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Paul Bigland

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Paul Bigland

Category Archives: Brexit

I thought my marching days were over!

23 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Brexit, Democracy, Politics

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Brexit, Democracy, Politics

It’s a funny old world. Here I am, sitting on a train to London to join tens of thousands of other people who will be marching to protest about the shambles known as Brexit.

I thought my marching days were over. As a veteran of the Miners strike, CND protests, Poll Tax fracas and Gulf war demo (amongst others) I’d hoped we’d moved on as a country. How wrong can you be?

Now we’re in the biggest mess we’ve faced since World War 2, and it’s entirely self-inflicted!

Our politicians have failed us, they’re incapable of publically admitting what a shambles Brexit is and the price the country will pay for it. Instead, some are outright lying about it. So, I find myself having to hit the streets of London once again. What a sorry state this country’s in.

Expect some pictures later…

20.36.

What a fantastic day! I’ve a huge amount of pictures to share of this brilliant event, but here’s one of my early favourites.

DG300536

Sunday. 24th June

Getting back to Halifax after the march was fun due to delays on the East Coast Main Line thanks to a failed train near Peterborough. I ‘enjoyed’ an enforced stay in Doncaster, then our train was terminated at Wakefield and we were taken to Halifax by road. I finally got home at 02:15 this morning, but it was well worth it. I’ve added another couple of pictures from yesterday, but the rest (there’s around 60) can be found by following this link to a gallery on my Zenfolio website.

DG300482

DG300719

Brexodus…

22 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Brexit, Politics

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Brexit, Politics

Sadly, my prediction from a couple of days ago that Parliament abdicating responsibility for democracy would speed up the brexodus has already come to pass. The juxtaposition of two headlines on the front page of today’s Times sums up Brexit perfectly.

brexit

We’re about to lose thousands of skilled jobs and £bns in revenue to the Exchequer if Airbus, but hey people, fruit picking isn’t as bad as you thought!

Airbus’s stark warning to the Government has been published on their website. You can find it here. This is part of it (with my highlights):

“Tom Williams, Chief Operating Officer of Airbus Commercial Aircraft, commented:
“In any scenario, Brexit has severe negative consequences for the UK aerospace industry and Airbus in particular. Therefore, immediate mitigation measures would need to be accelerated. While Airbus understands that the political process must go on, as a responsible business we require immediate details on the pragmatic steps that should be taken to operate competitively. Without these, Airbus believes that the impacts on our UK operations could be significant. We have sought to highlight our concerns over the past 12 months, without success. Far from Project Fear, this is a dawning reality for Airbus. Put simply, a No Deal scenario directly threatens Airbus’ future in the UK.”

Here’s a hollow laugh, remember when David Davis said this?

David Davis quote

I don’t expect Airbus will be the last company to spell things out so starkly. Needless to say, the reaction of the Brexit fundamentalists has been complete denial. According to one on Twitter all we’ve got to do is ‘grow some balls’ (as opposed to them thinking with theirs) as apparently I’ve been ‘brainwashed’ by listening to experts!

brainwashed

Actually, this tweet sums up the reasons for the Brexit vote. It was the revenge of stupid people. But, because they’re stupid they’ve not had the brainpower to think the consequences through. It’s not the people they’re lashing out at who will be hurt the most, it’s them. The rich who funded and led the Leave campaign are already walking away to safety, carrying their Belizian diplomatic passports, or retiring to their villas in France or the Caribbean. Many others who have the option to leave will be doing so too as Brexit has created a poisoned country – as this tweet from Professor Tanja Bueltmann describes.

