No, it’s not a mis-spelt article title. Anus Horribilis refers to the toxic combination of Brexshit and Corona aka a Britastrophe. In this yearly roundup I’m picking out some of the lowlights of 2020 and some of the early indicators of the Britastrophe to come. But of course, firstly, let me wish you happy new year via some music:
Project Fear v Project Fact
Gibraltar struck their own arrangements with the EU on 30.12.20 and British residents gained the ability to live and work in Spain and 27 EU countries by adopting Schengen. In the longer term this may lead to the re-integration of Gibraltar into Spain. Brexiteers said it would never happen …
Northern Ireland has similar privileges, now that Johnson dropped his “dead body promise” that there would NEVER be a border in the Irish sea. Included in the arrangements are the continuation of the EHIC healthcare scheme and the Erasmus scheme for young people to study in Europe.
Write to your MP. Demand a level playing field on free movement, Erasmus and EHIC cards. There must be unity of rights and freedoms.
Just yesterday it was revealed that another lorry park is to be built around the White Cliffs of Dover to cope with delays caused by Brexit. Michael Gove promised frictionless borders. Stockpiling means that borders are currently less busy but just reflect on these mind boggling facts:
More than 220 million customs forms will have to be processed by about 5,000 Customs officers for freight transport in the New Year. These apply to anything over 7.5 tonnes, laden or not. You’ll need a Kent (Road) Access Permit (KRAP) which lasts 24 hours, every time you come in, for a start. Some British exporters are to temporarily delay sending goods to Europe for a couple of weeks because they won’t subject their drivers to the delays.
Read this shocking account of lorry drivers trapped in Kent for days by Kent Police under direction from Priti Patel and our Brexit Government. Anus Horribilis has only just begun.
Treated like animals to feed the Brexiteers red meat and silence opposition to Brexit
COVIDIOTS
In an act of wilful madness, Johnson has changed the regime of COVID vaccinations so that people get a sub-optimal single dose with a possible follow up some 12 weeks later. The worst case scenario from this is that we will have millions of under-protected people wandering around thinking they are invincible. At the same time, the Government plan to mix and match vaccines from different manufacturers when there is no clinical evidence to suggest this is safe. The Government blamed the suppliers for failing to supply sufficient vaccine. Pfizer have just denied this is the case.
Write to your MP. Demand that COVID vaccines be given according to the recommended dosing regime.
BOJONA-21 is here – a psychotropic drug that makes it impossible for people to tell truth from lies. It’s very catchy so watch out. It is transmitted through contact with The Sun, Daily Mail and The Express.
Brexorcism
Brexiteers have had a sudden and dramatic change of heart. From 2016-2020 they cried “Remoaners! Traitors! Saboteurs! Enemies of the people!!!” In a dramatic reversal they are now saying: “It’s time to put aside our differences and move forward together…”
I for one am not prepared to collaborate with people who wilfully voted to ruin my children’s futures and have not demonstrated any atonement or behavioural change. Here is a video of someone who sent a death threat to my family and was later on caught in the act using spray paints and a knife to attack my property:
I will never “move on” and faced a huge dose of hatred from hardline Brexiteers over this tweet. Why are they so angry? They won FFS.
Write to your MP, asking them to Take Back Control of our Laws, now that Brexit is done. A couple of example letters for you to base your letter on are included below. The sample letters range from the sublime to the ridiculous. Pick your style and get writing. Let’s hold our MPs to account for the Brexit illusions from 2016 now that we can expect the sunlit uplands to appear. Your MP’s email is of the form firstname.lastname.mp@parliament.uk
Dear xxx,
I write to ask for the £350 million every week for the NHS, now that you have got Brexit done. Please can you provide a discounted cash flow statement for these inputs, set against the £200 BILLION or so of costs accrued so far on Brexit. Can you also provide an account of all the contracts issued to companies who failed to deliver PPE, test and trace and so on so I can calculate the impact on my tax bill.
