Today we hit Leeds town centre at 11.00 at the Henry Moore Art Gallery – See the Yorkshire Evening Post:
Tomorrow, we go to Durham and Barnard Castle to get our eyes checked. We have written a special version of Old Durham Town to mark the occasion – see below
On Monday we head to Broughton at the Airbus factory, then Tarpoley and Rugby in the evening.
On Tuesday we are thinking about Worcester and Hereford, but need support to complete this journey
Hope to see you at one of these events.
Then we’re back on to building a viable opposition to encourage our politicians to show a little backbone.
“Magic Bus” by The Who from “Live at Leeds” seems to sum today rather well … Where is the £350 million every week for the NHS? Boris’ £3 billion is just 8 weeks of the promised support on the magic bus …
It’s great that some Remainers are still raging against Brexit. I am one of them, but I know some who are politely sighing and saying “ah well, it’s over, that’s Brexit done, we’ve left the EU, tut tut, what a shame, that’s the next fifty years and our children’s future gone, but hey we tried.”
So it was brilliant to join Leeds for Europe and Bradford for Europe in the Britastrophe Tour protest outside the Art Gallery in the centre of Leeds on Saturday. There were about fifty socially-distanced people there waving EU flags and banners, such as “109,000 Leeds Jobs at Risk from a No-Deal Brexit”. I held a placard reading “One Crisis at a Time” which I think is an excellent point – who needs the total uncertainty of Brexit on top of a global pandemic with the Government’s muddly messages that “there may be a second wave coming this winter” neatly contrasted with “it will all be over by Christmas!” Read the report by The Yorkshire Post – Britain’s most trusted newspaper.
We very much enjoyed listening to Peter Cook’s anti-Brexit songs – my favourite lyric was the rewrite of “Another Brick in the Wall” as “Another Prick in the Mall”. Afterwards we marched up The Headrow passing many people who were giving us a thumbs up and some police asking what it was about – though the banners, I felt, did give something of a hint.
Just one bloke decided to make what I think was supposed to be the noise of a sheep at us – which is interesting, since I consider any “sheep” to be the ones who have been mindlessly chanting “Get Brexit Done” and “Leave Means Leave” without knowing anything about what the results might be.
I live in Skipton and enjoyed meeting the Leeds for Europe people there – it was a well-organised and heartening event, and got a good write-up in the Yorkshire Post. It was good to know that there are other people who are not prepared to sit back and simply sigh as the destruction of Brexit slips through.
The Britastrophe Tour makes its final stops at Worcester St Andrew’s Spire (10.30) and Eastnor Castle (12.00) today. To those that have asked if we can visit them to give talks or musical performances with the Bollocks to Brexit Mini, the answer is yes, but the project needs support via “Let’s Re-Boot Britain“.
Oh yes, and where’s the Russia report? We accessed a secret copy below. Read the details …
It seems that Leave voters elected to “take back control” of the UK for the following reasons:
So an unelected technocrat could run the country (Dominic Cummings)?
So Russian oligarchs could infiltrate our institutions and spread communism through the country?
So that our NHS could be sold off? Yesterday Parliament voted against protecting the NHS from foreign control in case you missed this amidst stories of a 3 year old baby in a 3 month old baby’s skin.
Answers on a postcard please.
Today we take to Parliament to ask for Brexit to be suspended in the wake of Russian interference in elections and other matters. Be there, or write to your MP to ask them to do the same.
In March 2019, Parliament’s Intelligence Committee finished an investigation into Russian interference in British politics. Their report is controversial since the subject matter includes a major Russian operation in 2016 supporting Brexit, the flow of Russian money into British politics, particularly to the Tories. and the attendance of senior Tories, including Johnson and Dominic Cummings at events held by the ‘Conservative Friends of Russia’. This group was founded by Nabolin, a London based diplomat who has been linked to Russian foreign intelligence. Cummings also worked in Russia between 1994 and 1997, and may have met figures in Russian politics, intelligence and security.
Johnson prevented the Committee publishing its report before the General Election and then delayed renconvening it. No 10 worked hard to install a compliant stooge as chairman – former minister ‘Failing Grayling’, so-called for his many failures whilst in office. Despite their efforts, opposition MPs on the committee persuaded a Tory, Julian Lewis, former chair of the defence select committee, to take the chair instead. Johnson and Cummings reacted by expelling Lewis from the Tory party.
