It is not right vs right.

Although the media seem to be furthering the rather once sided view of saying the Referendum is all about divisions internal to the Conservative party, they couldn’t be more wide of the mark.  
 

“Staying in the EU means hitching ourselves to an undemocratic project run by and for a remote elite”, says Larry Elliott in theGuardian.  And he is right.  Well, actually, he is left leaning politically.  And that’s the point.  This characterisation of it being a problem for the right is a myth.  And a pretty cynical one at that.  It distorts the debate.  It stifles conversations.  And it means the electorate are really being fed, and this what it amounts to, a rather biased and ultimately disrespectful discourse from the Remain camp.

 

So what does Larry Elliott have to say from a left of centre stance?  Well, the first thing is a fact.  Not an opinion.  The Eurozone is dying.  Anyone who says otherwise is living with their head the sand. 

The only options on the table are, stay in the EU and try and reform the Eurozone.  Or, leave the EU and let our businesses and industries free from the restrictions the dying embers of the Eurozone are still trying to set as the way ahead.

So is Brexit the best answer to a dying Eurozone?  Quite possibly.  Sometimes the only way to jog someone out their problems is for a sharp wake up call.  Brexit could be just what rEU needs.

A nation of shopkeepers who can't sell.

You own a shop.  You make and sell some rather nice things.  And people like what you make and sell, and they like to buy it at the price you are selling it.

That is how trade works the world over.

Now, imagine one day somebody walks by your shop window and says, “That looks nice, nice price too.  I will have one of these”.  So they walk in to your shop and up to your counter.  “I’d like one of these please”, they say.

Your reply?  “Sorry, do I know you; I don’t think I can sell to you.  You see, I’m only allowed to sell to certain people, it’s the club rules.”

“But I want to buy what you are selling” replies the person standing on the other side of your counter.

“Sorry”, you say.  “I think the club is negotiating with your people to see if we can sell to you. Until that is agreed, I’m afraid I can’t sell to you.”

Now, if that scenario happened in your shop, you would laugh.  Ridiculous.  It couldn’t happen.  But it does.  Day after day in the real world. 

Welcome to the world living inside the restrictive and economically fading EU. 

Won't exports be harmed if we LEAVE?

The idea that most of our exports go to the EU is just plain wrong.  Trotted out time and time again by the REMAIN camp, they assume we don't do the basic fact checking that is so easy these days.

So we will our exports be damaged if we leave the EU?

Let us start with a fact.  Most of our exports don’t go to the EU.  Only 41% goes to the EU according to the House of Commons Library.  And they are rarely wrong.

And the EU is a big exporter to the UK.  So breaking it down, the EU accounts for 41% of the UK’s goods exports and 47% of goods imports. 

So who needs who the most?  Well, put it this way, I really wouldn’t like to be the German chancellor or the French president telling their fellow citizens that for no reason other than spite, they were going to increase the costs of trading with the UK.  I really don’t think Peugeot, Mercedes, Citroën, Audi and the rest would allow that to happen.  Do you?

The EU would be criminally insane to spitefully punish its own people by creating unemployment in its key areas of manufacturing just because the UK dared to say "it's time to leave".

Odd company for the chancellor to keep.

You have to admit, George Osborne is a remarkable operator.  He can say things that would make a normal person blush with embarrassment.  He can conjure up black as white.  He can, well, you get the drift of where this is going.

Today was no exception.  Bold as brass.  Declaring that the economic case for REMAIN had been won. 

Really?  I can think of many economists who would beg to disagree. Indeed, the letter in today’s Telegraph also suggests 300 leading business leaders would also disagree.

Which leaves me with three options for his embarrassing behaviour with Vince Cable and Ed Balls today.  Yes, Cable and Balls, which is hardly the company I would want to be keeping if I wished to make a serious economic point. Was it not Labour’s disregard for taxpayers’ money that left the UK with the worst deficit of any country in the G20 and left us spending more on debt interest than we spend on schools, the police, or defence?

Anyway, back to Mr Osborne and our three options.

Option One.  Well, I’m afraid he has been listening to his spin doctors rather too much of late.  And is starting to believe them.

Option Two.  And this is what I’m really uncomfortable about, he actually believes it.  For if he does, I’m worried that such a man is at the wheel of our nations finances.