All the best
*********************
Dear xxx,
Now that you have got Brexit done, I write to ask you to help rid the UK of those EU laws which were holding us back. In particular I ask that you attend to the pressing matter of upgrading the lightbulbs in my street lamps. They offer no illumination and were installed by my council, following pressure from residents to restore the street to Edwardian times. As well as this, they have been forced to introduce the ritual of regular bear-bating sessions and the infection of local people with syphilis and typhoid. I understand from the Council that they were forced, yes forced, to have these practices, because of EU laws imposed upon our once great nation.
Please also table a motion in Parliament to insist that all bananas conform to a maximum angle of curvature of 7 degrees. I chose the number 7 for no reason other than it is a prime number.
Whilst you are doing this, I have a number of annoying migrating birds in my garden. Many are of European origin. I have invented a unique device that traps the foreign ones and then deprives them of food until they are no more. I have shown my design patent to Priti Patel. Would you like to see it? (under confidential disclosure of course). I am presently designing an upgraded model that strangles the birds whilst playing Ode to Joy, in the hope that the word will get back to Brussels that we don’t want their stupid Beethoven music. After all, we have Robbie Williams.
Let’s Take Back Control of our Laws.
I await your reply.
Keep up the good work.
Peter Cook
******************
Dear xxx.
Brexit is done ! Thats the battle, crying on the street. Now we can take bak control of our money, boarders and laws. I write to ask. you to deal with this pressing matter,
There is a man called Tomek in my town. We call him Tommy and he likes it, But he doesnt speak propper English. When I speak with him he OFTEN gets things WRONG. It annoys my wife and my friend Brad in the pub where we have illegal lockdown boozing sessions. Please have Tommy arrested and sent to the Ascension Islands to learn. I know he run’s the only super-market in town, but we were fine before Tommy came here. so we will be grate agin.
We must take bak controll of are shops. Do it today and. show these forins hat we can grow are own.
Cheers matey
Graeme
*****************
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I am not Scottish but I support Scotland the Brave. Let me explain why. In 2014 I understood the problem of being 500 miles away from Westminster and being ignored, from conversations with Scottish friends. I used to point out that one did not need to be that far away to be ignored. Just 15 or 50 miles from Westminster was quite enough to be ignored. The problem is in essence Westminster and our English exceptionalism. I was also of the view that fragmentation of countries was a bad idea as it made our differences more important than our similarities.
My view changed in 2016 after the Brexit referendum. Scotland did not vote for self harm by a large margin. Although I’m sad to see them go, I now fully support Scottish independence and their return to the European Union. Scotland has one huge advantage going forward. It would be much more united in its purpose and that would produce the necessary cohesion to build an independent nation.
We are presently working to Re-Boot Britain. Amongst our number we have several people in England who wish to promote an independent Scotland. They plan to do this via campaigning to eject Conservatives and other parties in Scotland, or even standing SNP candidates in local English elections.
My apologies to my Scottish friends. We are not all complete arseholes.
Please sign up for my lifelong friend Eric’s blog naebother:
“My Dad’s dream was to return to an independent Scotland whose main export was not talented people, he died waiting.“
This week marks the end of our membership of the European Single Market and Customs Union. On 1 January, each and every Scot, including our children, will lose the right to live, travel and work freely in 31 other European countries. Covid Level 4 restrictions mean that we are not able to protest in the streets as we would have liked. But throughout Scotland we will be protesting in large numbers: in our homes, in open spaces, on social media, against this attack on our futures and those of our children. We call on as many as possible to share pictures of themselves displaying the EU stars – a symbol of European unity – in some form, accompanied by the hashtag #WeWillBeBack.
As we prepare for this sad day, we in the European Movement in Scotland are united in this pledge:
“We declare that Scotland is a European country, embracing our common values of peace, democracy, human rights, equality, sustainability and solidarity.
The clear wish of the great majority of the Scottish people is that Scotland should be within the European Union.
We commit to working to bring this about, whatever Scotland’s constitutional status”.
Scotland The Brave
We end with one of my favourite songs, featuring Stuart Adamson R.I.P. My friend Bill Nelson wrote a beautiful piece of music for Stuart’s funeral at Barrowlands.