Tanja 22 june 2018

Who would have thought that a mature democracy could have been brought so low so quickly? We’re falling further into what’s looking more and more like a fascist state. I’ve always refrained from drawing parallels with Nazi Germany – until now, but now I think they’re too clear to ignore as the language is the same. A country where papers like the Mail can describe High Court judges as ‘traitors’, where MPs are afraid to vote with their conscience because of death threats and have to be escorted by SIX armed police. Where a Prime Minister can tell outright lies with a straight face on national TV (the Brexit ‘dividend’) is in deep, deep trouble. yet we seem to be sleepwalking over the edge of the cliff. Where’s the outrage at these things? Where’s the outcry? Where’s the push-back?This is how fascism takes over, when good people do nothing.

I fear for my country.

That sound? That’s British democracy gurgling down the plughole.

20 Wednesday Jun 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Brexit, Politics, Uncategorized

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Brexit, Politics

Ever felt that you’re dreaming and that you’re in the script of a totally implausible movie? One that’s so unreal you think “Surely, no-one could think this would fly in real life?” Well, someone did write it, and it’s for real. It’s called Brexit, and we’ve all been trapped in it since June 2016. Only now it’s getting even more implausible, because today, the House of Commons voted to make itself redundant. Instead it voted to hand power to a Government that hasn’t got a clue what to do apart from save its own skin at the expense of the country’s economic and social wellbeing, led by a Prime Minister who will shamelessly tell a blatant lie to the national broadcaster (May telling the BBC that ‘extra’ money for the NHS will come from the non-existent Brexit ‘bonus’) who doesn’t even challenge her on the lie.

Who would have thought that UK democracy was so fragile, and so easily bought – and that MPs of both major parties would collude in it? I can only imagine what our European neighbours think as they watch our disaster unfold – apart from a determination to ensure that it doesn’t happen to them and they’re not infected with the political version of mad cow disease that we’ve succumbed to so easily. The next few months will show just how bovine our politicians have become…

 

The Brexit can is kicked farther down the road…

07 Thursday Jun 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Brexit

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Brexit

There’s shambles, then there’s the Brexit shambles, which is taking things to a whole new level none of us have ever seen before. The UK has now added the dubious accolade of being home to the EU’s fudge mountain, because today’s Government communique contains more of that particular confectionary than a Rowntree’s warehouse!

After a day of speculation over the future of David Davis (will he or won’t he resign over a backstop date) he stays and a compomise is reached.

More fudge.

The revised paragraph now reads

“Time limiting the agreement

26. The UK is clear that the temprorary customs arrangement, should it be needed, should be time limited, and that it will be only in place until the future customs arrangement can be introduced. The UK is clear that the future customs arrangement needs to deliver on the commitments made in relation to Northern Ireland. The UK expects the future arrangement to be in place by the end of December 2021 at the latest. Thete are a range of options for how a time limit could be delivered, which the UK will propose and discuss with the EU”.

So, that’s clear then! A ‘time limit’ that is only an expectation is no time limit at all. And what if there’s no solution found by then?

I feel desperately sorry for the EU negotiators that this is the sort of rubbish they’ve got to deal with. How do you work with a UK government that hasn’t got a clue what it actually expects to get out of Brexit, but keeps coming up with things it can’t have or which have already been turned down. It must be as maddening for them as it is for us. The only difference is that we’re the poor sods lumbered with the consequences.

Meanwhile, it’s clear our Government still haven’t a clue what to do about the Irish border!

It’s hardly surprising that more and more Brexit Leaders are starting to make their excuses. Some of the voters who were conned by them are starting to realise this too as more and more bad news turns up without a Brexit unicorn in sight.

May you live in interesting times…

06 Wednesday Jun 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Brexit

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Brexit

– as the old Chinese curse goes. Well, ‘interesting’ they are, although that feels a bit like having a cabin on the Titanic right now. Because, let’s face it – Brexit is lurching fom shambles to shambles. To say there’s no positive news on the potential outcome is an understatement. Both the Govt and opposition are punting ‘new’ options that have been been rejected by the EU before, but ‘cakeism’ persists.

