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Author Archives: Peter Cook

About Peter Cook

When I was five years old, I wanted to be in The Beatles, but all the jobs were taken … By the age of 12, I wanted to be a scientist and I became one. At the age of 18 I took a job with a philanthropic pharmaceutical company, working around the world and developing the first human insulin, novel medicines for herpes and to bring the first HIV / AIDS treatment to the world in record time. This means that I bring a scientific mind, curiosity and rigour to your enterprise. By the age of 30 I had developed an interest in business leadership and began teaching MBA programmes, having completed 3.5 degrees myself. At 34, I took myself out of a paid job and, for the last 28 years, I have worked independently as a consultant, author and speaker with people at all levels all over the world, helping them to transform their enterprises. My clients seek to balance their passions, purposes and profit for a more responsible and sustainable form of capitalism in the 4th industrial age. I also help leaders digest what we call "wicked problems and opportunities", in other words, the issues that keep them awake at night, using a unique mixture of divergent and convergent thinking skills. My 28 years of consultancy experience bring a wealth of expertise and wisdom to you, in enterprises as diverse as Unilever to the United Nations. Along the way, I have written 12 books on leadership, innovation and creativity, gaining a prize for my work from Sir Richard Branson and various accolades from Professors Charles Handy, Adrian Furnham, Tom Peters et al. Over some 50 years, I have gradually combined my three passions of science, business and music into a potent mixture which reaches the head, heart and soul of your enterprise. In combination, your enterprise benefits from rigour, analytics and curiosity due to my science and business background, plus the emotional intelligence, creativity and improvisation skills that come from my life as a music composer and producer. As a musician I have been privileged to interview world class musicians such as Roberta Flack, John Mayall, AC / DC, members of Prince’s ensembles, Queen's production team and Meatloaf's singing partners for their insights into leadership, innovation and success. I am a passionate advocate for better politics and better business for a better world, fighting populist politicians and short-termism in our global affairs. I am an "HR" person, i.e. a "Hippy Realist": green by ideals, but pragmatic by actions to change the world towards more sustainable behaviour.

Yorkshire byline

Updated on date by author

This from Don Adamson, once in Kent, now in Yorkshire, with some reflections on the march to Rejoin:

I arrived at the rendezvous at seven bells in the forenoon, that is 1130 for landlubbers and when the big hand is on the 6 and the little hand is on the 11 for Gammons and Flagshaggers. I took the last leg of the journey by underground. A charming young lady offered me her seat. I explained that I would be getting off in a couple of stops but it was nice of her to offer. I get a lot of that these days. I must be showing my age.

At the rendezvous I noticed about 30 motorcycle cops loitering. It was not clear to me how that would assist in the matter of crowd control. I found a park bench near the statue of the Duke of Wellington and ate my sandwich. The first thing I noticed was that we did not have the numbers that we used to have before lockdown. I assumed this was something to do with cancelling the September protest and rearranging another protest at short notice. Does this add substance that Thick Lizzie and her horrible friends assassinated HMQ? 

I got to talking with a young man named Fouad (not his real name). He was British born but his parents took him to Qatar as a child from whence he had recently returned. He was concerned about events in the Middle East. Qatar’s economy was in trouble because of the country’s involvement in wars in the Horn of Africa and the region. He believed that young people were getting restless and pressure was building up for change. I hoped he was right. I reminded him that Lawrence of Arabia felt strongly that the post WW1 arrangements would cause endless trouble in the Middle East. That was still happening. Perhaps the Duke of Wellington’s greatest achievement was his involvement in the Treaty of Vienna (1816). From 1702 till 1815 there had been a succession of major wars in Europe. The Treaty of Vienna brought a century of relative peace to Europe. It was not a perfect peace (Crimea, Franco-Prussian War) but it was an improvement on the century preceding 1816. 

The Treaty of Versailles (1919), by contrast, was a disaster. It practically guaranteed another terrible war barely 20 years later and, as stated above, the consequences in the Middle East rumble on. Do not underestimate the damage that incompetent politicians can do.

We set off at the appointed time. We chanted obscene slogans to the evident approval of the crowd. I saw the flags of Ireland, Scotland Wales, Cornwall, Devon and various European countries. A band planted the banner of the White Rose of York and bellowed out ‘Ilkley Moor bar t’hat.” I not sure what the anti Brexit connection might be but perhaps they wanted Londoners to know they were there. Some people carried banners demanded ‘Vote out Tory Scum.’ I mentioned that ‘Scum’ was took kind a word for Johnson, Thick Lizzie and their scumbag supporters. We turned down St James’ St past Davidoff’s. That is a cigar store that, the last time I checked, sold 18’ Cuban cigars at £1,000 a time. I shudder to think how much Cuban cigars cost nowadays. Then we went on to Trafalgar Square and down Whitehall. We made a lot of noise as we passed the entrance to Downing St. 

A contingent of Gammons and Flagshaggers loitered outside the Red Lion and shouted abuse at their betters. I made it to Parliament Square. Cops had erected crowd barriers to prevent people from sitting on the walls. I can walk for miles but standing around plays havoc with my old knee injuries. I hung around for about an hour then headed for Victoria Station. According to the cops and the neo Nazi newspapers the crowd numbered about 10,000 people. The organisers counted 50,000. Thick Lizzie has gone and been replaced by the robber baron capitalist who was partly responsible for the 2008 financial crash. Thanks, Tories.

