Check this video out that we made today in a sauna. The deception that the will of the people is still for Brexit is under extreme question, considering that this research was conducted in Brexity Kent. Watch the sauna video – it’s just two minutes long!!
Check also our World Wide Wednesday masterclass on Rejoining the EU below:
To get hold of the books ‘Reboot Britain’ and ‘Private Eyelines’ please go to Rage Against The Brexit Machine or write direct to me at reboot@brexitrage.com
The recent news that Trump is under investigation is yet another point on the curve towards improved world leadership. To misquote the band name : Populism will eat itself !
In world that needs collaborative leadership to face complex problems such as climate change, famine, war, migration and so on, we seem to have opted for more didactic leaders with catchy but meaningless slogans. In the UK we have Brexit populism. In the US we have Trump’s version of isolationist politics, and so on.
This is why I coined the phrase ‘Brexorcism’ to change minds in the UK about Brexit. The skills involved are just as applicable in other theatres of populism.
Last week, I was asked to speak on the need to turn back from populism and discuss the contributions from psychology, sociology and therapeutic approaches to wake people up to more long-term and global outlooks on our politics. You can view the masterclass below.
I also spoke on the role of satire, humour and catharsis as a way into the most closed minds on political issues, based on our book Private Eyelines.
To get hold of the books ‘Reboot Britain’ and ‘Private Eyelines’ please go to Rage Against The Brexit Machine or write direct to me at reboot@brexitrage.com
Whilst shopping in Tesco yesterday, a man approached me and whispered in my ear “I love your T-Shirt”, almost as if he dare not say the word Brexit in public !! Given this Twitter thread below, part of me understands his reticence. Yet we must not allow Brexit to be airbrushed out of the lexicon by the Tories. This is why I wrote three books on Brexit. Check the books out on ETSY. Our latest edition of Reboot Parliament explains more. Watch it below:
This reflective piece comes from stalwart campaigner Don Adamson on the occasion of his move from Kent to Yorkshire. I am proud to know Don.
We rose at 8 bells in the Middle Watch, which is 0400 for landlubbers. The moving men said they would arrive at 0500 and be gone by 0600. In fact they arrived at 0530 but were gone by 0600 so it balanced out. We then spent a long and dull day waiting for word to come thought that legal and financial matters had been completed satisfactorily. This was tiresome since there was so much to do at the Bradford end. Eventually we got the phone call that all had been satisfactorily completed and we could go.
We stayed the night at a motel in Newark. In our younger days we might have made the journey in one stage. Besides June’s knee was giving trouble so I had to do all the driving. The M62 is a pain in the neck. Rush hour traffic is heavy and there are navigational problems that our Satnav struggles to overcome. Before very long we will be familiar with it to the point of boredom but right now the M62 is the Bermuda Triangle of motorways.
June had gone to a lot of trouble marking the packing cases to indicate in which room in the new house each package should be placed. They could have got it more right than they actually did. Since then we have been unpacking. I am a great believer that slow is steady and that steady is fast. June has been planning this for three years. The Pandemic was a major complicating factor. With every day the house looks more like a well organised home. My role in this has been heavy lifting while June got things organised.
A few weeks ago we took the car for the annual Ministry of Transport roadworthiness test. The mechanics could only find one thing wrong with it: the tyres were showing signs of wear, no immediate action was necessary but the tyres would need to be replaced before winter. We decided to leave that for when we got to Yorkshire. Somewhere on the journey we got a nail in the rear offside tyre. We got the spare tyre fitted and, at the first opportunity, we had the worn tyres replaced. It could have been worse. If we had immediately changed the tyres we would have collected a nail in a brand-new tyre. What is interesting is that we had four standard tyres on the road but the spare was an emergency tyre that was all right for emergency use but not standard use. We had that tyre put back in the boot of the car as soon as we got the 4 new tyres. The mechanics reported that our brakes were showing signs of wear and advised us to be careful. I find it odd that that worn brakes were not mentioned by the mechanics that did the MOT check.
Next door to the tyre place where we got the new tyres fitted there is an “Adult Store.” I suspect that “Immature Store” would be more appropriate. The window displays were full of degenerate underwear for dubious ladies.
William is delighted to have two more willing slaves. The house is fairly new, barely 20 years old. It is on a hill and a bend and that makes reversing into the drive a pain.