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Reaching a deal with the EU and Boris Johnson’s request to Leavers and Remainers to “move on” did not inhibit his Lying Machine from continuing full blast during the festive period. On Christmas Day, Priti Patel gave us her Christmas message, saying that after Brexit we would all be safer. This lie was unmasked by Sir Ian Blair, former Metropolitan Police commissioner in an interview on Radio 4 on 4 January 2021.
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Sir Ian emphasised the loss of the European Arrest Warrant and of a major EU database which had been accessed more than 500 million times a year by British police.
“We’ve lost powers.”
“We lost full access to Europe-wide, real-time, interrogatable databases on criminal records, DNA, fingerprints, criminal intelligence.”
He added that the police had been emphasising for some time that this would make us less safe. So what did Ms Patel mean in her claim that the nation would be safer after exiting the EU?
Apparently Patel was referring to “even tougher powers”, to be given to the police and security agencies.
However, Patel could have introduced these powers if we had stayed in the EU!
The EU cannot intervene in policing and enforcement of criminal law by Member States.
The EU’s activities are limited to providing services through voluntary co-operation which are beyond the capacity of member states acting individually. This is a good example of how the extremist Brexiteer leadership tries to persuade us that leaving the EU benefits us, through lies, bullying and fake news. This is The mysterious case of Priti Patel indeed. If you are persuaded by the notion that bullies are unaware of their actions, think again about bullying back better.
We will continue to expose them so that their disgraceful record remains fresh in the public mind.
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Outside my life on here, I am a business person so, of course, I’m keen to harvest the benefits of Brexit. I’m impatient to discover what they are, as I have been promised a bright future over many years. First I decided to assess the cost-benefits of our new found sovereignty.
SOVRINTY INNIT
I discovered that Britain always had our sovereignty. This was demonstrated in the Supreme Court by Gina Miller. It was actually stated in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. How else were we able to close our borders for COVID in 2020 without asking the EU? We have kept the Pound. We turned down Billions of Euros of EU assistance for the Corona crisis. Now we even have our own “British sovereign variant” of Corona, according to Boris Johnson. But I am told by Boris Johnson that 67 million of us each now own a great big bag of sovereignty. To assess the value, I have put my bag up for auction on e-bay for £10 000.
Bags ‘o sovrinty – PRICELESS
Sadly, no one has taken up the offer of the bag. I am prepared to take one penny. Does nobody place any value on it? Will it buy a lunch box for a hungry child?
The Hunger Games
Meanwhile, the real Hunger Games are just beginning. In Northern Ireland, supermarket shelves are emptying, as it becomes apparent that frictionless trade was yet another Brexit unicorn sold by serial liar Michael Gove. In schools, our Government has been so possessed by Brexit that it is unable to organise itself to feed children under lockdown.
Perhaps Jacob Rees-Mogg was on the money when he said that he was not troubled by a few smugglers after Brexit. Here is the Brexit Smuggler’s Song after Rudyard Kipling.
Brexit Priorities
Finally, here is a wonderful poem by Barry Fentiman-Hall called “When Brexit comes (you will not be prioritised)”
When Brexit comes You will not be prioritised
White is not the original canvas On which the world was colourized Jim Davidson will not make a comeback Chalky was not really his friend You are not the beginning of anything Nor the default setting You will queue for cabbages With a pantone nation
When Brexit comes You will not be prioritised
God is not an Englishman You are not his messenger Sent to wash the world in shocking pink Dunkirk was a defeat A flotilla of weekend pleasure boats Are not coming to save you And neither is Sir John Mills with a cold Danish beer There are no exceptions You will be on universal credit With Jakub, Karosh, and Li Cheng
When Brexit comes You will not be prioritised
How you voted is irrelevant Maggie and Winston are dead racists and their statues will be pissed on by poodles and shat on by doves Theresa May will never be any more of a statue than she is now Conservatism is not a natural state It does not appear In the periodic table of elements The calcium in your bones Will be at the same levels as your anarchist neighbour
When Brexit comes you will not be prioritised
We are finally all in it together You and I
There will be no further extension Brexit will come It will be televised live from your living room… And you will be the star…
Ending Brexit populism is our priority and those that continue to push it. Join us every Monday at 8 pm on ZOOM.