The Brexit Balderdash Conspiracy and other TV broadcasters made no mention of the protest but they did cover the Hero’s welcome Johnson got at the airport. They made no mention of the sneers, jeers and booing when the other passengers on the aircraft learned that Johnson was on board. Apparently Johnson heard Gammons and Flagshaggers singing ‘Will ye no’ come back again.’ Johnson had returned to get his old job back and replace Thick Lizzie. Something tells me that not all Scottish people would approve of Gammons and Flagshaggers singing a Jacobite sing. Johnson has since decided that the time was not right to attempt a return to politics. 

Any excuse to visit Rohan is a good excuse. He is a little bit further on every time we see him. He knows more words; most of them to give orders to his parents and other willing slaves. When Jim was learning to play football I had him outclassed, at first, but that did not last. James had me outclassed at an even earlier stage. William runs me ragged. I shudder to think what Rohan will do to me when he is a bit older and I am even more decrepit than I am now. It was wonderful to see Rohan. It would be nice to see more of all my grandchildren.

The journey home was interesting. Traffic tends to be heavy on a Sunday afternoon and that weekend was no different. We had minor delays, nothing to get worked up about but tiresome just the same. The M62 is not my favourite stretch of road at the best of times. There seems to be some kind of technological black hole around here that confuses our Satnav. We spent a lot of time wandering around South Bradford before we finally got home. For all that it was a good weekend. We do not see enough of Rohan and his parents.

I have said before that when Management Consultants are good they are very good. The bad ones are dire. Robert Townsend believed that the one person consultancies are the best but the large, bureaucratic consultancies are a menace. The South African Government called in a consultancy to modernise their tax and revenue raising. It was disastrous. The consultancy goes by the name of Bain. I had the misfortune to have a South African called Bain p******g in my soup. He imagined himself to be a financial and commercial genius; despite all the evidence to the contrary. He was forever meddling in matters that were not his responsibility and which he was too thick to understand. In fact he was so thick he did not get it even when the issues were explained to him (carefully and in words of one syllable). His masterpiece was when he demanded that I put the organisation’s pension and medical insurance into a Ponzi. He was a commercial and financial genius who did not recognise a Ponzi scheme when he saw one. I wonder if he is at all connected with the Consultancy that did so much damage to the SARC.

Warmth tip for the winter: You lose a lot of heat through your mattress. Spread you summer weight duvet over the mattress, fit your sheet over that and put your winter weight duvet on top. It warms things up nicely. 

This week’s quotes: “If Thick Lizzie wants to present herself as the voice of sensible reconciliation she will be shocked to hear about the Tory Parity Conference …MPs trying to outperform each other with hare-brained schemes. Top prize to anybody who would come out with an idea that would not work … would make things worse but would be sold as a triumph to rabidly anti EU Tories … data gathering may seem like an obscure branch of computer science but is vital to every business … The EU may simply refuse to accept British changes … there is a limit to how much divergence you can have before it becomes counter-productive …massive delays and costs that far outweigh any benefits … Minister says the GDPR system will be adequate. Nothing could be further from the truth … shows how pointless and counterproductive this whole exercise is … current system is useful … changing it will be disruptive, time consuming, expensive and pointless … any attempt to make British legislation weaker will hit a brick wall … Red Tape will double … there is no room to manoeuvre, little to be gained and much to be lost … The PM’s growth strategy is a fraud… In the Thick Lizzie era we learn that after a storm you get another storm … we have yet to see the worst consequences … It does not look good for anybody … Thick Lizzie’s emergency budget did not need to happen … numerous extra factors complicate the picture … bizarre situation .. an administration’s complete lack of competence … Even Rupert Murdoch could see that Rothermere’s Mail titles were making an unforgivable blunder … Murdoch was incredulous that his fellow non dom could not see that in making Thick Lizzie PM he ‘laid out the red carpet for Starmer who is committed to outlawing non dom status … The options are death if we stick with Thick Lizzie and ridicule if we get somebody else … Doreen Lawrence, Elton John, Prince Henry have begun legal proceedings against Rothermere … ‘abhorrent criminal activity and gross breaches of privacy’ … disheartening for Brexit die hards to learn that Michael Gove has been wondering ‘if Brexit was the right thing to do’ … That is up there with Karl Marx wondering if Communism wasn’t a boo boo  … Gove was ‘deeply troubled with a darkness inside him that corrupts the soul’ … Nigel Garbage praised Toilet Kwarteng’s budget … ‘best Conservative Budget since 1986’ … Garbage launched his own brand of gin … no distiller will admit to making it … An extinction level event for the Tory Party … UK has become the biggest money laundering criminal enterprise in the world … the ‘anti-growth coalition’ consists of everybody except Thick Lizzie … increasingly shambolic vestigial administration … Tory party’s rapidly dissolving morale … a country that is economically imploding and literally up to its knees in its own effluent … if policies are to be pursued as religious doctrine it follows that all who reject that doctrine must be unbelievers … Having a leader who hates to make mistakes makes it harder to correct them… Thick Lizzie wilts in a mess of her own making … has already secured her place in history … the PM whose grip on power was the shortest … roughly the shelf life of a lettuce … Investors have decided that Britain has become riskier … will probably try a great dollop of fudge … Premiership is already fatally spoiled … a lesson about the importance of sums adding up … turbulence has proved more persistent and more ominous … Trader’s nerves are jangling … underlying questions remain unchanged … vicious circle … downward spiral … credit outlook ‘negative’ … risk of prolonged inflationary pressures … limits to the amount of fudging they can get away with … MPs are in no mood to unload pain on their constituents … political feasibility diminishing by the minute … government has no good options … Britain has not helped itself … overconfident and underprepared Brexiters assumed they could hoodwink the EU into granting the benefits of membership without the costs … EU resents having to renegotiate a deal the UK agreed to …Macron came to distrust Johnson deeply … not even extreme populists in Italy or Poland talk of leaving the EU … Brexit is less a blueprint and more a cautionary tale … attempts at deregulation and tax cuts resulted in market meltdown … that the proponents of the doomed economic course are the most ardent Brexiters has not gone unnoticed … Three Prime Ministers have failed to make Brexit work. Why keep trying? … What we see is not just collapse of UK fiscal credibility. It is the evisceration of a cadre of Tories capable of doing the job … Each of these politicians has tried to make Brexit work. It will not work … Tory debacle … you can wing it as an amateur at DEFRA … as Home Secretary you can make sarky comments about the police, or, like Boris Johnson, you can simply lie. In monetary and fiscal policy you are dealing with reality … all other options to make Brexit work were tried … The magnitude of the Tory debacle does not lie simply in the damage it has done or the damage it will bequeath to a Labour Government. It lies in the ideological dead end the party has reached … a chimera, the Tories face a moment of ideological reckoning … out of the wreckage must crawl a new cadre of politicians who believe in fiscal realism … the pound has lost nearly a third of its value since 2016 … the strategic choice is the reversal of Brexit … a whole generation of Tories leapt over the parapet to be mown down. Hopefully we will not see their like again …a desperate winter looms with a forecast of high inflation, an NHS crisis … people are deeply worried … even Tories not famed for sensitivity, such as Rees Mogg, grasped this to some extent … the vision came attached to a serious flaw .. ecologically dismaying … politically insane … Tory grandees warned Truss of the dangers … we have had four Tory PM in just over six chaotic years, triggered by Brexit … Tory MPs mainly do not like Thick Lizzie or respect her and dread the idea of her leading them into an election … that is a tits-up tale if ever there was one … Thick Lizzie believed she had found the Holy Grail … found buried treasure … the pain was instant and severe …  George Osborne remedies did not work then … disastrous … the Shambles in Downing St … the markets looked aghast … £60B whole in public finances … financial fiasco .. Leaving the EU was a strong negative … Johnson’s infamous ‘F*** Business ‘remark … Business confidence in the UK is totally shattered … is it any wonder investment is flowing out of the UK? … Impossible to imagine how this promise can be fulfilled …  the damage has been done … projects that might get the country going will be beyond available resources … Collapse of Thick Lizzie’s authority is the logical conclusion of the anti EU cult that has wrecked Britain’s economy … in 2016 British economy was 90% the size of Germany’s, it is now less than 70% … Brexit … at each step has made things worse … May destroyed the bargaining position of the UK and its economy …  negotiations were mishandled by David Davis … the damage will continue for a long time … still the ultras try to make things worse instead of better … six years of failure, lies and fantasies were just too much … Tory Party has been taken over by a Death Cult … most politically prudent thing might be to lose an election and watch Labour try to sort it out … “

