Whilst the Tories continue to gaslight the nation about small boats, prison ships and so on, the truth will out. Here is our mash up of the Daily Excess for the week of bullshit in politics. If you like this, you will love our book Private Eyelines. DO NOT BUY on Amazon. Buy direct for best prices via reboot@brexitrage.com. Please see below for the real Tory stories they are trying to cover up.
For more of this, please get your copy of Private Eyelines by mailing us at reboot@brexitrage.com
Sugar Sugar
Brexit Secretary and sugar magnate David Davis went on BBC Radio 4 to explain that Brexit was not a cause of our problems. Instead he blamed the Civil Service. When pressed he admits that the Tory Government were responsible. Even the BBC’s Brexit loving Martha Kearney was astonished. Hear a slice of the interview on our Bandcamp radio interviews album. To correct the Daily Maul front page, Brexit is the cause of Brexit and not lefty doctors, cat owners, scientists, benefit claimants, woke metropolitan elitists yada yada.
Sick of being sick
Therese Coffey, Suella Braverman, Robert Jenrick and others are in denial of the significant outbreak of sewage related illness at the recent triathlon in Sunderland. Instead they continue the blame game whilst water companies turn in record profits. Lib Dem MP Munira Wilson did not even get an answer to her question about a related problem with Thames Water. Are you still prepared to vote for these shape-shifters? SARS in their eyes?
The contempt of Sunak’s so called ‘answer’ and the nodding Tory dogs are the hallmarks of fascism …
Sick of being Jenrick ….
The Pippy Longstocking
The wonderful Jonathan Pie sums up all that is wrong with this Brexitory government in his latest rant. Attempting to put asylum seekers with tuberculosis onto a boat which would act as an incubator for the disease is a significant public health risk. It is an echo of Boris Johnson’s wilful act of killing 40 000 people by putting infected COVID patients into care homes. Meanwhile Rishi Sunak took his kids to a restaurant in the USA where meals can cost £12 000 whilst Lee Anderson is knocking them up in the kitchen for 30p a serving, even undercutting Jamie Oliver.
Legion-Ella
It has emerged that Suella Braverman knew of the Legion-ella infestation the day BEFORE they started putting asylum seekers on the prison ship !!! This is a government sponsored death camp. Read our article in Spanish and English on the subject of racism at The Prisma.
From the moment that Nigel Farage adopted a Nazi inspired poster to stir up latent racism in Britain, he then won the Brexit referendum by the narrowest of margins.
Follow the money
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the real reason for the Stop the Boats campaign, is of course, once again money. UKIP donated £70 000 to Langham Industries. John Langham the owner was a long term supporter of UKIP and clearly the Tories are frightened of UKIP and the far right so they have become them. In time, I would not be surprised to learn that the Tories themselves have financial interests in the boats, hotels and other aspects of the criminal fraud that sits below the ‘fury’ in the Express, Mail and Sun. Crispin Blunt already receives a salary as an adviser to one of the asylum hotel groups.
Aside from all the above, one boat to house 220 people is quite literally a drop in the ocean when compared with the backlog at the Home Office. This is deliberate managed decline by the Tory Government. The ceremonial nature of the Bibby Stockholm hides something else that they do not want us to talk about. Look deeper.
“Fuck off back to France” – Lee Anderson.
Watch and share our two minute explainer on how to deal with immigration properly.
FASCISMFACT ANDFICTION CHECKER
ULEZ is the Ultra Low Emission Zone and not the Uber Lesbian Empowerment Zone as Boris Johnson probably thinks it is. Doubtless Bojo would be willing to lend his ‘Johnson seed’ for the purposes of ‘lesbianic correction’ though !! How many kids has he got now? 12? It was in FACT Boris Johnson who introduced ULEZ and NOT Sadiq Khan. It is yet another manufactured piece of ‘gaslighting’ done by the Tories as a desperate piece of electioneering.
The Sunday gutterpress papers are trying to blame the French for the deaths in the channel. NO, this is fully the responsibility of Rishi Sunak, Suella Braverman and the Brexit cabinet. I’m quite surprised that the Sunday Express et al have not tried to blame French Legionnaires, Emmanuel Macron, Sophia Loren, Camembert, Cotes du Rhone or Sacha Distel for the deaths as yet.
We can and must Rejoin the EU to save Britain from Brexit oblivion. There is now a whopping gap of 24% in favour of Rejoining the EU.Click the image to support us via PayPal, Patreon or Go Fund Me.
One – Discuss the following statement. Margaret Thatcher thought she was creating Britain in the image of her father – a hard working grocer. In fact she created a Britain in the image of her son – an underachieving spiv.
Two – Discuss the following statement – Tories have proved themselves unfit to govern. Labour Party has been AWOL since 2010 and flatly refuses to return to work. 30 Tory MPs have stated that will not stand for re-election. Labour Party members are leaving the Labour Party by the thousand. Will this be enough to make Labour and Tory Parties get real?
Three – In 1984 MORI conducted a poll about sex in politics. Women members of each party were asked if they had ever had sex with anybody other than a current partner. The answers were Alliance (Now Liberal Democrats) 33%, Tories 33% Labour 26%. 1% of Tory women voted ‘Don’t Know.’ Pre Brexit did you expect Tory women to be so stupid? Post Brexit do you expect Tory Women to be so stupid?
Pornservatives.
Four – The Liberal Party Club on Tong has, since we arrived here, flown the banner of the White Rose on their flagstaff. They recently flew the Union Jack instead. Have the Bradford Liberals turned Gammonite?
Five – Can honest Tories be defined as Tories who do what they are bribed to do?
Six – We have had the horror show of Johnson’s Resignation Honours List. It was a foul parody of what ought to be something important. We now have the horror show of Thick Lizzie’s Resignation Honours list. Apparently some of the nominees declined the ‘honour’ because they did not want to be associated with Thick Lizzie or her corruption, incompetence and false values. What does the word ‘honour’ mean in booming Brexit Britain?
Seven – Another controversial Honours list has been published and once again Nigel Garbage has not been awarded the knighthood he craves and his bootlickers demand. Since 2010 we have been horrified by the idiots and scoundrels who have been awarded decorations up to and including knighthoods and peerages. There is a rumour that Nigel Garbage will not be awarded a gong because of some sinister misdeed. What did he do that disqualifies him from getting an award from these Tories: Cannibalism? Devil Worship?
