“That one can convince one’s opponents with printed reasons, I have not believed since the year 1764. It is not for that purpose that I have taken up my pen, but rather merely to annoy them, and to give strength and courage to those on our side, and to make it known to the others that they have not convinced us.”
G.C. Lichtenberg (1742 – 1799), courtesy of 'Deogolwulf'
The European Union's dis-union! Still, at least they provide a constant source of chuckles! Apparently, they have been trying to organise a "Conference on the Future of Europe" but, alas and alack, according to The Telegraph, they cannot agree on how or when or even who to direct it:
But the idea quickly became mired in inter-institutional squabbling, which has meant the overdue event ended up with no fewer than six presidents, rather than the single one originally planned. [My emphasis]
Could you trust them to organise a 'piss-up' in a brewery?
'Mrs. MacWhinge' sings the blues: According to sundry reports, the political wind in bonny Scotland is not exactly lifting 'Mrs. MacWhinge's kilt, let alone her spirits. At last, 'the Jocks' are taking a hard look at her and even more of them are unimpressed by what they see.
Farewell, Murray Walker, and thanks! I was very sorry to hear of the death of Murray Walker, the 'voice of F1 racing'. His Grand Prix commentaries were knowledgeable and entertaining.
Anyone fancy a game of marbles? Well, the Greeks do because they are repeating, yet again, their demand that Britain returns the Elgin marbles which were begged, borrowed or stolen (you choose!) by the beastly Brits back in the 19th century.
Don't misunderstand my title! I have nothing against Chinese people, having lived in Singapore for a couple of years, in general, I actually like and admire them. However, the brain-dead morons who rule the mainland of China are, as far as I can judge, totally despicable and stupid beyond belief! They have just announced restrictions on the two enormous, and enormously successful, high tech companies based in China and sacked their top managers. Not so much shooting yourself in the foot as shooting your computer and then the men who make them. Keep going 'Chairman Xi Pingaling' and you will soon reduce your great nation to the basket-case condition it was in for centuries. Just take a look at Singapore for an example, courtesy of the late, great Lee Kuan Yew, for an example on how to run a country!
Watching, happily from a distance, the total cock-up the EU have made of getting vaccinations to their people during this pandemic, compared to our own rather good efforts in this department, how happy and content I am that we got out from under the Brussels machine! They really could not organise a piss-up in a brewery! Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge sums it up, this:
While the vaccination programs in Israel, the United Kingdom and even the United States have gathered form and speed, it has stuttered and stumbled in the EU. The companies behind the vaccines have been patchy in their production lines. Authorities have put halts on jabs and in some cases, introduced rationing.
On occasions, we Brits make some colossal cock-ups but the operations of the bumbling, stumbling European, er, 'machine' make us look like an F1 racing car! Despite our own history of errors, living next to 'le grande cock-up' makes me exceedingly grateful to the British 'peeps' who voted us out of it! Sorry, SoD, did you say something . . . ?
I refer, of course, to the latest Piers Morgan (non)shock, (non)horror 'event' on his TV show in which he stated,
"I’m sorry, I don’t believe a word she said, Meghan Markle. I wouldn’t believe it if she read me the weather report. The fact that she’s fired up this onslaught against our Royal family I think is contemptible."
A somewhat heated discussion then ensued between Morgan and the weatherman reporter who was on set at the time who was, I gather, a keen fan of 'ME-ME' Meghan so Morgan walked off in a huff! He did return later, to his credit. Personally, I agree with Morgan, if 'ME-ME' Meghan told me the time, the first thing I would do is check Big Ben!
Well, her Mum, probably, but not her Dad, I suspect! Also, Harry, of course, he dare not do otherwise! I don't, of course, not least because at one stage in my life I was on the extreme fringe of show business which, even in passing, showed me the ridiculous and ludicrous nature of so many, so-called, 'stars'. It is always and forever about "ME, ME, ME!" In fact, that suggests a new name for the lady - 'Me-Me Meghan'! Mind you, I don't blame her for not liking certain aspects of society in this 'our stagnant Isle' but it's how you deal with it that says so much about you. Her pouting and flouncing re-action says so much about her. Good luck with that one, Harry, you are going to need it - you prat!
Yes, alas and alack, this week I have lived down to my very worst traits of idleness! Next week I promise to get a grip and return to my usual stream of, er, utter crap! In the meantime, here are a few of what pass for thoughts in my brain!
Farewell, Meghan! Don't think you will not be missed because we Brits always enjoy a snigger especially at dopey-daft foreigners. Even more so when, as happens so often, they take an instant dislike to us. Alas, Meghan, you have joined a world-wide club of zillions who detest and despise the British so not too much exclusivity there! Oh, and please keep hold of Harry, he is a total prat and embarrassment!
Has anyone seen the Labour party? Not, I hasten to add, that I am missing it, let alone eager to see it back again, but, dammit, it is supposed to be Her Majesty's Official Opposition!
Simon Heffer gives it 5-stars but even so . . . I am referring to Nick Lloyd's history The Western Front of which Volume I has just been published. It has the benefit of providing insights into all sides of the conflict. I am tempted, despite my certain knowledge that is will reduce me to tears of both sympathy and anger! However, given my age, will I live long enough to finish it?
There is something rotten in the State of Scotland: 'If ye ha'e any doots' then the continuous stream of stories emanating from Edinburgh will still them, or rather, they will replace them with genuine worries for the 'body-politic' up there!
Cheerio, 'Nige', and thanks for everything: So, we bid farewell to Nigel Farage, arguably the the most influential British politician since Winston Churchill. He it was who, virtually single-handedly, got us out of the clutches of those wretched Europeans and their British 'fifth column'. Give that man a seat in the Lords!
Yesterday I watched Alex Salmond face a lengthy barrage of questions from various Scottish politicians and I was truly impressed. First of all, he answered all the questions with no ducking or diving and he remained calm and controlled throughout. According to the headlines in 'the prints', the days of 'Mrs. McWhinge' are truly numbered. Well done, Alex, and when you have sorted the Jocks out, come south and sort us out, too!
During these cold, wet, boring days, thank God for the Salmond vs. Sturgeon claymore fight! It's even better and bloodier than Celtic vs. Rangers! I am unable to take sides because both participants strike me as ghastly people! Alas, I do feel sorry for Scotland and the 'Jocks' who surely deserve better than this in the way of political leadership! Perhaps, if this is the best that not-so-bonny Scotland can offer then maybe they should consider ditching their so-called 'independence' and return to full partnership with the Anglos. At least they would then be able to agree on one thing - the Anglos are ghastly!
Er, for my absence, that is! Alas, I have been on funeral duty - no, not mine! - for a very old and dear friend. 'SoD', bless his cotton socks, drove all the way down here to take us to the venue. I was asked to say a few words but don't ask me what I said! I did not prepare a eulogy, I simply made it up as I went along, so at least it came from the heart and from the memory of many good times in the past.