Pip Pip             Medway Delta (Retired)           Saboteur and Brexorcist First Class

Posted in Brexit, Brexorcism, Britain, Britastrophe, Democracy | 2 Replies

European Movements

Updated on date by author

I occasionally write about the lack of strategy, structure, cohesion, collective capability and leadership in the Remain / Rejoin movements. Once again, with a heavy heart, I must report that the chronic organisation development issues which divide us remain (sic) alive and kicking. This article concerns senior members of Grassroots for Europe, overseen by the CEO of The European Movement and its chair Lord Andrew Adonis. For some months I have attempted to resolve a worrying problem with a concerted smear campaign against me by senior people at Grassroots for Europe and The European Movement. I have had no reply in private from CEO Anna Bird, so I have reluctantly decided to go public. Here is a summary in the form of my letter to the EM CEO:

The WhatsApp group where much of this smearing takes place is overseen by Anna Bird and Lord Andrew Adonis, thus they are complicit in the campaign, by ‘letting it happen’. Andrew does not like uncomfortable truths and blocks people who he disagrees with. Thus I have no route to resolution with him.

Illiberal acts from the left

The ‘mob’ also follow the leader, sometimes without knowledge of the facts of a given cased. This is not without consequence. For example, I have been blocked from attending the March to Rejoin. I was blocked from attending a meeting with Gavin Esler. The ‘mob’ also asked that professional EM groups and affiliates in Sussex and Merseyside ‘deplatform’ me from speaking at events and so on. I mean, WTF are they frightened of?

I actively promote pro-European and anti-Brexit views and am perhaps more vigorous than many at a grassroots and strategy level, so I cannot understand their desire to silence me. Then again, I have worked on Brexit for 6 + years and I ‘get’ organisational illnesses etc. from my professional life as a business and organisational consultant. I’m hoping that Anna Bird will now make this nonsense stop and remove Richard Wilson and the other ringleaders from power. Here are some examples of the online smearing below – it is persistent and wearing. I cannot write to Richard Wilson to deal with the matter quietly, as he also adopts the Vote Leave strategy of blocking people he does not agree with.

It’s possible to see the level of confusion in these groups. For example, Lynne Armstrong manages to confuse me with Peter Corr, the leader of the March to Rejoin, but it does not stop her from condemning my / his work. In fact it’s unclear exactly who she is condemning. Other European Movement execs appear to join in with the ‘herd impunity’. For example, Emma Knaggs admits that she knows nothing about my work, but, of course, feels she must agree with those in power. She is also badly informed: Despite her assertion to the contrary, I remain Chair of The European Movement Mid Kent. Following a review by the Council chaired by Dominic Grieve QC I was confirmed in the position. My removal was an exec decision made by Anna Bird, without approval or authority of the EM. This, of course, mirrors the approach of The Conservatives re Brexit. It is quite surprising from an organisation that promotes transparency, open-ness and diversity.