This week’s quotes
Keith Starmer thinks ruling out Rejoin will win the election
… it will continue the destruction of Britain … Spineless attitude to Brexit … Likely that car manufacturing in Britain is simply going to end … closure of huge car plants in working class areas … this will be the first generation that will earn less than their parents did … Starmer will lie … he has no choice while his stance is ‘make Brexit work’ … Brexit cannot work. Keith Starmer knows this … he has simply lost touch with working people … we are about to elect another lying PM … all he will be able to do is to lie like Johnson did – again and again and again … Lowest valuation of inflation caused by Brexit is 40% … institutional racism was the underlying Brexit and Keith Starmer is swept along with it … forever worsening health and public services … forever declining manufacturing and services industry … forever diminishing education system for working people … forever worsening relationship between the four nations of the UK … If Keith Starmer’s Labour wins the election on this ticket it will quickly fail. That will mean just one term until they are back out and it will be their fault…. If we do not Rejoin where is the money coming from to change anything? … Polls show 63% of Brits want to Rejoin … Polls suggest that people do not believe Starmer anyway … We will never give up but Starmer has done so and it will cost the country dearly … We are asked to vote for somebody saying the opposite of what we believe based on the assumption that they are lying. That is a horrific state for politics to be in…
.. under fire … after recent to-dos about honesty at Westminster it would be a pity if UK’s top military bod was found to have been dishonest with Parliament…
Equalities Minister appointed Tories to a public body
… 4 of the 8 people on the Social Mobility Commission are Tory activists … with former MP Rob Wilson … joined by GB News’s favourite academic who argues that Britain has been taken over by ‘radical, woke, middle class liberals …
Britain’s economy is spluttering
7.9% inflation is the highest in the G7 … disastrous premiership of Thick Lizzie … good news for Britain’s economy is hard to find…
Car making big battery investment may not put the brakes on long term decline
… the shots have been largely aimed at the foot in recent years … rumours that Tata asked for a £500M for investment in £4B factory … government was desperate …Stellantis (European car giant) has threatened to pull out of Britain … Mini (owned by BMW) said it would shift its EV business to China …
Rise of the self pitying MP
MPs agree the pay is woeful, patronage trumps competence… online abuse is rife and MPs are leaving in droves … Almost 70 MP said they will leave on or before the next election … incompetent bootlickers rise faster than more talented and principled peers…
Shout about Rejoin
Tories feel obliged to try to talk up the benefits of Brexit – an impossible task that leaves them looking ludicrous since there are none. Labour is squeamish about taking a stance that might alienate Brexit voters so continue to witter about ‘making Brexit work’ … given the evidence that is piling up to demonstrate the disastrous scale of the Brexit mistake …. The cultural sector is just as unhappy as business over the Brexit fall-out. Mention the word and it occasions a deep outpouring of misery from artists and musicians … Rejoin will be far from easy but the preparations need to start now…
It took a £500M sweetener … Richy Scumbag is trumpeting the fact that Jaguar Land Rover, owned by the Tata group, had decided to build a gigafactory in Somerset … construction company … gave £177,293 and £17,152 to the Tory Party … Financial Times said Tata project looked expensive and hard to pull off … Richy Scumbag’s father in law will approve … how good a friend Tata will be to the British economy is less certain…
Daily Express
Recent poll showed 74% of readers say it was a mistake to leave the EU … Editor Gary Jones is still championing the dubious merits of Brexit …
Braverman degradation scandalous conditions … diphtheria, norovirus, scabies, open sores … hopelessly overcrowded tents … Richy Scumbag knows that his plans for economic recovery will not be advanced by the next election … hence the attacks on ‘wokery’ and migrants … firmly rightward trajectory of Tory Party … wretched …. Even on its own terms Tory approach to migrants is neither administratively practical nor financially viable…. ‘Cruelty is the point’ … systematic dehumanisation, a truly dreadful development … hateful … most debased form of politics imaginable … playing with dangerous fire … unforgivable ignorance of 20th Century lessons … devoid of mercy, compassion, or shame. It should chill every decent Brit to the bone … cruel stupid and terrible …, Home Secretary’s plans are just plain cruel … I do not understand how anybody could talk about and treat a human being the way that Braverman does…
Brexit Migration Algorithm
Schools
‘Is Brexit going well?’… Not a single hand went up …
Resignation
Dame Alison Rose Johnson becomes a late convert to the view that bosses who mislead the public should resign…
Nigel Garbage and Daily Express
… desperate attempt to draw readers to ill fated US website … not known how much Garbage will be paid … Garbage’s recruitment has led to downing of tools by Reach Culture … does not suggest everything is tickety boo …
Confession
‘Forgive me father for I felt sympathy for Nigel Garbage’ …
By Don Adamson, Brexorcist, 1st class honours, reporting on the week that was from his grim Northern Powerhouse Brexit Bunker in Barnsley.
This week’s homework
One – Harold Wilson got into trouble when he awarded MBEs all round to the Beatles. At the time the Beatles were the most successful popular music band in the world and bringing in vast amounts of export earnings to this country. That was not the point. You cannot have a Labour PM awarding decorations to scruffy characters from the rough end of Liverpool. Johnson awarded controversial decorations (up to and including peerages) to some very nasty people who, by rights, ought to be in the Nonce wing of some very nasty prison. That is perfectly in order and the newspapers do not mind a bit. Why the different treatment?
I wish people would stop saying that Charlotte Owen's dad is Boris Johnson. He's given her a seat in the House of Lords for her long lifetime filled with tireless good deeds and political achievements, so please stop suggesting otherwise 👍 pic.twitter.com/QdDaVVmCgC
— 🇪🇺RichS🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 💙🏳️🌈 #FBPE (@_Rich_S) July 26, 2023
Uncanny.
Two – Discuss the following statement: Nigel Garbage (of all people) has stated that Brexit has failed. Express, Mail and Telegraph newspapers (notorious Brexit cheerleaders of the worst description) are saying (grudgingly) that Brexit has not turned out to be the earthly paradise they promised. Tories got us into this mess by making extravagant promises. Keith Starmer has promised to get us out of this mess by repeating the same extravagant and now discredited promises. Einstein defined insanity as repeating a mistake in the expectation of a different result. What would Einstein have said about Brexit?
Here's how the 'enormous harm' done to 'victim hater' Nigel Farage should be settled:
Ask @Nigel_Farage for a numerical estimate of the damage done to his visibility in the other side.
— Reboot Britain / Rage Against The Brexit Machine (@BrexitRage) August 1, 2023
Serial loser Farage.
Three – Discuss the following statement. We now know the truth behind scandal concerning Nigel Garbage and the NatWest Bank. Garbage stirred up trouble so that his nasty friends could speculate on shares in the NatWest Bank. There are two kinds of Gammon. On the one hand you have blithering idiots who are stupid enough to believe what they read in trashy newspapers. On the other hand you have some very clever and calculating people who get rich by dubious means. If they would put as much effort and ingenuity into doing something useful we would all benefit. Instead they got us into this Brexit mess.
Join the True and Fair Party for much better politics.
Four – Discuss the following statement. The Economist of 29 July has an interesting article about US universities and sometime controversial entry criteria for students. The article must be read carefully because it contains a lot of facts, figures and sometimes complex reasoning. The last two sentences summarise the situation – “These universities are channelling comparatively under qualified legacies, athletes and private school graduates into positions of unusual influence. A greater emphasis on academic merit would yield not only a fairer society but also a brighter elite.” Meanwhile in Britain we have brain-dead Cabinet Ministers who attended Oxbridge universities. They would be unemployable if they had attended less prestigious institutes of learning (if that is the right word).
Five – When the Tories were making extravagant promises about Brexit they had a lot to say about ‘Singapore on Thames.’ To anybody with more than three brain cells this was conclusive proof that Brexit was only ever for the benefit of tax dodgers and dubious financiers (and not many of either). Singapore used to have a commendable reputation for efficiency and clean government. Singapore is nowadays developing a reputation for mismanagement and corruption. Which ‘Singapore on Thames’ do the Tories have in mind for Booming Brexit Britain: a) the Singapore with a commendable reputation for efficiency and clean government or b) the Singapore that is groaning under the weight of incompetence and corruption?
Brexit was not for voters. It was for Jacob Rees-Mogg et al.
