On September 22, Boris Johnson was advised to go into lockdown. Six weeks later we are going into lockdown … but not until after we have infected more people via Halloween and Guy On September 22, 2020, Boris Johnson was advised by experts to go into lockdown. Six weeks later we are going into lockdown … but not until after we have infected more people via Halloween and Guy Fawkes night. Since there is a cycle of several weeks between infection and illness, most of the unnecessary deaths from COVID are already ‘baked in’. Johnson used dither and delay back in February whilst minting 50p Brexit coins, hiding in fridges, avoiding COBRA meetings, bonging Big Ben etc. instead of listening to experts. This accounted for tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths in care homes. It is not fair to say that Johnson is doing a good job on COVID. These are political choices and others were available to him rather than his chosen strategy of herd immunity
Dither and Delay means Deaths
As a cynic, you might suggest that the only reason Johnson dithered was to ensure that people were too busy / frightened / shocked etc. to notice whether he “Gets Brexit Done”. Cummings promised “Shock and Awe” in autumn and the current wave of fear is exactly their plan. We will have just 11 days, JUST 11 days to “Get Brexit Done” once we lift lockdown. Michael Gove has already admitted that lockdown might be extended past December 02. It is sheer madness and irresponsibility to combine Corona Crisis and Brexit Disaster for a Britastrophe at this point.
Contact “super spreaders” on Social Media (Twitter and Facebook etc) with messages about Suspending Brexit. Use the hashtag #SuspendBrexit. Sample tweet:
Here are some super spreaders to consider – make your own list : @campbellclaret @peston @kayburley @afneil @mrjamesob @AndrewMarr9 @bbcnews @itvnews @DavidGauke @theresa_may @Jeremy_Hunt @MichelBarnier @13sarahmurphy @RussInCheshire @AcademyOfRock @guardian @bbclaurak @SirPatStew @EdwardJDavey @Keir_Starmer
This is how The Daily Maul see the need to Suspend Brexit due to dither and delay:
The game has changed. Here’s a quick piece of Brexit analysis on the day that the world turned in on Trump and Brexit populism.
Johnson’s Brexit strategy has relied on the ability to bully Europe. Johnson has used the bargaining chip that Britain will become a rogue state on the edge of Europe with an Anglo-American trade deal. The game has changed …
NO LONGER APPLIES
Joe Biden has a long memory regarding Johnson’s attacks on Obama, women and ethnic minorities. The game has changed and the so called special relationship …
NO LONGER APPLIES
Johnson had relied on breaching The Good Friday Agreement and breaking international law to “Get Brexit Done”. The game has changed …
NO LONGER APPLIES
The EU has tried to accommodate Britain in Brexit negotiations, so as to maintain a sense of decency in world politics. This, despite the fact that Britain has not made any good faith attempts to negotiate. The game has changed …
NO LONGER APPLIES
Trump favoured UK in terms of doing a trade deal, as a means of pivoting against the EU. Biden’s appointment means that the EU’s main focus will now turn to America, rather than a small country in economic and social ruin. The game has changed …
NO LONGER APPLIES
We can no longer expect Trump to be focused on the UK and Brexit. His next two months will be fully occupied in fighting legal actions, making himself look even more foolish and gradually being ostracised by his allies. I imagine he will spend a lot of time on the golf course. Perhaps a slot on “I’m a failed celebrity, get me out of here”. The game has changed …
NO LONGER APPLIES
In conclusion, the game has changed and …
BREXIT NO LONGER APPLIES
Take Action
Write to your MP and demand that they oppose the toxic combination of Corona + Brexit – sample letters below.
Write to the press with the same ambition.
Write to EU leaders and encourage them to hold firm on Brexit negotiations now that Johnson is alone.
Sample Letters to MP’s – TY Rachel Ashley and Catherine Reynolds
Dear xxx,
Given the Biden victory, would you now agree that a two year extension to the transition period is probably wise, to allow Britain to cope with the COVID crisis?
Yours sincerely
Dear xxx
I see your government has done another u-turn on free school meals in the holidays for hungry children. Surely this is getting embarrassing for MP’s such as yourself, who support the government one week only for the Executive to do a u-turn the following week (or so). This looks like a failure of leadership to me.
I assume this was announced yesterday because most of the world of the world was watching Joe Biden defeat Donald Trump in the USA Presidential election. However President elect Biden’s stance on Brexit is well-known. He thinks the UK is following a foolish and divisive line which has the potential to severely damage Anglo-Irish relations and undermine the Good Friday Agreement. He has said more than once the USA will not trade with the UK if it breaks the Good Friday Agreement. It is telling that when asked by a BBC journalist if he had anything to say to the BBC he said ‘I am Irish’.
I ask you to reconsider your position. Brexit is going to add considerably more damage to the British economy at a time when it is massively struggling under the economic pressure caused by COVID. I am aware the PM Johnson was in talks with the President of the European Commission yesterday and I assume that is to try and cobble together some sort of deal for Mr Johnson to then sell to the British people as the best deal ever when we all know that at best it will give Britain a few crumbs from the EU table and will still cause, what could turn out be, irreparable damage to the British economy with no hope in the short or medium term of even the semblance of a deal with the USA to mitigate a small part of the damage.