In my professional life, I work with chronic organisational problems like this. When politics / egos and so on are added to the complexity, these issues become insoluble. I had offered my services for free to EM way back to help make them match fit, but they refused to accept professional help. Ostrich thinking and silos are not good enough if we are to build a movement fit to take Vote Leave on. As a result I have little confidence in Grassroots / EM’s abilities. Help can still be given but I’m not hopeful that they are in listening mode. One of their groundfloor troops, Magdalena Williams has recently stepped into the fray on Twitter.

Twitter thread

There is a long list of people who have actively initiated and / or amplified this campaign. Others have passively supported or allowed the campaign to spread. In no particular order: Richard Wilson, Colin Gordon, Yvonne Wancke, Chris Hammond, Anna Bird, Lord Adonis, Robina Jacobson, Peter Packham, NE for Europe, SSTIE, Sue Wilson, Bremain in Spain, Doug at SODEM, Magdalena Williams, some of the SODEM gang, Lynne Armstrong, Emma Knaggs, Patrick Reynolds. There is a longer list of people who hide in the shadows … come out into the light please.

Posted in Brexit, Britain, Britastrophe, Democracy, Education, Ethics, Europe, Leadership | Leave a reply
Reboot Britain

Write a letter

Updated on date by author

Letters work. Write your letter to King Charles III and or your MP using the template we provided. Here’s a graphic example as to why letters work from an anonymous source:

To Tom Pursglove MP


So you’re backing the return of a known corrupt liar. Well done. Are your family proud of you?

Dr R

Dear Dr R
Thank you for your email.
However, as someone who no doubt considers themselves to be a ‘professional’ person – hence your ‘Dr’ title – your email is beneath you and lacks any sort of integrity.  Don’t you dare bring my family into it.  
After all, it is perfectly possible to disagree respectfully, without being downright rude and personal.
Yours sincerely,
Tom
Tom Pursglove MP Member of Parliament for Corby & East Northamptonshire

Dear Mr Pursglove,

Please don’t talk about integrity whilst voicing support for Boris Johnson, who is a confirmed liar. May I remind you that he was forced out of office for just that.As for ‘bringing your family into it’, my question remains. It appears to have touched a nerve with you.

As for being rude – really?

Dr R

Dear Dr R,
Yes, I’m afraid you’re being consistently rude – and I suspect you wouldn’t like me involving your family in matters in such a way either.
This correspondence is now closed.
With best wishes,
Tom
Tom Pursglove MP Member of Parliament for Corby & East Northamptonshire

Whilst we are here please read our post on why backing Boris Johnson is a really good idea. Find out more about the gentle art of Brexorcism here.

Posted in Boris Johnson, Brexit, Brexorcism, Britain, Britastrophe, Democracy, Economics | Leave a reply

BOJO Rising

Updated on date by author

Some cold unemotional analysis for Remainers and Rejoiners who are hard of thinking. If we accept :

1. That all the Tory candidates are essentially the same in terms of their short term impact on the economy (shades of badness etc.). Morduant is another ERG puppet and Rishi is mistrusted by ERG because he is a prudent brown economist by TP members, having shown his credentials already.

2. That the next Brexit / Kwasi Recession is more or less “baked in”, thus the impact of leadership in the next few months has an NPV of zero. So the choice of leader is an irrelevant issue in ‘accountancy’ terms. Note that Liz Truss’s departure did nothing to the value of the pound. The city is not fooled by replacement headstones.

Then we move on to the next level of analysis. Which leader is worst for the Tories and Brexit?

1. If Boris loses, he loses any opportunity to return to politics. There would be no need for a judicial review etc. It’s a slam dunk success. This is probably why he’s hesitating as he is not a losing kind of guy.

2. If Boris wins, a new bloodbath will open up in the Tory party – with those who wrote letters resigning, writing more letters and so on and members leaving. Roger Gale has already written his letter!!

So, basically it’s a win win win win win win …. In short, if the ERG don’t want Johnson, and 1/3 of the Tories don’t like it, we should support it.

None of the above appears to be apparent to most Remainers / Rejoiners who are gaslit by the Johnson persona and his sins. We must set that aside. If Johnson gets elected, it will be tragic for the Tories and the Brexit bubble will be popped, like a very nasty boil.

Cold analysis is far more important than hot emotional reactions to the ghost of Johnson. Think about it. Put your head before your hedonic response.

The best outcomes at this time re Tory destruction are in order of desirability:

1. A General Election – However, I don’t yet see the mechanism for this, as the English don’t riot. The Tory argument that they were elected may well stand unless it faces significant parliamentary and public pressure. This, however is why we wrote the letter to King Charles. Now the Remainers are complaining about that for a host of bizarre reasons.

