I am finally feeling well enough to start posting again on this blog which I'll try to do every other day as usual.
Selby4europe
BREXIT: "No state in the modern era has committed such a senseless act of self-harm"
Wednesday 16 October 2024
Labour's EU 'reset' still on the launchpad
Friday 11 October 2024
Me
You may be wondering where I’ve been for the last few days. Well, let me say it hasn’t been great. I picked up a stomach bug on Monday and in between trying to vomit, alternately shivering and sweating, and sitting on the loo, I managed to get to see the doctor on Wednesday when I didn’t seem to be getting better quickly. I got an appointment in two hours (Well done to Selby NHS) and was given a thorough examination by a very nice doctor (30 minutes at least) and now I’m on antibiotics and other stuff. I’m not right but I think I’ve started to turn the corner. Yesterday evening marked the third day that I've eaten barely anything solid and I wasn’t that hungry!
Sunday 6 October 2024
Unleashed is unhinged
Johnson’s book, Unleashed, has now been reviewed and I think it’s fair to say it has not been greeted as anything other than a sick joke. It perhaps should have been titled, Unhinged. I used to borrow autobiographies from our local library and the political ones were usually self-justificatory but contained serious reflections about the issues and crises faced during their terms of office. Most could be relied upon by historians trying to understand the human relationships behind the key decisions to have a few grains of truth. I don’t think this applies to his 772-page effort.
Friday 4 October 2024
Starmer returns from Brussels
Kier Starmer’s visit to Brussels and his meeting with Ursula Von der Leyen apparently went well but the press release afterward was bland, to say the least. They “agreed to strengthen the relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union” and a few other anodyne things but not much more. The statement also said they “agreed to take forward this agenda of strengthened cooperation at pace over the coming months, starting with defining together the areas in which strengthened cooperation would be mutually beneficial, such as the economy, energy, security, and resilience, in full respect of their internal procedures and institutional prerogatives."
Wednesday 2 October 2024
Boris Johnson - I was bluffing on no-deal Brexit
In Boris Johnson's new book, Unleashed, he admits that he was bluffing in 2019 when threatening to leave the EU without a deal. Anyone who is surprised by this wasn't paying attention at the time. I remember having many conversations with desperately worried remainers who believed he would actually do it, as many Brexiteers, some inside parliament, would have preferred. It was always obvious it was just a bluff. You only had to listen to trade experts to realise it, and I never doubted for a second that their voices were coming through loud and clear in Downing Street and across Whitehall, regardless of what Dominic Cummings was saying to the lobby.
Monday 30 September 2024
The Rejoin Campaign
The National Rejoin March went ahead as planned on Saturday although I didn’t attend because I’m getting a bit too old for that kind of thing. I was there in spirit let’s say. This was the third year of what has now become an annual event. Only the organisers will know if the numbers are increasing or decreasing but the march didn’t receive any national coverage in the media as far as I could see. One report talked of “several hundred people” being in London on an anti-Brexit protest. This sparked a lot of mocking comments on social media from Brexiteers to the effect that Brexit was ‘over,’ as you might expect.
Friday 27 September 2024
Starmer, freebies and gifts
Wednesday 25 September 2024
The US election. Trump must lose
Thanks to Kamala Harris, Trump’s chance of winning the presidency for a second time has fallen, but it remains a distinct possibility. The polls have the VP narrowly ahead and we should all pray that she trounces him and the Republicans in November so the party can rebuild and shake free from the grip that Putin and the Russians have on it. America needs to look at itself seriously and begin to investigate how it got where it is. One important area they need to check is the Supreme Court (SC) and the whole issue of the politicisation of the legal system.