Happy New Year.
2021 should be a year of economic recovery and renewal, the year when we put the pandemic behind us and embrace the new opportunities for global Britain.
Welcome to our first day as an independent country after 48 years in the EEC/EU. I want the government to use our new freedoms to promote our our voice for the good abroad and our prosperity at home.
Rejoining the World Trade Organisation as a full member, the UK will now be a strong and influential proponent of free trade. I look forward to us enhancing the trade deals we already have, and entering new ones. The Trans Pacific Partnership, for example, is a large fast growing bloc which offers us many opportunities to increase our trade.
Chairing the world conference on green matters, I want the UK to be a voice for a practical and popular roll out of products and services that can place clean air and water at the heart of what we do. Policy needs to go with the grain of human nature and ambition.
As a leading member of NATO I want the UK to be a force for peace in the world, building on recent advances with peace treaties in the Middle East, and acting as a strong deterrent to disruptive actions by rogue states and movements.
I look forward to the removal of VAT from items like heating controls and insulation now we can make our own tax decisions. I want to see Freeports and Enterprise Zones to attract more investment and more better paid jobs to places that need a boost. I welcome the new student exchange scheme to replace and improve on Erasmus. The Turing scheme will support more students wanting to study abroad, and will be a worldwide scheme, not just a European one, extending their choices and widening horizons.
I want to see more of our farming grant regime go to promote more UK grown and reared food, to cut the food miles and ensure high local standards. I welcome the decision to ban the live export of animals, and want the government to ban pulse fishing in our waters. We need to rebuild our fish stocks as we plan a larger UK industry, and restore our marine environment.
Today we have again an independent country. Every adult is a voter who can choose MPs to pass the laws and spend the state budget as we wish, and who can dismiss MPs at elections if they let us down. The restoration of accountable democracy is at the centre of the Brexit project. 2021 will be the year to educate the official government into responding more to the needs and wishes of the people, and less to the requirements of an EU law code.
A happy new year to you all. I look forward to working on all the challenges in conjunction with a government which now has more power to shape events for us.
January 1, 2021
Wow great. So how can I vote for an MP who will give me the right to work in Germany or live in Italy? How can I vote for an MP who will give me the right to frictionless trade with France? How can I vote for an MP who will give me the right to challenge illegal subsidies in Poland? I had all of these rights yesterday. Today, in little England, I have none
January 1, 2021
MPs don’t give you rights, rights are hard won from powerful governing forces, usually involving blood, sweat and tears. Those same rights are equally taken back by the same powerful forces when they are not subject to democratic oversight.
You should be grateful that you have won the right not to be taxed to support anyone who chooses to wander here, that your children have won the right not to have their future earnings undermined by the mass importation of the continent’s poor and the right to housing whose price is not inflated by mass immigration, that you have won the right to enjoy the services supplied by the government that we were previously obliged to share with everyone who came here regardless of whether they contributed or not.
You still have the “right” to go and live and work in the EU, except that now you have to be in a position to contribute to this countries you move to, not merely be in search of a new breast to suckle.
January 1, 2021
Dear Tel–Most people place little or no value on the minor abilities whose loss you bemoan. The overarching right I like is not having to continue do what a bunch of foreigners in a depreciating and deteriorating artificial undemocratic system tell me to do.
January 1, 2021
I place little or no value on your pension but I am still forced to pay it.
January 1, 2021
You are in reality paying National Insurance for your own pension.
If Leslie is paying into a private pension you have no connection.
Surely you know this being a business person of high worth?
January 1, 2021
Andy, The productive pay both for the young (for 18+ years), and for the old (on average, 15 years). You have already benefited when young. You will benefit when you’re old. Unless you have taught your children too well.
January 1, 2021
If the U.K. Is prohibited from exercising its freedom of choice by extreme lunatics measures the. It does not have sovereignty in any practical way. Theoretical sovereignty on paper only.