Lewis has lost no time in publishing the report. Johnson immediately rejected the committee’s call for an intelligence report into “potential interference in the EU referendum”, insisting the government had seen “no evidence” of such meddling. SNP committee member Stewart Hosie said there was no evidence because the government “did not want to know”. This is not surprising, given Johnson’s own Russian contacts and his need to support the flimsy credibility of the referendum. Rather than face the Russian threat, Tory governments placed party unity, and appeasing extremist Tory Brexiteers over the interests of Britain as a whole and the prosperity of its citizens. Meanwhile the Russian Ambassador, Alexander Yakovenko, returned to Moscow last year to be decorated by Putin. He is said to have remarked:
“We have crushed the British to the ground. They are on their knees and will not rise for a very long time.”
Write to your MP Call for Brexit to be suspended pending a full investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 referendums and elections in general
Some translations of recent populist oratory aka mutterings from the Dominic Cummings’ car boot camp of catchphrases. They fit neatly into the vernacular of the dodgy used Brexit car salesman. Whilst we are here:
“There was no suggestion of Russian interference in the Brexit referendum”
We did not look for any interference so none was found
“We’re taking back control of our borders, laws and money”
We are spending £20 billion per year on red tape
“Security is not political”
We have handed over our national security to Russia
A bright new future
“The NHS is not for sale”
We just passed a law that allows us to sell the NHS
“We’ll pursue an Australian Brexit deal”
There is no such thing as an Australia deal
“Good British common sense”
Mob rule
“Strong and Stable”
Dogmatic and insipid
Build, Build, Build
“Let me be clear”
Stand by for mendacity and obfuscation
“Let’s move on”
I don’t have an answer that won’t embarrass me.
“Brexit means Brexit”
We still don’t know what the fuck Brexit is …
“We’re all in this together”
We’re in this for ourselves and fuck the rest of you
“We’re committed and determined to do whatever”
We’ve no intention of doing anything
Banged up by unscrupulous police man
“Stay at home, Control the virus”
Go on a road trip with a baby and spread the virus to Geordies
“There will be adequate food” (Michael Gove)
We are prepared to let the poor starve
“Tough choices”
Easy victims
“Get Brexit done”
Sit on our hands and pretend to negotiate, but in reality do sod all
“People I speak to on the doorstep tell me”
I don’t speak to those plebs but they voted us in and this is what we’re going to do so fuck off
Would you buy a used car from these people?
“What the Great British public wants”
I don’t feel I can argue this point, but we’re in power and we’ll do what we please – fuck off!
“Let us be clear”
Let me fill the space with some meaningless drivel
“No deal is better than a bad deal”
We have messed up completely, totally lost out, can’t give in so we quit
“World-beating”
No one else counts
“We are not lowering British Food standards”
We just passed a law that we are lowering British Food standards
Thanks to Chris J. Stafford, Tony Vail, Charlotte Beyer, Finn Jackson, Don Adamson, Dominique Boulliez, Bill Sylvester, Edward Holmes, Nicola Tipton, Andrew Wallace, Jane Berry, Paul Anders, Stephen Corsham, Andy Janes, Sue Banting, Richard Henson, Nikki Fothergill, Jeremy Clarke, Arno Elout
It seems that the excess deaths from Corona (approximately 30 000) are now OUR fault and nothing to do with the extremely late decisions of the Johnson Government, pre-occupied with bonging Brexit bells and minting Brexit coins. “Slimfast Johnson” has launched a war on Britain’s fatties, having previously told the nation to eat what we like. The 17 stone clinically obese manchild has done this at a time when some other news was “forgotten” …
Dominic Cummings, architect of Vote Leave Lies, has said that Brexit may be a mistake.
17 Tories have been caught with Russian donations in their “tills”. The list includes “Dishy Rishi Sunak” (slim) and Business Secretary Alok Sharma, Robert Buckland and Brandon Lewis.
Brexit talks have reached another impasse, with an illegal No Deal Brexit on the horizon to compound the problems from Corona.
Instead of dealing with these problems, Johnson plans to do dance classes from No 10 to fight the flab.
Never mind the future of the country, slim for Britain
A new branch of economics has been launched by the Daily Mail : Eugenomics. Under Eugenomics, most of The Mail’s readership are judged worthless and a burden on society. It’s interesting that The Mail choose to publish piece below rather like an accountant might make a business appraisal, in the third person as a study rather than an opinion piece. Somehow this normalises the underlying genocide that is being sold to the nation.