Option Three.  There is of course a third explanation which is even more unpalatable.  He’s telling lies and he knows it.  Now, that would be serious!

The case against polititians.

It was a beautiful day on Saturday in Glasgow.  Buchanan Street was full of the bustle that retailers delight in.  And the street cafes were doing a roaring trade.

So there was I with some with some friends out “selling” the case for freedom.  Or for leaving the shackles of the EU.

There were three kinds of people I spoke with.  There was around 1/3 each for Leave, Remain and Don’t Know.

Now, I know that this was not a scientific survey but it was revealing none the less. 

There was the number of SNP supporting people who really couldn’t get their head round why we would want to leave the UK but be shackled to an even less free EU.  There was much sympathy for the excellent performance on BBC Question Time last Thursday by Jim Sillars.  They got his point.  And were convinced by it more than the increasingly “hysterical” (not my words) utterances of Ms Sturgeon.

Labour supporters were interesting too.  They couldn’t understand why they would be supporting a Conservative Prime Minster who was clearly talking more and more rubbish as the campaign continues.

So, where does that leave things?  Well, one thing it is leaving is a very bad taste in peoples mouths.  They “don’t trust” politicians whose position has become even more exaggerated.  They think they are just telling us lies and it’s all those with vested interests who want us to stay.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Can you guess who supports REMAIN?

An easy question.  But if you are struggling, here is a table that indicates what a number of organisations recieved from the EU over the last 9 years.

http://order-order.com/2016/05/13/eu-paid-e160-million-to-pro-remain-groups/

USA investors hold key to NHS future.

We all love our NHS.  So opinion polls keep telling us.  But will it remain our NHS if we vote to REMAIN?  Good question.  And it is one that Greenpeace in the Netherlands have been keen to get an answer to, amongst other things.

They have managed to acquire a bundle of documents from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks.  And they make uncomfortable reading.  Part of them suggests that the result will be, when ratified, any public sector activity could be under threat from the USA.  Privatisation if you like of areas like the NHS.

So, how would all this work?

Well, one of the proposals from the USA is to have a committee with representatives from Washington and Brussels to meet each year “to review state-owned enterprises and monopolies” which would include the NHS. 

But there would be no guaranteed a representative from Britain would be on this committee, a committee that was requested by American investors. They will meet with EU officials once a year to decide the fate of our NHS.  So who would be speaking up for the NHS when it was most needed?  Someone from Belgium, France?  You can be sure of one thing, they won’t be elected to the post by a popular vote.  

Do you know what it means for something to "distort the market"?  Well, just about anything taxpayer funded it seems some in the USA camp are arguing.  Which is why the EU and USA would seek eventually to end all forms of state intervention in competition with the private sector.

It says: “The parties acknowledge that anti-competitive business practices and state interventions have the potential to distort the proper functioning of markets and undermine the benefits of trade liberalisation.”

I think in anyone’s language, that is a pretty clear message.

Opponents of TTIP have long argued that including healthcare in the treaty will force the privatisation of the NHS or at least make the process impossible to reverse.

EU officials claim they will have wording that allows for the NHS to be protected but have so far failed to provide a full exemption. But that will be challengeable in court by USA businesses.

If you are willing to trust the EU, good on you.  You have more faith in this corrupt institution called the EU that I have.

Porkie pies, George.

One has to be careful these days.  People fact check all the time.  So if you say something, be sure people will check it out.

So it was a bit unfortunate that basic rule was not remembered by George Osborne.  A bit silly to say that the IMF’s Brexit-bashing report is totally impartial.  To use his words: “Today the independent IMF reinforced the conclusions of the independent bank of England.”

 

All well and good, if it were true.

The thing is, if you are going to say such things, it would be sensible if you told your friends so that  they could all be on message as it were.  Singing for the same hymn sheet.

So it’s unfortunate that Christine Lagarde clearly didn’t get the memo. She began by thanking the UK Treasury for their help in writing the report.

“Let me by the same token thank all UK authorities who have been helping us in preparing the article for work in the last few weeks. There’s always been good cooperation between the Treasury, the Bank of England and any other authorities that we consult with”.

Independent report George?  You think we are stupid?

The graceless bubble.

Jim Sillars.  The man towered over the rest of the panel on BBC Question Time last night.  