Squabbles inside No. 10, so no change there then!Turbulence in Downing Street as another Vote Leave aide departs | The Spectator. It's 'handbags at dawn' inside No.10. as most of the PM's advisors are too busy bashing each other to waste any time actually advising Boris. Not, I hasten to add, that advising Boris is likely to have much effect! 'Bozzer' does it his way, er, when he can be bothered!
Whatever happened to 'Wotsisname'? Suddenly, there was no Trump! No pics of his magnificently quaffed hair! No close-ups of his childishly pouted lips. How he must be hating anonymity! Ohdearwhatapitynevermind!
Farewell, Meghan. No reason to ever come back. Nobody will miss you!
It wouldn't have the presumption to 'off' the world's greatest blogger - and I heard that!
Anyway, I am, sort of, back upstairs in front of my computer even though I don't have much to say - except to offer a 'yuuuuuuuge' thank you to my readers who kept checking in. I really do appreciate your loyalty. It has been am extra-ordinary Winter. The appearance is that the world just juddered to a halt, although, of course, it did nothing of the sort! It's just that 'the players' simply kept their heads down and their cards even closer to their chests whilst the rest of us just plodded on as we prayed for the first signs of Spring. Not much sign of it here but at least we're not buried in snow as so many of my 'Yankee-doodle' friends are!
It is, of course, a highly dangerous time because there is nothing the evil-doers like better than for us, living in the few remaining democracies, to take our eyes off the ball thus leaving them free to conduct their malpractices. Alas, I cannot offer you much in the way of informed opinion given that for the last few weeks I have hardly bothered to read a newspaper - mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! However, I am back on watch now so you can expect a (fairly!) steady stream of opinion from now on which will, of course, be of my usual standard - yeeeeeeeeeeeeees, quite!
Well, I do, especially when I knock out one of my usual brilliant and witty posts and the bloodybloodybloodybloody useless machine fails to publish it!
t must have been through gritted teeth that Kwasi Kwarteng, as one of his first acts as the new Business Secretary, this week published a consultation document on state aid. As an ardent free marketeer, Kwarteng belongs very much to the Ronald Reagan school of thought on such matters, or rather, he used to. “The nine most terrifying words in the English language”, Reagan opined back in the Eighties, setting the tone for the next several decades of neo-liberal policy making, “are ‘I’m from the Government and I’m here to help’”.
Coorrrr, that's music to my ears, I'd forgotten that one! And now it comes back with all its resounding glory ...
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the Government and I’m here to help'"
But. Why does there have to be a but? But is bad ...
But the world has changed, and Kwarteng with it. Being a free marketeer today means something quite different; following the example of Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore – often held out as a shining example of small state capitalism in action, but in reality one of the most activist and protectionist governments on the planet – there is a sense in which we are all interventionists now.
Oh dear. Then next up he "buts the but", negate the negative, good! ...
As it happens, there is not much in the consultation that would seriously worry believers in the old ideology. “We will not, of course, return to antiquated command and control methods of economic management, or encourage wasteful use of public money by propping up failing businesses”, Kwarteng says in a foreword.
Indeed, reading this document, you wonder how it was that “level playing field” considerations came to be such a totemic issue in the Government’s negotiations with the EU, as it would seem that the UK intends to abide not just by the principles of the EU state aid regime, but also by much of its underlying detail – a case of taking back control in order not to use it.
Blimey, now a nonetheless, aka he buts the but of the but. How many negative of the negatives is that, ah, bad ...
Nonetheless, nobody could mistake the distinct shift in tone, already heavily advertised by Boris Johnson, who has described himself as a “Brexity Hezza”. Michael Heseltine, it will be recalled, wanted to intervene before breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The apparent success of the Government’s vaccine strategy seems wholly to support the new approach. By partnering with the private sector, the Government has managed to spawn a whole new industry in vaccine production. The UK has always excelled in vaccine research and development, but it has substantially relied on global supply chains for the doses themselves, as indeed for delivery of much else besides.
Necessity has changed that balance, encouraging the government to believe it can repeat the trick in multiple different industries in pursuit of its levelling up and zero carbon agenda. It would be wise to tread carefully.
The swing back to more interventionist strategies is in part merely a cyclical matter. Globalist principles are being challenged almost everywhere, not least China, which having done so well out of 40 years of explosive growth in international trade, now pursues a “dual circulation” economy which targets self sufficiency in almost everything from computer chips to aviation and bioscience.
Oh that's butty bad. Back and forth goes Jeremy, hedging this way and that, shape shifting like a fortune teller who sounds plausible but actually says nothing! These MSM pundits, how do they get away with it, imagine if I was equivocal like that! Then ...
Covid, it would seem, may end up performing much the same role as the Second World War in ushering in a new era of interventionism and deliberately pursued self sufficiency. When the pendulum swings, as it plainly is at the moment, it is hard to resist.
A less efficient economy where duplication and protectionism become the norm may be a price Western electorates are prepared to pay for a greater sense of national resilience.
The other danger is that interventionist policies end up, as they did in the UK in the years after the War, in greater welfarism, in profligate attempts to pick industrial winners, in pork barrel investment, and in state bungs to save otherwise obsolete jobs.
It’s a slippery slope once industry believes itself to be underwritten by state aid and orders. Far from catalysing economic advancement, it can have the opposite effect in holding it back.
And that's the awful butty truth. History is indeed repeating itself, as I said it would, Covid is like WWII. We are in 1944, the beast is not dead yet, but we're nearly there. And then we'll have the long slow decline and fall of a hyperactive, over-reaching state, the 1945-79 period, to follow.
BoJo has ordered you to clap for Captain Tom at 6pm ...
Gonna do it?
I tell you I am not.
If BoJo had handled the Covid crisis as competently as SE Asia, NZ, and Oz, Captain Tom might still be alive.
The attempt to bask in the reflected sunlight of Captain Tom - and doctors and nurses - by being the cheerleader of applause, while having been the orchestrator of 100,000 deaths through criminal negligence (not including Capt Tom) and so as to deflect and distract from that fact, is vile politics beyond words.
The Poppy Appeal was renamed from the Earl Haig Fund, as the wiki article describes, because the people couldn't stomach the vile attempt by that Field Marshal to launder his negligent atrocities ...
We've eagerly awaited the real meaning of BoJo's administration, the action not the words. Might the "levelling-up" and "backing winners" verbiage have been a great smoke screen for "the Singapore of Europe", like Dave Cam's "Big Society" and "hug-a-hoody" were while he steadfastly repaired Blighty through austerity and shrinking the state as a percentage of GDP?
