I have a friendly electrician who is married to a Scot and who is a rampant Brexiter. He thinks Scotland is nuts to want to sacrifice a 300 year, or rather longer, association with the rest of Britain, in favour of the EU. He has a point. Getting out of the EU after 45 years… Read more
Category:
Brexit
About the decision, background and process of the UK leaving the European Union.
N. Ireland GE2019 – North Belfast and the DUP
Introduction This is the first of a series of six posts on GE2019 in Northern Ireland each of which will highlight one party and one constituency. This post features the DUP and the North Belfast constituency. Subsequent posts will highlight Sinn Féin (SF), the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP)… Read more
Conservative Government mismanagement of the NHS is plain for all to see
The news last week that the delays and target failures in the NHS are substantially worse than ever before is regrettably, unsurprising. Dr Rachel Clarke has pointed out that since the Conservatives have been in government, surgical waiting lists have soared to 4.4 million; district nurses have been culled by 50%; 15,000 hospital beds have… Read more
Immigrants help us…
This is straightforward Labour Party evangalism, for which I perhaps ought to apologise, but I (and I reckon that many of our readers might well) agree absolutely. It is a counteraction to the untruthful Tory idea that immigrants are a problem, when in fact immigrants are invariably younger and more active than most and do… Read more
A New Trade Barrier Comparison Tool – The Trade Barrier Index
Trade has become a very contentious issue over the past few years. Many of the main Brexit supporters cite Free Trade as the Holy Grail. Freed from the protectionist barriers of the EU, the UK can apparently once again achieve its true position in the world. Trade is however notoriously complex. There are tariff and… Read more
On Brexit and Remain alliances…
The news that Farage is standing down about half his prospective Brexit Party [BXP] candidates (who have reputedly been charged £100 each just to be considered as candidates – rumoured to be about £35k of income) is probably not great news for Remainers. Yet wherever they are in the UK the majority of Labour (and… Read more
Sovereignty – thy name is Brexit…
I thought the wonderful, and cruel logic of this letter worthy of wider attention. It might provoke one or two wry smiles but it also demonstrates all too clearly the idiocy of Britain’s current position… Sovereignty may be a zero sum game, but no man is an island. Indeed all of John Donne’s poem speaks… Read more
The household fallacy
It’s election time and the household fallacy is back in vogue. On Radio 4s “Any Questions” this week a lady asked (more eloquently then my version, go to 14.45 minutes in), how are we supposed to teach our children about counting their pennies when politicians are promising to spend on this, that, and t’other? The… Read more
Significant Others, the Glorious Twelfth and Northern Ireland
A Historical Introduction Winter General Elections are rare and December ones rarer still. The 2019 one is to be on the (Glorious) 12th of December. In NI the Glorious 12th is a reference to the Battle of the Boyne, rather than the start of the grouse shooting season. The last two December GEs were in… Read more
Brexit health dangers writ large
This post is – even more than usual – unashamedly political. But I’m afraid this clip below demonstrates beyond all doubt how a US trade deal would be so dangerous for the UK. Yes the US is an ally. Fine, but exactly how much must we be required to limit our resources for medication to… Read more