This week’s quotes:
Schools and education
Each chart looks the same … gradual improvement from the early 1990s until 2010. Then things become worse … rule that runs for everything from rough sleeping to real wages to hospital waiting lists … housing policy chaotic … From 2010 to 2016 Tories offered a small state country within the EU. After 2016 Tories offered a flabby big state vision outside the EU … political chaos … a bureaucratic mess … one in ten children attends a school that is falling down … Teachers did not sign up to be auxiliary social workers … often must be due to government failure … experienced teachers leave profession … for more than two years the government has failed to negotiate Britain’s re-entry to Horizon, a European research collaboration programme it left because of Brexit … many scientists say it is essential to Rejoin … my worry is we are going back to the 1990s where you got a system that was running into the sand …
Sunak ‘rip-off degree war’ deserves a diploma for missing the point … the whole higher education system is a mess …we are staring down the barrel of a mid century skills crisis … unless British universities produce tens of thousands of engineers the green transition is stuffed … unless universities produce tens of thousands more doctors and nurses the NHS workforce plan cannot be delivered … incentives for Britain’s most talented graduates seem misaligned … how much greater would our problems look if somebody actually calibrated them against the problems we face … tens of thousands of teachers leaving the profession exhausted … we need a more skilled and educated workforce … any politician who refuses to answer is in the business of fantasy economics …
Tory hate mob licking its lips as … Richy Scumbag’s reign falls apart
… the electorate in very large numbers has had enough of this government … the whiff of a dying administration … the only thing growing in the economy is the scale of the debt … a corrupt incompetent government deserves to be sacked but one presiding over a bombed-out economy will be … The Right of the Tory Party is preparing for that. Thick Lizzie … who has no sense of shame has gathered an unsavoury collection of free trade extremists and wealthy US climate change deniers to build on her policies that failed so spectacularly just months ago … Sue Ellen Braverman and Lee Anderson … gathering New Conservatives to espouse ideals that are to the right of the right … constituency organisers have welcomed former UKIP members and ushered out the moderates … the appalling misjudgement of Brexit. The problem for Starmer is that these problems would take years to settle even against the backdrop of a strong economy. The risk is that after one term of Labour the country feels no better off, and potentially worse, it will turn to the pedlars of false hopes and real hatred. That is the game plan of the New Conservatives….
Dominic Williams, chief revenue officer … was asked if he could see the irony of a news business that pushed Brexit so far being damaged by it … … insiders say Williams is the consummate office politician … would not have dreamed of speaking out unless he felt Rothermere had come round to that way of thinking … dismayed to see how much the company has suffered from Brexit… Daily Mail editor in Chief has not been seen in the office for a while … Brextremist Bible now seems willing to think the unthinkable: what will happen if Brexit fails? … Tories will be blamed if it flops…
The Brexit Bible. Click to read more.
James Cleverly, Foreign Secretary
is doing as much globetrotting as possible in the Tories remaining months in office … took 91 officials with him, set the taxpayer back £700,500 … unwilling to slum it on commercial flights … £178,761 for a 3 day visit to Washington … trip to Belfast cost £4,142 for an RAF aircraft …
Lib Dem omerta on Brexit
Our membership and polling were at their highest when we were most outspoken against Brexit….
Tory MP second jobs
average wage of £233 per hour … Nadine Dorries job at GB News … rumoured six figure salary … £20,500 advance for Johnson hagiography … nobody can remember when she last appeared in Parliament …
Neither of these MP’s have done anything at all since Johnson resigned over a year ago.
Chris Pincher and Nadine Dorries need to be kicked out of Parliamen, RT if you agree. pic.twitter.com/2M7S4wX9we
… Labour, with their child benefit caps and promise to continue with Tory tax and spending plans … show no sign of recognising … that Tory plans are not producing growth now and are not likely to produce growth in the future …
Dignified exit of the week
… ever expanding list of Tory MPs announcing they will not stand at the next election … Ben Wallace … may yet go down as the first instance of a ship running out of rats before it even starts to sink … Wallace denies rumours of affair with Thick Lizzie …. Wallace might be applying for appointment to a juicy quango under Starmer…
Liz Truss chased the economy and escaped with a lifetime salary.
Queues at Ports
… This is the curse of Brexit die hards: they cannot believe that EU does not realise that we are special … that the queues are caused by Brexit … what Brexiters voted for … checks that Faragists wanted to impose on visitors to Britain. Ironic that Faragists get annoyed when they are imposed on us … emergency planning for queues at Dover has now entered the English language … Operation Brock … miles of the M20 turned in a huge car park … Dover is also the port through which 35% of UK trade passes through … UK government allocated £45 from the levelling up fund to fix the problem … that could have been spent on actually helping rundown parts of the country … will be spent on the chaos Brexit is causing at Dover ….
Nigel is now at the confessional box stage of Brexit. Nothing left to offer anyone apart from boats, banks and stale beer.
Easter was a disaster … coaches turned around and abandoned foreign trips after 24 hours queuing … Eurotunnel Terminal was built on the assumption that UK would be in the EU … Last summer queues of 18 hours … Eurostar stations were build on the assumption that UK would be in EU … some Eurostar trains travel with empty seats that could have been sold … because company could not get passengers on board in time … Easyjet has cancelled hundreds of trips … travel sector is facing significant disruption … It might help if the government had spent the last seven years preparing for what the industry saw coming … Brexiters dismissed all the predictions of chaos as a Remoaner lie … government has built its strategy on the same crazy belief …
Don Adamson Pip Pip Medway Delta (Retired) Brexorcist and Saboteur First Class
Here are the thoughts of Paul Cawthorne on reversing Brexit and joining the EU anew. Paul is an economist living on the Swiss – Italian border. He presents a logical incrementalism perspectives as a comparison to our ‘all or nothing‘ approach:
GOAL: full membership of the EU asap
We can all agree on this overriding objective but there are inevitable differences of opinion regarding the most appropriate strategy and tactics.
Single market
My personal viewpoint is that rejoining the single market is the essential first step needed before the ultimate objective of full EU membership can be achieved.
Rationale
Rejoining the single market would not require a referendum. Editor’s note : a referendum is not the only choice in any case. See London for Europe.
Rejoining the single market would not require a lengthy application procedure under the Copenhagen Criteria.
The UK’s current position as the only country in Western Europe outside the single market is economically unworkable and unsustainable.
It would go a long way to resolving most, but not all, of the post-Brexit economic damage. Editor’s note : Brexit damage is also social, political, legal and environmental.
It would be seen as a confidence building measure to convince the EU27 of the UK’s ultimate goal of EU membership.
Once in the single market the UK’s unsatisfactory status as a “rule taker” (Norway/Swiss model) could be used to convince the electorate that we need to become a “rule maker”.
Rejoining the single market is an essential stepping stone on the road to achieving the central objective.
Focusing on rejoining the single market in the short to medium term should in no way preclude campaigning for the central overriding objective.
Learn from the final failure of the PV campaign
It should not be forgotten that the PV campaign was very nearly successful. It ultimately failed for 3 main reasons:
The decision of Corbyn and Swinson to fall into the trap of Johnson’s “Get Brexit Done” December 2019 election.
Problems of leadership at the top of the movement.
Bad luck in timing: if COVID had come 3 months earlier or Johnson’s “oven ready deal” had not been agreed for at least another 3 months Brexit would have been delayed indefinitely.
Ultimately, whatever the weight of public opinion, the number of people who take part in marches and/or sign petitions, campaigns are won or lost in parliament. Most MPs likely to elected in 2024 will not have fixed, immovable positions on Brexit reversal but will need to be convinced that supporting rejoin is in their interests.
Learn from the success of Vote Leave
Focus on:
Keeping the message simple and repeating it over and over again. “Brexit has failed”; “you were lied to”.
Emphasising the positive impacts of rejoining as much as the negative effects of leaving.
Playing the patriotic card: “Britain leading in Europe and the world”. Editor’s note: Our strapline below conveys this.
Turning around the Leave slogans and narrative: “take back control in the heart of Europe”; “outside the EU we have lost control”; “the new will of the people”.
Our strapline. Begins with home and fans out to wider concerns.
Positive messages
At least 70% of the electorate need to be convinced of 2 things:
Rejoining the EU is an essential desirable objective
Rejoining the EU is achievable
Focus on the future and not the past.
To spread the positive message, young people need to be given prominent leadership positions in the campaign.
A one minute street pop up mini talk which addresses some of Paul’s points.
Labour’s flawed Brexit policy
Labour’s current “Make Brexit Work” policy is seriously flawed and, at best, will have no positive or negative impacts on their immediate electoral prospects.
Key factors:
Poor advice based on outdated (2019) focus groups and internal polling data.
Overestimation of the enduring support for a hard Tory Brexit in the so-called Red Wall.
Underestimation of the the impact of Brexit’s evident failure on public opinion.
Underestimation of the impact of demographic changes on the electorate.