Having backed losers in the 1970's, like British Leyland, British Steel, British Rail, British Telecomm, Coal, Gas, Electricity, Water et al, and thereby sustained their failure and bankrupted the country, the real plan this time round is indeed to destroy the productive base by "backing winners" and bankrupt the country ...
Victoria Hewson, of the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: "It is concerning that the government sees intervention and subsidisation in the economy as under-pinning our post-Covid recovery, as welcome as it is to see a move away from the EU bureaucracy.
"Governments are notoriously bad at picking winners, whether that’s in the UK or at the EU level. Using taxpayers’ money to prop up failing businesses is likely to distort competition, slow down innovation and favour incumbents."
Those two paragraphs say it all. We have cut the final ties to Thatcherism by leaving Maggie's Single Market, Four Freedoms, and State Aid rules. The straitjacket is off, the state can let rip and ruin us again, this time by pretending that dumbass pols with zero track record can outperform capitalism in the role of investment banking.
And the true meaning of "Take back control" is revealed in all its grisly truth: no control for you and me, but instead, unfettered "Take back control" for blue, yellow and red socialism, with all the attendant death and destruction.
It's astonishing how states, federations and confederation's always blame the private sector for their own incompetence.
The EU blames AstraZeneca, the NHS blames the pharmas for ripping them off, the local authorities blame the cladding companies for Grenfell.
Do you think a private healthcare operator blames the pharmas when it gets ripped off? Or a construction company when its sub-contractors rip it off? Or do you think they give their procurement teams and inspectors a kick in the pants and sack a few incompetents to make them do better next time?
The state failed as an operator, so we stopped it doing all the stuff it failed at doing in the 1970's: car manufacturing, coal mining, steel manufacturing, transport, gas, electricity, water and telecoms, all basket cases when the state ran them.
So then the state said, "OK, we'll procure from the private sector instead." And they ducked that up as well! Not only could they not do the do, they couldn't procure the do either!
Then get this: they gave up on procurement and decided to "procure the procurer", in other words, they subcontracted the procurement team. And they ducked that up and blamed the procurer they procured! ...
Meanwhile, the outsourced NHS procurement system failed miserably, as private firms relying on “just-in-time” delivery faced surging demands and collapsing global supply chains. Even the pandemic PPE stockpile had been outsourced to a private company. Their warehouses lacked key equipment like gowns, and 45 per cent of their supplies had expired on the shelf. Resultant shortages were linked to over 8,000 cases and 126 deaths among health and social care workers.
(That article, btw, is a pure douche-bag blue socialist complaining about the failure of the slimmed down "regulatory state" on precisely its failure to procure, while then concluding that the state should return to its 1970's roots as full operator of the means of production and distribution - the even worse failure of full socialism that once was! You couldn't make up the stupidity. And that's a DT article, imagine what Starmer and crew have got planned!)
Perhaps next the state will try to "procure the procurer of the procurer". An infinite regress of underachievement: fractal failure by design.
Instead, why not try getting rid of the state completely and giving the tax, borrow and print wedge to the citizen to go procure? Then have the pols create laws, the original and only domestic worth of the pol, to protect the consumers from rip-offs? Removed from serial failure in production they might have learned what incompetence and malfeasance actually is, and as poacher-turned-gamekeeper they might be in an ideal position and useful in creating laws to protect us from the rip-offs they once foisted upon us.
Funded Libertarianism still has a domestic role for the pols. We don't have to exterminate them.
For example, this latest Covid pandemic has shown the almost utter uselessness of the EU as a governing body. People will suffer as a result of their bumbling, and probably corrupt inefficiency but if it opens people's eyes to the true nature of the 'European dream', then it will be a price worth paying. Most revealing of all was the almost instant decision of the French government to use the supply of vaccines as a weapon against the British - why am I not in the least surprised?
Surely it must be clear by now that they detest us! I have known this for decades which is why I have always been against attempts by our dimwitted 'ruling classes' to join this flagrantly anti-British 'junta'! I do not necessarily blame the continentals, they are free to judge us as they see fit, but it is almost criminal for our politicians not to see "the bleedin' obvious"!
I thought Blighty might have set an unassailable lead in the global competition of demonstrating the utter fecklessness and incompetence of the state, when food parcels for the poor costing £30 were opened by their grateful recipients only to reveal a mere £5's worth of food therein. A collosal 83.3% simply missing, gone, vamoosed, skedaddled (That's enough Americanisms to keep the cross-pond dwellers in the picture, comprendo? ... Ed).
No explanation, no sacking, no-one jailed, just airbrushed over by the statist MSM and we "move rapidly along, nothing to see here".
It had Fluffbun remarking a feeling of unwelcome nostalgia and deja vu from her times living under Ost Bloc Socialism when the supermarket shelves were empty, even in years when the harvests were good.
Well, not anymore, there's a challenger: Uncle Sam has thrown his hat in the ring (Will they be ok with that one, do you think? ... Ed)...
Phewee, salaries skyward of $150,000 for 20% of LA state's staff in the homelessness team, yet cardboard cities everywhere!
I just ran that one by Fluffbun and it reminded her of the "state officials only" supermarkets in Socialist Czechoslovakia, called "Tuzex" (pronounced "Too-zex"), and the "state officials only" parallel currency they had just for the state officials to spend therein, called "Bony" (pronounced "Bon-ee"). The "Tuzex" were always well stocked, as were the state officials salaries with "Bony", just like the state officials' salaries in LA and no doubt their sumptuous residences afforded thereby.
Well here's a Funded Libertarian take on it: -
Why not sack the state officials and give their "Bony" salaries to the homeless, and instead let the homeless go shopping in the "Tuzex" of the LA accommodation market?
$55,000,000 / 40,000 (salaries of state officials / number of homeless inside city limits) = $1375 per annum for each homeless person.
Then add to that the $1.2bn decade budget the state officials misspent so badly each apartment cost $559,000 ...
Filtering that site for $365 or less rent per month yielded 46 rooms.
Giving social buying power in the form of vouchers under-writes the rent for the landlord, thereby demand will create its own supply as landlords convert multi-room properties into what we call "HMO's" in Blighty (Houses of Multiple Occupancy) for the more secure rental income.
Shall I throw my hat in the ring and run for governor of the City of Angels - the only official's job left in the state come the Funded Libertarian revolution?
Yet another positive for Brexit Blighty, this time a blunder by the EU rather than a result by Blighty, but nevertheless, "never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake" and all that! ...
Now the EU is chastened by its churlish actions in trying to trigger article 16 to put a border between ROI / NI and to restrict exports of vaccines generally from the EU, perhaps Blighty could announce some of those "Singapore of Europe" edicts under the cover of the EU's retreat? ...
1. Reduce corporation tax to 1/2% below ROI's (ROI being the lowest corp tax in the EU).
2. A bonfire of unnecessary rules and regulations.
3. Unilateral zero tariffs and quotas at the borders for all imports from first world friends and allies.
4. A Multi Market: Acceptance of the standards of our first world friends and allies in Blighty.
In other words, make the whole of Blighty a freeport.