I am therefore asking you to put Britain first and to put pressure on the Executive to go to the European Council and ask for Brexit to be suspended for 2 years with Britain still in transition mode. Your current leader should have no difficulty in doing another u-turn to achieve this as he is very used to doing them. A two year suspension of Brexit will give your Party time to sort out what is clearly a failure of leadership and the Government time to get control of how the country can begin to live with the COVID 19 virus without severely damaging either the economy or the health of the nation.
In these crazy times it becomes difficult to tell satire from real life, so here’s a little help to separate facts from fiction:
FACT : Priti Patel has banned protests of more than two people so that Johnson can “Get Brexit Done”, without having to have any visible resistance on the streets. We can still organise resistance. See 11 ways to SuspEND Brexit in a COVID safe way.
FICTION : Donald Trump has not been accepted by Martians. Applications outside the Solar System have also been rejected by Star Trek command.
FACT : The Trump meltdown means that Boris Johnson has no “BATNA” in negotiation terms (BATNA = Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement). Just to follow the car showroom analogy, the EU showroom and US showrooms are not of equivalent value anyway, since 50% of our trade comes from our relationship with the EU. Walking out of the EU showroom to the Trump one is rather like leaving the Mercedes showroom for the Trabant one, in terms of cars.
FICTION : Nigel Farage has not infected anyone with COVID. He has however infected 17.4 million people with a pack of lies. Many people have now awakened to this fact and no longer want Brexit.
FACT : Boris Johnson has had to do a U Turn on COVID, due to Dither and Delayfor 6 weeks. He was told by scientists to introduce a lockdown on 22 September. Instead he waited 6 weeks to do so until bonfire night. In doing so he has already placed tens of thousands of people on the Corona bonfire. This will likely mean that the lockdown will be extended. Basically:
A stitch in time saves nine
FICTION : There is no such thing as a COVIDIOT detector. However there are many vital signs : the assumption that every nurse and doctor in the world is in on the “scam” ; the suggestion that dead people are fabrications and so on.
FACT : Nigel Farage’s new Reform party is spreading a very dangerous disease : ignorance. It will kill more people. Nearly 40 Tory MP’s turned into anti-maskers yesterday when the lockdown vote was taken.
FACT : Mars cannot support intelligent life. It can however support Donald Trump. Donald did claim that Mars was in fact part of the Moon in 2019. More on Brexit and David Bowie at Rebel Rebel.
FICTION : Larry the Cat has not been touched by Donald Trump.
FACT : Nigel Farage has not managed to blow up Parliament. Please give a penny for the guy, as Nigel’s Reform party appears to be failing. In other news, Thanet and Swale MP’s Craig McKinlay and Gordon Henderson have just voted against lockdown. It is perhaps no coincidence that their constituencies have the highest incidence of COVID in Kent. They get our award for COVIDIOTS and are literally going to be responsible for further unnecessary deaths through their careless attitudes towards the people that voted for them. Write to them to express your concerns : Craig McKinlay ; Gordon Henderson.
With thanks to the image of Boris Johnson by Charlie Everett.
The aftermath of the Trump election shows us that we still have a long way to go in order to lead with truth, transparency and humility in a troubled world. In the UK, Boris Johnson is copying Trump’s design, by escalating his false promises, blame and lies to nuclear levels. “Operation Moonshot” has just failed to deliver. Christmas is almost certainly cancelled. Johnson continues to blame others for our Government’s continual “Cake and Eat it too” approach to Brexit negotiations. Changing Minds on Brexit on an industrial scale will be required if we are to return towards trust in politics and politicians. In this context I intend to serialise some chapters of my book “Let’s Talk About BREX..it“.
A successful Brexorcism takes skill, patience and time. Here is the preface to the book:
Why I wrote this book
I was in my late 50’s when Brexit began. I am now over 60 and although Brexit is “in the microwave, gas mark four”, it is still far from done, some would say overdone. Brexit will probably come undone in the coming year one way or another. Speaking personally, Brexit will not affect me positively or negatively. Outside my anti-Brexit life, I am an author, business consultant, speaker and knowledge worker who has always traded on a worldwide basis. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ll be in a shallow grave by the time that any of the supposed Brexit benefits materialise. Even 18th Century retro-Latin imperialist adventure capitalist Jacob Rees-Mogg said that we will get nothing back from Brexit for 50 years … I’m impatient in the age of Corona … not for myself, but for future generations.
Setting Brexit and Corona aside for a moment, we are merely responsible landlords of planet earth. If we do well in our lives, our aim should be to leave the planet in a better state that when we arrived. If the nature of our life and work does not allow us to answer that call, we must at least be guided by the principle of “do no harm.” We owe it to our children, their kids and the planet to do our best and stand up to those who would do harm in pursuit of narrower and more destructive goals. Brexit is a narrow ambition that would continue England’s love affair with disaster capitalism, lower standards of environmental stewardship and increased carbon footprints from more global trading. This is all happening at a time when the drive to solve world problems requires greater levels of collaborative leadership and co-dependency. Complex world problems require joined up thinking instead of splendid isolation and “I’m alright Jack and Jill” behaviours.