William’s school has broken up for the summer holidays. He and I went to Knowles Park where the local council laid on events for children. This being Yorkshire cricket was a favourite and I was amused to see little girls batting balls all over the park. There was synchronised disco dancing in which William took no interest. There was a bouncy castle, a rock face that youngsters could climb so long as they wore safety harness. William and his friends had a wonderful time. I just wish I could spend more time with all my grandchildren.
Brexit has failed and has been seen to fail. Every day produces more evidence that Brexit is slowly throttling the economy. That can only get worse. Starmer talks loftily about “making Brexit work” but he does not say how he will do that. That is just as delusional as anything Johnson said. Starmer has nailed his colours to the mast of a sinking ship. Whoever becomes PM, either as a result of this idiotic Tory selection process or in the General Election in 2024 will preside over failure and fiasco.
This week’s quotes: “Britain is in a dangerous state … it is poorer than it imagines … it could stumble into a crisis … with Johnson’s departure politics must become anchored to reality … Tories are ill prepared to fix the damage … whoever succeeds Johnson will inherit a monstrous in tray … a deeper question: is the Tory Party still capable of governing … the exhaustion may be too deep and the rifts too many for the party to recover … It will take years to get clean … a list of parliamentary scandals reads like a concupiscent ‘Cluedo’ … more details will only deepen the mystery … In the Corporate world good employees will quickly leave for other firms, consumers will boycott tarnished brands. Neither force operates in Westminster … Theresa May reinstated two sexual predators to win a vote … nobody’s reputation could survive contact with Johnson … That Johnson is a serial liar and lacks the self discipline to apply himself was well known … the extent to which Johnson has poisoned the reputations of those he works with is less appreciated … consider some of the people tarnished by exposure to Johnson … politicians sent out to defend Johnson’s integrity only to find their own impugned … at best such politicians look like idiots … reputations for honesty and competence were irradiated by Johnson … Steve Barclay was feted as a fearsomely efficient manager … a few weeks with Johnson and he had as much grip as a tea tray on a ski jump .. a parade of people with distinguished reputations were infected … Simon Case was meant to be the brightest and best civil servant of his generation … now he is just a guy who partied with Johnson … Johnson’s misconduct and tolerance of it in others leached straight into body politic … Johnson is not the cause of all that ails Britain … his flaws tarnished good people … they poisoned the government and the country…
This week’s quotes “Tory brought a major realignment of economic relations without considering the strategic implications … Brexit saw the exacerbation of foreign policy errors; particularly not listening to expertise that does not align with ideologically dominant views …. genuine experts were ignored and individuals with no experience were elevated to positions of high influence … two emerging themes of US Foreign Policy; neither of them valuing the “special relationship” with the UK as in the Blair era … Britain needs to forget the extreme ideology of Brexit … Johnson will go down in history as the most dishonest, most corrupt, most incompetent, most disgraced PM of all time … they think Brexit is going badly because it is not radical enough; all the evidence points to the opposite … but that is what they want and that is what candidates for Tory leadership will give them … the idea that the fall of Johnson will lead to a better Brexit is for the fairies … little to do with economics … just another Brexit fantasy … reckless… government excuses are ridiculous … we need certainly and a blind man on a galloping horse can see that we do not have it … government’s claim is rubbish … Government signed the Northern Ireland agreement knowing what it meant and wants to rewrite for political reasons … Government is breaking international law, damaging the country’s reputation and opening itself up to action by the EU; which is not going to sit idly by … government is walking into a sea of troubles … it is almost as if the EU did not trust UK government to keep its word or think the PM’s signature was worth anything … it is the hardest of Brexits. The one the ERG dreams of but which strikes fear into every sensible economist, politician, firm and business in the UK … UK is rapidly approaching a recession which is expected to make it the worst performing economy in the G20, except Russia, this is economic lunacy … this is the policy that will win the Tory leadership … If you think getting rid of this PM would make Brexit better, wait till you see the next one … every serious economist is aghast … government budgets face a painful crunch. Tory leadership hopefuls seem oblivious … none of the candidates has given a credible account of how they will finance their giveaways … this is an especially bad time to be increasing government giveaways … Tory claim is based on a tentative official forecast of the economic outlook. To erect your fiscal policy on it is reckless … expect a final attempt to heave some benefits of Brexit … turning the role of the PM into a rotted presidency … MPs do not have a monopoly on wisdom; they often lack it … party leader can have the support of only a minority of the party and still be PM …