Overblown fear of the reaction of Tory tabloids to any perceived watering down of Brexit.
Misplaced belief that “Make Brexit Work” will be a convincing winning 3-word slogan in 2024.
Nostalgic belief that Labour is still essentially a “working class” party and needs to prioritise at all costs the views and prejudices of these traditional “core supporters”.
Labour’s flawed position needs to be abandoned. Labour politicians parroting “Make Brexit Work” and “no case for rejoining the SM or CU” are convincing neither rejoiners nor Brexiters and are coming over either as lobotomized Stepford Wives or insincere party apparatchiks.
They will only be persuaded to address the elephant in the room when they are convinced of the urgent economic necessity and that it is their political interests to do so.
Linked campaigns
4 electoral changes need to be promoted that would help ensure a positive future EU referendum result and put to lay any lingering fears from the EU that a future single party UK government could opt for Brexit again:
PR, preferably a system close to the German model, which is strongly proportional but maintains constituency representation, it also involves a minimum 4% threshold that, in the case of the UK, could be applied in each of the 4 nations.
COMPULSORY VOTING as in Australia or Belgium to ensure a high turnout, especially among young voters.
REDUCE THE MINIMUM VOTING AGE TO 16 (as in Brazil and Scotland) to maximise the youth vote. A related campaign could be the promotion of political and civic education in schools.
ENFRANCHISE ALL EU CITIZENSLEGALLY RESIDENT IN THE UK. Currently citizens from Ireland, Malta and Cyprus (3 EU members) are able to vote in UK elections together with residents from many Commonwealth countries; many of these are only in the UK on temporary work visas.
EU education
Seven years after the referendum here is still a worrying lack of knowledge and understanding about how the EU works. Poor knowledge of the EU is common in all age groups and among those who voted both leave and remain in 2016. In contrast, in most EU countries a study of the history and institutions of the EU is a compulsory part of a broad school curriculum.
Many people, including politicians, will speak confidently about the pros and cons of the single market and customs union but would be hard pressed to explain the differences between these two entities.
If there is eventually a rejoin referendum, there will need to be a much better informed electorate. Paul produced 432 benefits of EU membership in the book Reboot Britain.
About Paul Cawthorne
Paul Cawthorne graduated from the London School of Economics in 1982. In 1989 he left Thatcherland to become a poll tax exile. Over the last 30 years he has worked as a teacher of history, geography, economics and business management in national and international schools in France, Italy and Switzerland. He is currently living and working near Varese in the north of Italy and impatiently waiting to become an Italian (and EU) citizen. Paul is married with two grown-up children.
Editor’s note: Other viewpoints are available on joining anew, such as Gina Miller’s all or nothing view. Join us at her launch event on Monday 10 July in London.
This week, I’ve been out and about in Medway and Deal in Kent discussing the fact that Brexit has failed and that we can and must Rejoin the EU to save Britain from itself. Reactions to this have been overwhelmingly positive. But, as always, the comically sad stories of the exceptions make for much better reading ….
Bicycle racists
I visited two pubs in Medway. Within a few minutes of my visit to one, a woman came to tell me that my bicycle had been vandalised. In fact someone had broken the sign off. The pub in question was full of older very suntanned people talking about their holidays in Europe. One of them presumably thought that it was their right to teach me a lesson whilst smoking a fag outside. Imagine their anger when they find out that they will no longer be able to travel to Alicante or Tenerife after Brexit if they have criminal records …
Bicycle racists.Sunakered.
I was broke but not broken. The trouble is, if we had spoken about the matter I’d hazard a guess that the person who did this would have agreed that they don’t have the Brexit they wanted, IN SPITE of a 90% Brexit cabinet for FOUR years, a Brexit PM who allegedly delivered Brexit from an OVEN and now a fully RACIST PM in Rishi Sunakered. I felt pity for the person who did it. I will now have to redouble my efforts to get a secure sign for the bicycle.
We went to Deal in Kent yesterday with the Bollocks to Brexit Mini Cooper, stopping at Ash for breakfast much to the delight of the chickens and the people at the cafe there. Deal WAS very Brexity. It is no longer. The town is close to Dover where they even have a racist pub. UKIP and the Tories stoked racism there to preserve the illusion that Brexit will solve all their problems. In large measure, the people were not fooled. A wonderful chap called David Reid put the event together. He ran a Brexitometer which overwhelmingly showed that people now realise that they were lied to about Brexit, save for one person who even went as far as saying that he believed Boris’ suggestion that we would have straight bananas if we left the EU. Johnson also said that Brexit would make your wife’s breasts larger. I have checked with several woman and this is also untrue.
Only one in 40 felt that they had not been lied to about Brexit in Deal of all places.
We parked up and began our work. On returning, someone had used lipstick to write on the car, YES lipstick. This bourgeous protest made me feel very sorry for the perpetrator. Some of the stories we were told by people lined up with this ‘dirty protest’. One woman walked past and said “I like Brexit”. I politely asked what did she like most about it and she ran away. Another man shouted at the car “Bollocks to you” as I drove by. Sadly, he had nothing else to offer me. Two women tried to explain that carbon dioxide was good for plant growth and we should put cars with their engines on in polytunnels to promote food growth!! But MOST people were quite willing to say that Brexit has failed and that we should Rejoin the EU. Some were not sure how this might happen. I explain this in the book Reboot Britain.
Shocking pink.Brexit chickens coming home to roost in AshMost offensive.
Lipstick on my collar … put a Brexit spell on EU.
Points of order
The word bollocks is vulgar but not offensive as we demonstrated when Essex traffic cops tried to arrest us on the M25 and then had to back down. Read Sex Pistols v The Queen 1977.
Our car has a snowflake in place of the O of BOLLOCKS. The projection by Brexiteers of vulgarity is, of course, a product of their own tesiticular minds.
Support the tour. Click on the bollocks.
One man in Deal claimed to support our campaign but objected to Charlie Mullins’ (former CEO of Pimlico Plumbers) use of the word ‘Bollocks’ in our Chas and Dave Cockney Brexit Knees-UP song which we performed on the street. His argument was that children could be polluted by my bollocks. Methinks the ‘lady’ doth protest too much. Later on that day, I heard a young women shouting at her three kids (aged around 3 – 7 years old) “stand together you fucking c…nts – we’re crossing the road”.
With thanks to the wonderful force of nature that is David Reid for organising the event.
Last Orders
Here’s the latest round up of myths put forward by the last remaining Brexiteers to justify their fading Brexit unicorn:
Brexit is done
A barmaid in a pub on Thursday told me that Brexit is done. When I tried to explain that it is far from done and that impacts would continue long into the 2020’s she then invoked a made up ‘rule’ that “we don’t talk about Brexit in this pub” (there was no sign) !! This kind of cancel culture is a bizarre development from people who say they wanted Brexit freedoms. Of course, it’s untrue. To look at what’s coming over the hill with Brexit, see Biz Catalyst 360 and UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE). p.s. I cannot recommend that anyone spend their money in this pub in future.
Brexit is an unbreakable spell
A couple of the last remaining Brexiteers have told me that our CPTPP deal means that we cannot legally rejoin the EU. Something akin to the unbreakable vow in Harry Potter. Of course it is horseshit but it is all they have left. The Tories continue to diverge away from the EU, in order to increase the difficulty, but nothing is impossible in politics. Read what Gina Miller has to say about Rejoining the EU. It could take just 3 years to stop the carnage and we would gain an immediate uplift just by applying to join anew.
I love Boris
The same sad landlady who told me that Brexit is done as Boris put Brexit in an oven also came out with “I love Boris”. I had to ask her “what do you love about him? Is it his hair, his fertility, his oral skills (oratory), the way he dresses like a tramp or something else?” Strangely, she did not know. Usually people are able to explain themselves. I found this strange although I’ve heard it before. Precisely why a much longer sitting and effort over time is needed to Brexorcise the worst cases of “Bojona-19”.