The magic money tree forest can surely yield up a bit more for those tax cuts short term, and when all the capital and assets of Europe and the rest of the first world pile into Blighty the Exchequer will be able to replant the magic money forest with real greenback trees - Laffer curve, anyone?!
So here I am sitting indoors, huddled round the gas fire whilst outside the sparrows are dropping off their twigs with the cold - or possibly because of the weight of birdseed they scoffed off my bird-table earlier - greedy buggers! There's nothing on the 'telly' and the 'Memsahib' has retired upstairs for a nap, so, I decided to do something I haven't done for a while - I picked up a book! For a man who, on average over the past 70 years, has usually read two books a week, my sudden decline in reading is a disgrace.
Anyway, I determined that my low morale needed bucking up so I reached for my Kindle and got stuck into the first book I came across. Within ten pages I was more depressed than when I started! Why would I be surprised given that the book is: The Hitler Years by Frank McDonough! No, not exactly a bundle of laughs but I am determined to persevere and if I am indeed a 'dummkopf', then just how 'dumm' were those millions of Germans 'back in der tag'?
It's a dog-eat-dog world in the Anglo-Saxon globalised market, isn't it?!
There was BoJo, right in there, duelling his quill pen like Excalibur against the Euro shield-wall, up front and personal with your and my cheque book, and our children's cheque book, and our children's children's cheque book, and our children's, children's, children's cheque book, splashing out top money to Pfizer-BioNTech! Then flying through Blighty's post-1970's updated 'elf and safety approval process ("Has it got thalidomide or asbestos in it? No? OK, sell, sell, SELL!!!"), and cleaning out the Euros of their first-out-the-door homegrown vaccine before you can say "Jab!"
And in the opposite direction, there's the Euros, patiently dotting the i's and crossing the t's of EU approval, ready and waiting for their dose of Blighty's cheap-as-chips Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccines - but no! What's this?! BoJo sneaks in and nicks their stock from the warehouse while they queue in a neat socially distanced line outside leaving them with the square root of bugger all!
Here he is, caught red-handed in the act, staggering away with the swag! ...
AstraZeneca vaccines meant for and paid for by the EU could have ended up in Britain, diplomatic sources in Brussels claimed today.
The suspicion is that the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company supplied the UK from the EU vaccine stock because Britain paid a higher price for the dose and approved it sooner.
By George and all the Saints, what can one say but "this looks promising"?
The question is just how far is he prepared to go to enforce his gangster regime? I suspect it will be all the way! In which case, not for the first time, very many Russian people will be tested to the point of extermination - as they have been over and over and over again in the last century - and again in this one. It really is time that the West copied the Soviet system and lowered an iron wall around Russia. Enough is enough!
The recent political demise of [Sir] Donald Trump reminded me of Act v, scene 5 from Henry Vth:
Henry V. I know thee not, old man. Fall to thy prayers. How ill [yellow] hairs become a fool and jester! I have long dreamt of such a kind of man, So surfeit-swell'd, so old, and so profane; But being awak'd, I do despise my dream. Make less thy body hence, and more thy grace; Leave gormandizing; know the grave doth gape For thee thrice wider than for other men— Reply not to me with a fool-born jest; Presume not that I am the thing I was, For God doth know, so shall the world perceive, That I have turn'd away my former self; So will I those that kept me company. When thou dost hear I am as I have been, Approach me, and thou shalt be as thou wast, The tutor and the feeder of my riots. Till then I banish thee, on pain of death, As I have done the rest of my misleaders, Not to come near our person by ten mile. For competence of life I will allow you, That lack of means enforce you not to evils; And, as we hear you do reform yourselves, We will, according to your strengths and qualities, Give you advancement. Be it your charge, my lord, To see perform'd the tenour of our word. Set on. Exeunt the [President] and his train
[Long, shocked pause, then ...]
Falstaff. Master Shallow, I owe you a thousand pounds.
Well, of course I do! Despite my Scottish blood, I am by upbringing and by nature a 'soppy Southerner', as my 'Yorkie' friends would put it!! Consequently, I loathe cold weather, as I warned 'Her Maj' when I volunteered for the Army. I actually dropped her a note - as you do! - when I joined up to ensure that I would only be sent to warm climes. Where was the first place she sent me? Bloody Narvik in the Norwegian Arctic Circle! Anyway, it's now nearly as cold as Narvik down here in so-called 'zunny Zummerzet' and I'm fed up with it! The only good news is that so far there has been no snow BUT here is the headline from The Mail:
"Now for the Big Freeze: Met Office warns up to FOUR INCHES of snow will sweep UK from today, with temperatures set to plunge to -10C this weekend"
Sorry for going a.w.o.l. - again! - but that's old age for you and until they find a cure for it we just have to put up with it - or die! Anyway, we bid farewell to 'The Don' and I for one will sorely miss him. He was such a preposterous 'plonker' of a President but, unlike some of his allegedly more intelligent predecessors, he never led America into a futile war! Of course, his ego was monstrous but then again not much different from 'Obamarama's or the poisonous Clintons! Anyway, now we have the 'machine-men' back in charge and does that make any of you feel much better?
The remarkable thing about 'The Don' was that in a city packed full of enemies, as every President quickly learns, he succeeded in becoming his very own worst enemy! All politicians need a fairly hefty ego but the Donald's was 'yuuuuuuuuuuuuuge'! It blinded him to almost everything else in his personal universe. Alas, he is now sentenced to dwell in misery in his favourite, bloated and ghastly resort with nothing to do but ponder on his humiliation - odearwhatapitynevermind!
Having said Brexit won't impact Blighty's music industry and its touring market in Europe, for example, asked if Brexit would be “bad for British rock music”, he replied: “No. What’s it got to do with the rock business? How are you going to tour in Europe? Oh dear. As if we didn’t tour Europe before the fucking EU. Oh give it up!”, the plank is whinging about not being able to tour in Europe without complicated visa requirements, and blaming the very Brexiteer government he supported ...
And of course, like all aggressive authoritarians, it's one rule for him and another for everyone else ...
The frontman continued: “I do think our government should have made the easing of restrictions for musicians and actors a higher priority. Every tour, individual actors and musicians should be treated as any other ‘Goods’ at the point of entry to the EU with one set of paperwork.
Musos should be privileged with frictionless borders, but the ordinaries, nah, they can go hang. And as far as James Blunt is concerned, even ordinary musos can go hang ...
Then you’ve got James Blunt saying it doesn’t matter and won’t affect him – and you know what? He’s right. With the amount of money he makes from touring, he won’t even notice.”