Labour activists thrust Jeremy Corbyn on an unwilling Party twice; misery ensued … there is no point in backing somebody good if you know they will be beaten by inept rivals … it is not right that members of Richmond’s local Tory Party decide who gets handed the nuclear codes … a dereliction of duty by MPs … a recipe for constitutional stress … competing mandates poison the British constitution … Brexit turned into a mess … number of people ill enough with Covid to need hospital treatment is sharply on the rise … PPE, ventilation and filtration equipment … unable to stop transmissions … NHS and Care Staff are contraction Covid (again) leading to severe shortages and increasing their risks of long Covid … Omicron is far from harmless … currently 6.5M people are waiting for NHS treatment and an estimated 117,000 died while on a waiting list last year … NHS clearly needs more capacity and staff and less Covid … no honest or sensible person would count these as new hospitals … the pledge was bo****s from the start … government seems unlikely to give it much thought … SureScreen diagnostics was big hope for ending UK dependence on China for lateral flow tests … a turnover of £7.8M became £151M thanks to government deal … accounts show an unusual level of financial disarray … lack of documentary evidence … major winner for testing contracts was Randox Laboratories … made a jackpot … much of the bunce has headed offshore … Tory donor Lord Ashcroft has had a bountiful pandemic … both from Government Covid contracts and poor government policies post pandemic … Impellam did well from government mismanagement … bad news for the nation but good news for Lord Ashcroft … donated another £50,000 to the Tory Party in February … abroad and at home Johnson stands revealed as failed, petulant, shabby and arrogantly heedless of the defeat to which he is taking his party … ‘look on my works, ye mighty, and despair’ … Starmer, who happily served in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet) came over censorious about ministers who served a leader who was unfit for office … Cabinet was a ‘Z-list of nodding dogs’ … David Davis rubbished Johnson’s integrity … period 2004 to 2019 was the weakest for growth of GDP since 1919-1934, and that was before the shocks of Brexit and the pandemic … Brexit throws an awful lot of sand in the gears … until Tories stop using Brexit as a test of political purity, its economic costs will grow … ‘Charismatic Mr Johnson’ … charisma used to be understood as an exceedingly rare characteristic of leadership .
If the word can be applied to Johnson then it has truly lost all meaning … Johnson might be a good case study of failed leadership but not of charisma … Britain’s political climate is another problem … scale matters … A standoff between Britain and Brussels over Northern Ireland has jeopardised Britain’s involvement in the world’s largest research and development programme … Britain’s stock market has accounted for less than 1% of the capital raised this year … largest firms in London have been dwarfed by those choosing New York or Hong Kong … Liz Truss was raised by nuclear disarmament activists … she turned right at university … her critics see in her a bizarre tribute act to the Tory party’s most deified figure (Thatcher) … these tepid reactions bode ill for party unity. The contest is bitter and personal. Whoever wind, their share will be the lowest of anyone since Ian Duncan Snot in 2001 … Johnson is an accomplished storyteller who could disguise the holes in his agenda. Neither of the candidates to replace him is as skilled … John Stuart Mill once labelled the Conservatives ‘the stupid party’ … when asked to explain why he support Sunak one Tory grandee highlights Sunak’s tendency to read policy briefings … sounds like praising somebody for putting their trousers before leaving the house. But it would be an improvement on the current occupant of Downing St … stupid policies are needed to win the support of the stupid party … with the Tories wandering towards defeat the soundest, cleverest politician would struggle … With her plans to ramp up borrowing to pay for £300B in tax cuts – supported only by “an economist,” Patrick Minford who said Brexit would improve the nation’s finances to the tune of £135B per year Liz Truss shows a conveniently flexible view … surely she understands that being voted Tory leader by 0.3% of the population and being advised by one of the more swivel eyed economists does not give her a mandate to tear up economic principles … Rishi Sunak cited Brexit as giving opportunities on the necessary scale … he cited Teesside Freeport … ‘that is the type of radical thing we can do’ … er, not quite General Electric had pulled the plug on plans for a wind turbine plant … Sunak might want to check if everybody is as fired up as he is by his answer to Britain’s economic woes as he is … Huge fire in London – source discovered (a pair of Johnson’s pants) … a joint editorial by British Medical Journal and Health Service Journal argues that living without Covid preventative measures other than vaccines is killing the National Health Service … a George Cross will not compensate for this … without sufficient clinical and care staff in good health there will soon be no viable NHS or social care system … at no time in the last 50 years has the NHS been so close to ceasing to function effectively … even if measures had been introduced a year ago the NHS would still be in crisis. It was clinging on by its fingertips before the pandemic, after a decade of austerity … because of staff shortages many work so hard they do not get regular food and drink breaks. Many have got badly dehydrated and suffered urinary tract infections during the pandemic … ‘we were so overloaded I did not realise that one of my patients was one of our nurses until she died. I was devastated. … Frontline staff are usually the first to notice serious problems, too often their concerns are ignored or they are vilified for raising them … staff are under huge stress and are unable to deliver high quality care … ambulance trusts have been doctoring their data to cover up failure and avoidable deaths …
Pip Pip Medway Delta (Retired) Saboteur First Class
I met a Latvian anti-Brexit sports therapist in the sauna today. Got a free consultation and some very good advice on my rehabilitation after the near death experience after hitting a lorry travelling at 50 mph on my bicycle. As well as the advice on my recovery, we had a wonderful conversation about the sheer stupidity of the British people and the gentle art of Brexorcism. I live in a 70% Brexity area. Racism is high on the list of reasons for voting Brexit and a good number of my ‘clients’ are in a state of ‘Bregret’, although some do not know quite how to say it, especially if they are high testosterone overweight males. The sauna acts as some kind of non-secular confessional box.
