Category: Britastrophe

Deceptive Bends

Updated on

14/10/2023 by author

Professor Anand Menon recently published a paper for UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE) stating that there was no political advantage for Labour or Conservatives in focusing on Brexit as an election issue. I know Anand, having met and spoken with him at events on quite a few occasions. As a fellow academic, this gives me the right to challenge him. I’m sorry mate, but you have confused political expediency with political leadership. Let me explain:

UK in a changing Europe’s research states that neither the Conservatives nor Labour stand to gain much from focusing on Brexit. We know that the word Brexit has gone out of circulation, primarily because (a) hardly any of the political parties want to talk about Brexit and many have demonised party members from even uttering the word (b) the media has a virtual blackout on the word Brexit, preferring ‘global factors’ as a euphemism for the lived experience of the British Brexit people (c) many families and friend circles do not wish to reopen the toxic conversations that characterised the Brexit referendum. It’s a particularly English condition to sweep difficult conversations under the carpet. But, and it’s a very BIG BUT …

Not talking about Brexit does not make Brexit go away

Leaving the Brexit conversation undone is what therapists call ‘unfinished business’ or ‘closure’, rather like an angry boil that is left to fester. Unless the Brexit boil is popped, it will continue to haunt families with its puss for a generation. UKICE have of course published many fine articles and studies that point out that Brexit is far from done, with many further ‘bumps in the road’ to come. This is why a new conversation about Brexit and Europe is needed. Also why I advocate an active rather than a passive approach to difficult conversations about Europe and Brexit (a passive approach is simply waiting for granny and grandad Brexit to die). This is what I call ‘Brexorcism‘.

Join us for a free masterclass on Brexorcism

Brexit’s offspring are being talked about

Whilst mentioning the B word may not be a vote winner according to Menon, all the ‘offspring’ of Brexit are being talked about as voter priorities. Like it or loathe it, all of the issues on our Brexit iceberg have their roots, fully or partly in Brexit.

The Brexit Iceberg — All of these electoral issues have their roots wholly or partly in Brexit. Menon is wrong in his analysis.

Menon concludes ‘meh’. I conclude that this is sloppy analysis by UKICE.

Political expediency versus political leadership

Menon is right from UKICE polling data that it may not be politically expedient to mention Brexit. Expediency is not importance however. Two things occur to me:

Firstly and most importantly, political leadership is not about constantly responding to polls about the here and now. This is in effect driving through the rear view mirror. Leadership is about synthesising long-term decisions and short term actions to lead people towards better futures. OK, of course I realise that UKICE is not OK Magazine, but I feel that Menon has conflated expediency with leadership. As a leader, Keir Starmer et al. should be in the business of explaining the connections between our ‘Brexitberg’ elements (NHS collapse, cost of living, migration, UK stagnation, business collapse, lost trade, friction, food shortages, sector specific staff shortages, brain drain etc.) with Brexit. Starmer has stated that he wants to deal with root causes and not symptoms of our problems. Brexit is at the heart of Britain’s decline.

Secondly, snapshots are just that. A snapshot in time. I recall that Menon was first talking about this research at a UKICE event way back in 2022. The focus groups were conducted in Brendan Clarke-Smith’s constituency of Brexity Bassetlaw, Thurrock and Lee Anderson’s constituency of Ashfield !!! This knocks the qualitative findings out of the park in terms of validity. What possessed Public First aka Britain First in choosing these areas and not a mixed sample? And why did UKICE decide to use them for this research? The quantitative poll of 4005 people is now nearly 6 months out of date, so the dataset is also of dubious value. We are nearly at the point where 2/3 of the population accept that Brexit has failed and within striking distance of 70%

Bassetlaw, Thurrock and Ashfield are not representative !!!

Leaders synthesise long-term decisions and short term actions for better futures

Yes, people in Bassetlaw and Thurrock can argue that Brexit realities are the fault of the Tories not being Brexity enough (although I’m at a loss to understand how much more Brexity Johnson, Truss and Sunak’s puppet cabinet could have been), or that Remainers have ‘thwarted’ a true Brexit (I never knew I had so much power, having been ignored by MPs on all sides etc.). Nobody knows or agrees on what a true Brexit would have been and certainly an immediate exit via WTO would have left us with a 10-12% GDP deficit compared with the 4.5% we currently have. This would have been catastrophic. I predict that we will soon reach a point where 70% of people accept that Brexit has failed, even if the B word has been airbrushed out of public discourse. People are not stupid and, like it or not, Brexit and the offspring of Brexit will remain on or under the table as election issues, especially if people keep the conversation going about Brexit. Learn how to do it here:

Books — Learn the skills of Brexorcism here.

Why this matters

In my humble opinion, Menon is feeding Remainers and Rejoiners a false narrative. Having met Anand quite a few times, I sense he is at best a fence sitter on the subject of Brexit in order to keep in with his politicos on both sides of the debate such as David Frost and others. Some tell me that he is a closet Brexiteer, which would explain his misleading conclusions from the research.

The not so secret Labour ‘promise’ to look at Brexit again in 2032 is also another unicorn designed to put Remainers and Rejoiners to sleep. See Faulty Towers for more on Labour’s disingenuous Brexit strategy. Sorry Anand, I expect better from a professor who should know the difference between political expediency and political leadership. I look forward to a conversation about the matter.

Posted in Boris Johnson, Brexit, Brexorcism, Britain, Britastrophe, Labour, Leadership, Liz Truss, NHS, Rejoin EU, Sovereignty, Sunak | Tagged Boris Johnson, Brexit, Britastrophe, Rejoin EU, Rishi Sunak | 1 Reply

Not grasping the nettle. Sir Keir Starmer. Image by P Paton.

Faulty Towers

Updated on

10/10/2023 by author

Peter Cook

I’ll keep this simple. Labour insiders tell me that Keir Starmer will ‘get round’ to rejoining the EU in 2032 when nobody’s looking. Here’s why this is a unicorn to placate Labour ideologues and silence debate. It is 2023 now. Cast your mind forward 9 years ….

By 2032, few will remember what Brexit was, let alone care to do anything about it

Even in 2023 Brexit has disappeared from the news cycle and from public discourse. The poor attendance of around 5000 at the Rejoin march is an indicator of ‘Learned Helplessness’ and ‘Brexit fatigue’ amongst the general public, who either believe that Brexit is done or that we can’t do anything about it. Climate denial, bully dogs, ULEZ, mythical meat taxes, Holly Willoughby, potholes, HS2 and a stream of Tory gaslighting has effectively clogged the media channels and occupied the minds of people who are attracted to the next shiny bright object in the news. We fall for it every time.

By 2032, Horizon type deals and other ‘mini pay as EU go’ deals will reduce the pool of people who still think that Brexit is an issue

See our article Pay as EU go for more on Rishi Sunak’s strategy to pick single issues off one at a time and thus dilute the community of people interested in the underlying issue of Brexit.

By 2032, the damage of Brexit will be complete, much of it irreversible, thus little point in rejoining

For example, once the car industry leaves Britain due to rules of origin issues, they will not rush back just because a rejoin strategy is in place. Business relocations are big decisions etc. By 2027 our premier position in financial services will have declined as companies relocate or take key staff out of Brexit Britain. And so on. Like a chemical reaction, some are irreversible. Labour know all of this but fail to act. Even Prof Anand Menon is making excuses for Keir Starmer based on ‘here and now’ research. The word Brexit may have been silenced by all the political parties, media and people not wishing to re-open family wounds but all the products of Brexit are being talked about per our Brexit iceberg. Importantly, Brexit won’t go away if we keep not talking about it. It will remain a festering sore in many families for a generation until ‘gran and grandad Brexit’ have spun off this mortal coil.

