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Populism will eat itself

More like this at Private Eyelines
The Son

Remember, the withdrawal agreement was a 2019 ELECTION PROMISE. It’s not even a year on and Johnson has broken his marriage vows, his election promises and caused at least 30 000 unnecessary deaths. Are you still happy about this?

Write to your MP and demand that Boris admits that he lied to win the election. Ask them to oppose Johnson’s reckless Brexit.

Dressing down for COVID

Britain has abandoned a £75 million plan to make vital items of reusable protective clothing to guard against a second wave of Covid-19. The plan had been drawn up in negotiations between the Cabinet Office  – responsible for key government policies – and industry after criticism in March that the government had failed to build up stocks of PPE. Shortages of gowns and related items in hospitals and care homes were widely blamed for the rapid early spread of the virus, leading to a high death rate of more than 41,000 (in all probablility more than double that due to changing the metrics and slippery accounting). which made the UK fifth-worst in the world,

As well as meeting NHS needs, the plan had two ambitious and beneficial goals:

  • To support the UK textile industry. Most protective garments are imported from low-cost nations. The millions of protective gowns for our health workers would have come from UK factories.
  • To reduce waste. Protective gowns are mostly discarded after one use, adding to the UK’s waste mountain. The gowns to be produced with new technology could be reused up to 100 times each.

In addition, a centralised UK programme would have ensured compliance with rigid quality standards which  cheap overseas suppliers have too often failed to meet. Orders for foreign gowns have proved to be sub-standard and unusable, causing unanticipated shortages. But 3 months of talks between industry and the Cabinet Office have ground to a halt after officials failed to agree the details of the scheme. The discussions ended after officials realised that, following protracted delays , many health trusts had placed their own local orders for gowns, reducing the need for the project. The Government has not announced the ending of the talks.

The cancellation of the project has been heavily criticised by industry.  Adam Mansell, chief executive of the UK Fashion & Textile Association, representing manufacturers, designers and suppliers, said:

“There had been a fantastic opportunity for the government to tap into Britain’s technical expertise on textiles to set up a sustainable supply of reusable gowns made in the UK. The way the government has handled this project has been poor and says little for its commitment to help UK manufacturing.” 

Yvette Ashby, chief executive of the Professional Clothing Industry Association Worldwide, added:

“The people working on this [in the Cabinet Office] appear to have little understanding of how the textile industry works. Their approach has sometimes appeared chaotic.”

Japanese textile maker Toray – which would have made most of the material for the project in a plant in Mansfield – said the Cabinet Office had been “slow and indecisive”. Had the government committed to the project, Toray said it would have been ready to increase investment in its UK plant. 

David Stevens, chief executive of the Textiles Services Association, representing laundries which would have recycled the gowns (by washing each one 40-100 times) said the plan would have made “a lot of sense from both an environmental and economic perspective”. 

Heathcoat Fabrics, with a big factory in Devon, said the failure of the talks was “a huge opportunity missed to not only eliminate any future supply issues but to also help the domestic textile industry at a time when jobs and unemployment are going to be a key issue”. 

Officials may have had problems with the  proposal to spread manufacturing  around the country,  preferring it to be concentrated in a few places. If so, this seems to be more a case of “Dressing Down” rather than “levelling up” poorer regions by Johnson’s Government, (where many of the UK textiles businesses are distributed).  But the main factor was that while the talks were dragging on – with no sign that officials were close to a decision – many of the over 200 individual health trusts around the UK opted not to wait for the outcome, but instead placed their own orders, to avoid being caught out again by a second wave of the pandemic. Cabinet Office officials failed to foresee this result of their dithering. This has enabled the major suppliers of gowns from overseas to continue to dominate a market which British industry could have reclaimed as its own,  The Cabinet Office under Dominic Cummings has failed to provide a sustainable and reliable supply of PPE  equipment, of sufficiently high standards to meet NHS needs and providing badly needed employment to our textile industry.

The responsibility for this debacle rests squarely on Cummings and his rabble of advisors imported into Number 10.

