificed over the last four years. Would you like to be able to say that you contributed to the re-establishment of an honest Government? I would.
Here’s a detailed video that explains our project in full. If you are in a hurry, read our pitch deck:
We have already had a sneak preview of what Brexit will deliver via the panic buying associated with the Corona outbreak. This is merely a sneak preview for Brexit, if we allow things to continue towards 31.12.20.
Read all about our strategy in our slide deck “Re Building Britain ” and the paper “Brexit Futures “. This has been adopted by Grassroots for Europe and a number of other large pro EU institutions including the Federal Trust and the originators of the FBPE hashtag.
We are building a full time professional movement with the aim of breaking the deadlock of “dead cat” Brexit politics:
1. Breaking Parliamentary Paralysis – via lobbying MPs using a variety of means.
2. “Taking Back Control” of populist media via press and media activity in national and local print / radio and TV media.
3. Develop much better reach into social media, in terms of honesty, depth of penetration and reach outside the Remain bubble.
4. Changing minds on Brexit via 1:1 “Brexorcisms” and / or en masse via online leaders’ debates and other grassroots strategies.
Click on the boot to Re-Boot Britain
This is Stage One of a wider project to build a full movement and will get us to our first level of professional organisation, for example virtual PA, professional website, company registration, accountants etc. I ask that you join us with a suggested donation of £10 per month or £100 pa for Silver membership. If you can spare more, please consider higher level donations of £250 or £500 per annum. Or please just give what you can afford on an ad hoc basis. Everything helps.
Silver : Gives you basic exclusive access to our daily stream of writing and media
Gold : Gain copies of our work in advance of release (books, music, media). Exclusive invites to our regular series of conference calls and seminars
Platinum : 1:1 coaching in the art and discipline of changing minds on Brexit plus all other benefits above
Frequently asked questions
Isn’t Brexit already done? A piece of paper was signed.
We have merely had our “Chamberlain moment” on 31.01 plus some time spent in a gulag (fridge). But Brexit is a political process and the law is merely a servant to the politicians.
If you are not sure on this point, just think of ONE occasion when the Government obeyed the rule of law in the last four years or other precedents. Here’s a few where they didn’t:
1. Gina Miller’s Supreme Court Case 2. The Cooper No Deal amendment 3. Pro-rogation 4. The 6 million petition … and so on. Our Government is beyond the law
If political will changed, the law would be made to fit the circumstances. It would have to look painful and difficult as a piece of “political theatre” but nonetheless all that is needed at this point is a phone call from Johnson saying “sorry”, not easy, but possible. Johnson is the only politician currently able to do a 360 degree turnaround and get away with it.
Click on the boot to Re-Boot Britain
Is it too late? We are about to finalise things in June?
There are clearly moves to institute delay. Johnson may instigate one at the final hour per his many other U turns … die in ditches, Halloween etc. The EU may also downgrade the importance of Brexit leading to fudge June may present a false ending to the story. In any case there is still the rest of the year to introduce twists in the road.
What will we do with the money?
We plan to hire a small organisation – A PA, fundraising team, professional web platform and so on. Also allocate some of the funds to support our full time input. Voluntary activity is fine but we need full time professional help to be agile and able to react. I am prepared to set my work aside to do this but I also need to live.
Oh, no, not another anti Brexit movement?
Our difference comes from the fact that we will be more direct than professional politicians, outsmarting Nigel Farage et al at their own wicked games. We will also rely more on professionals in their field rather than volunteers. This will give us the edge. At the same time we will collaborate with other pro EU and anti-Brexit groups across the board acting to amplify their efforts. Despite best efforts of grass roots EU organisations, much of our work has suffered from “initiative constipation” – see Brexit Futures for more insights on this.
Click on the boot to Re-Boot Britain
About the leader of the project
I am an unusual mix of scientist, business academic and musician. I lead the Rage Against The Brexit Machine project, having written three albums of anti-Brexit protest songs and got one of them to Number One on the Amazon chart. “Brexorcist in Chief” for Mid Kent 4 EU, I gained two black eyes for daring to ask difficult questions of angry leave voters and was arrested by Essex Police for driving a Mini Cooper with the words “B*llocks to Brexit”. I also stood a stuffed cat in the 2019 General Election which did not come last in the ratings !!
For nearly 4 years I have acted to dispel the illusions of Brexit. At 62 I am at some risk from Corona and consider that a fitting epitaph for my life would be the destruction of Brexit populism for the sake of future generations. I wrote a requiem for Brexit on 31 January 2020 and it explains why this matters better than words can manage:
People ask me about the thinking behind the “Britastrophe” stickers from EU Flag Mafia. I took some time to design the slogan way back in March and a quick look behind the scenes reveals the thinking:
Brexit is a long term disaster in slow motion. Because of the long term nature of Brexit and the slow motion aspect, people have tended to discount the impacts or deny them as project fear. Following 1000’s of hours of on the street conversations with Brexiteers, I find that the vast majority of these people are not long range planners or strategic thinkers. They think in the here and now and tend to believe that you cannot plan for the future. Que sera sera is their modus operandi for long range planning.
However, Corona is very much in the here and now. Brexiteers recognise the impacts as they are very much within their “lived experience”. As I pointed out some 5 months ago, Corona has given us the one thing that Brexit never could. A realistic preview of Brexit, where toilet roll is currency, chicken drumsticks are traded in dark alleyways and Pampers are on their third use.
People tend to compartmentalise issues and we needed to make the connection between Corona and Brexit. In doing so we brought the short and long term together in a potent mixture. We initially tested this out on the street with my bicycle hoarding and then with the stickers.
At Leeds Henry Moore Art Gallery
In terms of sequencing the strapline, a catastrophe is bigger than a crisis or a disaster, hence the catchphrase Corona Crisis + Brexit Disaster = Britastrophe. Note the order and sequence and the use of the word Britain within the phrase. All the above must be done within as few words as possible for busy people, five in this case or three for the short form version. “Britastrophe” also sounds like the kind of word that Boris Johnson would use, hence my choice of a unique word to describe the combined effect.
I am deeply aware that people do not analyse stickers for any length of time but it’s important that we get our message across concisely and clearly.
Get your “Britastrophe” stickers at EU Flag Mafia. You may also enjoy their Bollocks to Brexit Facemasks … the best way to protect yourself from Brexit in the shops!
If you like this article, please support us with a regular donation via GoFundMe or Patreon. Give us a tip viaPaypal.We need support to continue doing this. It takes considerable time. Thank you in advance.
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