By 2032 the EU may well have worked around us

This is not an insignificant point. Although there is value on both sides from rejoining at this time, there will be precious little socio-economic capital in the EU accepting us back in 2032. Just the much larger asset of political capital for the EU … they would be able to day that “the prodigal son returned”. However, the EU may well have speeded up accession of other nations seeking to join and may feel that Brexit Britain are just not worth the trouble. As a business person I fully understand that sometimes people choose the easier paths rather than the more difficult ones.

By 2032, our divergence from EU standards will make it technically more difficult to rejoin

Although this is perhaps the smallest issue, it makes the whole matter less tractable and politicians prefer to do easy things rather than difficult things.

The time is now. Join the True and Fair party

Only the True and Fair party have a clear position on Brexit in England. See Rejoin the EU.

Write to your Labour MP with the above points. The long game began with Jeremy Corbyn. It must end NOW.

From the Vault – Lib Dem conference feat Madeleina Kay and Steve Bray

Posted in Brexit, Brexorcism, Britain, Britastrophe, Education, Europe, Keir Starmer, Labour, Rejoin EU | Tagged Brexit, Britain, Britastrophe, Labour, Rejoin EU | 8 Replies

Rishi 2.0

Updated on

08/10/2023 by author

Peter Cook

The Tufton Street gang have decided to genetically reformat Rishi Sunak to help him win an election. The ‘battleship grey’ Rishi 1.0 was at least built on the solid foundations of Sunak’s dull technocratic self to calm down politics. Rishi 1.0 had to deal with two crises:

Boris Johnson’s negligent killings of old people via his herd immunity fallacy, his “oven ready Brexit” deal which is burnt to a crisp, gross spaffing of our money on failed vanity projects, a tsunami of cronyism, gross lies and excuses and, of course, the Partygate scandals whilst people were forced to let their loved ones die alone, including the Queen.

Liz Truss’ wilful destruction of the economy in one weekend, adding thousands of pounds per year irreversibly to mortgages, billions to our national debt and a total loss of confidence in the UK plc on the world stage.

Cue Rishi 2.0, the radical reinvention from bland to ‘exciting’. Sunak’s ‘mum’ aka Akshata Murty launched Rishi’s reformatting at the Tory party conference, in order to curry favour from Tory faithful. With support from the warmup act Penny Morduant aka Alana Partridge, who managed the dubious accolade of saying “stand up and fight” 12 times in 80 seconds, although nobody was sure why, who with, when, where or with what.

Rishi 2.0 – What’s in store?

‘Radical Rishi 2.0‘ will be tough on society and tough on the causes of society. Fierce with the 99% of wokeists, leftists, left luggage attendents, left handed bankers, left leaning journalists, centrists, greenies, hippies, commies, liberals, snowflakes, members of the London Assembly, forins, doctors, train drivers, nurses, social workers, teachers, farmers, fishermen, firemen, train drivers, trainspotters, comedians, LGBTQIA+, judges et al. In fact everyone that does not sign up to the Tory fascist agenda. Here are some of the policies which Rishi 2.0 will likely hint at in the coming months, slightly exaggerated for fun. Of course he will actually do nothing about any of them:

Running through some of the Rishi 2.0 bullet points above:

On Thursday Sunak aligned himself with Italian fascist Georgia Meloni, to build a desperate consensus around his “Stop the Boats” campaign. However, Brexit Britain will be regarded as international pariahs if we leave the ECHR as a piece of Brexit grandstanding. Twinned with North Korea and Russia.

It sounds frivolous to suggest that model railway company Hornby should run the railways, but clearly a Government that does not know whether the rail link has been built to Manchester airport is not fit to commission rail projects using £ billions of our taxes. The HS2 fiasco has cost £91 billion of taxpayers’ money.

Check out CPC 2023 by clicking on Thomas.

As with Johnson, the devil is in the detail with Sunak. Having announced that HS2 will go to Euston at CPC 2023, the truth is that this will only happen with private investment to build the line from Old Oak Common to Euston. If I were an investor at this point in the cycle I’d not be up for investing in a railway that could be cancelled in a few years’ time after an election.

The distraction of a new British educational qualification almost literally concretes over the problems of crumbling schools. Rishi is trying to gaslight us away from the problems of RAAC by introducing the ABS (Absolute Bullshitter Sunak / Advanced British Standard) qualification to replace A and T Levels. You fool no-one Rishi.

RAAC and Roll — Gillian Keegan – concreting over education problems.

Will Rishi cancel the triple lock for pensioners as the new hard man of the Tory party? Time will tell. So far, it is more of the same with Jeremy Hunt targeting the most vulnerable with his next set of cuts. But the pensioners could well be next as a new cash cow. After all, I guess that Lee Anderson would ask what is the point of them being alive if they won’t vote Conservative? In any case, I guess Anderson believes that pensioners can live on 30p a day.

Levelling up proves to be a project about levelling roads, with 25% of the £36 billion ‘windfall’ from HS2 going to fill potholes. This may help to fill election leaflets in MP constituencies but is hardly a demonstration of Rishi Sunak’s so-called claim of “long term decisions for a brighter future“.

Clearly the Tories love the distraction of XL Bully dogs to stop people thinking of more important matters. Nonetheless I doubt we’ll see The Police employing them to patrol the streets, but anything is possible given recent lies about meat tax and 15 minute cities.

Finally, Robert Jenrick has suggested that we must breed more children to cope with the need for more carers for old people. I imagine that Boris Johnson is ready as CIO (Chief Insemination Officer).

Will Rishi 2.0 succeed?

Highly doubtful – Tufton Street have no idea about personality change, as they are people without personalities. Leopards and spots etc. Rishi Sunak’s speech to CPC 2023 was pretty much his usual “Blue Peter” style of delivery and the excitement of all the promises has been shown to be a pack of lies within a day. CPC 2023 looked like a wake for a dying brand. I guess Tufton Street could tell Sunak to work on his image rather than his content. Perhaps some pink flashes in his hair, flairs to give him more appeal to youth or at least trousers that reach his ankles? Or maybe a beard to make him look a bit more radical / risky?

You can’t take the bore out of bland

You can’t take the Rishi out of the Sunakered

Join the True and Fair party

The room next door ….

Posted in Borders, Boris Johnson, Brexit, Brexorcism, Britain, Britastrophe, Democracy, Education, Elections, Ethics, Europe, Gina Miller, Immigration, Leadership, Liz Truss, Rejoin EU, Sunak | Tagged Brexit, Britain, Britastrophe, Conservatives, Rishi Sunak | Leave a reply

Post march review

Updated on

29/09/2023 by author

Peter Cook

Don Adamson writes from his Barnsley Brexit bunker.

This week’s homework

One – Discuss the following statement

I have been criticised for ‘conflating’ (whatever that means) Russell Brand’s support for Brexit with his alleged criminality. Brexit is evil, rape is evil. A person who is capable of one is perfectly capable of the other. Does it come as a surprise that the ‘freethinkers’ who have come out in support of alleged team rapist include: Andrew Tate, Elon Musk,*Ucker Carlson, Laurence Pox, Stickyfinger Pansey Lenin (Alias Tommy Robinson, Alex Jones and the Telegraph’s Allison Pearson.