The social contract in a sauna prevents escalation of difficult conversations with Brexiteers in my experience. Quite a different setting to a pub or cafe. Once again, I’m finding that being nearly naked disarms even the most ardent Brexiteers in my area. I have had lots of difficult conversations with some of them this last week whilst healing my broken bones.
DISCLAIMER : The cover picture is not representative of the clientele in the sauna in Strood! Nor will you meet Johnson naked in my local sauna!
To find out how to Brexorcise your friends, family etc. read the books – now available on ETSY. For a masterclass on the topic, join us at WorldWide Wednesday on Wed Aug 03 7.00 pm via ZOOM.
I thought it foolish of Andrew Adonis to coin the phrase “if Boris goes, Brexit goes”. Simply cutting the head off the Brexit hydra does not of itself mean that the monster is dead. In this article I explore what now for Brexit, based on some less hysterical projections. I accept that Boris Johnson has embodied Brexit as his project, much in the same way that Anita Roddick WAS The Body Shop and it was never the same without her. However The Body Shop did continue without Roddick and the Tory party has invested a great deal into Brexit. Whether we like it or not, the Tory party is the most successful party of all time and it will not walk away from its investment in Brexit lightly. The recent leadership debates are testament to the resilience of the Tory party, even under severe logical, legal and political challenges.
But there is hope. The inner civil war inside the Tory party which gave birth to Brexit is alive and kicking and very visible in the so-called leadership debates. A tsunami of lies from Truss, Morduant and Badenoch typified the debates, with others trying to hold the Conservative party together and one saying that a fresh start was needed. Sadly a fresh start is not possible with the same raw materials. Leopards and spots etc. The leadership contest will not solve the inherent instability of the Conservative party. A fresh start would include the removal of the right wing loony elements from the party. Tom Tugendhat and Rishi Sunak are both capable of that. We will see whether they are willing to do it in time. Rishi in particular bears the scars of knowing that Johnson nearly killed his career and we may see a change in his behaviour if elected compared with his role as part of the Exec. I predict a purge of the thickos from cabinet if he wins. With Truss in charge, I predict a full cabinet of thickos, so as not to undermine the TIC (Thicko in Chief).
Badenoch demonstrated dangerous levels of incompetence by saying that people were sick and tired of Brexit. I am one of those people who is sick and tired of Brexit. But I’m also intelligent enough to know that Brexit is a life changing process. Like it or loathe it we would do well to treat it with the importance it deserves. Pretending it does not exist is a recipe for disaster for future generations. She applied the same desperate logic to the question of climate change, claiming that people were more concerned with parochial issues than having a planet to live on. Kemi demonstrates a real poverty of time management skills by confusing things which are urgent with those that are urgent and important:
My left wing (I’m not a lefty looser as many Brexiteers would have it) friends tell me that we must have a general election. Sadly, my scientific and analytical side tells me that the Tories won’t choose to have one at this time due to the Johnson factor. Labour would have to find a way to force a GE. At this time Labour do not have answers on Brexit either, having colluded passively with the Tories to “get Brexit done”. The Tories will wait until they are likely to win an election or are forced to do so. It is yet another unicorn to suggest otherwise and they will use any excuse necessary to justify their position (WWIII, cost of living crisis, COVID, Brexit etc.).