They are not competent to handle commercial affairs and should be debarred from any future involvement in COVID procurement activity.

Write to your MP with this article via WRITE TO THEM.

The Drugs Don’t Work

In this post, Wendy Nowak outlines the real issues facing those of you on medication if we allow Brexit to happen.

The Facts of Life … and Death

Believe it or not many of you will be affected by medicine shortages if Brexit happens come 31st December 2020.  Here I explain why I’ve been extremely worried for the past two years.

As soon as I heard rumours about shortages of medicines, alarm bells started ringing in my head. They are ringing even louder these days. I’m Type 2 diabetic and am prescribed insulin to control it, which is sometimes the case with Type 2s. Without insulin the complications of uncontrolled diabetes are dire

  • Blindness
  • Kidney failure
  • Cardio vascular disease
  • Amputation

By the way, Type 1 diabetics are totally dependent on insulin for survival. Only about 0.5% of the insulin used in the UK is manufactured here.  It is also animal insulin which not many diabetics can take. The rest comes mainly from Denmark or Germany, from the big manufacturers Novo Nordisk and Sanofi Deutschland.  The other issue with insulin is that, being temperature sensitive, it is not easy to stockpile. Before the last Brexit deadline the government promised they would buy loads of extra fridges and engage a wonderful ferry company to ship over our meds.  Remember Seabourne?  They didn’t actually have any ferries.  Another government scam, which made me fear for my life even more.

Editor’s note: This has been the case for many years. In my early years I worked at Wellcome who used to make much of the supply of beef insulin. I worked on the breakthrough treatment of human insulin with Novo Nordisk. A proud moment in my life, only to be thrown away by a government that only understands money rather than quality of life and lies systematically to make us forget the meaning of life.

A group small group of us, one of whom is a retired medic, got together online to organise demos and die-ins, along with FB posts and tweets, to raise awareness of this issue.  Considering the fact that this is a life or death issue the response from the British media and public has been appalling, which also worries me.  Despite numerous requests, the British media have more or less ignored us, up until fairly recently anyway.  Comments from the public ranged from brexiteers who basically don’t care if they or their relatives die as long as they get their blue passport (which isn’t actually blue!) to those who don’t quite understand the extent of the chaos we are facing.  That could be down to lack of coverage in the media.  There was also disbelief when faced with the hard facts which we laid before them, ie. The repeated warnings to the government from the medics and the pharma industry about shortages.

Are you prepared to see loved ones die for a blue passport?

Why we should all be worried?

Three quarters of our med supplies come from Europe. That figure is quoted in the government Yellowhammer report.  It’s not just about me and it’s not just about diabetes. It affects thousands of patients, including those suffering from cancer, those on dialysis, asthma, epilepsy, glaucoma, rheumatoid arthritis, many immune deficiencies and many more.  Anybody could be diagnosed with any of these conditions at any time.

The UK is pulling out of EURATOM, which guarantees our supply and ensures the safety of nuclear materials.  The radioisotopes necessary for cancer treatment and diagnostic scans are at risk.  They are also imported from Europe, are extremely time sensitive and cannot be stockpiled. Cancer patients are already being told that they will not be prioritised for treatment because they are over a certain age.  Are you OK with that?

Who cares about Brexit?

Uncool for Cats

Many veterinary medicines are also imported. These face the same issues as our own.  Brexit has also caused a shortage of EU vets (as indeed it has among our NHS staff) who have had enough of the hostile environment which now exists in the UK. Not only are our pets at risk, but these vets also monitor our farm animals and help to uphold our food standards.  Once again the warning went out a couple of years ago when we staged the Wooferendum marches.  Once again, not enough people listened.

Join us at Cats Against Brexit Mayhem

COVID + BREXIT = BRITASTROPHE

We had a stockpile of medicines (well, at least of those which can be stockpiled) as a no-deal contingency.  The pandemic has eroded these away, which leaves us in a dire situation in the event of no-deal.  This is before any second COVID wave hits us.

What am doing about this?