If we want to affect parliamentary paralysis in the corridors of power, we need to learn the gentle art of influence and persuasion. I wrote an article on the topic just recently. Please read it here.
This simple graphic hides a wealth of detail. Read the article and then get a copy of our book on the topic “Let’s Talk About BREX..it” – Click the image to buy on Amazon
What follows below is a superb example of the principles discussed in the article and the book. It was written by Paul Bowers, one of our colleagues at Re-Boot Britain. Paul has worked inside the parliamentary system for many years. He understands how people may speak truth to power and be heard. To those who say that there’s no point writing letters to MPs, think again.
Please write your own letters on this topic to your MP via Write to Them
Rt Hon Michael Gove MP Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Dear Mr Gove,
“Ugly divisions” of Brexit
You wrote in the Times, 26 December 2020, of divisions and ugliness caused or exacerbated by Brexit, expressing hope that the UK will be animated by a spirit of common endeavour moving forward, its politics reaching a better place.
As a supporter of the UK’s membership of the European Union, I wish to explain why I cannot move on – or rather, from what I must not move on – and why I do not anticipate others doing so.
It may interest you to know that I worked in the House of Commons Library from 1991 to 2018. From Maastricht until 2005 I specialised in foreign affairs, observing political developments in other parts of the world which often implicated the ebb and flow of democracy: from hope in post-Soviet Eastern Europe or the end of apartheid, through calamity in the Balkans, genocide in Rwanda and on to the world of 9/11 and the Iraq War. In more recent years, I specialised in UK constitutional matters. Like everyone else, I was disturbed by the scenes in the US Capitol this week, and by China’s suppression of the Hong Kong democracy movement. The fragility of what we hold dear is apparent throughout recent history.
The special tinge that makes Brexit different from other UK political issues derives from the damage to democracy on which it depended and which it advances. We are ill-advised to take this lightly. While some argue that we can never go back to 2015, I would suggest that we must go back. Back to relatively low levels of corruption, back to respect for the rule of law, back to a sophisticated understanding of democracy as a range of factors through which balanced outcomes in the national interest occur.
In one sense, we have all moved on: from EU citizenship, the rights and freedoms we enjoyed, to a period of economic challenge, and international concern. You will have seen at New Year mocking cartoons from New Zealand, pained journalism from Germany and the USA.
We have moved on to a new reality.
But we should not move on from analysis of that reality.
The referendum was advisory. About 37% of the electorate, 26% of the population, voted to leave. Support was pocketed around the UK, geographically and demographically. London, the capital, with about one eighth of the UK population producing about one fifth of GDP, voted against. Scotland and Northern Ireland, separate constitutional units, voted against. So did the young, and the educated.
Do other voters not matter? Of course they do.
But it is wrong to say that there existed a consensus adequate for a change in national destiny of this magnitude.
The referendum result was unlawfully procured. Vote Leave and Leave.EU were fined by the Electoral Commission for breaking campaign finance rules. The Culture, Media and Sport Committee reported in July 2018 that Arron Banks, believed to have made the largest political donation in British history to Leave campaigners, failed to satisfy them that his funding came from the UK, and that he had close links to the Russian Government. In addition to concerns over Russian money and connections, Russian interference in social media was rife throughout the Brexit period. The Information Commissioner fined a variety of organisations associated with the Leave campaign for breaches of data law. There is evidence that the shift in opinion from a majority for Remain to a majority for Leave just before the referendum correlated with targeted advertising based on unlawfully harvested data, the latter leading to a very substantial fine on Facebook.
In February 2019 Prime Minister Theresa May’s barrister, Sir James Eadie QC, conceded that the referendum met the threshold for illegality and that, had it been binding there would have been a statutory legal mechanism by which it would be annulled. It is disturbing that a British Prime Minister chose to push forward with a policy that was damaging to the economy and the UK’s standing in the world when she knew it was based on corruption.