We must still work on politicians, media and the great unwashed to change minds about Brexit and Europe. These books really help in that effort.
Hooray!
A Knowing Rant barking in the pre-Woke tradition of British barbed political satire. This book takes no prisoners!
But, there’s certainly reasoned method within Peter Cook’s tome of madness.
Presented in quality full colour format, it is basically a reversed diary wittily detailing his Anti-Brexit Campaign over the past six years.
His photomontages stick the knife in exactly where deserved. While gloriously tasteless in the extreme, these visions of horror grasp the reader warmly by the throat. No longer should we allow ourselves to drift towards the inevitability of Brexit. We must address The Mess That It Undoubtedly IS!
But it is the text that really matters. Vast amounts of carefully uncovered and sifted information which our elders and betters of the upper echelons would wish the lower orders to ignore or better still, forget.
As such the book will find a home with Remainers who need to find smart ways of explaining difficult issues fully supported with depth.
Also by gifting it to Brexiteers who will love its straightforwardness and cheeky delivery style. I found it best to progress backwards from the end where Peter lays down his initial pitch.
All commentaries, justifications and future expectations are intelligently reasoned. Increasing backwards from Z to A he forever rams his points home. An excellent addition to Peter Cook’s other books spanning business, leadership and creativity.
By Wokery, ‘Tis a goodly read!
Michael Alexander PhD
“Whack it in a microwave, gas mark four. Prick the lid,”- said prime minister Boris Johnson about Brexit. This book of razor-sharp political satire does a lot of lid-pricking, demonstrating persistent problems with the microwave and a ready-meal of Brexit itself. Johnson’s ignorance of how a microwave works epitomises the sheer level of incompetence of his government regarding to complexities of the U.K.’s decades-long relationship with the EU.
This unique book can be read in two ways: from start to finish or from finish to start. You might be shocked, appalled or disgusted. You most definitely will have a laugh.
The companion book “Reboot Britain by changing minds about Brexit and Europe” offers a masterclass in the gentle art of what I call Brexorcism. Brexit has broken Britain, economically, socially, culturally, politically and environmentally. Quite simply, Brexit has not delivered what was promised on the tin in 2016, for anyone in our DisUnited Kingdom. This book explains how we may join anew for a better Britain in a better Europe for a better world and persuade others to do the same.
A Brexorcism requires time, patience, unconditional positive regard and skill. This book provides these elements, drawing on a range of approaches to change management from psychology, sociology and therapeutic approaches.
Order direct from the author at a discount via reboot@brexitrage.com or via Amazon:
In the wake of Lord Geidt’s letter to Boris Johnson and now his additional explanation, please write to your MP via Write to Them. The only way is ethics.
“Conscious of my own obligations under the Seven Principles of Public Life (including integrity), I could not be a party to advising on any potential law-breaking”. Lord Geidt
Here is a template letter you can adapt:
Dear Boris Johnson,
I am a scientist with 50 years’ experience in academia and industry and am well positioned to take on your recently vacant role of ethics advisor.
The company I worked for before retiring required all staff from the CEO to the most junior employees to sign up to a code of ethics and take an annual on-line ethics training course followed by an online test – which was reviewed by their managers.
The test covered such things as bullying, dishonesty with e.g. expense claims, taking gifts and other inducements from suppliers, racist behaviour and so on.
This policy was rigorously enforced by the management team, as was the ethics hotline which was a widely advertised toll-free telephone service for employees, run by an organization which was completely independent from the company, ensuring there was no bias or favouritism.
It would appear that your current set-up is lacking in many, if not all of these critical requirements, and hence I am sure I can help and advise you.
I look forward to your early reply.
Yours sincerely
aaa
Private Eyelines : Have I Got Fake Brexit News for EU is just released. Humour is one of the few weapons this Government cannot take away from us. It’s a historical and hysterical record of #Brexit and one that holds this #fascist government to account in ways that spreadsheets and graphs do not. The book helps us deconstruct the fake news of populist media from “The Son” to “The Daily Maul” “Excess” and “Telegravda”. Grab copies for yourself and your Brexity friends now on Amazon or order discount copies direct from the author by e-mailing us at reboot@academy-of-rock.co.uk Here is the book blurb below:
Satire reaches the parts that spreadsheets, graphs and logic do not. Brexit provides a rich dark seam of tragicomedy in a Kafkaesque world of gaslighting, shapeshifting and shameless lies. We live in desperately sad times. But simply drowning in the sadness of Brexit does not help us deal with paranoid populist politicians. Bittersweet levity cuts through people’s minds to their visceral core. Simply stated, satire heals.