“This is basically a tax on new and emerging musicians. It’s not a tax that will have any impact on your James Blunts and Roger Daltreys. Someone will sit in an office and fill in all of their paperwork.”
I always thought musos were thick as chair legs, but these two fell out the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down.
A re-animating monster: every degradation of the 20th century visited, and with each atrocious failure a turn to the next: race socialism, class socialism, the psychotically arrogant authoritarian with a psychopathic lack of empathy, not one mention of Liberty, his spinning needle finally coming to rest on Liberal Fascism.
If the New Dark Age ever needed a founding father. Tomorrow belongs to HG Wells.
The Russia investigation: confirmed as totally incompetent, corrupt, and a political assault using the resources of the state, with no conviction of the Don, as we already knew. It is its own story, but this is about the total lack of coverage in the left MSM.
Here's a screenshot of my google search for "graham russia investigation" ...
Where's CNN, WAPO, NYT, BBC et al? No where to be seen.
The US election was a fake before the votes were cast, let alone counted. That level of media manipulation voids any election. 70% of Russians voted for Vlad because the Rooskie media is a stitch-up and the opposition suppressed. It's a phoney democracy.
People are entitled to rise up with violence when democracy has failed and becomes re-elected tyranny.
In the middle of the Covid pandemic, the NHS calls up young and middle aged people to have flu jabs, in such numbers it overwhelms the GP's administering the Covid jabs, and in spite of flu being trace this year due to the lockdowns ...
GPs are warning of growing chaos after NHS chiefs urged millions of healthy middle-aged people to demand flu jabs in the middle of the Covid crisis.
They said switchboards have collapsed under the weight of calls from those who received a letter from health chiefs telling them to come forward now even though flu levels are very low.
The latest figures for England suggest that more than 13 million people – including around 1.7 million healthy people aged 50 to 64 – have received the flu jab this winter. Meanwhile, just 2.5 million people have received a Covid jab against targets for 15 million to get one by next month.
And then the NHS urges GP's to dispose of any surplus Covid vaccines they have, rather than give them as the second dose to NHS staff or others, because HMG told them not to give second doses ...
Local NHS leaders are forcing GPs to throw away vaccines rather than give second doses, medics have revealed.
Doctors who are organising clinics at short notice and find they have several injections left are being warned that they cannot use them on staff or any patients who have already received their first jab.
While it is understood some are refusing to comply, others are said to be fearful that their supplies will be cancelled if they do not follow instructions.
I feel physically sick to my soul. The relentless insanity and cruelty, the atrocity of 91,000 dead, the loneliness of being surrounded by people brainwashed to cult status, the agony of watching America tread down the same path to the slaughterhouse.
Not sure I can do this much more. Maybe you will be pleased to know.
Perhaps, just perhaps, 'The Donald' has succeeded in providing America, in general, and future Presidents, in particular, with an invaluable lesson. From now on, Presidents will know with absolute certainty that there are limits to their power. Delusions of grandeur, of course, will continue because they are all part of the toxic atmosphere of presidential politics in the USA but from now on, the political ghost of Donald Trump will haunt the corridors of the White House and act as a reminder to new incumbents that there is a power greater than themselves which will, if required, act with crushing effectiveness.
Happily on this occasion, the threat to America and everything it stands for was mostly individual and in no way backed by military forces or overwhelming masses. Even so, it could so very easily have qualified under the heading of 'A damned fine thing, the finest thing you ever saw' in which, of course, the word "fine" is used in the early 19th century sense as meaning 'close run'. I will use some more 'olde worlde' English to provide Donald with a parting message: "You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately... Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!"
How could Bojo forget the bacon butties in the negotiations last year? He eats enough of them by the looks of things, serious Covid and 7 mile cycle rides in breach of lockdown rules make no dents on his spare tyre(s), no Sireee!
This is a disaster, how am I gonna survive if I can't take my Branston pickle and Tetley English breakfast teabags to Czech Rep when we start flying again - oh Gawd, and the half a pig, sausages, and Slivovice we bring home on the way back! And no more Czechie mustard, num-nums! You bastards!
And now the supermarkets are empty of fresh fruit and veg at home as well! ...
And the state has started to get into food distribution, with the predictable rip-off and shambles that makes the former Soviet Union and Ost Bloc look good! ...
£30 turned into £5 by the state's incompetent procurement teams! Jeez, it's only their first day in this new market, imagine what they'll be like after 75 years of decline like the NHS.
Fluffbun has a message for y'all: She didn't apply for her Brit passport to be transported back to Czech Republic circa pre-1989!
You've managed to create an incredible new unique and peculiar blend of national socialism, a sort of Captain Mainwaring meets Adolf and VI Lenin. The sheer fascinating horror of the new records in the realms of state clusterf**kery this one is going to break might make Brexit worth it.
So, good call 23rd June 2016. I am going to enjoy ramming it down your throats until oblivion puts us all out of our misery!
I remain as addicted to books as I have been for some seventy years but, alas and alack, my actual reading of them has fallen away - bit like my sex life, really! Consequently the pile of 'waiting to be read' books is actually blocking out the light round my armchair! This old-age lark really is quite insidious as the energy cells empty themselves and defy replenishment. Even as I tap this piece of non-news out on my computer-thingie, sitting on the desk before my eyes is a book by Kenneth Macksey entitled: Why the Germans Lost the War: The Myth of German Military Superiority.
The title really intrigued me because I have long believed that when it comes to the art and craft of warfare the Germans far exceed any others. Actually, thinking about it, I suspect that it is the art of tactics at which they excel, strategy is beyond them - thank God! For example, apart from loonies like Hitler, did anyone in the German High Command really believe they could conquer the entirety of Europe? True, they did come close but when it comes to war, close is never close enough!
Anyway, I must give myself a kick and get reading again!
Some good news - for a change:Courtesy of The Mail I bring you these glad tidings:
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will never return to social media after claiming to have dealt with an 'almost unsurvivable' amount of abuse, a source has claimed.
Ohdearwhatapitynevermind! Don't worry about being missed - you won't be!
Three cheers for 'plucky little, er, Taiwan', actually: 'The Donald', in a last mischievous throw of his Presidential dice, has lifted all previous American restrictions on Taiwan - and about time, too! 'Xi Ping-a-ling' will not be amused!
The Scottish Play - no, not that one, the real one! Yet more obscurity from me - sorry, sorry! I refer to the current claymore fight going on in Edinburgh between the Sturgeon clan and the Salmond clan. It is always amusing to learn, yet again, that the smaller the territory the more vicious is the fight. Let us hope that neither party applies that favourite Scottish ploy and 'puts their heed in wi' their bonnet on!'
That Starmer fella' is beginning to impress me! I am grateful - again! - to Guido for informing me of this:
Blatant double standards by an unaccountable authoritarian power.