This requires us to continue the conversation with leave voters and, of course, Remainers, some of whom now have terminal Brexit apathy. These difficult conversations are made even more difficult when we currently must conduct them using socially distanced means. This book equips you with strategies, skills and stories to help you have these difficult conversations. A mind shift requires skill, patience and time. Over thousands of hours of fieldwork, it becomes apparent that, sometimes you need several sittings with your chosen subject, client or victim. The book provides a compendium of support with skill and patience. It will also help you use your precious time to greater impact.
Human beings have achieved great things for the planet. Sadly the human condition also includes a few human faults. Greed, avarice, ego and so on. We have witnessed it most recently in the fanatical stockpiling of toilet rolls amidst the Corona crisis. It means we think short term, sometimes selfishly and nostalgically. Crucially we don’t always realise that we are in this together with our neighbours and others we share this fragile earth with. As far as I know, earthworms, hydrangeas and molluscs do not share the faults of the “human race.” It is perhaps time to stop racing and trying to Trump each other, to consider what we can learn from the rest of the animal and plant kingdom. After all, we are allegedly more intelligent than snails … We must learn to be responsible custodians of planet earth. Brexit threatens to isolate Britain in a world that desperately needs more collaboration and co-operation. Worse still, Brexit takes Scotland, Northern Ireland and some parts of Wales and England down with it. To what purpose? I am still waiting for answers.
You may be asking yourself “Surely it is too late to stop Brexit? A piece of paper was signed on 31 January 2020 so isn’t it all done now?” I will work through the arguments as to why Brexit can be stopped later in this book. However, some Remainers suffer from what psychologists call “Learned Helplessness”? This is the condition where people believe that there is nothing they can do to alter the course of Brexit or that they should not interfere, due to faux notions of “democracy” or “the will of the people”. In other words “we can’t do anything” and “we must not do anything”. My own brother who voted to Remain is part of what the Rt Hon Ken Clarke calls the “indifferent majority” and has quoted “the will of the people”. In truth he is fearful of the far right and it’s easier to comply rather than resist. Whilst I completely understand his position and that of others like him, such people are an absolute danger to the resolution of such problems. I am quite sure that the vast majority of the German people did not think that Mr Hitler would do anything awful in 1938. Some simply looked away. Simply stated, silence is assent.
Taking first the issue of feeling there is nothing that can be done to change things, this is fundamentally untrue. This book offers a wide palette of things we can do. At the highest levels of thinking, quite simply, Brexit is a political process and not a legal one. All that is needed at the basic level would be an e-mail to cancel it, followed by a lot of grovelling in private, probably the fall of the prevailing Government or certainly the key players. Eventually a lengthy public process would be created and some “ceremony” to allow us to rejoin the EU or simply not to leave. However, this “christening ceremony” would almost certainly be followed by “terms and conditions”, based on the fact that our Brexit belligerence has been largely informed by decades of the UK “having its cake and eat it too” aka getting its own way on things like Shengen, the Euro etc.
On the question of “should we interfere?” this again is a simple matter to debunk. Democracy informed by gross lies on the NHS, immigration etc. targeted Facebook ads, overspending on election campaigns are not the high-water marks of democracy. In any case, some four years on, the demographics of Brexit have altered considerably with approximately 1.5 million leave voters having spun off this mortal coil and 1.7 million young people becoming eligible to vote, creating a significant shift on the “will of the people”. As I write this update, it rather seems that these demographics are likely to be disproportionately affected by Boris Johnson’s Corona Cull of older voters. In any case, “Generation Greta”, above all else, understand our connectedness and co-dependency.
The other question that should be troubling you some four years later is the one that asks the Buzzcocks’ Brexit question “What do I get?”. Perhaps we don’t ask the question in a selfish way, but nonetheless it becomes relevant to ask what benefits are on offer to our fellow citizens if we are to endure some 50 years of pain to get there. It is a question I’ve asked tirelessly during thousands of hours of street encounters and one I still cannot get any sensible answers on from the common man or woman. The best I have had in recent times came from the man who wanted to leave the EU so that he could land a 5 lb bass from the Swale in Kent and the other man who was willing to throw all the benefits of EU membership away because he personally thought that garlic was used too much in the local cafes and restaurants.
Brexit is, at one level, a gross example of selfishness, greed and avarice by a few disaster capitalists. These people have successfully persuaded the masses that Brexit will be good for them, although the mounting body of evidence suggests otherwise. The Dunning Kruger effect and misplaced pride prevent some leave voters from admitting that Brexit will not deliver any of the supposed benefits we were mis-sold so slickly and compellingly. This plays out daily via snappy catchphrases such as “Take Back Control”, “Brexit Means Brexit”, “Pop Brexit in the microwave”, “Let’s get Brexit done” etc. Feelings overwhelm facts in the tsunami of data that arrives daily across our TV screens, computers and smartphones. In the words of XTC “Senses Working Overtime”.
The information age is also in part responsible for the Brexit vote. Aside from interference in the voting process by Cambridge Analytica and underground targeted Facebook ads, another effect is in play here. We receive some 34 GB of data daily. This more than the average person received in their entire life in 1800. Quite naturally the response to “drowning in data” in some cases is to shut down from information overload altogether. Nigel Farage understood this well, when he asked the nation to vote with their hearts and not their heads after we were numbed senseless by data.
