In the space of 24 hours I have read one article about a cross-party meeting on limiting Brexit damage and another about Rishi Sunak wanting to “rebuild UK’s relations with the EU”. Why now, all of a sudden? Bloomberg says: “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.” I don’t buy it. Surely we heard about the invasion 12 […]
Brexit has been blamed for creating a shortfall in workers across many sectors, so it should be a good time to be looking for work, or to boost over-stretched pay-packets. The Vitality Stadium in Bournemouth hosted a ‘jobs fair’ at the start of February, giving employers a chance to showcase opportunities to interest potential new […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
It seems to me that there is very little reason to have confidence in our current government. I mean, how can you have faith in anything they say, and what evidence is there to suggest that they can do anything competently? With this in mind, it is particularly alarming that Conservative MPs are voting through […]
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 […]
The EU referendum was fundamentally flawed according to criteria set by ardent Brexiter and former Brexit Secretary, David Davis, on how referendums should be “done properly”. In July 2016, the Tory MP and then Chief Brexit Negotiator in Theresa May‘s new government, Mr Davis lauded the result of the EU referendum as fair, legal, and democratic. But […]
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 […]
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 […]
Note: Names have been changed to protect identity. Ed. After seven years of abuse and apathy, I’ve called time on my local campaign against Brexit. Beyond the bubble They call it reaching “beyond the bubble”. The key to successful campaigning, say social media experts, is to win over new groups of supporters beyond those naturally […]
It’s two years on from Brexit and so it’s timely to look at the current transit times from our suppliers and cost changes around the EU. As a recap, it used to be door-to-door ten days max for all EU collections. The average single pallet collection cost £180. All fairly standard. Today, after trying out […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Has the UK given more military aid to Ukraine than the EU? This is an investigation into a Brexiter’s claim about aid to Ukraine – 4-min video from journalist, Jon Danzig. A former advisor to NATO and the Ministry of Defence, Professor Gwythian Prins, claimed on BBC Radio 5 live that the UK has given […]
So, the new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, is worried that Britons are not numerate enough. He said he wants people to “feel more confident” when it comes to numbers and finances and plans to make maths compulsory study until the age of 18. Mr Sunak added that the UK must “reimagine our approach to numeracy” in […]
I had made up my mind last night to write about lying before I read Chris Grey’s superb blog out today, December 16. I strongly recommend you read it, too. “In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”― George Orwell I was provoked into addressing the issue by a clip of last […]
Dear West Country Voices, I am 70 years of age and started my career in the scientific civil service Chemical laboratories (Ministry of Defence) at Porton Down, Wiltshire. After four years I left, and worked in the food industry, both in production and research and development, finally becoming quality assurance manager in a major baby […]
Nu komt de aap uit de mouw A couple of hundred years ago, Dutch sailors returning from long voyages sometimes tried to smuggle monkeys into the country. Hidden inside their coats an unfortunate pet would, on occasions, poke their head out of the smuggler’s sleeve at the dock gates and give the game away. This is the […]
Tavistock looked at its best this morning, its streets and buildings washed clean by overnight rain and gleaming under late November sun. Appearances are deceptive, though: a local told me the town was in decline, with shops closing and people increasingly resorting to food banks. In this it surely mirrors the fate of once prosperous […]
Sick UK What a headline … “Reino Unido, atrapado en su propio laberinto político y económico” (the United Kingdom, trapped in its own political and economic labyrinth). Enough to make you feel proud to be British? Or to acknowledge that our friends and neighbours pity us for what is happening to the UK? This was […]
𝗘𝗨 𝗠𝗘𝗠𝗕𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗦 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘; 𝗨𝗞 𝗠𝗘𝗠𝗕𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗦 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗡𝗢𝗧 So, the Supreme Court has ruled that Scotland’s government is not allowed to have an advisory-only referendum on whether its citizens want to leave the United Kingdom. Permission must be given first by the ‘ruling’ government based in England, the court stipulated. Funny thing, really. […]
Following the pop-up ‘General Election Now’ campaigns in other Devon towns, Devon for Europe returned to the county’s capital with its first “proper” street stall to find out how the city’s Saturday shoppers are feeling about the present state of political affairs. Six years ago, Exeter voted to remain in the EU at the 2016 […]
So, in a straw poll of Twitter users organised by the new Chief Twit, Elon Musk, Donald Trump has been ‘elected’ back onto the platform after being banned in 2020 for reasons we all know. “The people have spoken,” tweeted Mr Musk. Haven’t we heard that phrase before, ad nauseam, since 24 June 2016? Musk’s […]
The American mid-term elections are over and the election denialists seem to be losing ground over there. We can hope this might set a trend, as there seem to be any number of causes based on denying at the moment. Denying the severity of Covid-19, or the science behind vaccinations or masks, or of the […]
There were 12 Apostles. There are 12 days of Christmas. There were 12 knights of the round table There are 12 members in a jury. There are 12 months in a year. There are 12 numbers on a clock. There are 12 pairs of ribs in a human being. There were 12 pence in a shilling. There are 12 eggs in a dozen. There are 12 cranial nerves in the human body. There are 12 stars on […]
Thirty-three years ago today, on 9 November 1989, the people of Berlin – east and west – joined together to dismantle the wall that had cruelly separated their city for almost three decades. It was a momentous event that led to the downfall of the Soviet communist regime, followed eventually by applications to join the European Union by […]