Graphic example is Fisheries and territorial waters. Spineless Invertibrate Johnson capitulated. Annexed N.Ireland remaining under EU rules and laws, Level playing field and non regression clauses capitulated, ECHR capitulated, ECJ capitulated.
Surrender charter is for a defeated nation not an agreement between sovereign states as falsely claimed.
January 1, 2021
Tel
And with all of your so called previous rights did it make any real difference.?
Simply lobby your MP (who you can elect at every general election) to work on your behalf
January 1, 2021
Well Labour, the Libdims, SNP, that green dope in Brighton would all probably take you back in so daft are they. If you want to live or work abroad and have the skills just apply mate.
January 1, 2021
Dominic Grieve on LBC just now āwhen I went into politics the UK was going down the plug holeā. Well yes Heath had pulled the plug out by joining the āCommon Marketā without even asking the peopleās consent. Also we had moronic socialist policies from both Labour and the Conservatives (even under Thatcher to a large degree).
Non membership did not hold Switzerland or Singapore back much. Even now thanks to dire remoaners like Grieve, May and the many and various traitors on the red and green benches, civil servants, judges and at the BBC etc. the EU shadow still lingers. This deal would have been so very much better (and earlier) without these people.
January 1, 2021
So the future of the U.K. should be influenced by some nonsense about illegal subsidies in Poland and as for jobs, people work in other countries all time so maybe it is you not the system.
January 1, 2021
Any illegal subsidies in Poland or anywhere else in the EU can now be taken to arbitration under the agreement if the U.K. wishes.
January 1, 2021
You have the right to work anywhere according to the rules of that nation, and we as a nation now have the right to accept or turn away those we don’t want or need to work here. A perfectly reasonable situation. We didn’t vote for a free-for-all.
The free traders with the rest of the world won against the Little Europeans.
Students can now be sponsored to go where the real growth is in the big wide world.
January 1, 2021
Even when we were members of the EU we had the right to turn bad EU citizens away. It is just our CS and MP’s never did.
January 1, 2021
you had them for years and years -but you didn’t exercise? Are we supposed to feel sorry for you?
January 1, 2021
If you are worth having France, Italy, Germany and any other EU country will permit you to live and work through their visa system. Little lost here really.
Trade will continue, forms have always been auto filled online by freight companies including VAT and duty declarations. French farmers or truckers will still occasionally kick off.
Illegal subsidies in Poland are still policed by the EU. If they are illegal they will still take measures. If not we have recorse through our seat on WTO.
You now have an MP who has no excuses for taking actions that do not improve the UK. Hold them to account.
January 1, 2021
Itās all about you then, is it?
January 1, 2021
Take a plane Sir, Iām sure Verhofwhats isname will welcome you, Iām glad to be rid of the dictatorship!
Happy New Year Sir John and all TRUE Beits
January 1, 2021
Easy.
Leave.
January 1, 2021
Certainly not within the EU, since it is governed by appointees rather than democratically elected politicians.
January 1, 2021
Tel Massey
Feel free to emigrate!
January 1, 2021
Who can give you the right to challenge electoral fraud in the U.S.?
January 1, 2021
You have regained the right not to be dictated to by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels, and if the Poles want to introduce illegal subsidies then the best of luck to them, it really is none of your business.
January 1, 2021
@Tel
I suppose you might have to move your democratic vote elsewhere ?
January 1, 2021
TM, use your imagination. You are only prevented from the restrictions in your mind. Go away.
JR, Adrian Hill and Frederick Edwards write good articles in Con Woman today. The how truly awful the subservient association/surrender agreement made from Johnson’s weak vanity. And the other relating to what conservatism is not and why is has surrendered any purpose for the public.
11hrs under this awful subservient agreement and EU remain treacherous types already batting for the EU. First up Liddington and his slimy disingenuous suggestions/plot to infiltrate UK by the committees set up under this surrender charter. Lords is full of traitors.
The wedge/annexation to make sure N.Ireland is totally separated from U.K. is underway.