Twitter then removes all of Trump's previous tweets and destroys the meaning of the free discussions that had embedded them. Google removes Parler, the right wing social media network, from the app store.
Airbrushing history in our faces. Shutting down freedom of speech and association in plain view.
Democratic authoritarianism has reached out to the statist monopolies of the private sector and received succour.
Democracy has failed through over-reach in the US. It is no different to Zimbabwe or Russia.
Time to press the reset button and restate the supremacy of Liberty over Democracy. Bring your AR15.
The Putsch has failed. The US military has refused to acquiesce. It has become impossible for Donald Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act or resort to force in a final throw of the dice.
The Pentagon and the National Guard are already answering to a chastened vice-president Mike Pence, acting in concert with leaders of Congress. Effective power has passed. The Trump presidency no longer exists. Trump has been forced to accept an “orderly transition”. He had no choice!
Thank God and praise the Constitution! Also, praise the American political 'club', normally buried in insults, which almost unanimously revolted against Trump's criminal stupidity! All great nations have their testing times and this has been one of America's greatest. They passed with flying colours!
I have hoped, in fact I nearly prayed, that Donald Chump Trump would never, ever, have to face truly serious pressure exerted on the very foundations of the United States. I hoped that he would 'stumble-bum' his way through the choppy waters of American politics providing us all with a chuckle or three as he did so and then simply - GO! Well he nearly made it but now on the very last laps he is steering the ship of state straight towards the very rocks which could sink the whole edifice. That, of course, is exactly and precisely the outcome desired by the extreme Left lurking in the shade of the once responsible Democratic party.
With the other global threat hovering over us all, who the hell needs an American crisis? The smile on the face of Xi Ping-a-ling grows broader by the day!
It seems to have degenerated like a Napoleonic battle, where at dawn there are shoulder to shoulder formations, all smart and lively, and by dusk it's like a bar room brawl spread all over a couple of miles of countryside!
If anyone could write an overview of what just happened, where we are at now, and what happens next, to get me up-to-date, please do, because I haven't got a bloody clue!
And Indonesia's got a population of 268 million, 4 times that of Blighty at 65 million, so actually borderline pussy-zone.
There'll be no Nuremberg Trials. No criminal negligence investigations. No-one will go to prison. There won't even be any sackings. Dido Harding and her ilk will march on, ploughing Brits into the earth.
There's a point of no return in tyranny. When the education and media industries have indoctrinated all living generations, nothing will stop the death camp until external actors intervene.
And now the only external actor Blighty had resides outside the Brexit Curtain, so it's straight line decline until fall.
Before you dismiss my title as wishful thinking - think about it! There are hard times - no, seriously hard times! - approaching and the structure is not sound. There are two main fault lines running through the structure, the north/south one which divides the 'Scandies' and the 'Meds', and the east/west one which divides the impoverished eastern bloc from the more affluent west.
By June 2020, according to EU statistics, Greece’s national debt to annual GDP ratio stood at 187.4 per cent, Italy 149.4 per cent, Portugal 126.1 per cent, France 114.1 per cent. The battle to mutualise a small part of the debt has again pushed to one side the fundamental structural problem with the EU, the Euro: undervalued for some (Germany and the northern states) and overvalued for others (Italy and the southern states).
Needless to say, the Germans and the Scandies just 'lurve' operating on world markets with a falsely lowered exchange rate. Not sure what the Italians make of it because no-one asks them!
Thanks to the common-sense of the Brit 'peeps', we're out of it!
So, "Off we go again, happy as can be; all good friends and jolly good company"! - who snorted? I don't quite know why I am so cheerful? After all, it's freezing cold, everything is shut down and the misery is mounting! In some - many? - cases, I mean real misery! For many this last year has became apocalyptic and there are precious few indications of any improvements. It's a bit reminiscent of those endlessly long 't.a.b.s'* we had to do in the army loaded down with full kit. They just seemed to go on and bloody on and then on a bit more but, of course, in the end they did finish and it was time for a 'brew up'!
I have no great confidence in Boris and his accomplices doing the right thing at the right time but, to be fair, I'm not all that sure exactly what is the right thing to do! I must confess immediately that, fortunately, the 'Memsahib' and I live comfortably in a warm house and whilst we are far from being mega-rich we do have the means to keep things going. Looking back on my earlier life when I was totally dependent on a single working mother with only her weekly wage to keep us, I do have a rough idea how some people must be feeling the strain.
Well, unusual for the BBC to be on the ball, but here's the truth about how Blighty just kissed goodbye to the last, and best, vestige of the Iron Lady's legacy, namely, the Single Market, Four Freedoms, and State Aid Rules ...
The Prime Minister has succeeded in taking the UK out of the Single Market created by his heroes. The UK now stands outside a system that it helped invent. For now its new single market is not the size of the country. The test of all of this, is to make the UK's new single market, the size of the globe.
4. Has just contributed to the massacre of 70,000 Brits in excess deaths, 60,000 of which occured in the three months of the first wave of Covid, 3 times the rate the Wehrmacht, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe managed in any three month period in WWII.
Meanwhile, Norway's excess deaths fell during the same three month period, so much so the only industry Norway had to bail out was the funeral directors because not enough people were dying ...
5. Has 1.4 million staff, the 5th largest employer in the world after McDonald's, Walmart, the US DOD, and the Chinese Army, yet still doesn't have enough doctors and nurses. So Brits wait weeks to see a GP, months to see a consultant, and years to have an operation, and the Nightingale hospitals have to be dismantled because there are no doctors and nurses ...
When, oh when, will Blighty yield up a pol, just one pol, who's honest and courageous enough to tell the Brits the emperor has no clothes? That the NHS is broken by design, and failed in practice?
A mini-Auschwitz operating in plain view, like the BBC, another state failure, harbouring the celebrity paedophile Jimmy Saville in plain view for three decades.
The "R.I.H." in my title stands for 'Rest In Hell'! And I sincerely hope - alas, I don't 'do' praying! - that you share your space there with the late, and equally vile and treacherous, Kim Philby. Did both of these despicable traitors truly believe that Soviet Russia was the idealistic heaven the world was waiting for? That Stalin and his henchmen were the saviors of Mankind? If so, they were both as stupid and ignorant as they were treacherous!
Sweet Mother of God, I didn't think it possible to trump Liam Halligan's leftist blue socialist diatribe, but here it is from Tim Stanley. And remember, these two write for the Daily Telegraph, the broadsheet of the Right ...
I just vomited in mouth a little at the warm up ...
First, Brexit makes the argument for social democracy, and its construction, a little easier. Many Tories wanted to leave the EU as a means of reducing the size of the state; recall Mrs Thatcher’s warning at Bruges in 1988 that Britain hadn’t defeated socialism at home only to have it imposed from overseas. But Brexit in practice is so disruptive that it justifies more state intervention, not less. No-deal preparations hinged on the Government promising to subsidise affected industries, and a mix of Covid cash and redevelopment money might soften the blow of compromises made in the trade deal for fishing towns.