Now it looks like the Government is about to be thrown into chaos as a senior member has announced he’s resigning. That’s right, Paul Dacre’s leaving as Editor of the Daily Mail! Oh, apparently some bloke called David Davis is likely to follow. For all the good Davis has done i’d suggest his replacement should be the tub of lard ‘Have I got news for you’ used as a stand in for Roy Hattersley many years ago.

What a f*****g shambles.

More Brexit leaders jump ship…

02 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Brexit, Nigel Farage, Uncategorized

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Brexit, Nigel Farage

As the absolute shambles that is Brexit heads for the rocks more of its architects are jumping ship or making their excuses.

This week we’ve seen Lord Lawson, one of the leaders of the Leave campaign, apply for French residency! It’s not much of a surprise as (when he’s not screwing the UK up) that’s where he’s lived for many years. It’s a classic example of putting up two fingers to the plebs he conned into voting for Brexit. He’s exercising a right he’s denying to everyone else- the ability to live or work in the EU.

Meanwhile, pathological liar Nigel Farage is rowing back from all his claims that Brexit would be a success. Now he’s saying that he never claimed at all! On his LBC chat show, he claimed that “I never promised that it would be a huge success”. What a brass balled liar!  A few minutes on Google will produce plenty of evidence that this is exactly what he claimed, but then that’s Farage all over. He know he can claim anything and his supporters will swallow it whole.

https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/1002472366629322752

Meanwhile, David Davis has admitted that there’s still no solution to the Irish border question. He conceded that technology cannot be used to police the border. So what’s his new fantastical ‘solution’? A ten-mile wide ‘buffer zone‘! Talk about making it up as you go along…

And there’s still no sign of the Brexit land of milk and honey these charlatans promised the poor people who were conned into voting Leave, exactly the opposite. Now restaurant chain Carluccio’s is looking at closing 30 restaurants as a result of Brexit increasing costs.

brexit

Anyone found one of the Brexit fundamentalists fabled unicorns yet? It seems that fewer and fewer people have faith they exist, as this chart of YouGov polls shows;

yougov brexit

So, how’s this claim working out for you Jeremy?

corbyn jobs frame

Rolling blog: Sunday scribbles…

20 Sunday May 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Brexit, London, Railways, Royal Wedding 2018, Travel

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Brexit, London, Politics, Railways, Rolling blogs, Royal Wedding 2018, Travel

After a brief night at home I’m once again speeding down the East Coast Main line to London and (eventually) Brighton. Weatherwise, it’s a glorious day for travelling, although I have to admit that I’d have been quite happy spending the day at home. Our garden’s really coming into bloom right now, so it would’ve been lovely to sit in the sun with Dawn, the newspapers and a glass of something. Instead i’m enjoying watching some lovely countryside flash by my train window as I head South.

Today’s the first day of a major railway timetable change that affects my route. Every train time across the GTR network (Great Northern, Thameslink and Southern) has changed and no-one is quite sure what to expect. Industry insiders have told me the new timetable was too complex to model. They know their will be failures but they can’t predict where. As I’m spending the next couple of days on Southern and Thameslink services, I’ll blog about my experiences.

On another matter, I’ve had chance to process my thoughts about what I saw around yesterday’s royal wedding. What struck me was just how cosmopolitan the crowds were who went to Windsor to enjoy the spectacle. As I watched them catch their trains from Waterloo I was impressed by the sheer variety of folk making the journey. I’d say the majority were women, but there were plenty of couples too, as well as entire families. They weren’t all dyed-in-the-wool Royalists either, this wasn’t a wall of union jack T-shirts. What fascinated me was how many of the women were dressed as if they really had been invited to a wedding. I wasn’t too surprised about how many Americans were going due to the brides origin, but I was by the number of Japanese and other asian nationals – as well as all the European languages I heard. I can only put it down to the fact most people enjoy fairytales, and the idea of a mixed-race woman marrying her Prince is such a tale. It was a joyous coming together in celebration from people of all creeds, colours and nationalities. After all the shit that Brexit has thrown up, the wedding (albeit briefly) took us back to the heady days of the 2012 London Olympics, when we seemed a bigger, more confident and outward looking nation – such a contrast to what we’ve become now.