I originally titled this book “The Brexit Monologues.” Why a monologue I hear you say? Surely a conversation is a dialogue? Well some of the conversations I’ve had with some hardcore leave voters have been monologues. In other words they simply wish to unload their “story” on me before there is any possibility of a dialogue. I have had literally thousands of conversations with Brexiteers in cafés, bars and on the street. Listening skills do not usually begin until I have invested sufficient time and energy in understanding their viewpoints, however much I may disagree with them. It is also essential to establish a platform of expertise and some basic trust if they are to listen to you in preference to their own trusted advisor, whether that is Nigel Farage or the bloke in the pub. Why exactly should they wish to listen to me anyway? Many of them simply want to download their concerns, issues and fantasies about Brexit and their feelings of being left behind. In listening to these people, I have found that these monologues are actually quite revealing. At the same time, some level of change can occur by simply allowing these people to vent their feelings of rage, disappointment, and regret about their lives. Occasionally and usually after a degree of patient listening, it is possible to separate their feelings from the causes of these feelings. In other words to separate their regrets from the fact that the EU is not the root cause of their regrets. Once we achieve this, we have the possibility for what I term a “Brexorcism”, in other words a shift in their beliefs about the world and about Brexit in particular.
Changing Minds on Brexit provides strategies, skills and stories to help you change minds, whilst helping you to look after yourselves in the process. I use the word Brexorcism not because I’m expecting you to throw holy water at your subjects! Nor do I expect you to have to deal with people whose heads and viewpoints rotate 360 degrees. We are generally dealing with quasi-religious beliefs or even identity level change, where Brexit is intimately linked with people’s sense of self, Queen, country and flag. When we engage with a leave voter, we are sometimes challenging people at the level of who they are or the very why of their being. This requires skill, time, patience and flexibility on our part.
The book also helps with healing the divides that Brexit has set up on our DIsUnited Kingdom, whether family, friend or community based.
This book is not just about Brexit ghostbusting. Where Brexit leads, Trump, Erdogan and others follow. Just as sure as ladies’ hemlines rise and fall for no particular reason with the whims of fashion every year, populism and the rise of the far right in difficult times are also fashion statements that others follow. So, you will find this book of immense value if you are trying to fight populism anywhere in the world.
On New Year’s Day 2017 I coined the catchphrase “Break Brexit Before Brexit Breaks Britain” in the shower. I note this has been adopted and adapted quite widely. I recently realised that it needed updating. On New Year’s Day 2019 I came up with a new mantra which remains relevant:
“We seek a Better Britain in a Better Europe for a Better World.”
We are all in this together and it is about time we woke up to the fact. We can no longer live in unsplendid isolation in the 4th industrial age. Yes, we need to reform our politics and the very notions of capitalism if we are to survive. But turning our backs on problems and opportunities that we face as a global village is not a sensible response.
I hope this gives some clues as to why you might want to read the book … read on …
Take Action
Write to your MP and demand that they oppose the toxic combination of Corona + Brexit
Here’s a sharp reflection on the week’s developments over the pond from our stalwart anti-Brexit anti-Trump campaigner Don Adamson, written on November 3rd and left as a contrast to the developing news. Johnson has no BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement) with the EU in the wake of Trump’s demise from power. Time to SuspEND Brexit now that Brexit is Trumped. Please write to your MP today on this matter.
November 03, 2020
Across the USA people begin to vote. Over 100 million have already voted and we await the long process that is election day. As millions prepare I reflect how very few will actually decide on anything than an emotion or even at worst insecurity. The political process in the USA is now simply that of identification.
As we prepare for the great God Demos I think of how much the founding fathers of the USA feared Demos, the demagogue and indeed ancient Athens. I have finished listening to Gore Vidal’s book ‘1876’. It’s about the election of that year where a corrupt Republican party stole the election by corruption, manipulation and intimidation. Then I think on the events of 2020, as armed Trump supporters surround a Biden bus in Texas and Trumpian SA like militia stand outside polling stations intimidating African American voters. Fascism has come to the USA wrapped in the flag and carrying the bible. Whoever wins, it is clear that the USA is broken and the culture wars that are waged will soon to turn to that of civil war. America will break as the declining white males lose influence and power. Fear and loathing grows. Trump devalues knowledge, learning, respect and tolerance. The battle inside the large ego of a 74 year old toddler with a thin skin spills out to possess the electorate.
A boarded-up Washington prepares
In 1876, the result was not known for days. I suspect it will be the same this week. I shall watch the results tonight and speculate. Biden’s lead is far more substantial than Clinton’s and of the 8 states that Trump won last time six show substantial leads for the Democrats. Biden should win but it remains a totemic prize. A corporate Democratic victory will enable the USA to take a few steps back from the abyss of WASP Fascism. It will give brief breathing space to allow a socialist grouping to emerge for the first time since since the days of Eugene Debs and Upton Sinclair. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be part of a socialist bridge head in the American state. If Bernie Sanders becomes Secretary of State of Labour, radical policies not seen since FDR will become possible.