2. Boris wins – Vote of No Confidence, resignations and more mayhem.

3. Boris loses – they limp on with another lame duck.

Posted in Boris Johnson, Brexit, Brexorcism, Britain, Britastrophe, Democracy, Economics, Europe, Leadership, Partygate, Sovereignty | 2 Replies
Write a letter

King Charles III

Updated on date by author

Please send a letter to King Charles III. It is best if you write your own letter as multiple copies of letters tend to be ignored. Here however is a template you may adapt to suit your needs. We recommend using the rule of three … pick three issues from the main body of the letter to use. We also recommend that you send your letter by post for maximum impact. Handwritten letters are especially valuable. The address is Buckingham Palace, London SW1A 1AA

Your Majesty/Your Royal Highness  (whichever is preferred),

INTRO PARA

It is with some hesitation that I write to you so early in your reign, and at a time of great bereavement for you and your loved ones and the country in general. However, the wheels of government roll on regardless. This emboldens me to raise with you a number of issues which I hope will inform your reign.

MAIN BODY – Do not overload and perhaps pick three issues for your letter – please remove the paragraph markers in BLUE

PARA ONE – CLIMATE

First and foremost, I hope that you will use your influence to help us address the pressing issue of climate catastrophe, which threatens us all.  Planet earth will not wait for sub-committees to agree compromises which allow our planet to continue warming.  Instead of responding to the call to suspend the use of fossil fuels in favour of sustainable energy sources, we are presently pursuing the controversial issue of fracking, a subject on which your latest Prime Minister may have been badly advised.  The prime reason for removing the ban imposed as recently 2019 by her predecessor has been justified by the war in Ukraine and its effects on the economy and consumers. Yet the energy crisis preceded the advent of war. Does this not raise questions  to the advocates of this course of action?  Fracking is more expensive than solar and other forms of energy production. We should look upon the UK via the medium of the BBC sitcom “The Good Life”, in other words, we must be responsible environmental stewards. A hallmark of our existence is to leave the planet in a better state than when we arrived.

At the same time, the bonfire on standards due to Brexit enhances environmental damage through increased carbon footprint from ever longer trading across continents, moral hazard through use of poor materials for manufacturing and an increased use of irresponsible capitalism. 

PARA TWO – BREXIT

Brexit has not delivered on the promises made in the ‘brochure’ in 2016.  Instead it threatens the breakup of your Kingdom, the loss of Britain’s position as a world leader in many fields, breakages of international law, a possible return to the troubles in Northern Ireland and human trafficking of people to Rwanda as a supposed ‘solution’ to migration by people fleeing from war and oppression.  Just when many countries in the world are recognising that joined up thinking is needed to solve joined up problems, we appear to have elected to live in un-splendid isolation.  I know that your mother Queen Elizabeth II was opposed to Brexit and I hope you will exert further influence in this direction for a better Britain in a better Europe for a better world.  

PARA THREE – MICRO ENVIRONMENT

Clean beaches and Britain’s waterways have always been one of the defining hallmarks of our green and pleasant land. They are under systemic attack from our Government, simply because the laws that allowed us to reach these standards of excellence did not emanate from Westminster. It matters not who sets the bar for excellence on planet earth. What matters is excellence itself. I hope you will agree that we must maintain clean beaches, clean rivers and clean towns and villages. Each and every one of us can play a part in this, but it needs your leadership to bind the country together. It is both distasteful and dangerous to allow our waterways to be filled with e-coli.

We have developed a class of people who are skilled in the art of offering easy answers to difficult problems. We know that complex problems have no easy answers and we need to take time to understand the systemic consequences of our actions. But it is clear that our standards have been decimated over recent years, with more to come due to the ideology of Brexit which requires the purging of all that emanates from the EU. Of course, 98% of these standards were ones which Britain created or supported.

PARA FOUR – FARMING

It has become apparent that we need to reform farming towards more sustainable approaches and an approach that conserves the land to reclaim food security for Britain. Whilst it was right for Government to replace EU subsidies for farmers with an equivalent scheme, the scheme was not of equivalent value and it was wrong to then cancel that scheme. This will undoubtedly affect lives and livelihoods for people who manage 71% of our land to everyone’s ultimate loss.

PARA FIVE – SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Britain had a role as a world leader in science and science relies on collaboration with the finest minds on the planet. Every single scientific body warned against Brexit as having the potential to reduce the gene pool of talent on which some of our greatest achievements have rested. King Charles II founded the Royal Society which continues to make awards for contributions to the promotion, advancement, or use of science for the benefit of society. We have a long tradition of successful collaborations in science, whether that be in advances in health, aerospace, defence, living standards and so on. In the 4th industrial age, the age of information, we owe it to our children to offer them the best environment to bring innovative collaborations together through projects such as HORIZON.

PARA SIX – DEMOCRACY

For some time now, British democracy has been under attack. Examples include the illegal prorogation of parliament, manifesto promises being broken almost on a monthly basis and the erosion of truth and trust in politicians and politics. Flip flop politics are not without consequence. In recent times our economic experiments on the population of Britain have caused untold irreversible increases in mortgages and the cost of living. Prime Ministers are now elected without recourse to the vast majority of the people of Britain. We need a proper written constitution and the reform of our democracy and democratic processes as a matter of urgency.

PARA SEVEN – COMMONWEALTH

The self-isolation of Brexit is clearly affecting our relationships with Commonwealth countries, for example Bermuda. This has cross impacts on your own families’ standing as leaders and representatives of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. It takes decades to build trust and co-operation and minutes to destroy it. We must save precious relationships on which we rely.

PARA EIGHT – THE NHS

You mentioned that you were born on the same date as the NHS and quipped that you felt you were doing better than them when interviewed. Our NHS is under threat to become a two-tier system rather like the US, but without any safety net for those without means. A hallmark of a civilised society is in how vulnerable people are treated. Our NHS is too precious to be traded away as an asset.