You might not always agree with him, but the wisdom, common-sense and grace he embodies rose above the squabble that characterised parts of the programme.  And that grace was somewhat lacking in his SNP colleague, Humza Yousaf, Minister for Europe and International Development in the last parliament, and it was telling.  

Mr Yousaf lives in a bubble akin to Manchester Utd in the days of Alex Fergusson.  Everyone hates us. Certainly he believes the Scottish Labour Party leader does.  

Kezia Dugdale rather gently scolded him by saying I don’t hate you, I just disagree with you.  Mr Yousaf didn’t seem to see the difference.  Which is worrying for a man who clearly aspires to the post of First Minister.  Always seen on the shoulder of Nicola Sturgeon.  The heir apparent.

And that is the problem with the SNP.  You are for us or against us is their mantra. The implication being, you are not a good Scot if you don't agree with us. Hardly conducive in the world of consensus politics that the electorate have wisely visited upon us in the ballot box in Scotland. 

And didn’t George W Bush deploy the "for or against us" line too?   

Poor Humza.  He sounded positively second rate sitting on the same table as Jim Sillars.

When it is 10 days till the vote, watch out.

We all know what will happen after the onslaught of the fear campaign. 

Ten days before the vote David Cameron will miraculously come up with a concession the EU is going to make. 

A bit like The Vow for Scotland in its recent referendum. 

And he will expect us, like headless chickens, to be taken in by such a piece of nonsense.

He must think the electorate are stupid.

Money, money, money. It’s a rich man’s world.

Well, there you have it.  If you ever wanted to know who desperately want us to stay in the EU, the list of big businesses that are funding the Remain campaign are beginning to emerge.  And what does the list tell us?  It contains many of the same big old corporate figures that said that it would be a disaster if we didn’t join the Euro.  And just remember how that particular experiment supported by the big corporates turned out for the people of Greece Spain, Portugal and Italy who were left with unemployment rates of 50%.  And people in poverty.

The figures released by the Electoral Commission show that Citigroup and Morgan Stanley donated £250,000 each to the official Britain Stronger in Europe group.   And two other USA banks – Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan – donated £500,000 each to the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign before February when donations had to be declared.  What on earth were USA banks doing funding a campaign in the UK you may well ask.

Other donations came from France’s Airbus and Eurostar, which gave £7,500 each.  

And here is an odd one.  You know how we as the taxpayers partially own the TSB.  Well, the official figures also disclosed that Lloyds TSB lent the Remain campaign £20,000 at an interest rate of just one per cent.  Nice if you can get it.  So the taxpayers in favour of leave are, through the ownership of TSB, actually funding Remain.

Lord David Owen, the Eurosceptic former Labour foreign secretary, said the fact that such large multi-nationals had donated to the In campaign showed the Vote Leave group was engaged in a “David and Goliath fight”.  He said: “The EU works in the interests of the elite - the one per cent - so it is entirely unsurprising to find that the campaign to keep us in the Union is financed by big banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.”

“These figures show again that we are in a David vs Goliath fight, but it is one we are determined to win - for the good of the British people.”

“They are the ones who pay the costs of uncontrolled migration - through lower wages, and unsustainable pressure on public services such as schools and hospitals.”

“Now is the opportunity for them to strike back - and reclaim control of the £350 million we send to the EU every week, to spend it on their priorities instead.”

So as the day gets closer to you marking the ballot paper, just ask yourself the question, who’s side do I want to be on?  The side funded by big USA banks?  No?  Better Vote Leave then.

The end is nigh. Again......

Well, I really couldn’t believe the news when I woke up to Today on Radio 4 this morning.

The prime minister is claiming that if we leave the EU, it is more likely that the earth will be hit by an asteroid. 

It appears that if we leave the EU, the amount of funding that will be available to the European Space Agency will be reduced and one of the programmes most likely to be hit will be the Direct Asteroid Finding Technology programme.  So if we are not contributing to the EU, the EU will put less money into the programme.  We are more likely to get hit by an asteroid.

Spokesman for the Direct Asteroid Finding Technology programme, eminent physicist Professor Immon Le Choking of the University of Soha Soha Ország in Hungary, said “we in Soha Soha Ország really cannot underestimate the importance of this programme.  It is only a matter of time before this programme will produce results.  Right now there are dozens of asteroids circling in the solar system that will be coming our way. If Britain leaves, it means we are all more vulnerable”.