In my view, cleansing this corruption from British politics should have been the consuming interest of Parliament and Government in the last four years. Instead, it has been placed at the heart, and around it an abscess has formed. The referendum must not be “respected”. Subsequent general elections argued to support Brexit would not have happened without the referendum.
Other states joining the European Union have done so after tragedy and oppression: war, occupation, tyranny. The original members after World War II, Spain and Portugal after domestic fascism, the former Soviet satellites. All joined swiftly to entrench liberty. Perhaps the UK’s attitude to the EU was born of complacency. We saw it in purely economic terms, because that was our purpose in joining.
Today, we in the UK have our time of darkness.
Brexit, under two Conservative Governments, with Farage in the wings, and a Labour Party too divided to oppose, finally endorsing the Government’s 4% reduction of GDP, isolationism and reduction of rights, has brought us far from the democracy I served. As a colleague said in 2016, “things that used to be unthinkable are happening. What are they thinking now?”
A trajectory of decline has indeed played out, each outrage grounding the next.
A referendum that side-lined devolution. The advisory becoming peremptory. Parliament endorsing a corrupt exercise, with senior MPs confessing that they knew what they were doing would harm their constituents, but they would do it anyway. The spike in hate crimes after the referendum. EU nationals being forced to apply for the right to stay in their homes. A Prime Minister trying to action Article 50 without authorisation, then wasting public money contesting an unwinnable court case. The press describing judges as enemies of the people for upholding the law. The Justice Secretary late to defend them. Brexiteer MPs bellowing abuse across the Chamber at those daring to suggest that democracy did not end on 23 June 2016. The Government attempting a breach of procedure to hold a vote on a matter twice, cornering the Speaker into blocking the move, then directing anger against him. MPs being harassed and jostled on their way to Parliament, subject to death threats and presented by the Prime Minister as standing against her and the public. Unlawful suspension of Parliament. Threats to limit judicial review of ministerial excess. Legislation to put the Executive above the law.
The Internal Market Bill was the most disturbing. In my career I lost count of how many times Conservatives cited Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights, important foundations of the principle that the Executive is subject to the law. A Conservative-dominated Parliament legislated to contravene that principle.
Indeed, there seems no principle that Brexiteers are unwilling to jettison in service of their aim. When Parliament’s role in authorising the Article 50 notice was asserted, they decried the very parliamentary sovereignty they so often prayed in aid against the EU.
Since 1 January 2021 we have seen a strategy of lies from the UK Government, consistent with that encouraged in local Conservative association literature. This includes the claim that freeports are possible as a result of Brexit, when they exist in the EU, and the UK had them until 2012. It appears that the Government delayed decisions to end pulse fishing and the “tampon tax” so that it could announce them on 1 January and falsely claim that this was possible only as a result of Brexit.
Perhaps most galling of all: the Prime Minister’s pretence that he would countenance “no deal” in order to encourage the view that the Trade and Cooperation Agreement is better. The comparison is not with WTO terms, which we did not have with the EU. It is with membership, which outclassed his shoddy package. Already unravelling, we see online retailers unwilling to sell to UK consumers, fishing communities enraged by betrayal, their sovereignty rotting on the quayside, hauliers bypassing us, and staggering amounts of financial business fleeing to the Continent.
Strategic lying is the stuff of totalitarianism. Designed to jeopardise confidence in truth, it makes a people supple for manipulation. It is the latest stage in our decline. A free society cannot be expected to embrace such diminishment.
In our latest series of Populist Press Parodies from the Red Tops, we tackle the big issues of the day. In case of confusion in our age of disinformation, please find our fact and fantasy checker at the bottom of the page.
Lunch Box Luxury
Spanish Lies
Page 3 remodelled
FACTS v. FANTASIES
FANTASY Jacob Rees-Mogg did not live in fact live on a diet of Cream Crackers. He did however proclaim that British fish were happier now that they have Brexit. It’s just a matter of time before he asks for the restoration of the birch.
