Monthly Archives: December 2018

Advice, Public Policy

The Dane-Geld

Leave a comment

Some things remain good advice despite the passage of time …

It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say:

“We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that plays it is lost!”

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (30 Dec 1865 – 18 Jan 1936)

Only the name has changed over time – it was appeasement in the 1930’s and a national divorce bill today.

EU, Europe, UK Politics

Simply Leave!

Leave a comment

A petition to the UK Government and Parliament has been submitted with the request that we leave the EU without a deal in March 2019.

At the time of writing 189,000 UK citizens had taken the time to vote in support of an option that many thought was what they had voted for back in 2016.

Leaving was never offered as an outcome that was subject to the EU agreeing on a deal with the UK. It was simply leave.

Our political leaders followed up the 2016 vote with the slogan No Deal is Better than a Bad Deal. Now they say Any Deal is Better Than No Deal.

The voting public were told in no uncertain terms that continued membership of the EU was in the country’s best interests and that leaving was an uncertain route. They still voted to leave; just leave.

After all the wasted time and effort to create a Frankenstein exit plan it is clear that Just Leave was the best course of action from day one.

Now will this petition actually change minds in Westminster? There is some hope but very little expectation …

UK Politics

A Lack Of Volunteers

Leave a comment

When it comes to a choice between saving the nation – or protecting their own position – far too many of today’s politicians seem to put their own self-interest first.

Today in Westminster we have a Conservative party in power but with over a hundred of its members not in support of their leader. Meanwhile their allies, the DUP members, have pulled their support – meaning that the Conservatives are in a minority;  no matter what.

In this weakened situation the opposition have all the fire power needed to take the government apart. Yet no one seems prepared to make a decisive move. And so far Labour, LibDem and SNP members have done little more than rant a little louder than usual.

Grandad can only assume that the prospect of taking the poison chalice from Mrs May’s grasp is too great a risk to their comfortable existence on the opposition benches. Without a Brexit agreement in place they would have to come up with one themselves – or capitulate. Sadly the quality of the opposition is such that they could then make the situation even worse.

To quote Blur – Modern life is rubbish …

EU, Europe, UK Politics

From Bad To Worse

Leave a comment

So it has come to this .. Our Prime Minister reduced to leading her government into a political dead-end with the prospect of an overwhelming defeat. Her master plan for leaving the European Union has pleased no one except the eurocrats. It is a plan so weak and subservient to the EU that both pro-leave and pro-remain supporters have combined to condemned it – and that’s just within her own party!

Nine hundred days ago it was hard to imagine that a UK government could spend all this time and then come up with a plan that is worse than either staying put or leaving without a deal. Somehow Olly and Theresa have achieved just that.

With project fear turned up to max against a clean break no deal exit – will the majority now be convinced to scrap the whole sorry charade? Who knows?

Commemoration

Sixth Anniversary

Leave a comment

It’s six years since the start of this website – so how much as changed?

Well so much as happened around the world to so many people – and businesses – since 2012 that we have to restrict things to just that mini-world of topics that were covered here.

And tellingly many of the issues raised in 2012 have made very little progress and some remain unresolved.

Scotland tried and failed to leave the UK. The UK tried to leave the EU but is still stuck in limbo. While at the more trivial level – road signs are still in miles and yards; penny coins are still in use despite being worth even less; DAB radio is still be pushed as the replacement for FM channels despite missing all its take-up targets and the Daily Express is still printing wildly inaccurate weather predictions. Even the successful Crossrail project has yet to carry its first paying passenger.

But looking at the topics that have reached the top of in-tray during the past six years it is clear that somethings do change much more quickly than others.

Take retail for example where the six years have seen massive changes and some big names fail. From British Home Stores to Toys R Us from Mothercare to Maplin closures have been changing both the High Street and the retail parks. The stats show just how bad it has been with an estimated 10,000 stores closing since the start of 2013.

But it’s not all been bad news. And despite some gloomy prospects on the political front we still look forward with hope to more rewarding years of postings. And to making more attempts at sticking a pin in the elephant of bureaucracy.

EU, Europe, UK Politics

Meanwhile In Other News

Leave a comment
With Christmas shopping out of the way for now it’s time for a quick check back on the Jurassic Park that is international politics.

DadsArmyDoomed3And today’s fantasy world is seemingly dominated by opportunistic, self enrichment and egotistical power grabs. A world where open and honest leadership mandated by the will of the people has all but disappeared – along with true public service.

Sadly the current Brexit convulsions in Westminster show just how far standards have slipped. Neither of the two main UK political parties can be relied on to deliver what their constituents voted for. Labour MPs have campaigned to remain despite their constituents voting to leave. And our Conservative Prime Minister and her cabinet have claimed to be delivering the best leaving plan possible – while locking the country into EU colony status without end. A permanent remain solution dressed up as leaving.

This web blog post from a few days ago hits the mark for those Grandads that have been dismayed to witness politicians of various parties allowing the gradual switch of the EU from a trading block into a Europa Reich –

Brexiteers have been vilified, labelled as extremists, called dumb, and completely denounced, ignored from the EU negotiations or debate.

Remainer, Theresa May, and her adjutant, Oily Robbins, a staunch remainer, have effectively hijacked the whole Brexit process, and have proposed a deal which leaves the UK completely vulnerable to the EU, and ties it in to the Customs Union, indefinitely thus relinquishing any way of conducting global trade deals. The remainer PM, has even gone through two ‘Brexit secretaries’ a job which is nothing more than a glorified tea boy, with no power or role in the process of exiting the EU.

The EU referendum, was the largest democratic vote ever held in the UK, and 52% voted to Leave the EU. We are not dumb, we knew very well what this entailed. It meant leaving the EU Customs Union, the ECJ, the CAP, the CFP, the Single Market and all the other EU constructs designed to imprison countries, whilst making Brussels and the few favoured nations running the show richer.

It’s as simple as that.

The media are billing the next few days as the breaking point for the current UK exit plan – but after all these months of political ineffectiveness it seems more likely the year 2018 will end without a clear result. What a mess …