Two – Walking from Park Lane to Parliament Square on 23 September we passed the Saturday afternoon shoppers. We encountered hostility and abuse from older people who failed to notice that their precious Brexit has become a catastrophe rather than the earthly paradise we heard so much about not so long ago. Younger people, by contrast were vocal in their contempt for Brexit and support for our pro Rejoin activities. One poll after another indicates increasing opposition to Brexit and increasing support for Rejoin. One poll after another indicates that >> 60% of the general population is pro Rejoin and anti Brexit. Meanwhile more than 80% of people under the age of 25 are anti Brexit and pro Rejoin. Sooner or later that is going to translate into votes at elections. Richy Scumbag, Keith Starmer and Ed Davey continue to insult our intelligence with their assurances that they will ‘make Brexit work. Does this mean a) that the major parties are fishing for votes in a body of water that is rapidly evaporating? b) that support for Brexit i) ruins your eyesight? or ii) is a symptom of early onset dementia?

After the speeches we made our way along Milbank to the rendezvous. The coach arrived some time after we did. We loaded the banners and placards into the cargo compartment then we piled aboard. We made good time on the road. I got a text to say that William’s dad would meet me at the rendezvous and drive me chez nous. Apparently that was William’s idea. I am very lucky in my grandchildren, sometimes. Do you wonder that I devote so much time and effort to finding them a future that Brexit is denying them?

On arrival as the rendezvous I found that Rob was rendering assistance to a drunken woman in difficulties. He dislikes Leeds city centre at night. Strange things happen. I told him that in the old days I used to avoid taking the last train out of London on a Friday night. Things go boisterous. The men were bad enough. The women were worse.

This particular woman took a dislike to my Bulwarks to Brexit cap and whacked me across the shoulder. I had been expecting that all day in London but not in Leeds.

Three – Is there any truth in the rumour that Laurence Pox has been suspended for inapparopriate comment? What on earth did he say that Gammonite Balderdash News would deem offensive? Was it along the lines of: The sun rises in the East and sets in the West?

Four – Russell Brand is up on rape charges. Laurence Pox has been suspended for inappropriate comment. Does this mean that this country is slowly regaining its sense?

This week’s quotes

Nadine Dorries has become such a political liability that Tory MPs are actively celebrating her resignation in constituency literature

… North Wiltshire MP James Gray writes …’ There is something rather tragic about politicians who become so fixated by themselves that they lose touch with reality. Nadine Dorries is not the sharpest tool in the box, and the authoress of some of the worst novels I have had the misfortune to read. She laboured in cheerful obscurity until Johnson thought she would make a good cheerleader, pom poms, frills and all…

Read Bojo, Beds and Nads

Reform UK

The latest vehicle of the Faragists, styles itself as the champion of the hard pressed working people struggling with the cost of living crisis, but you would not think it from the party’s forthcoming conference to be held at the Hilton’s London Metropolis Hotel. Supporters are urged to buy tickets for a gala dinner where they can mingle with party luminaries such as Richard Tice, his partner Isabel Oakeshott and Ann Widdecombe. Tickets are priced at £125.

After the Tories sacked him for comparing the COVID Vaccine programme to the Holocaust MP Andrew Bridgen joined Laurence Pox’s right wing Reclaim Party which is bankrolled by investment tycoon and culture warrior Jeremy Hosking.

The viewing figures may be mediocre but in one respect GB News is thrashing all comers – the amount it is splurging on MPs … a staggering £44313 … compares to just £55000 spent by Rival Talk TV …an enormous £149,121 dished out to Jacob Grease Bogg …

The Sun’s pisspoor sister station

TalkTV currently enjoys the eyeballs of a stunning 0.12% of the viewing public for an average of ten seconds per day…

Last week a report from ‘UK in a changing Europe’ showed how state backed investment in infrastructure and energy had collapsed since 2020 …

when the European Investment Bank ceased funding projects here … four domestic banks that have taken over the role are now lending less than a third of what the EIB was pumping into offshore wind, … meanwhile the architects of hard Brexit are staring doom in the face. In his Telegraph column Lord Frost laments not only Labour’s plans to collaborate and align with Europe over environmental and migration policies, but the explicit buyers’ remorse that has emerged in the Tory Party – with Richy Scumbag’s deal to Rejoin the Horizon science collaboration project as a straw in the wind …’All too many people in the parties think Britain’s future is to retrace our steps and get closer again to Europe.’ Writes the man who designed the disaster…. Johnson framed hard Brexit as the opportunity for Britain to ‘do its own thing in the Indo Pacific region … In return Biden has pointedly excluded Britain from the project … Britain’s exclusion from this great game is self inflicted…. the UK is on the sidelines …. The UK will be forced to align with the EU or sit like a pariah state between EU and the USA … so when Keith Starmer says there is no case for Rejoin I remain sceptical … Brexit was a long term projected boosted by the Russians fundamentally designed to make Britain a low tax playground for 5the super rich … Brexit has failed because globalisation is failing. It is around that fact that all policy towards the EU now has to revolve…

With IT set to be at the heart of Richy Scumbag’s plans to modernise the NHS tech tycoon Frank Hester has made a timely £5M donation to the Tory Party

… what went unmentioned was that his healthcare business, Phoenix Partnership has joined with other contractors in a combined £41.2M of public sector deals … TPP lists 19 government contracts on contract finder, government database … records show TPP donated £11,300 to the Tories in February and £145,000 in March…

The late Queen’s relationship with Johnson was over before he came to office

… she had not been amused by the way his then sidekick, Michael Gove dragged her into the EU referendum by telling the Sun that she backed Brexit. Gove has always disputed the fact but Gove’s relationship with Murdoch leaves little doubt about what happened…

Richy Scumbag has not proved especially keen to do in depth TV interviews

… but his aides have been putting out feelers to get him on BBC’s the One Show and ITV’s Good Morning Britain’ … these are scarcely forums for in depth political discussions but the idea is to try to endear the PM a bit more to the under 40s who are deserting the Tory Party in droves. Party leaders have long found connecting with youth challenging … one thinks of Thatcher and Ed Multiband doing broadcasts with Jimmy Savile and Russell Brand…

Thick Lizzy and her mates are desperate for her to get a foothold in the US public speaking market

… It will therefore dismay Team Truss that the swanky Lincoln Lodge Bar in Chicago is selling Liz Truss cocktails (gin, Earl Grey, lemon, sugar and soda at $12 a time – selling briskly)

Russell Brand is not a martyr and the claims against him are not a conspiracy

… Brand was once the darling of the left he is now categorised at ‘alt right’ … some of the guests on his show ‘stay free with Russell Brand fit that description … In July *Ucker Carlson granted Brand his first interview after being fired by Fox News … Carlson was also one of the first to rush to Brand’s defence, along with Andrew Tate, Stickyfinger Pansey-Lenin alias Tommy Robinson, Elon Must, and deranged info wars host Alex Jones … the key to Brand’s ideology and cosplay has been the airtime he has given to conspiracy theories… during the pandemic he embraced anti vax propaganda .. as wildly irresponsible as this has been it delivered what Brand wanted – a devoted online base … he loves to posture as the voice of the powerless, a persecuted Techno Jesus … all absurd … it is time we stopped treating Brand and his idiots as rebels. They are the establishment…. he grasped long ago that conspiracy theories tend to lure in disciples … presenting somebody gripped by conspiracy theory with the facts frequently reinforces their4 beliefs no matter how absurd … it is alarming that this sort of garbage gets any traction at all … ‘’’ kohl eyed menace and narcissism of the most toxic kind …

The utter dysfunctionality of the Tory Omnishambles…

It is easy to spend money … you can commission loads of personal protection equipment, some of it from friends, then find you have frittered £9B on kit that was never fit for purpose … successive administrations have wasted fortunes on attempts to computerise he NHS … defence procurement has become a byword for criminal waste … irresponsible extravagance is not going to be an option for Keith Starmer … Britain requires not more spending but better spending … Starmer might be wise to approach reform from the perspective of what needs to be done… relationships between ministers and administrators are beyond fraught … talent has been haemorrhaging … clearly needs drastic rethink … eschewing all the embarrassing rhetoric about ‘world beating ….