Populist media brainwashed leave voters to believe in Brexit unicorns. I tried my hand at parodying these media to expose the lies on which the Brexit hydra reared its many ugly heads. I found that people rather liked my gutterpress pages. Some even believed that they were real!
To change minds on Brexit, it is not sufficient to break the parliamentary paralysis which continues to enable the slow-motion destruction of Britain. Nor is demographic change, aka death, a success recipe. We must actively work on the huddled masses. People almost literally eat lies for breakfast from a biased populist media, owned by people who seem just a little bit too friendly with Vladimir Putin. Private Eyelines opens up the conversation anew with Brexiteers with buyers’ remorse, or Remainers numbed into submission by six years of bullshit and bullying from our so-called political leaders.
Peter Cook is a unique combination of scientist, business consultant and musician. As a 60’s child, his mum made him watch Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, saying “it would be good for him”. It wasn’t! Instead, Peter built a solid career bringing life-saving treatments for diabetes and HIV / AIDS to the world, 18 years tutoring MBAs in academia, writing books and 28 years running a business. His early exposure to Cook and Moore suddenly came to the fore after 24 June 2016, as satire met real life through Brexit. His mis-spent youth and creativity have been rejuvenated through campaigning, writing, music, film making and speaking about our rightful place in Europe. It was good for him after all. Mum was right!
It’s the Queen’s platinum jubilee and the Brexit gammon are high. On Saturday 28 May I met one of the Brexit flagshaggers at 7am in the morning, at my train station in Kent, en-route to Brighton to give a masterclass on rejoining the EU. I decided to perform a miniature Street Brexorcism. The conversation went something like this:
HIM: Oh, I suppose you are off to one of those remoaner protests in London again, having fucked the country up (he had noticed my Break Brexit Before Brexit Breaks Britain t-shirt).
ME: Not exactly. I’m off to talk to a bunch of entitled lefty twats in Brighton about my latest book.
HIM: That’s not very nice.
ME: Nah, it’s OK. People in Brighton can probably afford to ride the storm of Brexit. It’s the people who live here in Medway like you and me that I feel sorry for. They must bear the consequences.
HIM: Nah. We’d have been alright if it had not been you lot stopping us getting Brexit done properly.
ME: But you have a pretty hard Brexit. Boris popped in the oven and it’s done. What did you get from Brexit by the way?
HIM (dithering slightly and getting a bit angry): It’s too soon to say (obviously he could name nothing).
ME: OK, but what did you want from Brexit?
HIM (calming a little): Well, I wanted local democracy rather than being told what to do?
ME: Have you got that?
HIM (confused): Too soon to say. You lot spoiled it anyway.
ME: We can agree that we have not got more local democracy. But you give me too much power by assuming that I can change anything. We are all ignored by politicians. I’m sure you realise that Brexit was not for us. It was for them. You do realise that Johnson cancelled democracy yesterday when he put himself beyond the law by cancelling the ministerial code?
HIM (he did not know about the changes to the ministerial code): I don’t care about Boris. He can fuck off.
ME: Anyway, I must be off to talk to the ‘entitled lefty pricks’ of Brighton. Nice to speak.
HIM: That’s rude. You are not going to call them that are you?
ME: Of course. They know who they are, as we do. I’m just intelligent scum. Anyway, thank you for speaking with me.
To my surprise, he shook my hand!
Within minutes of entering the station I had an entirely different conversation with the South Eastern ticket clerk:
HER: No bike today?
ME: No, I’m loaded up with books to go to Brighton.
HER: Can I get hold of one?
ME: Yes, but not now as they are all packed. I will give you my card.
And on arrival at St Pancras I bumped into BBC Travel Correspondent Simon Calder.
ME: Hello Simon. We met years ago and talked of The Beatles and riding shotgun on Indian Railways.
To my amazement, Simon seemed to remember our conversation. If not, he was very kind.
ME: I’m off to give a talk in Brighton about Rejoining the EU and the tragedy of Brexit.
SIMON (looking around and pointing at Eurostar queues): All this is totally down to Brexit! Good luck.
Listen to Simon speaking on travel delays and naming Brexit as a cause at BBC Radio 4 Today, today Tues 31 May 2022 at 8.45 am.