I have a bit of a dilemma. As a diabetic I have to ensure I don’t catch the virus, but if I sit back and do nothing I face severe illness or death from med shortages.  My risk assessment is that I can take precautions against COVID, such as wearing a mask, social distancing, hand-washing, but there’s nothing I can do if my meds run out. I go out protesting, socially distanced of course!  As I’ve been told many times ‘the government doesn’t care about you’. To everyone who thinks it’s okay to say that and then do nothing I say, ‘get out there’.  We the oppressed people of the UK need to show the government that WE care and we are willing to do hammer home that message. We are not willing to endure medicine, and indeed food shortages (I and many others need a healthy diet), enabled by their deception and corruption.

What can you do about this?

Write to your MP using this as a basis for your arguments. Ask for Brexit to be suspended.

Get out on the streets as Wendy suggests. It’s not too late to stop Brexit. Join us at Rage Against Brexit.

Indecent Proposals

The theme for our weekly roundup is “indecent proposals”. No, not the movie, but the continuing stream of outrageous law breaking, morally reprehensible behaviours of our ruling elite, moral hazard and cronyism.

How much are you worth?

We begin with a question. What would you be prepared to do in order to earn £175 000 for two days work per week? Seriously? Ask Boris Johnson.

Judgement day

Brexit has spawned a culture of mistrust amidst politicians and a response to “Take Back Control” through an assault on all the checks and balances that exist to prevent politicians acting as dictators. Last year we had the pro-rogation of Parliament when Boris Johnson could not get his own way re Brexit. This year there are moves afoot to suppress the power of judges. These are the behaviours of a banana republic.

Backbones needed

How happy are you to know that we have left the EU only to find that our Government is now controlled by agents of Vladimir Putin? This has been brilliantly articulated by Garry Lawrence who has sent 34 Tory MP’s a white feather in the post as an award for cowardice.


Hunt the rapist

The Tory party still refuse to take action on the rapist MP in their midst. In all other walks of life they would have been suspended. Whilst we understand that the law must also be allowed to take its course, in the specific example of public figures, the problem of not taking action is two-fold:

  • Everyone will be under suspicion in the interim.
  • The longer this goes on, the more damage to the reputation of the Tory party.
  • Then, of course, there is the poor victim to consider. That does not seem to be on the list of concerns for Boris Johnson

Austerity II

“Dishy Rishi” Sunak may soon no longer be the Tory poster boy, after it was revealed that he plans to raise taxes to pay for the Corona + Brexit Britastrophe.

Burying bad news

Our correspondent in Winchester was gobsmacked when she found out that the investigation into Cambridge Analytica has been called off by the ICO. This is the latest in a series of failures to respect democracy, the very thing that Leave voters say they voted for.

Shooting Stars

In our continuing culture wars, we were astonished to learn that a key advisor appointed by Dominic Cummings suggested that Police use live rounds on Black Lives Matter protestors.

Dead Cats and Real News

Our Government have resorted to putting lots of dead cats in the way of the real news about Brexit, COVID and so on. So this week, we have resorted to providing a whole front page dedicated to dead cats and the other to news.

The Daily Maul – To read more like this click on the image
Soaraway Sun – Click for more

If you MP voted for the Enabling Act and is a barrister, report them to the bar via Report your MP

If your MP voted for the Enabling Act, write to them via Write to Them. Explain the consequences of breaking international law.

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What troubles me most ?

You know what really troubles me about our Government? It’s the fact that nobody gives a damn about being lied to on a daily basis. My own brother typifies the condition known as learned helplessness, when he points out that he was lied to in 1996 about his pension by the Government and so he now expects to be lied to on a daily basis. Although he voted to Remain, he has swallowed the lie that we must not interfere with the “will of the people”, nor does he understand how he might go about this if he did.

Click on the image to read Reboot Britain

Mike Cashman devised an interesting way to test the nation’s agreeableness to being lied to with his “acceptometer”. It asks you to decide whereabouts on a Likert scale you are prepared to accept being lied to on a daily basis by politicians. Test yourself on this simple example:

Where do you draw the line?