Kill your grandparents is the core message here … An upbeat presentation of The Final Solution from The Daily Maul without any doomsayers. However the cheery dispassionate article asks some difficult questions:
How much are your parents and grandparents worth?
Is life to be measured solely in economic terms?
By the NHS formula COVID damage at £70 bn is three times less than current Brexit losses at > £200 bn
Will you submit to the same spreadsheet analysis when you are old?
How long will it be before Boris Johnson puts forward the herd immunity strategy disguised in a sugar coated phrase such as “the greater good”?
Strangely, this level of analysis has not been applied to Brexit by our Government, where a mathematical appraisal is more appropriate. We have already spent more on Brexit than all of our contributions to the EU and we have not even begun Brexit yet. It seems that The Daily Mail can account for the value of old people’s lives using Nazi styled economics but we cannot apply similar principles to young people’s livelihoods under Brexit.
Boycott The Daily Mail, Express and Sun if you find this awful. Ask your friends to do the same.
People moving out, people moving in Why? Because of the color of their skin Run, run, run but you sure can’t hide An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth Vote for me and I’ll set you free Rap on, brother, rap on
Well, the only person talking about love thy brother is the preacher And it seems nobody’s interested in learning but the teacher Segregation, determination, demonstration, integration Aggravation, humiliation, obligation to my nation
Ball of confusion Oh yeah, that’s what the world is today Woo, hey, hey
The sale of pills are at an all time high Young folks walking round with their heads in the sky The cities ablaze in the summer time And oh, the beat goes on
Evolution, revolution, gun control, sound of soul Shooting rockets to the moon, kids growing up too soon Politicians say more taxes will solve everything And the band played on
So, round and around and around we go Where the world’s headed, said nobody knows Oh, great Googamooga Can’t you hear me talking to you?
Just a ball of confusion Oh yeah, that’s what the world is today Woo, hey, hey
Fear in the air, tension everywhere Unemployment rising fast, the Beatles new record’s a gas And the only safe place to live is on an Indian reservation And the band played on
Eve of destruction, tax deduction, city inspectors, bill collectors Mod clothes in demand, population out of hand, suicide, too many bills Hippies moving to the hills, people all over the world are shouting ‘End the war’ and the band played on
Great Googamooga Can’t you hear me talking to you?
It’s a ball of confusion That’s what the world is today, hey, hey Let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya
Sayin’ ball of confusion That’s what the world is today, hey, hey Let me hear ya, let me hear ya Let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya Sayin’ ball of confusion
Meanwhile, the anti-maskers are doing their best to kill their parents …
From Nigel Farridge, to Bobby Moore, 48-52, we knew the score …
The Russian report was released just one day before the Government went on holiday. Since that time it has sunk without trace, more quickly than a Russian double agent takes her bra off in a James Bond movie. In this post we explore what needs next to happen rather than burying the report under the weight of a Slimming for Britain campaign, run by “Fatboy Slim Johnson”
In spite the praise heaped by Ministers on nurses and other heroic NHS staff, many of whom sacrificed their lives, Boris Johnson has refused to give them any pay rise as a reward for their long, dangerous hours. This disgrace must be remembered as long as he holds office.
A week or so ago, Johnson was asked whether clapping was really all they merited. He replied “Yes,of course we clap for our NHS – but under this government we also applaud those who make our NHS possible – our innovators, our wealth creators, our capitalists, our financiers.” The last two certainly qualify to be Johnson’s particular heroes. On March 8/9 last year, the Times gave the names of 28 British billionaires who live abroad, mainly in tax havens. These people pay almost nothing towards the NHS. That comes from our taxes. But these overseas plutocrats do prop up the Tory party, eg to the tune of over £1m before the 2017 election, despite a 2009 law designed to clamp down on such contributions. They may indeed be heroes to Mr Johnson and his cronies but no one else has any reason to clap for them.
A Government that knows the cost of everything but the value of nothing
Sadly Sir Captain Tom Moore’s heroic efforts to raise money for the NHS are also not going the help. The NHS is unable to receive charitable gifts. Tom’s marvellous effort of £32 million actually pales into insignificance when compared with Johnson’s promise of £350 million EVERY week. The NHS does not run on charity, nor does it run on applause. Let’s run it properly.