Then this ...
State aid played a big role in the talks because the economy is changing and the UK wants the flexibility to support emerging industries (the plan seems to be to turn the Highlands into Cape Canaveral). Remainers were also wrong when they presupposed that liberation from regulatory alignment would mean Britain will weaken its rules: to assuage those very fears, the Tories are talking about strengthening them, starting with animal welfare. The tone of our politics is shifting to the centre‑Left, towards themes of solidarity and investment, and Boris Johnson won his majority because he moved with it, offering a brand of patriotic social democracy that isn’t a million miles from Old Labour.
"The plan seems to be to turn the Highlands into Cape Canaveral?" WTF is he talking about? Who's going to be in charge, Dido Harding? Would you get into a rocket designed and built by Dido Harding?
The "tone of our politics is shifting to the centre-Left", "solidarity and investment" comrade, mixed with a "brand of patriotic social democracy", like a blend of Old Labour and fascism.
And then the absolutely clear admission of the exact benefit of Maggie's Single Market, Four Freedoms, and State Aid rules, with the ECJ as judge and jury: The constitutional gap filler against rampant statism, collectivisation, socialism, and ludicrous "popular will" that have destroyed states the world over throughout history ...
New Labour’s gamble that Europe would quietly impose social reform that English voters might otherwise stonewall was naive; in a series of essays for the London Review of Books, Perry Anderson has built the case for the opposite. Among the revelations is that the founding judges on the European Court of Justice included fascist collaborators, that the ECJ’s landmark case asserting the supremacy of European law was in protest at an act of nationalisation, and that the court has ruled against the interests of trade unions. The effect of “constitutionalising… issues like the permissibility of state aid”, writes Anderson, has been to protect judicial decrees “against any ordinary exercise of the popular will”, a legal barrier to democratic socialism.
And I said this 5 years ago, as y'all know, bloody plagiarist Stanley - Sue Grabbit & Runne have been informed ...
Secondly, just as Brexit is a chance for Britain to become more like Britain, it could help Labour rediscover itself.
As BoJo starts the decline, old Labour will complete the fall ...
But the referendum summoned ghosts of a time when Labour MPs were pro-world and romantically in love with their own country. As Peter Shore said in that famous Oxford debate of 1975, the pro-Common Market position was a vote against Britain’s ability to run itself.
"The pro-Common Market position was a vote against Britain's ability to run itself". Well there it is, what I've been saying for 5 years (Sue Grabbit & Runne better accept "no-win-no-fee" terms on this one). That's why every poll since Theresa May took charge has been pro-Remain: The Brit people can see they've been conned and made a horrible mistake, the rotten political class is worse than it was when Blighty joined the EU.
But so much for Tim Stanley's "popular will" now though, eh? The chance for the Brit peeps to enact their will and swallow their pride - no chance. Now the Brexiteers have conned their way past the Brit peeps there's no more "popular will" allowed.
Like the German election of 1933, once in there's no more elections.
Liam Halligan logs the whole money tree forest in one fell swoop. Do you think he's running for parliament in the next election?
As follows: -
Levelling up, eh? ...
Average annual earnings are 30pc higher in London than the UK average, and 50pc above those in the North East. GDP per head in the UK’s 90th income percentile region is 2.25 times higher than the 10th percentile part of the country, compared with 1.7 times in the US and 1.6 in France. On this standard regional inequality measure, Britain is the most imbalanced developed nation on earth.
A half-baked argument that hides two inner inconvenient truths.
Firstly, America achieves comparatively low regional disparity by the purest of Thatcherite doctrines: Norman Tebbit's "On yer bike!" principle. Look at the regional populations of the states ...
Many are simply empty if there's no productive base. Americans don't expect handouts to stay put. If there's no work they hitch up their trailer if they're working class or fly coast to coast if they're middle class, and go where the jobs are. The best leveller-upper known to economics: mobility of labour.
Also, looking at the regional income disparity between US states, one wonders if Liam is telling porkies about America's imbalances being less than Blighty's? ...
One heck of a spread. New York second from the top at $85k per person, Arkie at fiftieth on $42k. But do we see JK with his begging bowl out and shoved under the swamp's nose? Liam doesn't publish his figures for claiming that Blighty is the "most imbalanced developed nation on earth", so we don't know.
But accepting Liam's claim that the US is less imbalanced than Blighty, he should be endorsing "On yer bike!" Thatcherite labour mobility to match the American solution he himself quotes!
Secondly, France. Who wants to be like France, FFS!? Well, only a died in the wool blue socialist would want the state at 60% of GDP, feeding off the deficit teat of German debt worthiness. QED on Halligan and the Johnsonite Tory party's political colours.
I mean, did Blighty do Brexit to be more like France? How extraordinary: Brexiteers voted to leave the EU states in order to become more like the EU states!
And remember, we aren't feeding off the deficit teat of German debt worthiness. Our limit before the market turns on Blighty's debt is considerably lower than France in the Euro system. Blighty's magic money forest is not augmented by Teutonic budget surpluses.
In Stuart Sweeney's book "The Europe illusion", he illuminates the contribution to faith in socialism that was made in the 1945-75 era by the Marshall plan. Blighty took 25% of the cash, more than Germany and France! The latter day magic money forest got a boost, fuelling expectation that the state was the infinite be-all-and-end-all of free consumption and investment.
But at least the Marshall Plan boost was real! In exchange for handing over Blighty's empire, Uncle Sam gifted Blighty with a massive dollop of wonga - and unwittingly fueled faith in socialism in his "special relationship" pal. Brexit Blighty has no equivalent to France's Teutonic underwriter or the Yank backhander of yesteryear.
But then Liam opines ...
But can this Johnson government afford it? ...
The Government borrowed £285bn between April and November, three times the previous nine-month record. With new restrictions set to remain in place until spring, after mass vaccination, borrowing could soar well over £400bn during the 2020/21 fiscal year. Since April, VAT receipts are 42pc down on the same period in 2019, while furloughing, benefits payments and business support grants mean spending is 39pc up.
UK government expenditure has risen more as a share of GDP than any other large European economy.
Well if Blighty can't afford the state spending splurge he just espoused, why go on about it?! In fairness to Halligan a half decent socialist would simply have missed out the affordability to avoid the risk of appearing incoherent. So Liam just goes straight for incoherence!
Then this ...
In tackling this policy conundrum, ministers should remember that how money is spent can be even more important than how much.