OUTRO 

I understand that you are unable to act in public as it would contravene your role. However, I urge you to influence the debates on our ‘Britastrophe’. I remain, Your Majesty, your faithful and loyal subject.

Joe Bloggs 

Posted in Boris Johnson, Brexit, Brexorcism, Britain, Britastrophe, Economics, Education, Europe, Immigration, Leadership, Northern Ireland, Sovereignty | 1 Reply
Trusstanic

Another one bites the Truss

Updated on date by author

I decided that this needed to go out before the entire cabinet resigned, so here goes:

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I cannot decide whether Liz Truss conducts her role out of pure incompetence or she is a double agent. Truth be told, I will never know. However, it is fair to say that she is doing a great job of destroying the ERG and the Brexit illusion.

Posted in Brexit, Brexorcism, Britain, Britastrophe, Leadership, Liz Truss, Politics | Leave a reply
Brexorcism

Rescue me

Updated on date by author

It is time for Keir Starmer, Ed Davey and their parties to acknowledge that Brexit has destroyed Britain’s resilience and offer a grown up analysis of what needs to be done to save the country from itself. David Lammy managed to dodge the bullet this am on the BBC. Brexit Remains the elephant in the room. It’s time to grow up as Jackie Brook points out elegantly.




Regards The Truss, Liz must now listen to moderate Conservatives inside and outside her party. The underlying problem is Brexit, which has destroyed Britain’s ability to absorb shocks. She must make amends to save Britain and her party. It may be too late of course. The appointment of Jeremy Hunt is a nudge strategy in this general direction. Yes, I know that some of you will have another word for Jeremy, but set against the swivel eyed ERG loons, it is an interesting strategy at this time. She faces a radical decision or oblivion and we know that she is (a) a Janusian thinker and (b) willing to be unpopular. Remainers remain (sic) stuck in the hedonic response cycle of only ever seeing one way out of this problem when binary politics delivered Brexit:

I am as tough on the thinking of Remainers as I am Brexiteers … 🙂 🙁


A general election is unlikely unless forced in some way. It is yet another Remainer unicorn of low probability. Hope is not a strategy.

Forget “Britannia Unchained”, see our work on a better Britain in a better Europe for a better World.

Posted in Brexit, Brexorcism, Britain, Britastrophe, Europe, Labour, Liz Truss | Leave a reply
Grass

Grassroots shoots

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Don Adamson writes in his inimitable style from Yorkshire.

This week’s quotes: “Thick Lizzie is putting herself in a dangerous position … least experienced cabinet team the UK has had for decades (Comment after 12 years in office) … she will need every bit of Civil Service buy in she can get …Any efforts to introduce yes men will just drain the Civil Service of competent staff …  … when Jacob Rees Mogg was supposedly in charge of public sector efficiency … incessantly wailing about civil servants not being at their desks while failing to notice that due to sell off of buildings there were not enough desks for civil servants to be at … Thick Lizzie’s moves are fundamentally unfair …  crisis in the National Health Service is well known …  calls for an independent enquiry (Comment: in Booming Brexit Britain an ‘independent enquiry is one that obeys Rupert Murdoch’s orders) … services unsafe as doctors struggle with huge workloads … no hope of building the promised 48 new hospitals … new Chancellor has admitted that any gas produced by fracking would not reduce costs for UK consumers … If he does not understand measures in his own price package what hope is there? …24 hours is maximum waiting time to file past body of the Queen … 40 hours waiting time endured by woman needing ambulance and hospital treatment … Thick Lizzie’s rusty Reaganomics … transplanting a 40 year old economic policy from USA to UK will not work … President brushed aside the contradictions … Thick Lizzie’s attempts to emulate the Gipper’s success is doomed …  Thick Lizzie’s cheerleaders have read only the first part of the history of Reagonomics …  early record was mixed … did not stop a recession … inflation rose … the result will be more conflict between monetary and fiscal policy … risk that inflation becomes entrenched … business leaders are warming to Labour … businesses despair of the Tory Party … after 12 years in office and four radically different PMs the Tories can hardly promise that Johnson’s tenure was especially shambolic … a suspicion that policy is being driven by ideological reflexes … Thick Lizzie’s approach worries firms … as for Jacob Rees-Mogg as business secretary, ‘I could think of a worse choice but you would have to give me an hour … NHS treats its workers so badly they are leaving … struggle to plan holidays … it is bonkers … the whole kit and caboodle of NHS employment is utterly Kafkaesque … working in an organisation that is indifferent to their needs … NHS can be a strikingly uncaring employer … The city is fighting to carve out a post Brexit role … 7,000 jobs, and £1.3Trillion of assets were lost from a sector that employs 1.1m … international firms opening a European hub prefer Amsterdam or Luxembourg … LSE’s importance as an equity hub has dwindled … in 2006 it raised 18% of global capital … in the first half of 2022 less than 1% … A wholesale repeat of the City’s post war reinvention remains out of reach …  boosting the economy while ignoring environmental harm would be bonkers … keeping the heat on has replaced flying as an aspiration … Politicians of all stripes console themselves with the thought that Brits voted to leave the EU because they were misled by other, less upstanding politicians. ‘Nobody voted to be poorer’ runs the refrain. A scarier possibility is that people knew perfectly well what they voted for. Brexit will create a smaller economy but voters did not care … Thick Lizzie resembles a neo-liberal Kamikaze pilot, prepared to blow herself up for her cause …. The mad scientists … an experiment to test the riskiest of trickle down fantasies … It seems we have been misled … all we have needed all along was for the government to give vast amounts of money to the rich and wait for it to somehow boost the economy …Established economic theories and fact based research have disappeared a naysayer in a photograph of Stalin … all previous Tory governments have been left wing dupes … how doing nothing is supposed to increase growth is a mystery … this government will just find the money elsewhere …  many things about this budget do not make sense … will cost the treasury a fortune … no additional growth, just a lower tax take … Cutting red tape is a right wing panacea, the kind prompted by snake oil sellers … the details are shocking … Justice system, social care, ambulance services and NHS are already on their knees … none of these measures likely to increase growth at all … a right wing wet dream … without even a semblance of an effort to make the numbers add up, no  wonder the Office for Budget Responsibilities has been gagged … terrible news for those with mortgages (Comment: Daily Mail readers will love that) … right wing commentators in the press are praising it to the skies, but ignore these and read their financial pages instead … a right wing fantasy, an ideologically driven experiment to stuff the mouths of the rich with gold … it is betting with borrowed money that nobody knows how to repay … schoolboy errors … put the UK economy at risk … Kwarteng has always been a high risk appointment … too casual … too enamoured of his own intellect … a cabinet determined by loyalty to Truss rather than competence … in the space of four days three decades of sound economic management have gone up in smoke … pound suffered a rout … cartoon Thatcherism … Millwall strategy (no one likes us, we don’t care) is hardly a serious approach … Kwarteng, like the Bourbons has learned nothing and forgotten nothing …  betrayed weakness not strength …,It is a fantasy to pretend that Britain can ignore the trend … a grab bag of ideas, poorly presented …it makes you wonder if Thick Lizzie is an undercover agent for the Bring Back Boris campaign … smug, cruel, arrogant, know it all ideologies …f*** the lot of you … failings of a wasted decade … sounds like insider trading … if it had happened under a Labour government the papers would have played merry hell … the money markets have made it clear they have no faith in Trussonomics … detestable characters in the Johnson resignation honours list … there are claims that Nadine Dorries knowingly misled Parliament …