We stand at a crossroads. A Trump victory will embolden the far right across the world. It will empower Farage here with a Libertatarian COVID denying, conspiracy laced party to burst onto the political scene in time for election to the Welsh Senedd and create a block of them within it. The street gangs of the DFLA and the EDL will soon be on our streets intimidating and silencing opposition.
And so today, my thoughts are with the young people of the USA the radicals, the left, the feminists, those of Black Lives Matter standing up against the red necks with their AK 47s, their prejudice and hatred. The USA stands at the crossroads, but we also stand with them. As in the USA so it will be here soon. This is the moment as the Moon wanes and the days shorten.
The world is changing but to what direction and purpose? America will break. That is certain. A new nadir like 1876 is here. The next century will see a new period of history. Post Modern Fascism is here and the moment of choice will be made. Chlorinated chicken after Brexit awaits us with a Trump victory. The dice are rolling and knives are out … what will be will be … and the scales hang in the balance.. the only thing certain is that America is in terminal decline and much that was will soon be swept away for good or ill. If Trump loses, he faces prosecution and conviction. If he wins, the whole world faces the same, but our judge and jury will be the generations who come after. Gilead will be born in the USA and fused with a new American Third Reich.
Let us stand in the eye of the Hegelian storm between thesis and antithesis. A brutal synthesis will follow. Whomever wins, things will never be the same again. A COVID post modernism beyond perception awaits to be born as a slouching beast lurks with its ginger hair and crawls towards the swamp. All things threaten to fall apart …
Take Action
Write to your MP and demand that they oppose the toxic combination of Corona + Brexit
Write to the press with the same ambition
Write to EU leaders and encourage them to hold firm on Brexit negotiations now that Johnson is alone
Please do not give in to Bullingdon Bullies – we have been betrayed by our own Government. Do not encourage more bad behaviour https://t.co/jxmdYdcin8
— Reboot Britain – Rage Against The Brexit Machine (@BrexitRage) November 7, 2020
Daily Maul. Click on the image for our satire book on Brexit.
Can all our previous Prime Ministers be wrong about Brexit? Please watch as leaders unite against Brexit. Learn and then share with MPs to wake them up. Sir John Major’s speech is well worth 30 minutes of your time to start with:
Click on the image to watch John Major’s groundbreaking speech.
John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and even Theresa May … Almost nothing unites these five people, apart from the fact each were once the UK’s head of government. Three Tories and Two Labour. Many of them stood against each other in General Elections. But all of them have now spoken out against Brexit. Even if it’s to save their own face. But if Brexit is so bad that every single living British Prime Minister speaks out against it … Then it’s obvious that Brexit is a bad idea. And that the UK’s current government is being run by the very worst of politicians.
Regrets, I have a few …
Listen without prejudice.
Theresa May speaks truth to idiots.
Whatever you think of Nick Clegg, he speaks the truth on Brexit.
True Leadership – Click on the picture to watch Von der Leyen’s speech.
For comparison this is our PM demonstrating his skills of oratory and principled leadership:
Britastrophe.
Take Action
Write to your MP and demand that they oppose the toxic combination of Corona + Brexit
Write to the press with the same ambition
Write to EU leaders and encourage them to hold firm on Brexit negotiations now that Johnson is alone
In this roundup of Jacob’s Crackers, we chart the unprecedenteddevelopments in our Government’s idiotic approach to Brexit, COVID and Trump. I am finding it very difficult to distinguish satire from reality, as Boris Johnson lurches from the COVID car crash to our Britastrophe in waiting …
Ask that Brexit be suspended in the wake of Corona
Thank The Lords
The House of Lords firmly rejected the idea of breaking international law in order to “Get Brexit Done”. Johnson’s response? “Carry On Breaking The Law”. The likely outcome? Britain will be twinned with North Korea as a rogue state. The EU and US will treat Britain accordingly.
Trust is essential for all trade and business – The UK is not trustworthy
Write to members of the House of Lords – Point out that the internal markets bill was NOT a manifesto promise and therefore it is perfectly reasonable for the House of Lords to continue to oppose it.
World Beating COVID deaths
Once again, we lead Europe with COVID deaths, due to our “too little, too late’ approach”. This Twitter thread sums up the problems:
UK : "World beating deaths"
We lead Europe with 50 000 reported #COVID19 deaths
— Peter Cook – Leadership for a Better World (@academyofrock) November 12, 2020
Please Retweet this and related tweets. Tweet your MP with a personal message about #suspendbrexit. Hold their feet to the fire.
Rats deserting the sinking ship
If the COVID deaths were not bad enough, it seems that Downing Street is more concerned with petty power squabbles between Dominic Cummings, his cronies and Boris’ girlfriends. Whitehall is now occupied by a large number of Vote Leave cronies and we await the departure of Dominic Cummings and our idiot negotiator David Frost, following Lee Kane’s departure last night. Watch Channel 4 News last night to find out more:
Since this time cronyism has gone from bad to worse under Johnson. It has continued under Truss and Sunak.
To learn more about cronyism in Whitehall check out My Little Crony by Sophie Hill
Old Durham Town remade in our studio.