Stephen Fry is right

… we know that Brexit has failed … Johnson has a distant relationship with truth … Lord Frost confessed that he and Johnson knew the N Ireland protocol was unsatisfactory … and hoped they would have to renege on it … this statement is astounding … three quarters of British companies reported that the trade agreement has made it difficult. Across the NHS Brexit has compounded widespread existing problems … business investment is slowing across every sector … overstretched services and higher costs … reality is finally dawning on Richy Scumbag … Brexit is seriously harming our food and farming sectors … we are stronger and safer when alongside our nearest friends and neighbours … Brexit has made our country less resilient … There is little that Tories will not sacrifice on the altar of Brexit … the facts are plain to an increasing number of the population … negligible Brexit benefits …. it is time to start the road to Rejoin … polling shows that Rejoin is now the will of the people … every major party is cowering…. Brexit is far from settled in the minds of voters…

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

Posted in Brexit, Brexorcism, Britain, Britastrophe, Democracy, Ethics, Europe, Labour, Leadership, Sovereignty, Sunak | Tagged Brexit, Britain, Britastrophe, Rejoin EU | Leave a reply

The Barnsley Brexit Butcher

Updated on

22/09/2023 by author

Peter Cook

Don Adamson writes in his unique style from his Brexit bunker in Barnsley just before the day of the march to Rejoin the EU.

This week’s homework

One – In the 1960s young people all over the world protested (sometimes violently) at the mess the older generation made of everything they touched. Barbara Cartland (the Romantic Novelist) was rarely thought of as a young radical. She was quoted as saying that in the 1920s young people of her generation absolutely hated the older generation that had sleepwalked into a terrible and unnecessary war. How long will it be before British youngsters develop an incandescent hatred of the scoundrels, liars and charlatans who inflicted this Brexit FUBAR on us?

Two – Russell Brand is an unrepentant Gammon. Does that explain his moral turpitude? It comes as no surprise to me that Brand is facing Nonce charges. Unrepentant Gammons do not remotely resemble the required standard in matters of moral fibre. Nigel Garbage meanwhile continues to complain that Coutts Bank declined to let him use their banking services. This just goes to show that perhaps they do have some standards at Coutts. Then there is the question of libel. I would say that somebody like Nigel Garbage does not have a reputation to lose so there will be no case to answer if Garbage brings a suit for defamation of character.

Farage Garage — Now who’s laughing Nigel?

Three – The Tories have proved themselves unfit to govern. Labour has been AWOL since 2010 and flatly refuses to return to work. Keith Starmer is determined to be part of the problem and no part of the solution. Can it really be true that these useless and disgusting creeps are the best that either Labour or Tories can find to stand for election?

This week’s quotes:

Our water is full of crud. Does this remind you of anybody?

… Brexit is doing damage, thanks to supply chain difficulties getting the chemicals to we need to treat water … more fears that that more pollution will come thanks to Michael Gove’s plan to Brexit freedoms to duck out of EU nutrient neutrality rules…. all of the facts have been known to the industry and ministers for years. There is no excuse for either Gove or Coffey for allowing things to get so bad…. unlike the Titanic’s iceberg the Brexit poonami was visible far; far ahead … all we get when ministers are called to account is the verbal equivalent of the effluent that is flooding the waters….

Read Gina Miller on Rejoining the EU

Jerry-built schools, prisons

… a crumbling understaffed and vermin ridden mess…. if you mess about for years imposing austerity the catastrophic consequences will be visited on you all at once …. Osborne claimed that the Tories fixed the roof while the sun was shining. The RAAC concrete scandal shows they literally did the opposite…. the whole country will pay the price…. the total liability will run into hundreds of billions … money that the stagnant economy can neither generate nor borrow…

We need a huge injection of emotional intelligence and a commitment to the facts with courage and humility

… we must as a matter of urgency acknowledge and tackle the problems that Brexit has created…. Tory leadership was too often preoccupied with incomprehensible political manoeuvring to engage sensibly with the business community … business community is let down by government … business leaders are not stupid … want to know how we will sort out irritations, skill shortages and myriad other problems created by Brexit …. The business community is dealing with fundamental problems …

Thank EU for the music

… a group of musicians angry about how Brexit has hurt the music industry…

Richy Scumbag the richest PM we have ever had has to pass round the begging bowl every time he travels

… £15,026 for a helicopter ride set back Tory donor Richard Harping £38,5000 from the mysterious Akhil Tripathi in April …. Taxpayer stumped up £871, 000 on Scumbag’s overseas trips

Campaigning in Cumbria I noticed that if a house was filled with books the occupant would not be voting Tory

… Tories are not open to talent, people with strengths in running departments…. incurious, uncritical, inept…

Join us on the streets of Mid Bedfordshire

Theresa May is trying to portray herself as a sensible moderate who tried to secure a less damaging Brexit

…. May could have stopped Brexit … as much to blame for Brexit as those from whom she is now trying to dissociate herself … Tory Brexiters are Blackadders in search of a Baldrick … Check her interview with Brexit apologist Nick Robinson out.

Once rapid progress on decarbonisation is at risk of slowing

… one problem is studied lack of leadership on the environment from Richy Scumbag…..excessive nutrients in rivers were causing mats of green algae that damage protected areas and birds….

150 schools reported to have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete or RAAC that make them unsafe

… the longer the PM is forced to suffer an embarrassing attack of metaphor made reality – fears over falling roofs that reinforce the idea that Britain is generally crumb ling … the crisis was the result of b botched job s and sticking plaster politics …. The language of the debate has been the kind that would get you sent to the head teacher…. a Scottish Nationalist bluntly accused Tories and Labour of being two cheeks of the same arse.

A British Parliamentary Researcher arrested in March on suspicion of spying for the Chinese

Richy Scumbag, British PM, said that attempts to undermine British democracy were ‘completely unacceptable,’ (Comment: that is hilarious from a Tory government that has been doing a FUBAR on Britain since 2010).

Far right parties full of zealous ideologues are prone to schisms marred by scandals

… their positions can be hazy…. the disconnect between genuine problems and farfetched solutions … policies tend to be illusory … incoherent or unachievable … they tend to be associated with misogyny and bigotry and to undermine the rule of law … populist right wing blocs impede countries from getting to grips with pressing problems …

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Grubby politics destroyed moderate Conservatism

… amateurism, obstinacy, arse covering by superiors and underlings … despairs at how Brexit was handled. Loathes Johnson who rose to power by half truths, full lies and low cunning … cynical politics is at the heart of Britain’s problems … divisive politics of Brexit … rubs against the stable politics that conservatism stands for … such stability was absent in the 1980s when Thatcher launched her war on One Nation Toryism. Johnson’s divisive politics was a return rather than an aberration …

Disasters made worse by dreadful governance …

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

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Posted in Brexit, Brexorcism, Britain, Britastrophe, Democracy, Economics, Keir Starmer, Labour, Leadership, Politics, Populism, Rejoin EU, Sunak | Tagged Brexit, Britain, Britastrophe, Rejoin EU | Leave a reply

Red Brexit, Blue Brexit

Updated on

18/09/2023 by author

Peter Cook

No doubt this will make me unpopular, but I cannot and will not vote for a Labour party who wish to maintain the illusion that Brexit can be made to work as Keir Starmer declared yesterday. By turning their backs on the greatest socio-economic, political, legal, ethical and environmental catastrophe of our age Labour are mortgaging our children’s futures, the very opposite of what Keir Starmer claims he wants:

From The Guardian – click the extract to read the article.