Your first job to oust Johnson next week. Second, set up a true body of people, with backbones, to exploit every opportunity to rid ourselves totally from the EU. Once done, send notice to leave Johnson’s surrender charter and get rid of WA and NIP which lies alongside the surrender agreement to place our country in a straight jacket to return to the EU or be humiliated further, if that is possible.
ERG has heralded a legal technical sovereignty but it does not take a legal mind to discover it is not in any way taking back control of laws, money or borders. ERG caveat the govt has to be vigorous and robust, qualities not in existence in Johnson’s govt or the Fake Tory Party. We just witnessed that!
UK forced to accept ECHR otherwise the surrender agreement terminated in 15 days. This is a foreign court residing above all and any of ours laws and courts. ECJ applies to sawthes of areas and people living here still apply despite false claims to the contrary.
Level playing field and non regression clauses (Labour, environment, taxation etc) make U.K. no more competitive than the EU in the world when trying to escape its clutches. EU already negotiating with China for finance pact, no surprise services not included.
Fisheries and territorial waters an abject humiliation for our nation. Johnson should be ousted for that alone. Waters are our border and uKmis not in control of it. Again severe punishment to make changes in five years time!
Signing up to Horizon Europe is madness. NATO nothing else. Germany does not pay its NATO commitments and has quietly disarmed at its border while becoming dependent on Russia for energy. The U.K. should not be negotiating dependence on energy from EU, per surrender agreement, over the next two years but be independent and not reliant on anyone.
So finish the job of leaving the EU properly and shutting the door to return or further humiliation before anything else.
January 1, 2021
If you need to do all these things i suggest you sling your hook over to the EU.
January 1, 2021
You can still work in Germany or live in Italy.
UK citizens did that before the EU existed.
Just apply.
What do you mean by frictionless trade?
The UK has sold goods to France and bought goods from France for centuries.
If you want to challenge illegal subsidies in a particular country write to your MP and send a copy to the WTO.
January 1, 2021
Tel, I’m sure you can still work in Germany or live in Italy – just get in contact with their embassies and apply please.
There never was frictionless trade with France or other members of the EU or any ability to challenge illegal subsidies which is why we had a Ā£100bn/YEAR trading deficit with the EU.
And we were exposed to frauds sch as the German diesel engine emissions testing scam with the EU unwilling to give our consumers any compensation.
The biggest right you have gained is the ability to have an influence over your laws, borders and policies (taxation, energy, environment, trade, immigration etc.) by retaining the right to elect and remove those who make these decisions. EU citizens do not have this right.
January 1, 2021
Just think, Tel, Italy has regained the right to reject you. Is that what you’re afraid of? Aren’t you good enough?
January 1, 2021
My fear is that we have not seen the last of this.
Britain has been riven by its relationship with Europe for decades.
Just as some people are celebrating this as their first day of freedom, I suspect others regard this as the first day of the fight to rejoin the E.U.
My hope is that there will be eventually be general agreement one way or the other … but I find it hard to believe.
January 1, 2021
HAPPY NEW YEAR … To All.
THE most important action government can take, to demonstrate its positive economic intentions, is to audit and improve its own activities, and particularly overhaul the tax system. The objective is to cute the public spend percentage of GDP down to 30-35% of total GDP. The Tories are the party of good fiscal management, PROVE IT.
January 1, 2021
The percentage of GDP the Govt spends is huge, and I think we would all like it to come down. This will take years – decades probably – and requires commitment from successive governments. One thing that might spur them on and hold them to the commitment is to have a national bank holiday called ‘Tax Freedom Day’, that day of the year when we have, on average, contributed everything to the Govt that they take and what’s left is ours. Thus, if the Govt spends 45% of GDP, Tax Freedom Day would be on about 13th of June. Such an open and yearly reminder of the Govt’s take would be disliked by many Conservative politicians, I suspect, and thoroughly hated by Labour, the Lib-Dems, SNP and others. All the more reason to have such a day, methinks.
On another tack, a good start to improving our tax system and also to start making the most of Brexit would be to reduce markedly – I’d suggest by 50% – V.A.T. – on goods manufactured and produced in the U.K.