IBS – Irritable Brexit Syndrome
If all of the above were not enough to make you think that we have lost control of our senses, swivel eyed loons John Redwood and, not IBS, but IDS (Iain Duncan Smith) have pointed out that Britain is bigger than the US. They have also told Joe Biden had better watch his step if he wants to get a trade deal with Britain. Texas and California are bigger than the US geographically, never mind the economy. The US economy is 20 x larger than the UK economy. For the avoidance of doubt:
Size is important – we are 40 x smaller than the US.
John Redwood “Mine’s bigger than yours” Retweet and share to your MP
Smith took time out from snacking on his bogies to have a go at Joe Biden, presumably because he’s a decent man. Smith can’t even qualify as a man, a monstrous freeloader and charlatan who relished his persecution of the vulnerable. https://t.co/cuGUjD4uQy
Boris Johnson and Priti Patel scraped the bottom of the barrel by claiming that ending our freedom of movement was somehow a great triumph, whilst trying to pretend that the matter does not apply to British people. Johnson seems to have forgotten that he said exactly the opposite when he was seeking people’s votes for Brexit. In the words of Johnny Rotten:
Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?
We are all Citizens of Nowhere. Download In Limbo from our Bandcamp site.
If Jacob’s crackers, all the while, Johnson continues to self isolate from the truth about COVID and Brexit, Trump is also bunkering down, whilst he makes a new series of “Borat” with Rudy Giuliani. Sadly his tweet was deleted …
In today’s spoof edition of the Sun, it’s hard to tell satire from reality as Johnson retreats from criticism of his handling of Carrie, Cummings, Corona and the ongoing Britastrophe from the toxic cocktail of Brexit + Corona. This Brexit self isolation is not really good enough, especially as it seems he broke lockdown rules to meet one of his MPs.
Nut Nuts – Read all the editions by clicking on “The Sun”
In case you are not sure which is the fake news and which is real, here is a guide:
Belgium did win the football match 2 – Nil. The playing field was level, unlike our approach to Brexit negotiations, where we want want to kick the ball into the goal whilst the other side are off the pitch.
Johnson did meet with an MP last week, breaking lockdown and causing his Brexit Self Isolation. There was no reason why he could not have done this remotely. It seems very convenient, as it means he gets to avoid questions about Cummings going, Christmas, COVID and the tragic state of Brexit negotiations which climax this Friday. Remember a Brexit deal is WORSE than no deal in terms of the long term future for our children. See Brexit Choices.
Carrie Symonds texts Johnson 20 times a day whilst he is trying to run the country. We now have reached the Eva Braun / Linda Mc Cartney / Yoko Ono / Princess Nut Nut moment of English democracy, where the will of the people has been replaced by the whim of the blonde bimbo Boris.
There is no medical virus called Brexitosis. However, it becomes clear that Brexit has now occupied the minds of a few swivel eyed loons in the ERG, whilst the vast majority of the British public are bored rigid by Brexit and want Brexit flushed down the pan.
Johnson did say F..ck Business. This is the new Tory party. Can you really approve of someone who does this?
Mark Francois is still missing in action. What can be wrong? Write to Mark and wish him a speedy recovery.
We do believe that Larry the cat’s box was stolen by Cummings. Sources close to No 10 suggest that Larry was the only “person” who was not taken in by Cummings’ lies. Tweet Larry on the matter:
@Number10cat We are worried that #Cummings took your box Larry. Can we provide another for you?
Please write to them today and every day this week. We need a veritable tsunami of letters to arrive this week on the abject stupidity and sheer irresponsibility of Brexit, rather like when Harry Potter receives his letters from Hogwarts:
Click on the image to write to them.
Why?
To find out why you must do this please read Brexit Choices. If you are thinking Why Bother? letters work. Rachel Ashley managed to get Antoinette Sandbach to switch parties at the last General Election. Rather than argue with me on Facebook, Just Do It please.
Who?
We have three targets for our attention. Please follow the links in red to find e-mail addresses:
EU Leaders – Von der Leyen, Barnier, Verhofstadt et al.
What?
Please write personal letters. These work best. Be courteous even if you don’t like the person you are writing to. Please focus on the issue rather than the person or the party. To find out more on advocacy, please see the book “Reboot Britain“. Some sample letters are below for you to adapt:
LETTERS FOR BORIS AND CONSERVATIVES
Dear Boris Johnson,
I am aware that people who serve in leadership positions are often motivated by the legacy they leave behind. No one would wish the current COVID crisis on any world leader. However, to add the man-made project of Brexit to the natural crisis of COVID adds needless stress to a country about to have its resilience tested in ways that are unimaginable in peace time.
An 11% GDP hit from COVID x a 5-9% additional hit from Brexit will produce a lasting L-shaped (L stands for LONG) recession. For the good of the country and in terms of how you will be viewed by history, I ask you to demonstrate true leadership and turn back from this “Britastrophe”.
I write as someone with 12 business books behind me, an original career in pharmaceutical science and business academia to ask you to reconsider Brexit at this crucial time. I would imagine that your reputation would rise to mythical status if you were to turn back or suspend Brexit for an extended period. This would give time to work through the COVID crisis and provide Government with the bandwidth to address the problems, economically, socially, medically and politically.