Here’s some very short helpful facts about Rejoining the EU and putting Brexit to an early. The Tories are still trying to run the illusion that the will of the people must be respected. Brexit is no longer the will of the people with only 18% of the British population now thinking that Brexit is a success and with 55% now wanting to Rejoin the EU.
63% of people in Britain now think that Brexit was a mistake
This figure is rising rapidly, as Brexit reveals its many ugly heads
I predict it will be between 67 and 74% by early 2024 !!
I predict between 67-74% by the beginning of 2024. In any case, a supermajority.
The upward curve towards the rejection of Brexit by the vast majority of people will be asymptotic, up to perhaps a residual hardcore of racists and people clutching Brexit unicorns (80% ++ insert your own number?), but it is climbing rapidly. There will be a huge social desirability to be on the ‘winning side’ once Brexiteers realise that they are no longer a majority. I find that they operate in herds and had an interesting chat about ‘in and out’ groups with a psychologist called Elvis on this recently. Quite why I always choose the leaders of social groupings in cafes and pubs for Brexorcism purposes.
Contrary to what people believe, another referendum is not the only way to settle the matter democratically.
Via Parliament: once Brexit carnage becomes more widely and deeply felt, legislative initiatives to mitigate the effects of Brexit (for example a single market or customs union application) may grow. If supported with the combined weight of opposition parties, who currently give the Government a free ride on Brexit, an incremental route back into EU membership may evolve.
General Election: the levels of Brexit carnage might become so great over time that joining becomes an election issue. Set against that possibility, people would have to conclude that Brexit was a cause or correlation with their lived experiences. This has been difficult so far, as CoVID, and now the Ukraine crisis, mask Brexit’s damage. However, that cloak is slowly being removed. For this reason, it matters that the word Brexit is not airbrushed out of the political lexicon. Labour’s collusion to date has thus far boxed it into a position that makes a U-turn difficult, but not impossible.
Another Referendum: a new referendum could be offered, even though I don’t favour using one. However, a second referendum might be considered as a ‘christening service’ once the ‘will of the people’ changes sufficiently. Despite the first referendum having been conducted by simple majority, it is likely any successor would require a super majority of 66%. This presents a very high bar, so it would be fair to use the same ground rules as in the 2016 referendum.
Government of National Unity: Things may become so bad that the idea of a Government of National Unity (GONU) becomes feasible once again. In August 2019, a GONU seemed a realistic possibility until the opposition parties responded to Boris Johnson’s temptation of a General Election. Considerable social, economic and political disruption would be needed for such a scenario to be possible, so the probability is arguably low. However, nothing can be ruled out in any disruptive political environment. Present scandals within the Tory party and Putin’s actions may reveal yet more problems. A coalition government is perhaps the latest manifestation of GONU. Perhaps this will get rid of our current GONADS Brexit government? !!
See the article from London for Europe for a full discussion on settling the democratic process:
Click on the image to read more on agile and flexible strategies to join the EU anew.
See below our five goals which we pursue with like minded people at our meetings. Join us 1st Wednesday of the month online at 8pm. Click on the image for the ZOOM link. Please add your thoughts on more helpful facts about joining the EU anew and Brexit disaster and subscribe to this platform.
Reboot Britain Goals.
Here’s three things you can do to make progress on getting Brexit gone:
Write to Keir Starmer about this. Please use the material in the Bylines article HARD LABOUR to help compose your letter
Write to King Charles III using our template letter at KING CHARLES III – Yes, Chas has no authority, but he has massive soft power. Make him work for his privilege
Join us 1st Wed of the month at 8 pm on ZOOM. JOIN HERE
In this reflective piece by our guest writer Paul Higgins, he asks what next for Brexit Britain.
Seven years after the referendum and three after the UK effectively left the European Union many things still puzzle political analysts. While outside the UK it is crystal clear that Brexit has been a disaster, many in the UK still think the opposite. Cognitive dissonance characterised the more extremists in both the brexiter and remainer sides, even though remainers were always more rational and fact driven and that may have been one of the reasons behind their defeat in 2016. In any case, it is astonishingly surprising that, 7 years after the referendum, the UK is still unable to hold a civilised debate over Brexit.
Brexit was a major disruption in British politics. A rational, calm and mature democracy like the UK suddenly fell into the arms of the extreme right nationalist populism and has not recovered yet. Proof of this is that the so-called Brexit heroes enjoy a high level of impunity when it comes to breaking the law, lying to Parliament or losing a bank account. In the eyes of their followers, it’s nothing but the lefty, woke, EU and civil service elites trying to punish them for Brexit. They won’t even argue whether they broke the law or lied, that doesn’t matter and they will ignore it, it’s the attack on Brexit itself that explains everything.
Brexit is the ultimate reason why they feel they are better than the French, the Germans, the Dutch or the Swedish and they are not going to let anyone or anything question that. Even if the economy and public services are crumbling, it is a price well worth paying because superior beings need to be sovereign which, in their view, means different and not mixed with other Europeans. It is true that the cost of living crisis is biting the support for Brexit though. Polls estimate that the proportion of Britons that would vote remain now is about 63% whilst 37% would still vote for Brexit. But it is astonishing that, given the state of the country, remainers do not double that 20-point lead. There are many factors explaining this, the main ones are:
Brexit is still too emotional and facts are denied or reinterpreted by each side to accommodate their respective narrative. The war in Ukraine, COVID or the weather in Spain affect only Brexit Britain; whenever the EU makes a concession and allows the UK to trade in more favourable terms than any other third country, it is because we are better and they need us more than we need them; if not then it is because they want to punish us for Brexit. Whether it is to hate us or to love us, we will always be special. What they can’t even consider is that the rest of the world doesn’t think that Britain is special.
The press is prolonging this situation not only because most tabloids have embraced the national-populism cause, but also because, when not, they tend to go not for the truth or the facts but for the middle point in any debate remotely related to Brexit, even if that means softening an outright lie with a half lie.
The two main political parties don’t want to touch Brexit even with a nine feet cane. The Tories have invested a huge amount of political capital in Brexit and they can’t just make a u-turn and say ”sorry, we got it wrong” and Labour thinks that they can take the remainer vote for granted and take the fight to the Brexiter red wall.
The sense of entitlement that led to the leave victory in 2016 has somehow spread and most parties think that they can renegotiate the most inconvenient aspects of the deal with the EU and the EU and 27 countries will just accept any changes the Brits would honour them with a proposal.
Brexit, like communism or any religion, is an ideal and as such it can’t be questioned. Editor’s note : That’s why we wrote the book of Brexorcism, to deal with quasi religious based beliefs about Brexit. Whatever happens it would be because Brexit has not been implemented pure enough, because we didn’t believe hard enough, because this was not the Brexit people voted for or because of the works of the devil and you can replace devil with the blob, the establishment, lefty lawyers, civil servants or the EU.
In any case, as long as this sorry state of affairs in the collective British psyche doesn’t change, it is very difficult to have a serious and responsible debate among ourselves and with Europe. A debate about what kind of relationship we want with Europe and, moreover, to convince our neighbours that any change in that relationship is going to last longer than the few years between two consecutive general elections.
Editor’s note: Please note objective five of our goals.
Don Adamson writes from his Barnsley Brexit Bunker.
This week’s homework:
One – Compare the two words Media and Mediocrity. Is there a similarity of meaning? Do the words come from the same root?
Two – Discuss the following statement: ‘I just cannot bring myself to say anything nice about my father. He brought nothing but anguish to our lives.’ That is what producer Charles Finch said about his father; the actor Peter Finch. What would you expect Boris Johnson’s sons and daughters to say about their father?
Three – ‘An over-fat flatulent windbag, a master of inconsequence now masquerading as a guru, passing off his vast limitations as pious virtues’ That is what Richard Harris said about Michael Caine. Do you think that Harris let Caine off lightly?