15:39.

Well, I’ve managed to catch a Thameslink service to Brighton without a hitch. Within a few minutes of strolling across the road to St Pancras, buying a ticket and disappearing down into the ‘box’ I was boarding the 15:27 which was running to time and formed of a 12 car Class 700. The weather in the capital’s just as stunning as it was up North. As we passed through Blackfriars station I could sèe that the South bank of the river was awash with people enjoying that lovely combination, a day off, sunshine and a fantastic view across the River Thames!

Gammon attack!

15 Tuesday May 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Brexit, Humour

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Brexit, Humour

I have to admit to a certain wry amusement about the way Brexit supporters have suddenly got upset about a term that’s been used to describe them for some time now: Gammon.

It came about because of all those florid-faced, middle to late age men who infest certain programmes like ‘Question Time’. You know the ones, stabbing their fingers at everyone as they (in)articulate their support for Brexit whilst the veins on the side of their heads throb dangerously, as if Brexit (preferably the harder the better) doesn’t happen there and then they’ll have an embolism!

An irony lost upon them is that they’ve been calling anyone who opposes Brexit ‘remoaners’, ‘libtards’ ‘snowflakes’, ‘cucks’ or (far worse) traitors ever since 2016,

Despite the obvious hypocrisy, they’re now squealing that calling them gammon isn’t a humorous response, it’s actually racist. How a bunch of white folks calling other white folks by that name is racist escapes me, but then most Brexit supporters have never let logic sully their minds.

Needless to say ‘remoaners’ have responded with more humour. If you’re on Twitter, you might like to take a look at the #gammonsongs hashtag, here’s a couple of my favourites!

gammon 1.PNG

gammon 2

Of course, there will be those who argue that this is a coarsening of the political debate,  that we must be kind to these people and try to understand their point of view. I have to admit I’ve been trying to understand the Brexit fundamentalists for some time now, and all I can say is that I find it impossible to get inside the minds of bigoted, intolerant and paranoid people. As for coarsening politics, I can only say that view ignores our political history and whitewashes the past. Ever heard of the Peterloo massacre?

Rats deserting the sinking Brexit ship?

11 Friday May 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Brexit, Politics

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Brexit, Politics

As each day passes it’s becoming more and more obvious what an utter shambles Brexit is. So much so that even some of its architects are starting to make their excuses and distance themselves from the looming disaster, hence Daniel Hannan, the Tory MEP being quoted in the London Evening Standard as admitting leaving the European Union is “not working out” the way it was planned.

What makes me want to bang my head on the table in frustration at this is the fact there never was a bloody plan! Brexit was always a dream that was never achievable, and Hannan is as culpable as the others in conning people by pretending Brexit could ever work. Here’s his fantasy Brexit in full flow.

https://reaction.life/britain-looks-like-brexit/

Meanwhile, in the real world, the arrogance of the Brexit fundamentalists in believing “the EU needs us more than we need them” has collided with reality. The EU hasn’t rolled over in the face of the British ‘superiority’ the Brexit fundamentalists believe in. The opposite in fact, the EU’s stuck to its position on the major issues such as access to the single market and ‘bespoke’ deals, whilst the Government has clung to fantasies and keeps kicking the can down the road rather than facing up to the truth. This was summed up rather nicely by Steve Bullock (a former British EU negotiator, who’s in a position to know what he’s talking about) on Twitter…

bullock

Part of the UK’s problem is that many people just don’t realise how the Brexit shambles is seen from outside the UK. The older generation still get their views from the likes of the Daily Mail or Express, whilst many of the younger generation don’t seem to engage with  news at all. Mind you, talking of the Daily Mail, is it any wonder many people are clueless, just take a look at the Mail’s front page from yesterday, when they went full Goebbels on the news that the House of Lords had held the Government to account!

mail

The fact that a national newspaper is describing the members of the House of Lords as “traitors in ermine” should send a shudder down the spine of any right-minded person, no matter what their political persuasion is. This is pure poison, but it’s also a reflection of the terrible political times we’re living in – as is the news from today. The Leave.EU campaign has been fined £70,000 for breaking electoral law by the Electoral Commission who’ve also referred Leave.EU chief executive Liz Bilney to the police. Are they repentant? Are they hell as like. Arron Banks called it a “politically motivated attack” which is a rich irony as that’s exactly what he’s funded – an attack on democracy!