January 1, 2021
The Tories are the party of good fiscal management.
Always good to start a new year with a joke. By the time I have paid income tax, national insurance, council tax, VAT, duties on fuel, tax on savings, car tax, tax on insurance premiums, duties on beer (when I can afford a pint), parking charges and a whole host of other taxes and fees – I have about 60% of my income taken from me by those great fiscal managers, the Tory party.
Good one.
January 1, 2021
Actually the marginal tax level in the U.K. is over 90%.
January 1, 2021
Don’t forget not to die, Mike!
January 1, 2021
Theyāre not Tories Peter. I agree with all you say but we need a Conservative Government to implement it and weāve not had one of those since 1990;.
January 1, 2021
We have always had an independent country. We are just now a poorer, less influential independent country with masses of new red tape.
PS: Most of us donāt vote for your party. You should be accountable to us but youāre not. I canāt choose my MP. My Tory MP – who cannot lose in this constituency – is picked by half a dozen geriatrics in a dark room.
PS: Tampons still Ā£4 for 36. Whereās the discount?
January 1, 2021
Andy
Why not stand yourself as an independent, I am sure given you have so many exceptional policies to put forward, you would get in by a landslide.
January 1, 2021
you can’t CHOOSE your PPC of any party! Become a respected player in the central office of your chosen party and influence selection. Oh. You don’t – so is that our Government’s fault?
January 1, 2021
Andy on your PS:
Yes, following the democratic improvement of leaving E.U. the next step would be to improve democracy in U.K. (for me this would need to consider end of Lords, 2 vote mixed member type elections, and either an end of devolution or more balanced devolution for all nations).
January 1, 2021
I just looked at a constituency map.
Wow! So much blue!
Still, in a darkened room, you just might be able to jab a pin into a little red blob.
Then move there?
January 1, 2021
How about having a voting system where every vote mattered no matter where you live or who you wish to vote for?
People should not have to move house to have a stake in UK democracy and the fact that you even suggest that shows just how unrepresentative the UK system is.
The “blue” got 43.6% of the votes of those who bothered to. They can’t claim to speak for the majority because the majority did not vote for them.
January 1, 2021
In a PR system an eventual ruling government has even less of the percentage of the vote you quote.
Many policies that individual electors voted for have now been dropped.
Doesn’t seem a superior system to me.
January 1, 2021
PR means the government has the majority of votes (or as close to it as makes no difference), unlike the current UK system where 35.2% or 36.9% has proven to be enough to win.
January 1, 2021
Does it?
My research shows European government under PR gaining power with similar or even lower percentage levels of the total popular vote.
January 2, 2021
Evidence? Real data?
January 2, 2021
Are you are adding the percentages for all the various parties in the cobbled together coalitions to get your majority figures?
January 3, 2021
Yes. The government in a coalition is made up of all the parties which comprise it. Therefore, the government’s share of the vote is the total vote share of all those parties.
Furthermore, in most countries with a fair and representative voting system, parties are open before the election about which other parties they will work with, so voters know when they cast their vote for a particular party, who the likely coalition partners would be. It’s open and honest.
I’m sick to the back teeth of being ignored and irrelevant in UK elections. It’s an utter disgrace that millions are completely ignored like I am, and many politicians, John Redwood included, defend that as fair and reasonable. It is not.
January 3, 2021
No wonder you get your over 50%.figure.
Remarkable use of statistics,
In your world when I vote for party A I am really also voting for any coalition my chosen party gets into bed with.
How do you know I approve of those other parties and their policies?
You are not ignored.Your vote is counted.
It is just you keep voting for parties that dont win elections.
I think I can guess who they might be.
January 4, 2021
My vote is worthless. It can’t possibly influence the final makeup of the government, so is not worth using. I have better things to do with my time than waste it participating in a system where I know they don’t want to listen to me. Therefore I choose to argue for, agitate for and campaign for fairness instead.
January 4, 2021
So every vote that isnt on the wining side is a lost vote.