FACT The Government plan to only give one shot of the COVID vaccine. This would provide 70% protection. There is no evidence to suggest that this will lead to herd immunity. It is also feasible that it would mean that insufficient protection is given, providing the Corona virus with an open doorway to the development of a more virulent strain. We will essentially be the clinical trial for this risky experiment.
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FACT A large number of Tory MPs joined banned website Parler.
Shame these MP’s on social media. Request a public apology for their sins
FANTASY There are no Brexit Universities.
FACT British people living in Spain were surprised to learn that they could not stay in their second homes indefinitely and that they needed to make a financial contribution to their country of residence. They failed to understand that freedom of movement works both ways under Brexit.
FACT Just days after we signed the Brexit trade deal we are breaking it. In particular we plan to use neonecotonoids on sugar beet. This chemical is toxic to bees. It is estimated that once the bees die, we are not long for the world either.
FACT The European Union are offering to help Ireland from their fund post Brexit. In the longer term it is probably that Ireland and Northern Ireland will simply cut England out of the equation through their dealings.
FICTION French model Rachelle Gauchette is not travelling to Scotland or Ireland to boost morale for independence or reunification … yet. Napoleon did not have a Napoleon complex. The offer of a night with Nigel Farage is a dirty lie.
Just 20 days into Brexit and it seems that nearly every industry and sector of society are either asking for a hand out or a hand up after Brexit. Some of you will be familiar with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Here’s the Brexit hierarchy of needs:
Working up from the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy, it has become apparent that our so-called free trade deal is not free, nor frictionless. We can already see low-level shortages of fresh food on supermarket shelves. Tony Hale, managing director of London-based DH Foods, said he had five containers of fresh pork sitting at Rotterdam port that was now “completely rotten”. Another mentioned £500 000 worth of meat rotting after being delayed by our ‘frictionless trade’. Fishermen protested in Downing Street on Monday and the Government tried to buy them off by offering £23 million in compensation for losses. Let’s do the math:
£23 million = £19 166 for each fisherman
Our attempts to secure a Brexit deal for the fishermen have cost £7 BILLION. That’s 304 times more than the sum of money being offered !!
£19 K sounds a lot, but of course it’s barely enough to live on for a year, in return for the fishermen’s silence. A fisherman’s friend once said that “a cod in the hand is worth two in the net”, but this is plainly a fobbing-off strategy. Cod only knows what we’d do without EU …
Controversial thought. Should people who largely voted for Brexit be rewarded for that decision? Arguably not.
Sold down the river by Brexit
Scotland did not vote for this
Note that the fishermen did not do this properly as they did not write their slogans on a bus …
These effects are DIRECTLY related to Brexit
The bribe for the fisherman sets an important precedent. If you feel you have been adversely affected by Brexit, simply write to Boris and ask for a ‘bung’.
Breathe
Parliament voted down an amendment to the Brexit Trade Bill which sought to ensure the NHS is excluded from future trade deals. This means that The NHS is once again up for sale on the international markets, breaking yet another Conservative manifesto promise. Expect American styled healthcare charges in the future and the eventual end of our NHS, currently free at the point of delivery. Oh, yes, and the £350 million per week has still not materialised …
Boris Johnson narrowly avoided defeat on a bill to avoid parliamentary scrutiny on trade deals with regimes which commit genocide. One can soon expect Liz Truss to come back from North Korea signing deals for missiles in exchange for cheese.
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Read our satirical spoofs of The Sun, Mail, Express at Private Eyelines
Brain Damage
Maslow did not deal with money in his hierarchy of needs, as it was what fellow traveller Frederick Herzberg termed a ‘dissatisfier’. Simply stated, doubling your salary does not double your motivation, but an inadequate wage is a massive source of dissatisfaction.
Losing your livelihood can also lead to mental health issues, aka what Pink Floyd referred to as ‘brain damage’ on ‘Dark Side of the Moon’. We are currently in the midst of experiencing what could be described as ‘collective PTSD’ in the UK, as lives and livelihoods are destroyed by COVID. Whilst it makes total sense to close down non-essential activities, such as hairdressers, nail bars etc. and to restrict social participation in sports and hospitality, the impacts on mental health are considerable.