Needless to say, the Brexit fundamentalists who claim they love democracy so much we needed to leave an ‘undemocratic’ EU are strangely silent about the obvious subversion of the democracy they’re meant to cherish.

Meanwhile, the Brexit clock continues to tick and the Brexit camp inside and outside of Government continue to cling to the delusion that everything’s going to plan. The plan they never had in the first place…

A post-election political blog

04 Friday May 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn, Local elections, Local elections 2018, Politics

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I woke up this morning to find that nothing I hadn’t expected had occurred in the local elections. To the surprise of no-one (except perhaps, party die-hards), UKIP voters had drifted back to where most of them came from in the first place – the Tory party. meanwhile Labour, the worst opposition in living memory facing the worst Government in living memory, had managed to gain 50 seats. As I type this, the Tories have actually managed to GAIN 11! In fact, all parties bar UKIP (who’ve lost 110) have gained seats! The Lib-Dems have managed to win 33 so far and the Greens just 4. The final numbers will make interesting reading, but not, I think for Labour.

That said, Corbyn supporters are busy on social media, trying to claim this is (somehow) a ‘victory’. Quite how they work that one out is a mystery. It’s like kicking at an open goal, missing, then saying “Yeah, but the ball only missed by a bit”.

Contrast these results with the final ones of the 2014 local elections (before Corbyn became Labour leader), when the Tories lost 236 and Labour gained 324.

2014 election

This was the last year that Labour gained seats. In 2015 they lost 203, a further 18 in 2016 and another 382 in 2017. A grand total of 603 seats.

Here’s another result Corbynistas won’t want to hear. In May 1995, under Tony Blair, Labour won 1,802 seats whilst John Major’s Tories lost 2,018. Paddy Ashdown’s Lib-Dems picked up 487. Yes, it was all downhill from there until 2010 when Gordon Brown picked up 417 seats, but even Ed Miliband  as Labour Leader managed to pick up 857 seats in 2011 and a further 823 in 2012. He then added another 291 in 2013 and 324 in 2014 before losing 203 in 2015, a fact overshadowed by his General election loss.

Here’s all the Labour’s local election results since 2010, showing the percentage of the vote and any swing.

results since 2010

This puts Corbyn’s results into perspective. I, like many others have no enthusiasm for him or his party now. He’s betrayed Labour supporters over Brexit and there’s no sign of that changing. The hard left seem to be in full denial of reality mode, so the charade will continue.

God help us…

UPDATE.

The final results are in and they make interesting reading.

final election results

Despite former UKIP voters heading back to the Tories they still lost 33 seats, but that’s hardly a disaster. In the light of political events that’s not a bad result. Labour are crowing about having won 77 seats, but when you consider they’re up against such a disastrous and shambolic Government, this is underachieving on a grand scale, especially when you consider that the Lib-Dems are only behind them by 2 seats. The Greens will probably be happy gaining 8 as their recent showing in the polls and performance at local elections has been poor.

From these results I’d suggest it’s pretty clear Brexit has played an important part in who people chose to vote for. The Lib-Dems did very well in some places that were heavy Leave areas, again, I’d suggest that this is an obvious sign of ‘Bregret’. Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB on Twitter) has compiled this rather useful chart which demonstrates how opinion has changed recently. Does anyone seriously think this isn’t feeding into who people choose to vote for?

bregret

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