What an odd idea you have of the freedom democracy gives us all.
Start a new party then.
Support and fund a minority party.
If your offering is good you will win.
Or maybe those in your locality just prefer a party you dont.
I had to put up with 13 years of Blair and Brown.
So I feel your pain.
January 1, 2021
What % did the blue get in England alone Peter?
January 2, 2021
47.2%. Still not a majority (50%+1).
January 2, 2021
If you have an election with multiple parties it is unlikely one party will get a huge majority percentage.
The only way to be certain would be to only allow two parties.
January 4, 2021
Unlikely, but not impossible. The parties would just have to try harder. It would mean that they would have to actually bother campaigning in consituencies like Wokingham whereas, under the current system, they don’t make any real effort because they know they don’t need to.
January 4, 2021
You refuse to contemplate that others vote differently to you.
A safe seat is only safe temporarily.
January 1, 2021
Who cares how influential we are?
Are we poorer? In the last 9 hours?
No lorries held up yet. Weird?
No chaos. No disaster. Mind you, early days yet.
January 1, 2021
Why are you so worried about the discount ?
You’re about to hit the menopause.
January 2, 2021
I think his hot flushes happen every day.
January 1, 2021
Presumably the VAT on tampons is still at EU rates until the Chancellor changes it, Make do with paper towels until then.
January 1, 2021
There was an Act of Parliament to change the VAT rate on womenās sanitary products but it could not be implemented because the U.K. acts of Parliament were overridden by the EU.
This is like Factortame. It educated some parliamentarians – but not Andy yet.
The vat will be reduced today.
January 1, 2021
You need Politics O level to understand it Andy instead of displaying your ignorance before our distinguished host who is a titan in his field.
January 1, 2021
“My Tory MP…..is picked by half a dozen geriatrics in a dark room.” Andy
You was in the room at that time?
January 1, 2021
If women want cheaper tampons they just need to be rather more demanding and refuse to buy more expensive ones. Most women cannot be bothered or like to pay more some particular brand that makes them feel happier. It is womenās choice that they pay circa 10p each. They can surely be made for rather less than 1p in many countries and most of the money goes into marketing and packaging not the product (rather like wines & perfumes).
The stats suggest women are just not very good at demanding good value. The Consumer can be Queen if they choose to use the powers they have.
January 1, 2021
Luxury rates of tax on tampons, and fixing holes in your roof, are a disgrace forced on us as a subservient nation by the EU. We pay 20% VAT on lawyers fees for goodness sake. We even pay VAT on Tax (see petrol for example) Itās outrageous!
January 1, 2021
That VAT fuss might have been a very good marketing/advertising opp.
At the mo they might be fighting off moon cups and washables but they were able to do vast freebie mail drops all in the interests of the woeful students who are āperiod poorā. Yuk and double yuk!
Anyway when ppl were poor they used rags!
January 1, 2021
Quite right. Pink razors at 50% more than their grey or black equivalent.
Just buy the grey ones
January 1, 2021
+1
January 1, 2021
Not more tampon focus?
Isnāt it about time for you to give in gracefully and recognise that weāve left the EU or will we continue to be subjected to your almost continuous diatribe against Brexit, your surname isnāt Bray by any chance…. even he seems to have disappeared surely itās time to follow his lead?
January 1, 2021
We left the EU last January. And Iāll give up when we rejoin. Which one day we will.
Most of you chaps are in your 70s. I am in my 40s. No offence but you really are not going to be able to stop us rejoining for long.
January 1, 2021
You are in a minority.
Yet you still don’t know.
Four more years until the next election.
January 1, 2021
Andy, Even the TCA is not true Leave. Last January the UK continued to be a subject state of the EU – just via a different treaty – that was certainly not leaving the EU.
January 2, 2021
well we won’t see it, and I’m afraid you won’t either. What a gloomy future for you, you really should have settled in that sunny upland of say Calais.
January 1, 2021
I thought the London fireworks / lights were fabulous. I particularly liked the start with the lasers in the colours of the EU flag. A brilliant way for the mayor to show that London is better than Tory Brexit.