Whilst Brexit is not a direct causal factor of these COVID-related closures. Brexit has contributed to our lack of resilience in the UK and therefore our sense of dystopia about the future. Going forward, Brexit will do much more damage to our sense of belonging and place in the world, with impacts on lives and livelihoods. We can only express our sorrow to those people whose lives depend on the resumption of their businesses. All we can do is to point out that the measures taken by Boris Johnson have been too little, too late. This has resulted in repeated lockdowns and restrictions and extended the pain from COVID. Adding Brexit to COVID results in a ‘Britastrophe’.
A stitch in time saves nine – click on the image to save democracy
I am part musician, part scientist, part business academic, so it pains me to say this, but if we had to choose between eating and music, the rational choice would be to eat. Yet our Brexit Government has voted for neither. With shops now emptying of fruit, veg, meat and fish, one could have taken consolation in music. Yet it emerges that Boris Johnson rejected a special deal for musicians working in Europe as part of the Brexit trade deal. I wrote on the issue of musicians working in Europe many years ago, in Voices for Europe and recently the world’s most famous musicians have protested against this criminal assault on the arts by our Government.
Won’t get fooled again (by Brexit) … We’ll be fighting on the streets – click on Roger Daltrey to help Re-Boot Britain – Graphic by Cold War Steve www.coldwarsteve.com
UK culture secretary Oliver Dowden urged musicians to use their ‘star power’ to lobby the EU to ease new visa and work permit rules. Dowden revealed his pathetic idiocy and ignorance in suggesting that musicians should be able to break international trade agreements. In doing so, he made himself and his Government look especially stupid. The fault rests with third-rate negotiator Frost, who, instead of looking after the interests of musicians and others, wasted months of negotiations parroting the words that Britain is a sovereign country.
"France received €170 billion by 2020-end because of Brexit. In spite of the pandemic about 2,500 jobs have already been transferred & about fifty British entities have authorised the relocation of at least €170 billion in assets to France at the end of 2020". Banque de France.
— A C Grayling #FBPE 3.5% #Reform #Rejoin #FBPA 🐟 (@acgrayling) January 20, 2021
HMRC are also charging truckers for delays that THEY are causing in terms of customs checks. This will not go well. There have been several reports on extensive delays for lorry drivers. In case you are confused about why this is happening, this helpful diagram explains all:
Alone again, naturally – our place as a 3rd Country
Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time. Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way The time is gone, the song is over, Thought I’d something more to say.
The Government has ended the restrictions on the 48-hour working week, although employers have not complained of feeling unduly shackled by EU standards and the majority of workers working more than 48 hours a week willingly opted out with better pay conditions. This opens the door to the exploitation of poorly paid workers. This breaks the government’s election manifesto pledge and was a key part of the Tories’ appeal to voters in traditional Labour seats which helped the party to secure its 2019 General Election victory.
Time is of course at the heart of our problems with delivery of fresh food and medicines, many of which require cool chain delivery and which rely on Just In Time manufacturing in order to reach us in good condition. In some cases we have yet to see the impacts of Brexit in these areas but the signs are not good.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson continues to gaslight us into accepting sub-optimal doses of the COVID vaccine. He is going against best advice from the manufacturers and the WHO although they understand our sense of desperation, given the toxic effects of Corona + Brexit. This decision is not risk free and we shall find out the effects by experimentation.
Just 20 days in and Brexit carnage has begun, from the top to the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, as we enter the Winter of Discontent.
Well, this article compiled by Peter Cook summarises some of what has happened in the first 3 weeks of real Brexit. We all need to recognise these real problems that have arisen from the fact of Brexit and from the reckless rushed and incompetent negotiation. No one should refer any more to Project Fear – this is Reality and businesses are facing disaster.
Do we accept that this has happened? Government Ministers consistently refuse to answer questions about reasons for our dreadful situation, whether that is Brexit or Covid. As expected, they have started to blame Covid for Brexit problems.
Will Boris Johnson now move on? Will his Government act honourably, do what the Dutch Government have done and resign en masse with him? Ask your MP.