Pip Pip             Medway Delta (Retired)           Saboteur and Brexorcist First Class 

Editor’s footnote: since Don wrote this, another Tory MP has been fired …

Posted in Brexit, Brexorcism, Britain, Britastrophe, Economics, Leadership, Liz Truss, Northern Ireland, Sovereignty | Tagged , , , , | Leave a reply
Truss Fridge

Reflections from a sea dog

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Don Adamson writes from Yorkshire on the latest mayhem which contributes to our Britastrophe.

This week’s quotes: “Johnson’s ‘levelling up’ agenda is ailing and listless, a casualty of Johnson’s lack of seriousness …   Few doubt the new chancellor’s intellect but he swings between genius and idiocy …  an attention span of four seconds … The Chancellor rattles the Treasury … the Treasury needs good advice more than ever … may not be enough to avoid a downturn … None of this bodes well for the public finances. Yet the government is expected to announce tax cuts … Having got their woman into Downing St dodgy financiers can look forward to … deregulate their businesses yet further … Kwarteng should be able to get his ideas through with less sense checking from experienced officials…. However resounding the next crash the sound for friends of Kwasi wil be ‘kerching’ … Department of Health and Social Care is proving shy about efforts to claw back billions of pounds from underperforming suppliers … progress on suspect suppliers is close to bugger all …Priti Patel put former Australian Foreign Secretary (who helped create Australia’s harsh anti-refugee system) in charge of ‘independent review’ of her Rwanda scheme  … leaked files showed guards hitting children or demanding sex from female inmates in grim camps in Papua New Guinea … If Downer could not detect abuse in Australia’s infamous offshore camps it seems unlikely he will spot it in Rwanda … Chris Philp, new appointment as Chief Secretary to the Treasury … why pay any tax at all when they can simply fold their companies when owing hundreds of thousands of pounds to Revenue and Customs … It was refreshing to hear a Labour Politician unapologetic about opposing Brexit, clear about the palpable damage was doing …  Sept ans plus tard qui peut pretendre que le Royaume-Uni a beneficie du Brexit (Translation – after seven years who can pretend that the UK benefits from Brexit) … the answer is next to nobody. The tragedy is that the few who do pretend are sitting round the cabinet table, living in la la land imagining that Brexiters who ‘knew what they were voting for’ knew that it was bankers getting bigger bonuses … many of Thick Lizzie and Kwarteng’s plans are detailed in an economically illiterate pamphlet they published ten years ago … Britannia Unchained … unremarkable, badly researched, cherry picked data using taxi drivers’ anecdotes as ‘evidence.’ … evidence is thin … lifting the ban on bankers’ bonuses … even Johnson retreated on this idea … the authors without a science or maths degree between them or any sense of irony … one of the most illiterate parts of the prospectus is the notion that we will all have to work harder … in fact British workers put in longer hours but productivity remains low … the obvious change  is more training, investment and better management … if you don’t believe ‘Britannia Unchanged’ the pamphlet has the evidence to convince you  … the opinions of taxi drivers … the authors are terrible at maths, economically illiterate, ignorant of science and engineering and completely unaware of how to research a book or write well … smug, selfish, self satisfied, lacking in empathy, ignorant of facts and believing in their own fantasy economics …unfortunately they are now running the country …

Pip Pip            

Don Adamson, Medway Delta (Retired), Saboteur and Brexorcist First Class 

Posted in Boris Johnson, Brexit, Brexorcism, Britain, Britastrophe, Cheese, Europe, Labour, Leadership, Liz Truss, Northern Ireland, Politics, Sovereignty, Ukraine | Leave a reply
Don Adamson

Reflections on The Queen

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This from Don Adamson.