My city is not only a proud European city it is a truly global city. Welcoming of people from all countries and of all creeds and colours. The beating heart of our country waiting to reclaim its place in the EU. Maybe, like Scotland, London could become independent. You could pick a more appropriate capital for Brexit Little England. Grimsby maybe.
Meanwhile Gibraltar has joined Schengen. Gibraltar has joined Schengen. Say it again. Gibraltar has actually joined Schengen to allow free movement. I have been up all night and have been absolutely killing myself with laughter.
Happy New Year. (Itās 2021, not 1950).
January 1, 2021
Andy
Happy New Year to you too.
There has been more rejoicing according to this BBC headline:
“Activists cheer as ‘sexist’ tampon tax is scrapped”!
Brexit keeps on giving.
A news flash just now:
Nicola Sturgeon is quoted as saying “Keep the light on Europe. Scotland will be back soon.”
January 1, 2021
It will be fascinating to observe how that will work. Unless, of course, a referendum happens on a tide of Scottish nationalism (which is okay, English nationalism is evil) and they are taken into the EU breaking all the rules of entry.
If, by any chance, any questions are asked – it would be nice to know how Scotland would propose to reach the budget deficit limits necessary to join the EU and how giving away Sovereignty the EU is okay having just got it back from the UK.
But, of course, she will never answer any awkward questions and the EU will bend all the rules to have them – just to put two fingers up to us.
Still, at least we will then be spending our taxes on ourselves. Not disproportionately on them.
January 1, 2021
light-bulbs don’t last that long….
January 1, 2021
Andy
Going into 2021 with tampon obsession and bashing the elderly ? You’re a coward.
Oh and do kindly refrain from the cowardly insults such as little Englanders etc…..we both know you’d be in the back of an ambulance if you had the guts to say that to our faces.
January 1, 2021
Yes, London, along with Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Cardiff, Bristol, Bath, Oxford, Cambridge, and plenty more, are all brilliant international cities.
If Gibraltar can join Schengen, then why not some of these?
The brexiters shouldn’t mind – they seem to like borders, so a few on our own soil shouldn’t worry them.
January 1, 2021
All those cities you mention are already in Shengen it’s called the UK. Except your EU pals dicided to make an example of Northern Ireland
January 1, 2021
MiC
Dont cryee, don’t cryee….wipe the tear baby dear from your eyee.
Or is it not a tear but a bit of sour grape ?
January 1, 2021
Gibraltar hasn’t actually joined Schengen.
It is just an arrangement between the two seperate countries to allow the 15,000 Spanish who go into Gibraltar every day to get to their jobs.
January 1, 2021
Cardiff – that famous international cosmopolitan city.
January 2, 2021
Tiger Bay, Cardiff has long been ācosmopolitanā.
January 1, 2021
Clearly you have not succeeded!
January 1, 2021
Thank you for giving me a good laugh on this happy day of freedom from the shackles of EU bureaucracy….big wide world here we come.
January 1, 2021
You said you lived in the wilds of Herts or Bucks – Now claiming London to be your city? Up all night laughing? Most of the country would have slept soundly. I thought after all these years of whingeing you’d be beating your chest in angst.
January 1, 2021
+1
January 1, 2021
Have a little nap Andy.
Obviously the noxious firework ( soon to be banned by Marxist globalists) fumes have got to you!
January 1, 2021
One assumes you will be moving to Little England in Spain – Gibraltar!
January 1, 2021
I expected that you would like the fireworks display.
It sums up the BBC throughout the whole of lockdown. Ramming political messages in every scrap of entertainment into an audience that is literally held in captivity.
Utterly sinister.
January 1, 2021
And aren’t fireworks environmentally unfriendly?
January 1, 2021
Meanwhile, back in the real world, the incompetence of the EU on vaccine approval, acquisition and delivery is costing lives. Now, Germany, who is a party to the EU’s vaccine procurement club, has decided not to wait and is purchasing the Pfizer vaccine directly, for use by Germans only. So much for EU solidarity. EU fails it’s own criteria yet again. You can check the story on Bloomberg.
