Section: UK

Nobody gave informed consent for Brexit

Jon Danzig

Nobody gave ‘informed consent’ for Brexit. That’s because, in the 2016 referendum, the electorate was not sufficiently informed. On the contrary, we were grossly misinformed. Legally, informed consent means that consent has been given with full knowledge of: ▪ the risks involved,▪ the probable consequences,▪ and the alternatives. – During the referendum, we were not fully aware of all […]

Is the UK the modern day Titanic? Letter to the editor

Editor-in-chief

Dear West Country Voices, The Titanic was advertised as being unsinkable. Its owners, the White Star Line, were facing great competition from Cunard in the burgeoning market to transport folk to the USA. Not just business men and rich people, but also those leaving for a new life. The Titanic had to be built as […]

The question they couldn’t answer: what does LEAVE mean?

Jon Danzig

𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗙𝗘𝗕𝗥𝗨𝗔𝗥𝗬 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟲: Here’s a question for you, I wrote in my report of February 2016: ‘𝗪𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲?’ No, me neither. But that’s what those campaigning for Britain to leave the EU were expecting voters to do – vote to end our membership of the […]

‘Regenesis’ by George Monbiot – a review

Anthea Bareham

Farming from the ground up – George Monbiot’s latest book puts food production under the microscope. It’s time to harvest the last of the main crop potatoes, but I have a dilemma. How do I get them out of the ground without disturbing the soil? I have been reading George Monbiot’s book: Regenesis. He devotes […]

Brexit remains a nonsense – Michel Barnier

Jon Danzig
Michel Barnier

The truth: Brexit offers no added value to Britain. Speaking to The Observer this week, the EU’s former Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, spoke common sense. “For me, for many of us, Brexit remains a nonsense,” he said. “Taking into account British national interest, there is no added value to being outside the Single Market and […]

A grim fairy tale for our times

Anthea Simmons
a deep, dark wood

Once upon a time, there were some men who made a lot of money from doing things that were wrecking the planet. They had known for ages that they were putting toxins in the air and water, causing global warming and damaging the health of their employees and the general public and the environment, but […]

What is the market fundamentalist agenda?

Mark E Thomas

This is a long post from Oct 2019, and some of what it says would have seemed seem hard to believe back then. But now? Now when we see cuts to public services, the increasing wealth gap, steady defunding of council services, the running down of the NHS and talk of the use of artificial […]

Ken Clarke. The only Tory MP to vote AGAINST triggering Brexit

Jon Danzig

From 31 January to 1 February 2017, MPs debated the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill on whether to trigger Brexit (the Article 50 notice). MPs overwhelmingly backed the bill, supported by the Labour leadership, by 498 votes FOR, to 114 AGAINST. Ken Clarke was one of the 114 MPs. He was the ONLY Tory MP […]

The truth deemed ‘misinformation’…

Jon Danzig

𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗞𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗡 𝗥𝗘𝗠𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗗 𝗠𝗬 𝗩𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗢 𝗕𝗬 ‘𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗘’ Yesterday LinkedIn took down my video of Stanley Johnson, Boris Johnson’s father, claiming that the post represented ‘misinformation’. In the video, Mr Johnson senior asserted that we only have Brexit because, “it was a cunning ploy by the Russians to destabilise…Western democracy”. Despite the allegation by LinkedIn that this […]

Secrets and lies

Anthea Simmons

So, finally, Sunak found himself in a position where sacking Nadhim Zahawi was his only option. It really does not look much like an act of leadership and integrity and, as many have pointed out, it’s not every sacking letter that manages to combine “it’s clear there has been a serious breach of the ministerial […]

Why is this happening to us?

Mark E Thomas

For many years, in the UK as well as other countries, progress across a wide range of issues seemed to be the natural order of things. Almost every year, the economy would grow a little and people’s real (inflation-adjusted) wages would grow with them. Almost every year, in other words, most people would become just […]

Just one day in the misinformation world of Andrew Bridgen

Emma Monk

Andrew Bridgen may have apologised for breaching lobbying rules and breaking the MPs’ code of conduct, but he’s not letting up on his anti-vax campaign. Emma Monk analyses just one day of misinformation. In the process of writing an article about former Conservative MP, Andrew Bridgen, having the whip removed for comparing the vaccine roll-out […]

The Brexit nobody voted for

Jon Danzig

When people voted for ‘Leave’ on 23 June 2016, nobody had been told – let alone asked – what Leave meant. It was just an undefined word. Leave. One word that could have meant anything. If you say you’re going to leave, the obvious next question is ‘where to’? But that wasn’t a question offered […]

The plague of corruption

Richard Murphy

Richard Murphy has never been enamoured by corruption. His dislike of everything to do with it motivated the work he did on tax havens and the abuses that they permit. He has little more liking of corruption within government either. And it seems like we are plagued with it, again. For those old enough to […]

Dozens of child refugees abducted in Brighton. Where is the national outcry?

Jon Danzig

Dozens of children have been abducted by gangs in Brighton, the Observer reveals today. A whistleblower and child protection sources told the newspaper that the children have been taken off the street and “bundled into cars”. The source said that the children have disappeared and have not been found. “They’re being taken from the street […]

Credible allegations of Russian interference in Brexit

Jon Danzig
Putin

The UK government has been asked by the European Court Of Human Rights (ECHR) to respond to ‘credible allegations’ of Russian interference in the Brexit referendum. The case was brought by a group of cross-party MPs: Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and Alyn Smith MP of the Scottish National Party (SNP). They lodged the claim with the international court based […]

If only Boris Johnson had been airbrushed from history

Jon Danzig

Business Secretary, Grant Shapps, tweeted a photo celebrating a space launch in Cornwall with former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, airbrushed out. On January 17, in Parliament, Mr Shapps apologised and explained that his team had been confused. “I simply told the team he needs hair brushing, not airbrushing.” What a plonker. But the idea of […]

You believe in parliamentary sovereignty? Prove it. We urge all MPs: support Amendment 36 to the REUL Bill on 18 Jan or, better still, throw the whole bill OUT

Jacob Öberg
House of Commons

This is an important summary of the situation from Jacob Öberg: Absolute must-read Brexit newsletter by Peter Foster which this week takes a shot at our ‘beloved’ Retained EU Law Bill (returning to the Commons) which is what Peter calls some ‘pretty crazy baggage’ from the outwardly sensible Sunak Government. Short recall, the REUL Bill […]

Mandatory mathematics – do Sunak’s sums add up?

Mick Fletcher
Maths teacher

Mick Fletcher on another back-of-the-envelope policy. There are some huge issues in the Prime Minister’s in-tray. The health service is facing its worst ever crisis; the economic cost of Brexit is increasingly evident and falling living standards are driving mounting social unrest. In a rational world it would make no sense at all for Rishi […]

Greenwashing the sewage party

Tom Scott
Tory leaflets posing as Green

Conservative MPs are systematically ripping off Green Party branding in their communications to voters – a new low for a party that is now clearly ashamed to be seen for what it is, writes Tom Scott. What would be your first thought if you received a leaflet like one of those shown above from a […]

Please show this to anyone who thinks Johnson should come back as PM

Jon Danzig

Boris Johnson has been urged to make a stunning comeback to frontline politics “for the sake of Britain, Brexit and British people”, reports the Daily Express. The paper (I really can’t bring myself to call it a newspaper) says there have been, “surging calls for the former Prime Minister to make a sensational return, with many Tories warning […]