My Labour chums tell me “shh, Keir has a secret plan to rejoin in 2032“. I’m sorry, but this lacks any sense of pragmatism for three major reasons:

1. By 2032, nobody will know what Brexit was. Micro Pay as EU go deals by Sunak et al will mean that the number of people caring about Brexit will get smaller and smaller. The end losers will be 68 million people without rights to live and work in the EU.

2. The economic and social damage to UK will be deep and mostly irreversible like an irreversible chemical reaction. For example, the bleed of financial services away from UK. The final destruction of the UK car industry. Fishing. Farming. Scotland and Northern Ireland’s departure from UK. and so on.

3. Our divergence from EU standards will be so great as to make it much more difficult to join anew.

Other optimistic Labour colleagues tell me that “Keir is simply saying what people want to hear. Once he gets into power he will change his mind“. They cannot explain how the Mail, Express and Sun will not eat him for breakfast for being no better than Boris Johnson as a liar. None can explain the difference between a red and blue Brexit.

Starmer’s proposal appears to be based on a fear of facing down a few red wall racists and maybe some of the remaining hard left in his party. He ignores the vast majority of his membership and of course 63% of the nation who say that Brexit has Failed. This is a morally and pragmatically bankrupt position and must not be rewarded by voting Labour in a General Election.

Labour ignores its membership. Click image to compare.

Granted, the Tories are awful, but one cannot put a cigarette paper between Starmer’s position on Brexit and Sunak’s. Politics is so often the choice between the lesser of two evils rather than something aspirational and pragmatic. This is why I shall be supporting Gina Miller’s True and Fair party and hoping that we reach a hung parliament, given that the Tories have already destroyed themselves. A hung Parliament with a rainbow coalition offers the best chance to end the Brexit nightmare and all of its products as represented by our Brexit iceberg:

Write to your Labour MP or prospective candidate with this article. You may also wish to mention the Bylines piece Hard Labour and anything else you can muster. Demand a EU turn on Starmer’s position in exchange for your vote.

Help us make a stand in the Mid Beds by-election by giving Gina Miller’s True and Fair party a decent share of the vote. It’s only a by-election and it will make Labour (and the Lib Dems) think really hard about their position on Brexit. We need help on the ground with canvassing and social media amplification.

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Posted in Angela Rayner, Brexit, Brexorcism, Britain, Britastrophe, Keir Starmer, Labour, Leadership, Liz Truss, Northern Ireland, Politics, Populism, Rejoin EU, Scotland, Sunak | Tagged Brexit, Britain, Britastrophe, Labour | 10 Replies

News from the Brexit Bunker

Updated on

13/09/2023 by author

Peter Cook

Don Adamson reports the news that the Brexit media refuse to print from his Brexit bunker in Barnsley.

This week’s homework

One Tories have decided to rejoin the Horizon project – an EU wide scheme to fund scientific research all over Europe. Does this mean that the Tories are waking up to reality about the absurdity of Brexit before Keith Starmer and his Labour Party?

Read Horizon

Two Discuss the following statement – When Richy Scumbag and Keith Starmer talk about their fancy ideas ‘to make Brexit work’ they most closely resemble two mutineers discussing how to blow a hole in the hull of a ship that is already sinking.

This week’s quotes

Hospitality is worth £93Bn to the UK economy, employs 3.5M people

… pays £54Bn in tax … until recently Tory party was considered to be the party of business … ties companies in red tape then lectures companies in not taking advantage of the opportunities offered … real people lose jobs, money, their businesses … Brexit has put a huge spanner in the works …. Massive hurdles for the industry…. government is hoist by its own petard … margins are squeezed … profits are down…

Brexit and rail fails have made Britain a laughing stock

… Madras Courier … with Brexit Britain has closed its doors on global trade and commerce … rationale for divorcing a free trade bloc is baffling in an age of globalisation … India is interested in trading with the rest of the world … why would it want to forge links with a country that has turned its back on global trade … UK figures show that the mooted trade deal with India could boost UK GDP by 0.12% compared to the loss of around 5% which is the cost of Brexit … the contrast between the view of the Daily Express and the Madras Courier could not be more pronounced … the latter view is now prevailing internationally … other countries, both in and out of the EU do things better that UK … UK has become poorer as other nations have thrived … skilled workers can choose where they want to go … foreign skilled workers are not only needed but really welcome …

How paranoid nationalism corrupts it makes governments not just nastier but more corrupt

… dismantling checks and bank balances that promote good, clean governance … abuses are easier when institutions are weak … men in power have invented or exaggerated threats to the nation … paranoid nationalism is a backlash against good governance …leaders create acclimate where loyalty comes before truth … there is nothing racist or disloyal about wishing for a better life … unscrupulous leaders vow to defend people against confected threats … politics based on bigotry open the door to misrule and corruption … nationalism can foster the abuse of power … politicians grant their cronies influence … if leaders use nationalism to erode checks and balances it becomes easier for his cronies to plunder …

GB News is a threat to its rivals and a trap for the Tories

… offers plenty to mock … adverts filled with promotions for gold dealers and erectile dysfunction drugs … cast includes several fruitcakes … opinion driven coverage … Fox News is a clear inspiration … modest audience 600,000 a day … its loyal core is just 10% of the audience for the hours viewed … will have a greater impact on the Tory party if, as seems likely … the Tories lose the next election…. will proselytise in the struggle for control of the rump party … greatest threat to opposition parties is when they make themselves irrelevant

Nadine Dorries has a notoriously elastic relationship with the truth …

Squabbling over spoils from Covid pandemic contracts has reached the rats in a sack stage … Medicaid owned by a Gloucester based Tory accumulated profits of more than £12M.

Support our campaign for the True and Fair Party in Mid Beds

What is the difference between RAAC and RAAB

… one is dense, full of hot air, dangerous and past its sell by date. The other is a type of concrete…

Sarah Vain putting the me in mediocre

… ‘government has been in office 13 years and has run the country into the ground; possibly because it contains my useless ex husband …;’

London once had a claim to be at the heart of musical Europe…

No peerage for Paul Dacre

… state looks after Daily Mail grandee in other ways … his estate (Ullapool) granted £240,000 in rural subsidies…

Richy Scumbag’s approval rate sinks to minus 25%

… everyone around Scumbag, maybe even Scumbag himself is in a post Scumbag mode… Britain feels like an absolute shambles…. almost nothing works…. social and physical infrastructure is collapsing around us…. this is exactly the kind of epic unpatriotic Remoaning that Sarah Vine the Daily Mail’s High Priestess of Brexit used to decry as ‘unpatriotic’ … these are Vine’s own words … can hardly have endeared her to Rothermere who wants his paper to ‘accentuate the positive ahead of the election’ …

A crumbling land of perpetual slums and a moribund PM with no plan

… political panic, headless chickens … and an already acrimonious blame game … RAAC is also likely to expose dangerous asbestos … Johnson’s promises seek a distant memory and a sick joke … a government beset by fiasco and scandal … as despairing Tory MP put it ‘an in your face scandal’ … Gillian Keegan, Education Secretary, is writing cheques that she cannot possibly cash…. Scumbag is presiding over turmoil that inescapably triggers memories of Covid and school closures … hard to speak with a straight face of a government that delivers ‘value for money’ … tax burden at its highest for 70 years … Treasury says that ‘the money to pay for repairs and timetable disruption will have to be found from existing budget. Not a serious way to govern … a deeply embedded rottenness in public life…. Brexit is the archetype of this tendency … sporadic warnings about time bomb of RAAC…. this is much more than an educational scandal … buckling and groaning of the social contract … what sort of country do we want to live in? …. How run down, decrepit jerry rigged and dilapidated are we ready for our post Brexit country to be? …. wretchedly buried under cheap concrete rubble …everything this gover4nment touches turns to rot … former Tory leader Ian Duncan Snot says he is happy for his constituents to damang3 measures in London without a squeak of outrage …

Men with no shame

… their Brexit is a disaster … now fighting to stop the rest of us from putting it right … want to defend Brexit at any cost … according to Nigel Garb age ‘sell-out of Brexit is under way … Tories never believed in it … regardless of all the warnings in the economic data the Brexiters last argument is that the revolution would surely succeed if it was pursued more zealously … seven years after Brexit there is a haziness about what Brexit benefits might be … the numbers are not encouraging … Brexiters continue to promise a crock of gold … Brexit delivered a 10% hit to the economy … UK opinion shifted 60-40 in favour of Rejoin …

Latest polls put Rejoining the EU at 63% …

It is immoral to force the insufferable consequences of Brexit on voters who were lied to.