It occurred to me that this very dark piece of music I wrote a while back sums up the essential value conflict that Mike speaks of. In the piece Nigel Farage reflects on the poverty of his existence in a kind of confessional, set against a very dark backdrop of synths and saxes in a retro futurist jazz mashup. This is not pop music!

We are donkeys

We will be taking the Bollocks to Brexit Mini Cooper out again soon with your support. We are looking at Hampshire, Yorkshire, Kent, Essex and London but are open to offers from feisty campaigners. Please provide your support via Bollocks. We take no prisoners.

Later with Jools Holland

Today we visited Cooling Castle, home of Jools Holland with the Bollocks to Brexit Mini Cooper. Here is a report from our resident maritime consultant and Brexit sea dog Don.

At Cooling Castle

I arrived at the rendezvous at 5 bells in the Afternoon Watch. That is 14.30 for landlubbers and when the big hand is on the six and the little hand is on the two for Gammons and Tories. My fellow Saboteurs came separately. For those who have not been paying attention “Saboteur” is the term of derision that Gammons and Tories chose to refer to decent people who oppose Brexit. The term quickly fell out of favour in Gammon and Tory circles when we pointed out that “Saboteur” was what Vichyites called the French Resistance. Comparing me to the French Resistance is about the nicest thing anybody ever said about me. I took it as a compliment: Vive les Saboteurs! “Vive la Resistance” Merde a Brexit!

Alo’ Vera – Brexit’s Comin’ ‘Ome

The Bulwarks to Brexitmobile led the convoy and we drove around the environs. We set up a stall in Gillingham High Street near the church and our musical director set up his gear and serenaded us with anti-Brexit music. I chose a spot where I could keep a look out for Gammons, Tories and nobbled coppers. We did not hand out leaflets for social distancing reasons. I saw somebody advance purposefully towards our musical director. I thought I might be needed but I did the newcomer an injustice. He wanted to get involved. Took a couple of our flags and joined in the fun.

Nigel Farage’s Garage – one of the songs we performed on the street

A few people gave filthy looks and made vulgar gestures then moved on quickly. For the most part people were supportive, gave the thumbs up and wanted to photograph us. After a while we set off for Rochester. It was much the same there. Some people walked off pointedly refusing to look at us while others gave the thumbs up. By this time my old knee injury was playing up so I decided to call it a day. I can walk for miles and feel better for it but standing around plays havoc with my old injuries.

People in Ashford are unhappy about recent developments. It has sunk in that Brexit is going to cause delays at Customs so this hopeless inept government is setting up a huge lorry park for stranded trade vehicles. The site had been chosen for a new Amazon facility that would have provided employment. Instead they are going to get trucks belching diesel fumes because the drivers will need to run the engines to keep refrigeration plants working. That will not improve the atmosphere at all. This is not the earthly paradise that the people of East Kent thought they would get when they voted for Brexit.

The Brexit Mindset summed up

Tomorrow we go to Tunbridge Wells on a circular tour starting at 11.00:

Route will include London Rd, High St, Sainsbury car park, Mt Pleasant, Town Hall,  Monson Rd, Camden Rd, Powdermill Lane, Southboro High St. Then back down St John’s Rd, Mt Ephraim Rd, brief stop at Victoria Place, back up Lime Hill to London Rd.

There remains a possibility to visit Hythe and East Kent later on tomorrow

Tory Brexit Scum

Tory Party Conference

We have just produced these materials for the Tory Party Conference. Please share them widely:

Tory Brexit Scum is a Country and Western Punk Rock song by the band X RAY BREX. Download the album via Bandcamp. PG rated.