The Queen is dead. God Save the King. My first thought on hearing the news was about Prime Ministers. Churchill, love him or hate him punched a hole in history. Eden is remembered for a grave error after years of respectable public service. He should have listened to the diplomats. MacMillan dragged the Tory Party kicking and screaming in the 20th century. Pity the effect was temporary. Douglas-Home was unlucky with his timing. He presided over an exhausted and accident prone government. You could say the same about Brown. Wilson, Heath, Callaghan and Major could have achieved more but for the lunatics around them who p****d in the soup. Blair tried to drag the Labour party kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Pity the effect was temporary. Cameron May, Johnson and Truss were/are worse than useless. These Tories do not learn from their experiences.

We now have Charles III. He experienced the longest apprenticeship in history and his best years are behind him. I wish him well but I cannot help feeling that if it is necessary for the monarch to submit meekly to Tory lies then the Monarchy has outlived its usefulness.

HMQ visited NZ in 1977 for the Silver Jubilee. NZ is a realm so Government House took the lead. I was tasked to approach the NZ Post Office to arrange for mail to be collected and delivered to the Royal Party. I went over there and found this old fossil with a pile of documents on his desk. He pointed at the pile and insisted the information was all there. He would have it all sorted in time for the Royal Visit. I reported this through the proper channels. It was getting rather close to the visit when I got a telegram from London saying that they really needed that schedule of postal delivery and collections. I returned to the NZ Post Office and found the same swivel eyed loon staring at the same pile of papers.

I suggested that we needed to match the visit itinerary with daily times when the Post Office closed their mail bags and sent the bags on their way. It was fussy, detailed work and easy to make a mistake. It was certainly not rocket science. All you needed to do was concentrate and check your findings carefully. According to the itinerary HMQ would be in a certain town on a certain date. Ask the Post Office to collect and deliver mail in accordance with existing schedules. It took about an hour. I made two copies of the draft, left one copy with NZPO and took the other back to my office to incorporate into a telegram. A few days later we got a reply along the lines of thanks chaps, this is what we need but may we suggest one, repeat one, very minor repeat minor amendment. I phoned the swivel eyed loon in the NZPO who went ballistic: how dare I criticise the splendid work he did. I called him down and he agreed to the one, repeat one, very minor adjustment. I later learned that the swivel eyed loon was decorated for his efforts. That is right. Somebody else got the medal for the work I did. I might have been angry if I had not been laughing so much. Besides: one hour of uncomplicated work hardly merits a medal. Such things happen. The captain of a destroyer was awarded a medal for his heroism at Dunkirk. Later investigation revealed that the captain had been on leave that week. The medal should have gone to the first mate. You expect incompetence from the army and air force but higher standards are expected of nautical types. 

There were two security incidents. Cops had to intervene to rescue somebody saying nasty things about HMQ. Badmouthing the Brits was one thing but being nasty to the Queen was another. While HMQ was in Wellington we got a package for her from London. I never knew why that went through British channels rather than NZ channels. The office car took me over to Government House. There is a two tier police system in NZ. You have traffic cops who deal with vehicular crime and regular cops who deal with anything else. There were 12 traffic cops at the gates of Government House and 6 regular cops. Behind them there were three soldiers from the NZ SAS. The Kiwi SAS differs from other SAS units in that they wear the maroon beret of the airborne forces not the sand coloured beret favoured by other SAS regiments. The kiwis did wear the standard winged dagger cap badge worn by all SAS units. What I found interesting was that two corporals carried automatic rifles while the one officer wore a sword and belt. Perhaps this was to kill the bad guys quietly so as not to upset the Queen. I delivered the package to the Queen’s Private Secretary who suggested I leave by the back gate. There was no security at all on the back gate 

2001 was an important centenary for the Australians. They wanted to celebrate it style. They asked that we should stop the traffic for half an hour one afternoon mid week so some Australian dignitary could lay a wreath at the Cenotaph. Some idiot of an MP had to kick up a stink about that. I felt there were two relevant points. 1. Laying wreaths at the Cenotaph meant as much to us as it did to Australians. 2. If this was only a once in a century event then it seemed churlish to disoblige the Australians. 

The Australian army sent a contingent of troops to stand guard over the Royal Palaces. I passed them once or twice. They were alert and looking for trouble. I could almost feel sorry for anybody who meddled with the Queen while these guys were on sentry duty. 

Nothing is as it seems in Buckingham Palace. I remember being summoned to a conference at the billiard room in Buckingham Palace. I naively wondered if I might squeeze in a game if I asked nicely. It was not to be. They had moved out the billiard table and replaced it with a conference table; Chiz!

I always enjoyed the Christmas parties at Buckingham Palace. How I wish my mother had lived to read that sentence. They were held in the Palace Mews. Traditionally the “Mews” is the accommodation for horses and horse drawn vehicles. I assumed the party would be a barn dance or a hay ride; no such luck. It was just an ordinary room where people drank wind and nibbled canapés. In the event HMQ died of natural causes and at a great age. This indicates that the officers responsible for her safety were top of the range. 

We went to Welham Green for the weekend. We wanted to see Rohan and I would take the day off to join in the anti Brexit protest in London. The protest was cancelled; which was a scunner. The good news was that I got to see more of Rohan. I may need to go south again in a few weeks when they decide to hold the delayed protest. Have you noticed that Monarch’s only die when there is a Tory government in office? What is the reason for that?

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