Brexicide a neologism that aptly captures the toxicity of the event…

Over 80% of under 25s and over 60% of the country want to Rejoin the EU.

Read Helpful Facts

As the worm of public opinion turns there should be less reason for Keith Starmer to maintain a deathly hush over Brexit

… Red Wall manufacturing heartlands face the biggest downsides from Brexit … it is time to think again about Brexit by taking an approach based on facts and not fallacy and fantasy … both Labour and Tories airily promise that Brexit disadvantages will be massaged away … UK diplomatic and trading relationships will not survive another seven years of disengagement. The time for a Brexit reboot is now….

The negative impact of Brexit … The fact that no political party will speak the truth about this…

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

Posted in Brexit, Brexorcism, Britain, Britastrophe | Tagged Brexit, Britain, Britastrophe, Politics, Rejoin EU, Rishi Sunak | Leave a reply

Concrete and May

Updated on

03/09/2023 by author

Peter Cook

Don Adamson is s stalwart campaigner for better government and a better Britain free of Brexit BS. He reports on the week’s news from his Brexit bunker in Barnsley. In a bumper week of Tory chaos, now we face the collapse of concrete schools, the release of Theresa May’s book, Suella Braverman’s war on lefty policemen and the selling of £2500 NHS Nightingale Beds on ebay for £6.00 a go. Concrete and May indeed!!

This week’s homework

One – List in order of importance the following reasons to detest Gammons and Flagshaggers. Give reasons for your answers: a) Gammons and Flagshaggers are despicable, lying scoundrels of the worst description; b) Brexit has done a FUBAR on Britain beyond the wildest dreams of Stalin, Hitler, Kaiser Bill and Napoleon combined c) Brexit has unleashed English nationalism which means that the English forfeit the right to despise nationalists of other descriptions

Two – Wetherspoon’s pubs cannot make a profit and the company is selling off premises for conversion to apartments. Are these economic problems attributable to Dim Tim Martin’s support for Brexit?

Three – Gammons and Flagshaggers have a lot to say about their heroism in wars that ended before they were born. Television broadcasts a lot of material to encourage them in that belief: both documentaries and feature films. You sometimes see images of refugees in that period being shelled by badly aimed artillery and being bombed by air forces that define accuracy as hitting the right county. What do Gammons and Flagshaggers see when they view images of refugees; do they see ordinary people fleeing to avoid horrors that never needed to happen in the first place; or do Gammons and Flagshaggers see a sinister Woke Libtard conspiracy to betray the Brexit earthly paradise?

Four – Discuss the following statement. Prince Andrew demands that his team of Scotland Yard bullet catchers should be re-instated. He has nothing to fear from our enemies but what about our friends (if we have any left)?

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This week’s quotes

Litigation case against immigration lawyer Jacqueline McKenzie

… stupid that the party that sent out this dossier by email and unbelievably stupid that two journalists took it upon themselves to send the dossier to the person it was attacking … a shocking hit job laced with untruths … any case McKenzie brings is likely to result in heads rolling at Tory HQ …

Lloyds naturally want shot of Telegraph papers

… noticeable shift in tone … extraordinary piece saying tens of thousands of Tories want to leave the party … papers are not worth anything near the £600M that Lloyds had originally been hoping for …paper is pleading for a buyer … Rothermere has been courting financial investors in the Middle East to support a bid …

Organisers of the Rejoin March in London may well have performed a public service

… a poll of Lib Dem members showed only 3% would not be attending the march as it clashed with their conference … 32% say they will definitely be marching and another 58% say they may march …will at least force the party to confront the disaster of Brexit …

Brexit has dragged Britain back by 70 years

… Dean Acheson (1962) ‘Britain has lost an empire but not found a role … that role was found and it worked … UK became a useful partner to the USA, an important part of NATO, and, most importantly, an influential leader within the EU …. First EU talks 1955 … we suffered 20 years of angst … it became increasingly that Britain had missed the bus … no choice but to get on board … benefits of EU membership were almost immediate. Forget the miracle of Thatcherism; the single market was a huge boost for the UK after it began to catch up after 30 years of decline…. We threw it all away in a spasm of nostalgia and stupidity … small band of ultras who dream of a return to empire … think we are a superpower … dragged us back to the 1950s … ‘Anyone stupid enough to want to go back to the 1950s did not live through the 1950s’ … pretensions of grandeur that stifled any appreciation of Britain’s rightful place in the world … once gifted with political giants … Attlee, Churchill, Bevan, Bevin, Macmillan, Heath, Healey, Wilson and a dozen others – we now have political minnows in charge … no serious people with real experience … mainstream media is now owned and run by self-aggrandising tycoons who only care about how much power they have over the government … post Brexit decline of UK becomes clearer … Why are the French wealthier? Why are the poorest 20% of the British population poorer than the poorest Poles? Where has our trade gone? Why does USA think we are unimportant? Why is the NHS on its knees? … Small minded, insular, climate change denying little Englanders … the road back to common sense will be long and hard … but the tide is turning against the Gammons and Flagshaggers and their media friends … economic damage is too large, pettiness too blatant, the economy in permanent doldrums, tax burden rising for no apparent reason, the lies ever more pathetic … those who are trying to drag us back to the past must be defeated…

Tory MP Tobias Ellwood says both Tories and Labour are being dishonest over the disaster of Brexit

… Europe is stronger with Britain – a huge economy, fifth largest in the world being part of it. There is huge regret from the EU side that we have gone … there is an omerta about Brexit, even more so about mitigating its damage … experience proves that UK needs to be back inside the Single Market … ineptness of the referendum … construction was so poor … if something has been bodged so badly then it should be reconsidered entirely … Brexit is not worth the candle … we would be a richer country if we Rejoined the single market that Thatcher created … internationally people are baffled that we left the EU … this artificial world of both parties avoiding the subject because it so toxic and not working … damaging the UK economy …

Read Michel Barnier

Britain is a rickety union blown apart by the rancour that followed Brexit

… Brexit has triggered disputes over devolution….

What happens to British comedy when British politics becomes a joke….?

It is hard to say anything funny about Thick Lizzie’s 49 days in office … politics often trumps sound policy … nation state is seen as inadequate in the face of global challenges that only a united continent can tackle.