January 1, 2021
What a very odd reaction. That probably does make sense for the 30k or so people who live in Gibraltar. But hardly anyone in the U.K., even on the Remain side, ever argued that the U.K. should join Schengen, which has been a passport for criminals terrorists and illegal immigration (and in any case has fallen apart now with the pandemic).
January 1, 2021
Pretending again Andy is happy?
We left yesterday, last year.
Good Riddance to EU.
January 1, 2021
The words ābrilliantā,āāmayorā and āLondonā do not currently belong in the same sentence.
Sad Dick is a huge problem for our capital city.
January 1, 2021
The current London mayor will (like you) be forgotten soon and will be joining you in the political wilderness.
January 1, 2021
You donāt live in London so you didnāt contribute to the cost of the fireworks. Typical freeloader.
January 1, 2021
We pay business tax in London. So, yes, we do.
January 1, 2021
Business taxes go to HMRC
Not to Local Council Authorities.
January 1, 2021
Well with a mayor celebrating BLM in lights I found the display nauseating .
With the innocence of old age I thought New Year to be a time when politics is pushed to one side and individuals look forward to their own personal goals for the coming year .
What we saw was a glimpse of an Orwellian socialist hell of the future .
January 1, 2021
Good.
Have a bucket.
January 1, 2021
Did you think that was a real fireworks display (and not a pre-recorded animation by the BBC)? Bless!
January 1, 2021
An interesting post Andy, I would never have guessed that you were London centric.
BTW, Gibraltar has not become a member of Schengen. They have a provisional agreement to establish a Schengen entry point to help the thousands of working people who need to cross the border every day.
I find it refreshing that Spain and Gibraltar have put people before politics, perhaps helped by the ‘The Trade and Cooperation Agreement’.
I wish you a Healthy and Happy 2021.
January 1, 2021
None of the above
“I would never have guessed that you were London centric.”
He isn’t, he’s ‘undecided’…..I’m surprised you haven’t sussed it out by now.
There’s a reason why he doesn’t like old people – like their values don’t fit with what he thinks he is.
And then there’s the tampon thing.
January 1, 2021
What an idiot statement you make on Gibraltar. Andalucia with it’s 20% plus unemployment is absolutely dependant on the 10,000 Spaniards each day who cross into Gibraltar for paid work that is not available in Spain. A sensible decision by both Spain and Gibraltar, kill yourself with inane laughter if that is your best contribution.
January 1, 2021
Given such circumstances you have full permission to continue to laugh at our expense.
January 1, 2021
Happy new year to you too , often totally hilarious reading your comments.
January 1, 2021
Wow Andy, so you are saying that Gibraltar is better out of the EU than in…who would have thought it…
January 1, 2021
Killing yourself with laughter? Not half as much as we have all year at your posts.
January 1, 2021
+1
January 1, 2021
Realise also that Spain gets to takeover Gib’s sea and airports. The EU’s border force Frontex, will take control of another UK territory border, similar eventually to Northern Ireland.
I expect Scotland would like a Frontex border with England and join Schengen as well. I say let them have it. England and Wales voted to leave the EU, Gibralter, Northern Ireland and Scotland did not. This UK Union is over, let it die.
January 1, 2021
And if Gib had to make a choice between leaving the UK or joining the EU you know full well which one it would choose.
January 1, 2021
Andy, England, “little” or otherwise, is a European country. But, thank God, no longer an EU one.
January 1, 2021
Good morning and Happy New Year to our kind host and all here on his Diary.
The UK of Great Britain and Northern Ireland joined the then EEC on ist January 1973. That is a membership of some 17,532 days. And what I want to know is, what benefit to us has it been ?
Countries such as Spain, Rep. of Ireland, all the former Eastern Bloc nations, The Club Med and even Turkey have benefited from it. Whether it be in cash sums and / or infrastructure they have gained. They have offloaded their excess labour on to us with increased social costs, eg housing, healthcare etc. and have used their monies earned here to reinvest back home.