I spend a lot of my time on the street at events and have spent thousands of hours talking with people about their attitudes towards Brexit in my vote leave area in Kent. It becomes apparent that the “will of the people” is now largely a myth, with only a few hard-core leave voters clinging on to the idea that Brexit will be good for them and, of course, a few of your more extreme colleagues in the Conservative Party. A credible opposition is building (I don’t vote for them, but it is always wise to change one’s mind as circumstances change) and your majority, won on the weakness of Jeremy Corbyn, is already under threat from within the NRG group in your own party. You will be aware that five former PMs across the political spectrum have come out against the folly of Brexit. If you have recently turned back from the extremes of your party as a one nation Conservative, please show this in practice now.
I hope that you will choose to be remembered as the Prime Minister who was big and clever enough to say “Circumstances have changed and Brexit is no longer the best option”. Be the bigger man and ask the EU27 to readmit the UK as a global partner of choice.
I await your considered reply.
Yours sincerely
**************
Dear Mr Johnson
Your legacy is set to be defined by your leadership on Covid and Brexit. You are on course to be remembered as the Prime Minister who destroyed the United Kingdom and wrecked our hopes and prosperity.
It is not too late for you to turn this around so please focus on steering this country through the pandemic. Provide effective leadership – in particular ensuring the roll out of the vaccination programme does not reprise the shambles we have been subjected to this year.
You can’t do this if you’re distracted by the disruption of a no-deal Brexit in 2021. Request an extension of the transition period by two years and this time use the opportunity to secure this country’s interests: the exact same benefits we enjoyed up to 2020.
Your allies are distancing themselves from you and public disquiet will turn to rage unless you have the courage to acknowledge reality: the Brexit you are set to deliver on 1st January will be catastrophic for this once great country of ours and its people.
Yours sincerely
Dear Mr Johnson,
Do you have any grasp of the risks you are taking with the U.K. economy by pursuing Brexit during a pandemic? You are concerned about the effect of Covid on the economy but are careless of the enormous damage Brexit has done, is doing and will continue to do for years beyond your lifetime. It is so selfish. No one has ever explained to me any benefit of Brexit that will accrue to ordinary Britons.
The wicked suggestion that you will spend £29million of taxpayers’ money celebrating this monstrosity that is Brexit is beyond belief. Have you seen your own recent YouGov polls? They show that over 70% of respondents think that leaving the EU was a mistake. You must stop, get an extension and hold a proper referendum that is not poisoned by lies. Brexit has divided the nation and you are responsible for the economic and social disaster you are bringing down on us all.
I hope that whoever reads this tells YOU, Boris Johnson what it says.
Yours sincerely
LETTERS FOR KEIR AND THE OPPOSITION
Dear Keir,
Please demonstrate leadership by voting against any Brexit deal, if one emerges from Johnson’s microwave oven in the coming weeks. For Labour to vote in favour of a Tory deal with the EU would be to chase yesterday’s polls, with no election on the horizon. If Labour MPs abstain, they make themselves irrelevant – not just now, but in any future critique. You will be aware from history that silence = assent. Julie Ward MEP commented on the point that the vast majority of Labour voters want to remain in Europe.
An 11% GDP hit from COVID x a 5-9% additional hit from Brexit will produce a lasting L-shaped (L stands for LONG) recession. For the good of the country and in terms of how you will be viewed by history, I ask you to demonstrate true leadership and oppose what can be termed a “Britastrophe”. There is no good Brexit, no jobs first Brexit. Substantially, a Brexit deal is virtually indistinguishable from No Deal, in terms of impacts on lives and livelihoods. It is merely a question of a slow death from a Brexit deal versus a rapid death by No Deal Brexit.
I spend a lot of my time on the street at events and have spent thousands of hours talking with people about their attitudes towards Brexit in my vote leave area in Kent. It becomes apparent that the “will of the people” is now largely a myth, with only a few hard-core leave voters clinging on to the idea that Brexit will be good for them and, of course, a few of your more extreme colleagues in the Labour Party. In my local area of Gillingham I campaigned for tactical voting for Labour in the last GE. The local candidate lost 33% of his votes down to circa 10 000. However, these votes did not go to the Tories. People simply refused to vote for Jeremy’s vacillation on Brexit. You will also be aware that five former PMs across the political spectrum have come out against the folly of Brexit. I have been impressed with your work so far to galvanise the Labour party as an electable opposition. Now is the time to strike a blow for the many, not the few.
A suspension of Brexit would give time to work through the COVID crisis and provide Government with the bandwidth to address the problems, economically, socially, medically and politically.
Yours sincerely
*************
Dear Sir Keir
I understand from MEP Julie Ward that “the vast number of Labour voters wish to remain in Europe”. This is certainly true in my case, and that of my family and friends. In fact, Battersea, my constituency, voted overwhelmingly for Remain.
What we are looking at is, quite frankly, a mess. The UK is already in a financial black hole, partly, but not totally, due to Covid, and deals such as those proposed by Mr. Johnson will be, quite frankly, a disaster, from which we may never recover. We have absolutely no trust in what is going on in No.10.