Read Private Eyelines

Theresa May is making Tory whips perspire

… publication of her book ‘Abuse of power’ … describes how trust in politicians and public institutions has been eroded … government hardly in strongest position … eruption from May is last thing her party needs…. the whole issue of Russian interference in our politics … Johnson’s relationship with Lebedev …. May criticising Johnson, Thick Lizzie and Richy Scumbag … she chose Headline, a publisher not within the Murdoch stable … with a reputation for holding the powerful to account …

Theresa May Cat — The stench of Brexit is unbearable – Theresa May

The only purpose in inviting Thick Lizzie to speak at public events is to laugh at her expense

… images of a lettuce in a blonde wig …

Martin Ivens, editor of Sunday Times in 2016

… assured executives that paper would be on the side of common sense in EU referendum … something happened … Ivens informed same executives that paper would back Brexit … last weekend David Smith … economic outlook, chose not to mention he worked for a pro Brexit paper … described the decision to leave as ‘daft’ … long depressing review of what happened … 60% of population believe to leave was daft … Brexit has had a disastrous effect on politics, trust in politicians … competence in government …

Difference between a nationalist and a patriot

… a nationalist wastes a week of government time obsessing on small boats … and on transferring refugees to a barge infected with Legionella … national pride has been horribly poisoned by Brexit … this nation is held hostage by a gang of liars, cheats and has beens

Much of the best journalism nowadays is done by non journalists

… several of our newspapers do not do journalism they do Tory propaganda … chaotic incompetence of the last few years … print whatever is served up by Tory spin machine … Tory Peer picked up £200M … for providing 25 million medical gowns that did not meet the required standard … National Crime agency is taking an absolute age investigating potential fraud … sums of money involved are mind blowing … a disgrace … a country run by and for the Tories … any decent lawyer attached to the government should be ashamed (COMMENT: does he mean Dominic Raas?) … shows how far we have fallen as a country … under this populist rabble …. Something you would expect in Russia or Zimbabwe…

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

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The Future Is Yours

Updated on

27/08/2023 by author

Peter Cook

The Future Is Yours. Don’t Let Them Take It From You by Simon Stiel.

I am 36 years old and you may think I have not been around long enough to have a view about Britain and Europe. I will do what I can here.

As a child, I was privileged in that Europe seemed local to me. 80% of the world’s population has never been aboard a plane. With family members on the continent, flights during the summer or Christmas holidays were run of the mill. So were day trips going on either cross-channel ferries, hovercrafts, catamarans or later the Eurostar.

When the single currency was introduced, I was in Year 10 at school. I first heard the opinion that Britain should leave the European Union and I was sympathetic to that view. I held beliefs then that I now find ridiculous. One was the introduction of the Euro was a sign of the Third Reich being reborn. Europe being dominated by a malevolent power. Britain had things that were special like Parliament, the common law etc. The European Union threatened that or so I thought.

For my A Levels, I studied Government and Politics. I learned how the European Union worked and that Britain, far from being dominated by the European Union had been a key member and had secured opt-outs from moves promoting integration. We succeeded in getting opt-outs like keeping the British pound and the rebate during the Eighties.

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In June 2005 and on the then 30^th anniversary of holding of the 1975 referendum and while sitting my exams, I watched the documentary How We Fell for Europe. Made by Michael Cockerell, I found it excellent and it challenged my views. It showed that contrary to the belief that Britain was deceived into joining the European Community, it showed that advocates for membership were open that sovereignty was being sacrificed. One poster from the Keep in Britain in Europe campaign had the slogan: “Forty million people died in two European wars this century. Better to lose a little national sovereignty than a son or daughter.”

It was also in 2005 that I went to Berlin and Krakow for a school history trip. It was sobering seeing where the Berlin Wall used to divide the city. It was a wonderful experience visiting Krakow too. and it was just a year after Poland became a member of the EU. A year later I found my late Polish grandfather Erwin’s family in the town of Radlin, Poland after writing a letter to an address. In 2008 for the European Universities Debating Championships, I travelled to Tallinn, Estonia as part of Queen Mary, University of London’s team.

If you are given a crummy product, you return it, get your money back and get compensation from those who mis-sold it to you.

Germany had been divided by over forty years. Poland and Estonia had been dominated by another power. They were EU member states. They valued their freedoms, parliaments, identities and languages intensely. So why did many see the EU as a threat to British identity and freedom?

Margaret Thatcher made that point herself in 1975 as Leader of the Opposition and as part of the Keep Britain in Europe campaign: “It is a myth that our membership of the Community will suffocate national tradition and culture. Are the Germans any less German for being in the Community, or the French any less French? Of course they are not!”

The Keep Britain in Europe campaign was well-run in 1975. They had the facts ready to show to voters how being in the European Community benefited local areas throughout Britain. They took their opponents seriously.

Learn how to Brexorcise your colleagues

It would be a different matter in 2016. The Remain campaign was complacent and the Leave side won.

When the result was announced, I felt sick. I graduated from university in 2008 just as the recession hit and I had struggled to find paid work. The struggles led to a nervous breakdown in 2013. It took me a year to recover and in December 2014, I was confirmed autistic by the NHS. It did not come as a surprise to those who really knew me. It was a relief to me. After another year of trying to find paid work, I had got a job through a programme offered by Buckinghamshire Council at the time. As many others did, I had struggled. Why would we want to add to those difficulties by leaving the European Union and face great uncertainties?

I thought the referendum would be a close result and in favour of Remain. We are still living with the hurt and bitterness seven years later. I want to make clear I have no ill-will in any shape or form to anyone who voted Leave. I respect the secret ballot and I do not ask people how they voted on 23 June 2016.

Brexit is going to do nothing to help us address those problems. The Office of Budget Responsibility has pointed out that the Brexit has caused a 4% loss to the British economy. Many now face carnets, paperwork and regulations to play music and do business on the continent that took decades to remove. Many have been hurt in the process of Brexit and will continue to be under the present arrangements. What we have now is far worse than what we could have had and definitely worse than what we did have. Far from taking back control, we are not in control and we have to pay to access European Union bodies with no say now in how they are run.

Join us with Jonty Bloom to discuss musicians and Brexit

I have thought about leaving Britain. I certainly see myself feeling at home in France, Germany or Poland. Perhaps even further afield like Canada, South Korea or Japan. However, there is much of Britain I have not visited. I love Britain while hating what is being done to it. Leaving it would be too painful as I would miss so much: family, friends and places.

The debate about Europe is not about young v old, rural v urban, regions/nations or about party allegiance. It is about how we can find solutions to address the problems facing British society today and properly reboot Britain: how to create wealth; provide educational opportunities; tackle structural inequalities; address health inequalities; promote and further arts and culture; safeguard the environment; recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and come up with solutions to have more sustainable transport and ways of living.

Read Pay as EU go

Repairing our relationships with our closest neighbours will be tough. I would like to make the following suggestion. I hope that alliances are formed between voters, incumbent MPs and parliamentary candidates cross-party on one policy: rejoin the EU. Editor’s note : Join GIna Miller’s True and Fair party.

That way, it could become possible we could start to heal ourselves by asking ourselves difficult questions and to dispel the misperceptions about the European Union that persisted for decades and that the Leave side could exploit in 2016. We could have a dialogue with the 27 member-states and gain the benefits of club membership once again.

Take on the Brexit machine with arguments and evidence. Do not give up. After all, if losing meant you give up your cause, the Leave side would have given up and shut up decades ago. They were beaten comprehensively in the 1975 referendum: they didn’t give up. The Labour manifesto in the 1983 General Election called for Britain to leave the European Community. Labour was beaten comprehensively in that election: leavers didn’t give up.

Read Were you played?

It would be a start and it would also offer hope to many voters; particularly those born in 2004-05 who will be voting for the first time in the next General Election. I implore people to use their vote in whatever way they see fit whether it’s queuing at a polling station, voting by post or by proxy. If a Conservative ultra-safe seat like Chesham and Amersham can change hands, so could anywhere else in Britain.

There is much to criticise about Edward Heath’s conduct as Prime Minister and after he left office. However, what he said during the 1975 European Community referendum has resonated with me.

“The future is yours. Don’t let them take it from you.”