Four – Discuss the following statement. Wallace is reputedly one of the more competent Cabinet Ministers in this government. He was even considered for the job of NATO Secretary General. Last week he made a gratuitously offensive remark about valiant Ukrainians heroically resisting the Russian military monster: ‘We are not part of Amazon.’ As a consequence Wallace has asked to be moved out of the defence job in the next Cabinet Reshuffle. Tories know a lot less about history in general and WW2 in particular. FD Roosevelt blenched when he saw the list of military equipment that Churchill demanded of the USA. These Tories imagine themselves to be bargain basement Churchills. Did they ever imagine themselves as bargain basement FD Roosevelts? If Wallace is one of the more competent Tory ministers what does this say about the dimwits in the Cabinet?
Five – Johnson refuses to hand over his mobile phone to the authorities investigating his misconduct as PM. We are given to understand that the mobile contains evidence of Tory incompetence and corruption. There is already an abundance of open source material to prove that and it seems unlikely that there might be any more hidden evidence on that subject. Rumours are circulating that the mobile has evidence that we know about but may not be able to prove; for instance: a) that the whole point of Brexit is to wreck the NHS and sell it cheap to asset strippers or b) that the whole point of Brexit is to decriminalise sex offences (especially child molesting). What other explanations might there be?
Six – Johnson is living rent free in a house provided by the Bamford Group (robber baron capitalists of the worst description and unrepentant Gammons). Johnson likes to be photographed by Murdoch and Rothermere lackeys when he goes jogging in the vicinity of the house. People in the neighbourhood show their displeasure by flying the Euro Flag. Why do these flags never find their way into trashy Murdoch and Rothermere tabloids?
Children are shrinking poorest fifth of households now need to spend half their disposable income to eat healthy diets
… years of poor diet lead to obesity and affect children’s heights … British 5 year olds among the shortest in Europe … average height started falling in 2014 … deprivation clearly goes hand in hand with stunting … average boy in the most deprived area of Britain is now 1.3cm shorter than in the least deprived area…
Bregret : Rising disillusion with Brexit
… polls find that sizeable majorities of Brits now regret the decision to leave the EU … margin as wide as 60-40 … steady shift … demography … older people mostly backed leave while younger folk preferred Remain … passage of time tilts against Brexit … Those who did not vote in 2016 now break strongly against leaving the EU … 20% of those who backed Leave in 2016 now say they would support Remain instead … Why? … disappointment with the outcome … high cost of living … falling real wages, struggling public services … high immigration … leaving the EU has clearly made problems worse … Britain was one of the last G7 countries to recover to pre pandemic levels of output … inflation and interest rates are higher than in most European countries; net migration is running at highest level ever … promises made by Vote Leave have proved illusory … broadest promise that there would be no downside to Brexit but only upside looks empty … Nigel Garbage admits that Brexit has failed … Jacob Grease Bogg, Tory Brexiter, is laughed at for citing benefits of Brexit … rising disillusion … Johnson’s notably thin Trade and Cooperating Agreement …. Delusion is believing something despite evidence to the contrary … Brexiters adhere to their beliefs despite compelling evidence that their predictions about Brexit were wrong…
Discrediting the falsehoods of Brexit and Rejoining the EU are the way forward
… numerous motivations for Brexit, some were, at best, incoherent and at worst outright lies … only a third of those eligible voted for Brexit … Few people would disagree with the statement that the country is in a mess … David Davis accused of abusing parliamentary privilege and being ‘a political has been who botched Brexit … ‘
Johnson destroyed almost all he touched
… promises of a better tomorrow based on Brexit has left everybody who voted for it with less not more … Johnson is now universally viewed as a liar makes Brexit’s failure more palatable to Brexiters. It was his fault, Nigel Garbage’s fault, Grease Bogg’s fault, and the media’s fault, not theirs… Johnson’s Daily Mail column is not only ruinously expensive but increasingly embarrassing … Rothermere, Mail owner, is not happy … paying over £1M for the appallingly bad column .. Provided a more than adequate supply of clownish incompetence…. 4thMail column took aim at the ‘odious, transparently wrong and unnecessary Ultra Low Emission Zone’ imposed on London by, er, Mayor Boris Johnson … what do readers make of ‘erudite’ jottings … Masil has taken the unusual step of moderating online comments, a step usually reserved for contentious or legally risky pieces … one positive post was published immediately … swiftly down voted by readers … 10 worst rated comments praised Johnson’s column … previously loyal Mail readers told Mail they had decided to stop buying while Johnson was on the payroll …
National Rejoin March 23 September looks to be the mother of all marches
… 20 times more popular than last year … coaches booked from around the country … Peter Corr, founder, says ‘almost all coming will be coming as Brexit has hit them the hardest … UK inflation caused by Brexit … can only be fixed by Rejoin … everything bad happening in the country is made worse by Brexit’ … clear warning to Keith Starmer…
Lie of the Week Nigel Garbage
… ‘establishment is trying force me out of the country by closing my bank accounts’ … Coutts exclusive bank used by the Royal Family … Garbage admits he does not meet the financial threshold for a Coutts account (£3M in savings or £1M in investments) … Garbage is being very, very dishonest …
Torygraph speculation about the value of Torygraph titles has fluctuated wildly since the titles were seized by Lloyd’s Bank after a £1B loan to the owners turned bad
… initial estimates of between £400M and £600M for the titles may be absurdly optimistic given the extent to which the Barclay family have appeared to leverage up the business … I have hear the jaw droppingly low figure of £68M mentioned …Lloyds taking control of the company was extreme and unprecedented and shows they have no confidence in the Barclays … Barclays massively overpaid when they acquired the titles of £665M in 2004 … motives of the Eurosceptic twins had been … ideological … Lloyds Bank face a new headache … Fraser Nelson Spectator editor, threatens to quit and take his core team to set up a rival right wing weekly … Murdoch … interested in Spectator if decoupled from Torygraph titles … Rothermere only interested in Torygraph’s paying subscribers as his own operation has been struggling for some time to get a figure anywhere near that … Rothermere rumoured to shutting down Mail on Sunday … profitable and once respected newspaper … mired in family scandal and extremism … Torygraph has been snatched from the Barclay family by Lloyds Bank … Torygraph played a part in diminishing the public’s respect for politicians … reputation tarnished by extremist output … despite all the evidence to the contrary Torygraph refuses to admit that Brexit has failed … outlandish views … Ofcom just ensure that whoever buys the paper also meets the definition of ‘fit and proper’ that is required of media owners (COMMENT: Yeah, Right) Tory billionaire keen to enhance their influence over the government might not clear that hurdle …
Immigration
Braverman’s Rwanda plan is on hold but the cruel and crazy stance remains … cost of sending each migrant to Rwanda … £169,000 … £63,000 more than keeping them in the UK … Government is so committed to the scheme that it is not open to rational argument … polls show that immigration is nowhere near the obsession with voters than it is with the Tories … questionable on many grounds … inhumane … government struggling to justify an untenable argument… government policy has a lot of holes … Rwanda government said it would only take 2000 asylum seekers initially. Last year 46,000 people crossed the channel in small boats … Illegal Migration Bill has so many defects it seems largely unworkable … most likely outcome is a perma-backlog of undecided asylum claims … government must hope that tough talk will go down well with voters … by the time the election comes and policy has still not worked it will have upset all voters…
University Admissions practices
A vast hereditary mediocracy…
National Health Service
Only the rich paying more taxes can save the NHS … NHS is in crisis …7.4 million people waiting for treatment up from 7.2 million a month ago, with more than 371,000 people waiting more than a year for routine treatment … short of 154,000 doctors, nurses, midwives and technical staff … that number will more than double in a decade … only the USA among developed countries has a higher rate of avoidable deaths than ours … all universal healthcare systems are feeling the pinch but the NHS more than most … 18th out of 19 countries for MRI and CT scanners per million of population … second worst for avoidable deaths … puts politicians in charge who know nothing about healthcare and dislike funding it … most chronic diseases have mushroomed, from diabetes to depression to dementia … chewed up money the NHS does not have … crumbling estate and 150,000 vacancies … 25th in the league table for doctors per 1,000 population and 18th for nurses … Staff are expensive but so is waste … GPs and hospital doctors taking early retirement has risen by 9.3% year on year since 2008 … three years after the start of Covid the department has spent £14.9B overpaying and over ordering PPE, medicines and vaccines … excessive profits on PPE so vast it is not hard to see how £14.9B made opportunistic scamsters very rich indeed … The only good Tory is a suppository …
Nadine Dorries infrequent visitor to Commons but draws her salary
… topped up by her undeclared income from GB News … more than a month since she announced resignation as MP…
I had a curious encounter with Kevin Gray on Linkedin the other day. Kevin is CEO of Bath Building Society and, as such, I expected a degree of skill not available to the average soul. Kevin was responding to a post about Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership skills and the SNP in general. It transpired that Kevin does not like the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon or Scottish Independence although he is a Scot in England. Not unsurprisingly, Kevin also likes Brexit. But quite surprisingly, given his position as CEO, he had swallowed some of Boris Johnson’s lies. The transcript of the dialogue that follows illustrates just how pervasive the Dunning-Kruger effect is and especially so when one tries to change someone’s mind using online media. This BBC post was the initial trigger for Kevin’s outburst at Nicola. She rightly pointed out that Boris Johnson’s preoccupations with getting Brexit done, childbirth, ovens, fridges etc. had made a considerable impact on Britain’s ability to focus on the pandemic. I have left Kevin’s remarks unchecked in purple. My replies are in red. The entire conversation is exactly as it emerged on Linkedin. No editing etc. Simply reportage.