What you have been doing since becoming Opposition Leader is admirable, and so I write in the hope that you will vote against any Brexit “deal” that is produced by Mr Johnson in the next few weeks. Any abstentions will make any Labour MPs who do so irrelevant.
Far better, given that it seems leaving the EU is inevitable, even though only a fraction over 37% of the electorate voted for it, would be suspension – two years? – to allow a breathing space. This would enable us to address the current mess and concentrate on a mass immunisation and testing programme. The lack of success of the Track and Trace and PPE supply does not inspire me with any hope that a such programme would have any chance of success, unless there are no distractions, such as Brexit.
Yours sincerely,
LETTERS FOR EU LEADERS
Dear xxx,
I urge you to hold firm this week in negotiations re Brexit. There is no good Brexit, only the choice between a slow death by a Brexit deal and a rapid death by No Deal. 62% of British people no longer want Brexit, now that they have begun to understand the implications. It is clear that the fascist tail wags our Conservative dog.
I realise that legally we have left but as you know politics can change everything, including the breaking of international law in pursuit of a narrow goal of “Singapore on Thames” by Boris Johnson’s cronies.
I am aware of some softening of the mood last week, where Mr Johnson appeared to sack his far right advisers in order to make himself more presentable as a centrist. I need hardly to remind you that he and Donald Trump have made lying and shapeshifting in politics an artform, devaluing the trust on which all political leadership rests.
Any accommodation to British demands will likely weaken the strength of the union, with the possibility of other nations then wishing to conduct their own “Brexit clinical trials”. Britain has not negotiated in good faith and it is always a mistake to give into bullies, from the school playground to the G7.
Britain needs to reform the hubris upon which Brexit was built and I realise that the culture carriers need to have their power leavened or removed. We are presently engaged in this process. Please allow us to suspend or just end Brexit, so that we can finish the work.
Thank you for your patience over the last 4.5 years. I can only imagine how hard this must have been, as I watched Michel Barnier contemplating a level playing field, the wilful destruction of the Good Friday Agreement and the creation of a rogue state on the edge of Europe. Our Government has not learned anything about its own version of English exceptionalism over this time. All of this is to be traded for some vague notions of British fish, some 50 pence coins and so on. They do say that the last thing a fish notices is the water it swims in and our Government will soon be a fish out of water now that Trump is a beached whale.
We have been badly betrayed by our Government and the collective opposition over the last 4.5 years. Please don’t forsake us in our hour of need.
Yours sincerely
*************
Email ec-president-vdl@ec.europa.eu
Dear President von der Leyen,
As a convinced European, I was shocked by the Brexit result, and over the past four years have watched how our government not only illegally prorogued Parliament but showed it was quite ready to break International Laws. To say I am ashamed is an understatement.
However, although 37% of our electorate originally voted to leave the EU, a recent survey shows that now 62% of the British people no longer wish to leave. Although there appears to be some softening at No. 10, having watched the way Mr Johnson has operated over the past ten years, I believe this may only be his way of trying to make himself more presentable, more “centrist”, if you will. I should add that my brother-in-law worked for the EU in Brussels for any years, and was only too aware of Mr Johnson’s lies as regards EU regulations. Johnson was part of the lying that led many people to vote Leave.
Thank you for your patience over the past four years and more. But please, do not give in to Mr Johnson. Like most bullies, he will eventually see reason. Many of us are already involved in such work. It may also be that with the ousting of Donald Trump, the PM may rethink a few things. And certainly, a suspension of one or two years would help us to get through the current health crisis. We have been betrayed; please, do not let us down.
In case you are unaware occasionally we parody the immense stupidity and lies from populist newspapers. Here is today’s edition as we get ready for the Brexit wars. This includes some fact checking below, just in case you are unable to separate Brexit fact from fiction.
Click on the Maul to read our political satire Private Eyelines.
Boris Johnson has suggested that Parliament will not have time to approve a Brexit deal. So, when he said “Take Back Control”, he meant for himself rather than Parliament or the People. In the words of Johnny Rotten:
Ever got the feeling you’ve been cheated?
Farmers fear that the turkeys they are rearing will be too big for Christmas. Some (turkeys, not farmers) have in fact been put on diets.
Johnson has summoned up more jingoistic rhetoric about war with his announcement of more money for our military. This amounts to more distraction from COVID and Brexit. And like most of Johnson’s announcements, it’s not quite what it seems …
Common sense reflection.
Minister for the 18th Century, Jacob Rees-Mogg did quote Caractacus on Parliament the other day, but did not make an explicit connection between Rolf Harris and his song The Court of King Caractacus. Unfortunately many other people did. Jake deleted his tweet so you cannot reply to him.
In the ultimate irony, it seems that “forins” will be manning the border posts if Brexit proceeds. They very thing that Brexiteers wanted will not come to pass and they will have their blue passports inspected by Romanians and Indians. Oh, the joy on their faces!
A book on Brexit has been released. Entitled “The Benefits of Brexit“. The book contains 234 BLANK pages. Some Brexiteers are outraged, having bought the book to find it devoid of inspiration. Here’s my review:
Click image to read our books on Brexit. They have words and pictures.
If you want a good book on how to have difficult conversations about Brexit around the Slimfast Christmas Turkey, please find our books on Brexorcism on Amazon.
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