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The Don

Updated on

24/08/2023 by author

Peter Cook

Don Adamson writes from his hollow in Barnsley where he contemplates everything from the Disney Longstocking prison ship to Boris Johnson’s sacking from journalism and beyond.

This week’s homework:

One – Some people would say that Chris Mullins was an under rated minister. He felt strongly about efficiency and economy. He would never make a decision until he was satisfied that the proposal was a) effective and b) economical. His staff officers complained that he sometimes took this to the point of diminishing returns. Sooner or later you come to the point where the cheapest thing you can do is sign the cheque and get on with it. Are there any ministers in this government who can be criticised for being over economical and over efficient?

Two – Trump faces 91 indictments. a) Will he score a century? b) Trump calls this a Which Hunt. Is that because he does not know which indictment is which?

Three – I looked in at the Iceland supermarket to buy provisions. The young lady at the checkout said she like my Bulwarks to Brexit cap; for which I thanked her. With the benefit of hindsight perhaps I should have told her that the people in charge of Iceland used to be ardent supporters of Brexit. We hear less of that nowadays. Do I understand that even the people who own Iceland have noticed that Brexit has not turned out to be the earthly paradise we used to hear so much about? Have even the people who own Iceland noticed that Brexit is doing a FUBAR on the British economy?

This week’s quotes:

Rupert Murdoch

… used to grant more audiences to Richy Scumbag than even his arch toady Johnson … passion appears to have cooled…

JCB Chairman Lord Bamford

… said in 2016 that UK was the fifth biggest economy in the world … last year UK dropped to 6^th largest … Bamford in no way apologetic for his position on Brexit but wails ‘Isn’t our country in a mess now?’

Read Changing Minds on Brexit

Immigration no immigration dream of Brexiters lies in tatters

… no public acceptance of this by the government … compared with what we had before Brexit the system is costly, time consuming, badly run, wrapped in miles of red tape and is nothing more than a huge anchor holding the economy back … Brexiters are in full retreat. While publicly lecturing business on the need to conjure up new British employees out of thin air … privately lowering the thresholds under which foreign workers can come to Britain … quite a turnaround … foreign workers can come to Britain at great expense and bother to themselves … makes sectors of the economy look aghast at the government making their lives more difficult … hospitality…. government has come up with what in Blackadder would be described as a ‘cunning plan’ … a pathetic ruse to claim that immigration is not happening when in reality it is … an arrogant, ignorant fantasy … desperation leads the government to propose ridiculous policies like these … Scumbag’s team is torn between populist rhetoric it spews out and reality .. a moribund economy where growth is non existent … a disaster happening before our eyes … latest ruses make it harder for universities to recruit foreign students, even though they are the only thing keeping the further education sector afloat … At least in Italy the far right has woken up to reality … in our surreal politics government promises cuts to immigration knowing full well that it is neither in the national interest or possible…

Number Crunching

7.47M is the number of people on National Health Service waiting lists (up since Richy Scumbag pledged to reduce them). – 8% proportion of NHS budget spent transferring patients to private care … £318M cost of housing 500 refugees in cramped Bibby Stockholm barge for a year … £15.25M Cost of sending 500 refugees on a Disney cruise for a year.

Disney Boat — Live scenes from the Disney Longstocking.

Hack watch

Nick Timothy, Telegraph correspondent … Britain faces multiple, complex crises … everything seems frozen by uncertainty, ignorance and fear. The understanding is not there, the ideas are not there … The challenges we face are truly enormous, yet our politics has never seemed smaller … Capitalism as we know it has failed. Not even the Tories can defend it…

Michael Gove told last month’s conference of Local Government Associations

… financially struggling councils were a handful of cases, the exception … six councils have declared themselves bankrupt since 2020 … several others could join them … Kensington and Chelsea (Conservative) …deficit of £47M by 2027 … Kent County Council (Conservative) … faces a deficit of £86M this year … Hartlepool (Conservative since 2019) …even with a 5% increase in council tax deficits could increase to 8M … Warwickshire (Conservative) … worst cases scenario of £106M deficit by 2028 … Guildford (Lib Dem since May previously Conservative) … £300M debts …

Coutts furore with Nigel Garbage

Coutts indicated the decision was not about politics but corporate image… Mad Nad Dorries is taking a break from her little watched show on Talk TV … less than 3,000 views on YouTube … has not spoke in Commons for a year … her constituency want her to resign for her lack of work … most MPs don’t give a toss about the public …

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Horizon Europe

Richy Scumbag’s stance continues to baffle EU officials, UK universities and research community … haggling over pennies … Brexit Britain procrastinates while other countries queue to join, New Zealand is latest non EU country to apply for associate membership … Scumbag is determined to de-Europeanise education and research … Scumbag is committed to government’s own half baked Pioneer scheme …

Immigration legal aid lawyers in South West England have zero capacity to take on asylum seekers housed on Bibby Stockholm

… makes a nonsense of Deputy PM’s claims that the barge will make processing easier … Dowden also complained he did not hear howls of outrage of use of floating accommodation in other countries … Silya Europa in Netherlands has been controversial for the last year…

Lobbying by MPs government promised reform

… not much has changed … income from outside jobs up to £4.75M from £4M … Tory MPs … make multiples of their salaries … standards committee concluded that placing limits on outside work was too difficult … plenty of room at the trough …

Read our Gutterpress pages

Horizon

Britain should rejoin … without further delay … British sciences face major obstacles … British scientists are clamouring to get back into Horizon … Richy Scumbag sees three arguments against … none stand up to scrutiny … Tories trumpeting planned Britain only project Pioneer … cannot match … Horizon … hard-line Gammons argued Britain could keep benefits of membership … difficult to find a better example than Horizon … Researchers and universities say delay over Horizon has cost the country … If Scumbag is serious about supporting British science he should stop dithering and sign up without delay ..

Brexit has failed

… London Stock Exchange looks increasingly moribund … Brexit has not made it easier to manufacture in UK … exporting has become more complicated … Britain is a diminished actor in export markets … failed to bring in investment … shrank by nearly half in 2022 … Britain is going backwards … Britain’s finance sector battered by Tories … workers have fared no better … raw sewage pumped into English waterways … failing health service… Brexit is a catastrophe for the country which those who campaigned for it claimed to love … Nigel Garbage now barely mentions the B-word … Johnson’s weekly Daily Mail column is largely a B-word free zone … no wonder Mail executives are ever more loudly asking each other ‘whose f*****g idea was this?’ … meanwhile true believer Richy Scumbag quietly drops, yet again, plans for new checks on imports from EU of farm produce … Who would have thought it, apart from those people who warned it would happen? … If Brexit was going well we would never hear the end of it…

48 52 Brexit — Brexit has failed. Click to read our article from 2021.

Eurosceptics are Ecosceptics

This time they will wreck the plant … When you have done all you can to wreck the nation what is next? Answer: wreck the planet … two projects are two sides of the same ugly coin … striking membership overlap between the European (not much) Research Group and the Net Zero scrutiny Group … Lord Frost, former chief Brexit negotiator, claimed, extraordinarily that ‘rising global temperatures are likely to be beneficial’ … both ideologies involve a shocking indifference to evidence and data … distaste for ‘experts’ … same paranoid suspicion of ‘global elites and conspiracies’ … Nigel Garbage is the key figure moving further and faster than most Tory MPs are prepared to go … all horribly familiar … classic disruptive playbook, first devised by the tobacco industry and now the basis of most populist politics … put the frighteners on Keith Starmer … you might think that Brexit did more than enough damage …

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Johnson is a person who rarely stays the course

… his Daily Mail gig likely to be no exception … Rothermere, mindful that Keith Starmer has promised to end non dom tax status, is less concerned that the column is desperately boring as its ceaseless digs at Richy Scumbag…

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