Kevin’s initial reaction was : “Hhhmmmm. Not so sure about that. If there was one example of where Brexit did actually help anyone it was in allowing the uk goverment to move quickly with the vaccine taskforce and deliver mass vacination ahead of EU states. I suspect Devolution did not help however. Having x4 parliaments/assemblies to deal with in the UK must surely have slowed up the response? Much as Nicola was a great politician, I would personally not give too much air time to any nationalist whose aim is only to deliver further and much more serious division in the UK.”
Given Kevin’s senior position, I felt no need to hold back and I replied thus:
“I’m afraid this is incorrect Kevin. We could always have done this as an EU member. The truth will come out in the COVID inquiry. Do remember that the vaccine was developed by foreign scientists. In desperation, Johnson used buying power to snaffle up the supplies. Speaking as a scientist, I must remind you of the short-sightedness of stockpiling medicines in a GLOBAL pandemic. This strategy sprang from Johnson’s desire to mask Brexit carnage with the COVID cover up. The result was a “Britastrophe”. Please check with scientific facts if you don’t believe me.”
To cheer him up and keep it a bit lighter I sent him a copy of the song I wrote in 2020 to epitomise the word Britastrophe:
Kevin was undeterred :
“Don’t get me wrong… we were ill prepared for the pandemic and the preps and early actions were inadequate. I’m pretty sure the enquiry will recognise that. Nevertheless, I’m pretty happy that early political action to stockpile and make early orders might have protected my friends, family, neighbours and their relations and friends in the UK. When it comes to avoiding death of my loved ones…I’m happy to jump the waiting list. We steal nurses from the third world ‘day in day out’ for the NHS so no new low standard applied there. I can’t see how being in the EU would have made a positive difference to the outcome for the UK quite frankly. I also think that SNP will find any cause to justify further separation, angst and years of pain in these islands that will be far worse than any political split from the EU. Some of us are Scots with families divided by politics on this matter. The SNP have hardly covered themselves in glory with their running of the NHS in Scotland for oh so many years after all. Now… an EU wide future plan including with the UK involved would make a lot of sense.”
I decided to challenge the basis of his competence. I am quite sure that Kevin is a competent CEO of a building society, but not so sure about this matter of science :
“Kevin, I imagine that you are NOT a biologist, epidemiologist or similar. As I said, your first statement was demonstrably wrong and the stockpiling of medicines is not a victimless crime. I’m quite disappointed that a CEO can have so little systemic thinking.”
Kevin defended himself again : “We sadly live in an imperfect world where states do not have equal resources or peoples have access to the same levels of health care. I agree that stockpiling vaccine was not victimless but the NHS holds drug stockpiles as part of their business as usual. British citizens benefit from the NHS hiring foreign health workers, often at the expense of others’ health care. It’s not right… but the primary duty of the UK government is to protect UK citizens. Same elsewhere. The UK government was following the preps for the wrong pandemic and clearly failed to implement lockdown as quickly as it should have. They failed to see what had worked in Asia to control SARS. That undoubtedly cost lives. I still cannot see what difference being in the EU would have made though. Happy to be put right on that point. The seeds of our slow initial response were sown decades ago. The next pandemic could be far worse so let’s hope the learning is swift.”
I decided at this point to put some external expert support from a Government source and offered him a way out of his fake news and an opportunity to ‘kiss and make up’ online :
“Kevin. Please read full fact : COVID and Brexit. Now you may correct the record on here. People believe fake news so please add a fact check to your original post.
‘Wrong pandemic’ – coughs … 🙂 I won’t embarrass you further on here but you are welcome to an online leaders’ debate.
Re your point ‘Some of us are Scots with families divided by politics on this matter.’ I can help you with the family healing issue. Read my book on Rebooting Britain.
You made two further points : ‘They failed to see what had worked in Asia to control SARS. That undoubtedly cost lives.’
This was not so much a failure, which implies accidental ignorance. This was wilful ignorance. Johnson and Hancock deliberately put infected patients into care homes due to the false narrative of herd immunity and a non-existent protective ring. This cost 40 000 unnecessary deaths. As regards Johnson’s level of attention and focus on the problem, this image sums up his leadership skills in this area :
Johnson’s dithering cost lives.
You also said ‘When it comes to avoiding death of my loved ones…I’m happy to jump the waiting list. We steal nurses from the third world ‘day in day out’ for the NHS so no new low standard applied there.’
This too is a false equivalence. I won’t bore you with the details but it is one of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s skills. To learn more read the book. Both situations are deplorable (poaching foreign nationals and stockpiling drugs in a pandemic), but they are NOT equivalent.”
By this time I thought Kevin was probably looking for an equitable way out of the matter, having perhaps wished he had never begun this encounter. He used the well-worn Brexiter phrase in an attempt to find something we could agree about:
Kevin : “Well everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I hope we can agree on that. The truth will out in the end and I’m sure that we may all be enlightened. I’m pretty sure that we can also agree that it won’t be 100 years before the next pandemic.”
I’m afraid I could not let this false equivalence pass for peace either :
“Kevin. Facts trump opinions I’m afraid. When they are put in the scales of truth, facts outweigh opinions.
But you are most welcome to join me on a leader’s debate on ZOOM at your convenience with an invited audience on “Brexit Futures”.
Human intervention has probably guaranteed that it will not be 100 years until another health crisis, possibly fungal and far more problematic, but nonetheless, Brexit will have a deeper impact on lives and livelihoods in the long term than COVID has, save for those killed by Johnson’s careless care home strategy, for which there is no way back for them.
At this point, Kevin ran away as they often do. I would draw some lessons out from this dialogue ….
Lessons learned
Brexiteers can come from anywhere. Even CEOs and intellectually bright are susceptible to illusions about Brexit. This merely confirms that Brexit is a religion / ideology and we must use strategies that address beliefs and identity change rather than the usual toolkit.
The lies put forward by Brexiteers have been installed like permafrost on some people’s minds. I very much doubt that Kevin is stupid. I imagine he can count money, but maybe not microbes or viruses.