Tory Brexit Scum – see how they run …

And just for balance, we conducted an interview with BBC One News this week. We made the point that support for Labour was conditional on them opposing Brexit, which is perfectly possible, despite a load of bullshit from some areas of Labour. The BBC cut our comment on Brexit, naturally, but it was mentioned by Rosie Duffield. See below:

Brexit NHS Farage

The NHS and Brexit


From a friend … This tells the story of the reality of Tory Brexit cuts in graphic detail …

Hi everyone, just want to explain to you all why I have been quiet since before Christmas.
Also to those of you that may be a bit cynical that the A&E is not in as bad a crisis as it seems.
I can tell you the images that are shown on TV are the easy on the eye images.
This is my experience please read to the end …
Before Christmas I had the flu virus. I made two attempts to get a doctor’s appointment. Both failed and I ended up needing antibiotics for what took place subsequently.
On Christmas Day I was in so much pain was taken to Medway hospital by ambulance had intravenous antibiotics sent home to come back Wednesday
On Wednesday attended SDEC (Same Day Emergency Care) after X-rays and bloods I was told I had severe pneumonia and pleurisy with infected fluid around my lung.
As no bed available I was sat in a recliner chair in SDEC treatment room 1.
There I stayed for 5 days.
There were 14 patients waiting for beds in an area that is not set up for long term patients hence SDEC.
in the day the general public and A&E patients were coming in for treatment next to us.
I was having constant iv painkillers antibiotics saline oxygen and nebuliser with all this going on around me.
As not a ward there were no washing facilities we had to use a public toilet which was often filthy NHS is short of cleaners.
I was left sitting in my own urine and diarrhoea as was too weak to walk out to the toilet. I vomited all down myself but no nurse was available to help me . The other patients were trying to help each other.
I honestly thought I would die in there.
The nurses were writing notes on paper towels as they had no paper.
Took 3 days to get a pillow and blanket.
I do not blame the nurses and other staff at all. They are so over worked and kept apologising for the situation. They are not equipped in that area for long term patients.
They had to search for breakfast and meals for us.
On the 6th day I was moved to a ward normally I hate going in to a ward but when I got there it felt as if I had stepped in to heaven it was clean, calm and quiet and when the nurse said would I like a wash (I had not had a wash for 6 days and had sores on my bottom).
I broke down sobbing. I had been so traumatised by what I experienced the nurse sat and held my hand to calm me.
I was in that ward for 2 days it felt like heaven.
I am now home with a 6 week recovery.
I do not blame the staff at the hospital.
I blame the Government.
“To get Brexit done“ they promised.
“To put £350 million EVERY WEEK into The NHS”.
“To build 40 new hospitals”.
“To fund and train 50,000 nurses”.
40, 000 have left the profession.
They have not delivered any of the above.
Our NHS is broken, A&E is in crisis and we need another A&E hospital towards Swale to cope with the amount of houses being built in Kent.
I am totally traumatised by what I experienced. No one should go to hospital and have to go through that.
Fuck The Tories.
This is their doing. They need to make it good.

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Keir Starmer and Rejoining the EU

I had a chance encounter with a Labour Councillor the other day whilst at gay pride in Rochester. We know each other from many years back and I like and respect him as a solid campaigner for Remain within the Labour party. He approached me because he recognised me from behind, as I had my ‘offensive swimming bag’ with me, pictured below.

Brexit-Watchers
Brexit-Watchers

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, he raised the issue of Labour’s strategy for Brexit. Here is what he told me:

“In our first term we will join EFTA.

In our second term we will have a referendum to rejoin the EU”.

Here is my analysis of this strategy, based on a much fuller treatment of the issue in my book Reboot Britain : Strategies to change minds on Europe and Brexit.

He claimed that Kier Starmer could not argue about ending Brexit at this time, due to his need to hold on to red wall seats at an election.  I dispute this position:

If Kier Starmer continues with the strategy of ‘making Brexit work’, he will be accused, quite rightly, of being a liar after being elected. This is the very thing that he has accused Boris Johnson and the Conservative party of doing and is therefore morally bankrupt.

Everyone knows that Starmer is a Remainer and therefore there would be no great loss if he were to remind us of this fact.  Boris Johnson reminds Keir Starmer of his EU / Remain credentials on a weekly and sometimes daily basis in parliament, so there is very little currency in the Daily Excess, Son or Maul revealing this ‘secret’.  Opinions about Brexit are changing rapidly, with Lord Sugar the latest person to call for Brexit to be reversed. 