We finish as we began, with a performance of Pink Floyd’s “Another Prick in the Mall”, on a train after The People’s March:
With thanks to Sy Donne, Irina Fridman, Helga Perry, Adrian Ekins-Daukes, Mike Cashman, Jo Wace, Martin Housden, Lisa Lanfranchi, Carol Fraser, Roger Cracknell, Patricia Manning, Daphne Franks, Peter Daws, June Austin, Greg Newman for helping compile this article.
It’s Sunday. Normally a time for a visit to church and some light chatter in England’s green and pleasant land. No talk of sex, death and politics. But this is Brexit Britain, so I’ll break that rule with a Sunday Roasting of our Government.
This is the official message being given out by Government agencies to businesses who want to trade with Europe. Businesses are being told to open offices in Europe if they want to continue in business. Remember when Johnson said “Fuck Business”? It was one of his rare moments of telling the truth.
Oh wait a minute, did we not get a Brexit deal for frictionless trade?
How are small businesses going to maintain two headquarters just to avoid non-tariff barriers and other delays?
Who is paying for this?
Thom Yorke of Radiohead sums up the Brexit carnage nicely:
Move to EU to avoid Brexit costs, Uk firms told by government. Makes sense … can we go too? https://t.co/Agu9tapF8x
Boris Johnson is NOT taking the doctor’s advice by extending the time between COVID vaccinations. I have the burden of having worked on life saving medicines. We don’t recommend treatment regimes just for a laugh. The impact of Johnson’s careless approach is that vulnerable people who have had one dose of the COVID vaccine are becoming infected. Here is a story from one of my friends who prefers to remain anon, as her mum’s story is too painful to face in public. Her mum went for her first COVID injection in December but then had to attend hospital for a minor issue, returning with COVID:
“The following is what everyone who thinks the vaccine means life can return to normal needs to understand: My mum was admitted to hospital two weeks ago with a severe respiratory infection and related heart and blood sugar problems as she is also diabetic. She has now contracted COVID in hospital, but she doesn’t seem to have any additional symptoms as a result. So it would seem that having had the vaccination has protected her against developing COVID symptoms, but not against catching it, or being able to transmit it. Most importantly, because she is now COVID positive she has had to be transferred from the elderly acute ward to a COVID ward, even though she doesn’t actually have COVID symptoms. She is now surrounded by severely ill people who are gasping for breath and she is being cared for by medical staff in full PPE, so she can’t see their faces. She is utterly traumatised and nobody can visit her, which is also traumatising her husband. I can cope with losing my mother to old age and ill health, it’s the normal cycle of life. But this is no way to go. The vaccination has protected her against developing COVID symptoms, but not against this awful situation”.
Others ignore the idea that once you have had COVID, you will be invincible. Think again. A good friend of mine has COVID for the second time. It is a new infection and not a repeat event. Her illness is just as bad if not worse than the first time some 9 months ago. To those that think that immunisation will make them invincible, think again.
Coming soon – a new 3 track album to reach heads and hearts
In the ultimate mark of shame, Grant Shapps is insisting that DVLA workers in Swansea who are infected with COVID keep going to work. I once worked for a few weeks at DVLA. I opted out from the lucrative contract, as I could not face the ‘behavioural waste’ that went on, due to incompetent management. I have never really believed in what is called ‘sick buildings’, but now Grant Shapps appears to be making DVLA into a ‘death camp’.
500+ cases in one govt building
Workers with symptoms ordered to come into work
Dept refused vulnerable peoples’ requests to isolate
Told to disable test and trace notifications
This is unbelievably bad
500+ cases in one govt building
Workers with symptoms ordered to come into work
Dept refused vulnerable peoples' requests to isolate
Brexit continues to surprise with shipping costs rising more than SIX times in some cases. Firms have the choice to either fold their businesses, pay 600% more in transport costs or relocate to Europe.
NONE of these are the sunny uplands promised by Gove, Johnson et al.
ALL of them are entirely of our OWN government’s making.
Please support our work to Re-Boot Britain – Remove the Conservatives, Renew democracy and Reform our politics
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