The Dunning-Kruger effect is powerful when a figure of authority is challenged online where position power counts for nothing. I gave Kevin several levels of expertise to help him revise his view that Brexit had helped the COVID vaccine delivery programme but he stuck to his previously held beliefs.
Online Brexorcisms are always problematic. See the reasons why in this extract from Reboot Britain below.
That said, other people watch these online interactions and stay silent. They are sometimes more important than the other person in the conversation. Kevin made himself and his company look pretty daft in this interaction.
I doubt I will be getting a Christmas card from The Bath Building Society …oddly enough Bath voted to Remain. I wonder if some of the good people of Bath are reviewing their local building societies …
Don Adamson writes from the Barnsley Brexit Bunker.
This week’s homework:
Discuss the following statement. Since 2013 the Tories have ‘outsourced’ army recruitment to Crapita; which is a hopelessly incompetent ‘private enterprise company’ that gets obscenely rich on government contracts by overcharging and underperforming; except in those cases where they overcharge and do not perform at all. Crapita has missed Army recruitment targets every year. We all bad years but ten bad years in a row indicates the kind of corruption and incompetence that Gammons and Flagshaggers wanted when they voted for Brexit. The Tories are so delighted with this sheer, crass, unpardonable uselessness that they have begun to put Crapita in charge of Naval and Air Force recruiting. This is music to the ears of the morons who, after everything that has happened, still think Brexit is a brilliant idea.
Please support our UK tour by clicking on the mini.
Meanwhile there is a worse example of sheer, crass, unpardonable stupidity in military matters. Wagner Group is a company of mercenaries that recruits by emptying the Russian prisons of brutish thugs of the worst description. Wagner has cut a swath across Africa; looting, raping and killing gratuitously everywhere they go, usually against unarmed villagers. Wagner Group did not do so well against outnumbered but armed Ukrainians. Wagner Group attempted a coup d’état to oust Putain but made a complete fiasco of it. This is exactly the kind of idea that 21st century Tories love: evil, violent thugs who loot and rape but are so incompetent that they cannot even mount a coup d’état against a regime as inept as Putain’s. How long will it take the Tories to abolish the British armed forces and replace it emptying the prisons of evil thugs and rapists? In this way they will have defence services that cannot even mount a coup d’état to oust a hopelessly incompetent political regime.
This week’s quotes:
Britain’s inflation and finance
… 8.7% in May … price of housing in Britain is soaring … only in Britain is inflation worryingly entrenched … Britain’s problem most acute … mortgage rates are surging … excruciating situation… grim … among G7 countries none has higher inflation than Britain … miserable … what has gone so wrong? … EU workers are missing … labour supply is down by 3% … inflation is unusually persistent… £1Trn government debt when Osborne became Chancellor … £1.5Ttn debt when Osborne left office in 2016 … £1.7Trn debt when going into the pandemic thanks to Osborne’s ‘repair’ of the economy … Britain signed a memorandum of understanding with EU on financial services …. Does not restore Britain’s access to the EU … mortgage rates have surged… Jeremy *unt has told banks to pass on higher interest to customers… Since the end of WW1 … Britain was economically crippled … Britain has been in a long and steady decline … endless cycle of boom and bust … promises of a better tomorrow … Brexit put the tin hat on it …
Ukraine accession to the EU is so important. It creates an incentive for reform and application of law… Do not be so sure our place is lost; some do want us back … a Eurocrat friend said ‘You forget we want you back … Leavers were fond of referring to … an army of bureaucrats but forget that in that army the British were the Brigade of Guards . Many who work for the EU miss the rigour, clarity and discipline that British Eurocrats brought to the party … politician may want to make a British return look difficult. Many of Europe’s staffers would give us our old concessions back in the blink of an eye if it brought British Eurocrats back to Brussels … I find it hard to imagine that the EU would insist on the most stringent conditions before letting Britain Rejoin. They too have been damaged by Brexit (though nowhere near as badly was us) … Question Beaucaire, France, renamed a road that leaves Rue Robert Schuman (EEC founder) and rejoins it 60m later. What is it now called? Answer: Rue de Brexit … Brexit is a disaster that just keeps on disastering … Clacton Coastal Academy … all but two children said they would vote to Rejoin … the norm in schools is zero … something strange about a political class where the government keeps telling us that Brexit is going well and an opposition that that insists they will make Brexit work when the next generation knows it is not going well and cannot be made to work.. Something has got to give… Rejoin March 23 September is causing consternation on the Labour front bench … Keith Starmer is trying to out-Brexit Richy Scumbag … Starmer wrote pro Brexit piece for the Daily Express … who have not got around to paying Starmer for it …
Gutter Express
still unrelentingly positive about booming Brexit Britain … even last week Grease Bogg promised cheaper food thanks to Brexit. He is unlikely to venture into Aldi to check the prices … biggest house price rise in 14 years … Oh Dear…
Daily Excess. Click to read the gutterpress pages.
Pandemic
any hope politicians would put learning lessons ahead of protecting their own repudiations ended when Osborne appeared before the inquiry…. ‘the numbers you refer to are from 2015 to 2020 … I left office in 2015 ’ expect months of high level arse covering … Longest most detailed most expensive enquiry in UK history … why did UK government believe itself to be well prepared when in fact it was woefully unprepared and vulnerable … politicians did not want to commit the money … even though it was number one on the risk register … DHSC knew that the risks were huge … economic outlook was dire … it was more than likely that a moderate pandemic would overrun the system … Jeremy *unt did not attend board meetings … ministers were concerned about *unt’s lack of engagement … no deal Brexit took the focus away from pandemic planning … same lame defence of austerity … we decided to sleepwalk into a £400B disaster … *unt knew the worst case scenario … UK entered the pandemic with its public services depleted, health improvements stalled, health inequalities increased… we did not have resilience in the health service … we were at the bottom of the table in doctors, number of nurses, ITUs, respirators, ventilators … if the next pandemic does not take down the NHS diabetes will … we did not give sufficient thought to a pandemic or any other pathogen …. It is hard to imagine we would do any better in the next pandemic … government has disinvested in infection monitoring services, dismantled key infrastructure … wound down our capacity for drug and vaccine development…. levels of public anger remain high … repeated reminders … Westminster, under the leadership of Johnson, flouted rules … even stupid enough to record photographic and video evidence of gratuitous flouting … Johnson repeated lied… shows how badly things have deteriorated inside the Tory Party …
A stitch up in time saves nine.
Fraud
system for victims to report crimes ‘outsourced’ to the usual suspects … Crapita was hit with a cyber attack … exposed thousands of savers in pension schemes … less than impressive data hygiene … Colchester Council ‘extremely disappointed’ … unsecured Amazon data bucket controlled by Crapita … Crapita is no stranger to financial rip offs … when it comes to general incompetence Crapita is no more reassuring … most notorious is military recruitment … Crapita has missed Army’s annual targets for recruiting new soldiers and officers every year since 2013 … Crapita assisted by PwC … PwC faced a string of large fines for poor auditing … focus of criticism … real problem is not reporting it but the near absence of policing it … less than 1% of reports lead to prosecutions … it will take more than another Crapita deal to address that …
GB News
GB New boss Angelos Frangopoulos is desperately attempting to reposition his channel away from being a home for right wing cranks and conspiracists …. ‘this is not just Channel Nigel Garbage … glad to be shot of Canadian wacko Mark Steyn … found guilty of breaching Ofcom rules when he approvingly interviewed weirdo writer Naomi Wolf on her view that Covid 19 vaccination is ‘mass murder’ …
Lockdown
staff at Mail on Sunday had a leaving party for departing member of staff. Video shows at least 30 people … no social distancing…
Read Private Eyelines on Amazon
Don Adamson Pip Pip Medway Delta (Retired) Brexorcist and Saboteur First Class