The Labour Party seem to be terrified of the right-wing media, yet they themselves have a media machine.  Therefore, they ought to be able to put up a valid defence of his position if they needed to.  The Labour party somehow believe that their own media machine is inferior to the Tory party’s.  Perhaps Labour need to read my books as well.

My sense is that Keir Starmer is even more scared of the hard left element of his own party than the Conservatives and that this is driving his avoidance of the Brexit issue.  You have gotta love Mick Lynch’s ability to stand up and speak truth to power, but let’s not forget that Lynch is also a relic of the militant tendency from the 1980’s in terms of his wish to shut the borders and return us to Little Britain via Brexit myopia.

Let’s suppose that Starmer decided to ignore the hard left in his party. It is indeed possible that he would lose some votes in red wall seats.  Let’s guess that this may amount to 10% losses of seats in those areas. However he stands to gain anything like 20 to 40% of Conservative seats in other areas. Labour are allowing the militant tendency to dictate their strategy for re-election and this makes them no better than the bluekip Tories. I cannot recommend that any remainers vote for them under these circumstances, except where their candidates have a more enlightened view about Brexit.

My Councillor friend put it to me that Starmer simply cannot say the Brexit word at this time. Respectfully, I say this is horseshit.  He can say that Brexit isn’t working and has not delivered what was on ‘the brochure’ in 2016. He can also point to clear evidence to support such statements at this time, coming from UK in a changing Europe and our own work at Reboot Britain.  The Labour Party has fallen into the trap of believing that a poll in OK Magazine or the results of the latest focus group should dictate party policy. This is not leadership. Silence is assent and Starmer’s position is a clear demonstration of putting party before country, what Tony Blair describes as putting ideology before pragmatism.  I expected better from a clever man and I must conclude that, like the Tories, there are people who they are afraid of behind the scenes.

As regards Labour’s long-term plan, there are many flaws with this:

The EFTA countries are a small club of nations: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland who value collaboration over competition. It is unclear as to how such a club would wish to invite an aggressive competitor with a track record for wanting ‘cake and eat it too’ from its relationships with other trading partners. Brexit Britain has demonstrated a complete lack of regard for the role of international law,  breaking deals made with others and riding roughshod over nations that it considers to be inferior to itself. These are hardly the kinds of elements of a compelling psychological contract to join a new trading bloc.  Joining EFTA also means accepting the four freedoms of the EU.  How will this be put to the knuckle dragging red wall Brexiteers?

The assumption of a second term in office is also questionable, particularly if it becomes apparent that Starmer lied to get into power. This makes him equivalent to Johnson and the mainstream media would certainly weaponise this. The second doubtful assumption is that another referendum would be desirable or indeed practical. Brexit has divided the nation and I very much doubt that the nation will look back on 2016 and want to repeat the exercise with all that it has brought. It is entirely possible that, by this time, many people will have forgotten most of what Michael Gove glibly called ‘bumps in the road’ and will not wish to open up the debate again.  The longer we leave this question, the more difficult it becomes, as divergence will be complete and the damage to lives and livelihoods will be complete.

My friend assumed that the binary ping-pong politics model remain resilient into the future. This itself is questionable. Brexit has of course unleashed a disruptive influence on British politics, with a number of parties now standing for anything but the current system. Within the next few years we will see the emergence of Gina Miller’s True and Fair party, the possible resurgence of the Lib Dems in the South, the departure of Scotland from the United Kingdom and the emergence of other single-issue parties such as the Rejoin party. Under such circumstances, I’m doubtful as to whether ping-pong politics will remain the norm. My friend tried to deal with this with me by saying that if I didn’t vote Labour I would get the Tories. My reply was simple. I stated that I cannot vote for a Brexit party and that Labour must do better than this.

I am not sure whether the Labour strategy was given to my labour councillor friend in order to appease him or for him to use to appease me. Although miracles are sometimes possible, the strategy he presented has more holes in it than a piece of Swiss cheese banned by Liz Truss.  He is a very good chap and I wanted to believe him.  But I ended up with the feeling that he himself may well be hanging onto unicorns and trying to ‘believe harder’.

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