Nick Clegg jumped in the debate by suggesting that hundreds of thousands of scientists, maybe even millions, in the UK associated with the wider ESA programmes could see their jobs jeopardised as the EU would not want to continue working with the UK if we were damaging another of their funded programmes.

Well, maybe all these scare stories by the prime minister are not so wild after all.

Or maybe I’ve just made all this up…….

In the gutter

Even if Remain win, today Monday 9^th of May 2016, will go down as the day when our prime minister sank into the gutter.

Remember back in February the prime minister told the House of Commons that Britain would be just fine post-Brexit.   

 He said if he didn’t get minor changes to migrant benefits he would consider leaving:  “I will never argue that Britain couldn’t survive outside the European Union… Let me say again, if we can’t secure these changes, I rule nothing out.”

Today he tells us leaving the EU could mean World War 3:  “The serried rows of white headstones in lovingly tended Commonwealth war cemeteries stand as silent testament to the price this country has paid to help restore peace and order in Europe. Can we be so sure that peace and stability on our continent are assured beyond any shadow of doubt? Is that a risk worth taking?  I would never be so rash as to make that assumption.”

As one relative of a brave solder killed in the 2^nd World War put it:  “Just heard more of Cameron’s speech today re BREXIT meaning war in Europe and invoking the British soldiers and the “serried rows of white headstones” their testament to a safe and secure Europe."

“Well my great uncle was killed in his tank at Caen after the landings, his is one of those white headstones at Cambes-en-Plaine War Cemetery.”

“I'm sure when my uncle was burning to death in his tank he didn't think this is for a greater EU so that my country is reduced in status.”

“Cameron is a man who studiously avoided putting on a uniform all his life – how dare he invoke my uncles death in support of his specious arguments to remain.  The man just has lost it.  Completely beneath contempt.”

Penny for the Guy?

Now when did you last see boys, or girls for that matter, out on the streets asking for a “Penny for the Guy”?  This of course dates  back to 1605 and the gunpowder plot to bring to an end what Guy Fawkes saw as a rotten government by blowing up the House of Lords.

Well, in these technological digital savvy days we do crowd funding.   And the target is not the House of Lords but the House of the EU.  

Martin Durkin is a television producer and director, most prominently of television documentaries for Channel 4. He's not asking for a Penny for the Guy.  But a contribution towards making BREXIT:  The Movie.  No big corporate donations from EU funded organisations.  Just money from the ordinary woman or man in the street like you and me.  And know what?  He did it. And Brexit:The Movie has its premier on Wednesday 11th May in London.

Full red carpet job.

He makes me laugh. If only it wasn't so serious.

There you go again Mr Cameron.  This time he is suggesting BREXIT could endanger peace.  And he says he has history on his side.  Funny that because there is an equally powerful argument backed by history that says by forcing different cultures together under an undemocratic non accountable system of government, civil war will surely follow.  Think of all the empires that have ultimately floundered on that problem.  Not many that didn’t.

It wasn’t that long ago that Mr Osborne was at the same game.  One set of figures (all be it from a very dodgy Treasury dossier) saying we will all be poorer if we leave.  Yet another set of economists say, nonsense, in the medium term we will be much better off to an extent that could not happen if we stayed in the EU.

Another says trade will dry up.  To be countered by, "what, the Germans will force their car industry into recession by cutting off sales to their most profitable market?"  No, I don't think so either.

So who do you believe?  Or what should you believe?

To me all the figures being bandied around are just people opinions.  They are not facts.

To me the basics are:

• Staying in the EU will mean loss of the ability to make our own laws that are relevant to our own country.
• By implication, it means we are saying our UK parliament is not good enough to make our own laws.
• It is saying we don’t trust the people we elect to make good laws.
• It is saying we put more trust in people we don’t elect and cant un-elect.
• It is saying we prefer a system of rule that says the EU can replace our government over the wishes of the UK electorate. (Yes, they did so in Greece, Italy and Portugal.  Ireland is lucky it voted for the Euro or it could have suffered the same ignominy.)

 If you are happy with that, vote to stay.  If not, vote Leave