Sweet Mother of God! How is it possible that someone can still believe that politicians are some kind of Bill Gates, Alan Sugar, or Richard Branson: super-CEO's filtered up as winners through and through the operational Olympics of the independent sector to the medals podium? The pols and their acolytes in the civil service, public sector, and welfare state haven't run so much as a ruddy whelkstall in the free market, let alone bestrode the podium! Yet Liam thinks a quick word of reminder from him, "Do it right, alright", and all will be well. F. F. S. !!! No pol, ever in human history, has ever outperformed the operational Olympics of the independent market sector for the money. They will never "Do it right, alright", otherwise we'd all be celebrating Venezuela, the former Soviet Union and Ost Bloc, or North Korea. Somewhere there'd be some state whose pols had got on the podium with the super-CEO's, but there are none!
And then, bursting with re-envigorated "You don't wanna do it like that, you wanna do it like this" energy ...
... Liam decides he knows how to "back winners", and lays on thick his own "How to do it right, alright" ...
The Midlands and North, in particular, suffer from ghastly bus and train links. So, finally scrap – or at least put on ice – the vastly overpriced HS2 North-South super train and upgrade local commuter services into cities like Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle.
As working patterns change post-Covid, they’ll continue to be used far more than intercity routes.
Build better links between our big Northern cities – revamping the West-East trans-Pennine line, from Liverpool to Newcastle and Hull, creating a growth centre to rival London and the South East.
Widen Manchester’s “Castlefield corridor”, a mile-long train bottleneck that has blighted the Northern capital for decades. The vital Birmingham to Coventry corridor could be similarly eased, cheaply addressing capacity constraints that have long held back the UK’s second city.
And how about finally electrifying the rail network across the North and Midlands, much of which still relies on slow, infrequent diesel trains, many using rolling stock made from converted bus carriages?
The second thing is to more obviously align Brexit with levelling up. Outside the EU, the UK regains control over billions of pounds of “cohesion fund” spending, which can tackle regional inequalities. Free of Brussels’ state aid rules, government can back industries of the future, not least artificial intelligence and biotech.
Did Harry Enfield's character ever have such a real world instantiation as Liam and the army of blue socialists now upon us?
Then he begins the round off with a drop in tax, as if yet another magic money forest had sprouted from the earth ...
We need to hear much more about freeports and enterprise zones, low-tax jurisdictions bringing investment and prosperity to deprived areas – again, only possible outside the EU. And what about research and development tax credits and other post-Brexit regulatory tweaks, again with a regional focus?
Btw, if freeports are so great, why not make the whole of Blighty a freeport? Why not do the full Singapore-on-Thames and get GDP per capita up to $65k across the board ...
The finale being an "all things to all men" flourish of incoherence ...
Finally, ministers need to emphasise that genuine, sustainable growth is driven, above all, by the private sector.
Infrastructure projects, while seeded by central government, should be largely financed by commercial infrastructure bonds. High-speed broadband rollout is vital – and again, private sector players have a huge part to play. More housebuilding is vital too, not least social housing – once more, harnessing both private and public sector funding.
While levelling up costs money, the emphasis must be on tax breaks and vigorous supply-side reform.
And what if the private sector tells you to stick your blue socialist French model up your arse and does a runner, Liam?
What are you gonna do then?
Hand over to the Labour party and the true red socialists to finish the job, that's what you're gonna do, Liam.
Just like the 1970's, but it's ok, I won't say I've been telling you so since June 23rd 2016.
At last, at last, just as I was worrying that I might die before my country regained its independence, we managed to break free! For me, it truly is the very best Xmas gift I could wish for! No more of those snooty, Brit-hating French telling us what to do, or those haughty Germans telling us what we must not do! After what seems like forever, we are free again! Yes, of course, we will almost certainly make 'a pig's ear' of it because that is the traditional British way - just check our exceedingly chequered history! But, they will be our mistakes, our errors and now we will be free to correct them through the Parliamentary system which we developed on our own to suit ourselves. Positively, the very best political Xmas present I have ever received, apart from the German surrender 10 days before my Birthday in 1945!
Finally, my very best wishes to you all and I hope you enjoy an excellent Christmas!
So Brexit Blighty has got its new names from the world's media: "Plague Island", and "The Dirty Man of Europe". ("The Dirty Man of Europe" is actually an old name from 1975 when Blighty joined the EU, our beaches were so filthy and our air pollution so rancid after 30 post-war years of Westminster being in charge, hence the name was coined. Back to the 70's eh? It's ok, I won't say I told you so) ...
For those outside the DT's paywall, here's the gist ...
The Spanish newspaper, ABC, tied Britain's isolation to Brexit. France also jumped on this bandwagon; a piece in Le Figaro said: "Ten days from Brexit the UK has effectively been cut off from Europe ... in a disastrous foretaste of what could happen with the scheduled divorce of 31 December."
Likewise, a headline in regional newspaper Sud Ouest read: 'Cut off from the world, the UK fears chaos'. And, on the French radio station, France Info, one journalist said Britain's isolation "is concentrating British minds on the consequence
And by George and all the Saints, here's the Graun actually criticizing Blighty's state, out of whose arse the sun normally shines ...
No paywall on the Graun, you can read the damning truth of Brexit Blighty garnered from the world's media in that article.
Where to go? What to do? Well good old Gibraltar looks like it's been smelling the coffee since 23rd June 2016, and a prosperous and free future for its citizens is just a few negotiation days away - while the rest of Blighty sinks into oblivion ...
They're joining the Schengen zone, so they don't have to show their passports at the border or get a visa, they can move freely into Spain and Europe's leading states. Freedom and prosperity in one hit, what we used to have ...
Spanish newspaper El País reported on Tuesday that Gibraltar and Spain are close to a deal that would allow for free movement across the border, with Gibraltar entering the Schengen space.
Ironically, the change forced by Brexit would bring Gibraltar closer to the EU than ever, with UK visitors still required to show their passports on arrival in the territory, while anyone crossing from Spain into Gibraltar or vice versa would walk through an open border.
How long before the rest of Blighty falls apart: Northern Ireland folding into the Republic of Ireland, and Scotland joining the EU directly?
When her Maj asked, "Give me three reasons why Blighty shouldn't do Brexit?", I replied, "The prosperity of Blighty, the unity of Blighty, and peace in Blighty".
It helps that the news is so depressingly repetitive that I don't really read or watch it anymore. The Memsahib and I stay at home as much as possible and confine ourselves to peeping through the curtains from time to time to confirm the world is still 'out there'! Of course, Boris continues to suffer non-stop 'incoming' and no doubt he has committed many an error but would any other politician do any better? Imagine if 'Jezza' and his Marxist fanatics had been in charge - "Oh the horror, the horror"!
It is some slight comfort that Xmas is almost here to lighten the gloom. However, what I fear is next year. We still have a couple of months of winter to get through and then, although the weather will begin to improve, nothing much else will! That's when the wailing and the shrieking will reach new heights.
In the meantime, keep safe and well, my many e-friends, where-ever you are.
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