Mrs. Thatcher in her book, State Craft, stated that membership of the EEC / EU was a foreign policy mistake of the first magnitude. It seems that she was correct and that it took the British people to correct it. Even Enoch Powell (on YouTube) predicted that, after the 1975 Referendum, the British people would soon realise their mistake and would one day correct it. It is sad that these, and many more people who warned us about the EEC / EU, are no longer with us to see their prophecies come true. We owe them so much.
I sit here feeling somewhat underwhelmed. I am not convinced that this is what we voted for and that our government will seize the opportunity to make a positive contribution to both our nation and the international community. Membership of the EU has left British politics and discourse in a sorry state. British politics is adversarial and weeds out the weak, both in character and argument. Here on these pages we get the adversarial nature of what this nation is like, not the soft compromise that they Continentals seek and use.
Are we free ? Well that depends on those much like our kind host. It is up to him and those we put in charge to administer matters for and on our behalf strive for and better our current situation, and that those of the Establishment do not seek to drag us back in in evermore intricate ways.
We have won, and lost, some notable battles, but the war for what we had BEFORE we joined goes on.
January 1, 2021
+ a great deal.
But you might as well ask the long term benefits of being conquered/ of surrendering /being totally betrayed. We had only just come out of two hugely damaging wars against the very powers to which we were treacherously handed over.
We wuz totally stitched up…and that can hold no benefit.
We wasted 45 years busily destroying our nation at the behest of quislings.
And re virus ..again there has been no one with the guts to proclaim ā The Emperor is steak b*ll*ck NAKED.ā
January 1, 2021
Oh no!!
Not steak!! Stark.
January 1, 2021
+1
Without prosperity, nothing else is achievable. Just frankly stealing wealth from one sector and ‘giving’ it to another achieves nothing other a moment in the sunshine for some followed by a decline for all. As the parable goes, ‘give a man a fish and he will eat today, give him a fishing rod and he will eat each day’
All lost on the WOKE left wing of Society
January 1, 2021
+1 100%
January 1, 2021
+1
January 1, 2021
Mark,
The priority is leaving the EU, getting rid of the surrender charter permanently and shutting the door to return.
I would help the deluded treacherous souls intent on acting on behalf of the EU to create new sedition laws and start with a few show cases from the political class.
January 1, 2021
Hope
+1
January 1, 2021
+1 – another great post. I too feel crestfallen. We have won a battle but the war continues. At least the 12-month treaty withdrawal clause gives a new political party a manifesto pledge to campaign on. My fear is that people in the UK are tired of the division and it will be many years before they are up for another fight. We must continue to highlight the erosion of our freedom of speech and civil liberties. Don’t allow politicians and the media to bury news of the bullying from the EU and other international organisations. The Great Reset is fast approaching.
January 1, 2021
Mark B
” …..but the war for what we had BEFORE we joined goes on.”
Over 17m voters, or over 67%, voted FOR EU membership in the 1975 referendum with only 8.4m or 32% against when the UK population was just 56m.
Compare that to the Brexit referendum when out of a population of over 65m just over 17m or 51% voted leave against over 16m or 48% remainers.
What does that tell you about the state of the country was in then? I voted in that referendum and have never regretted it. Be careful what you wish for. The EU saved us from being known as the sick man of Europe and we have done extremely well out of it.
Now all thrown away through a so-called ‘democratic’ system whereby a small number of discontents were able to dictate the future of the majority and denied our children access to our glorious European heritage.
January 2, 2021
Give it up Margaret.
I know you are totally unhappy at us leaving but we had a referendum and there was a majority to leave.
So we have left the EU.
January 2, 2021
Margaret they voted for a Trade Deal with the Common Market, that is what the PM told them it was. They all protest that is what they approved.
January 1, 2021
Mark B, You are quite right. And “this” (the TCA) is not what we voted for.
“Leave” is such a common simple English word. No one had any difficulties with it before the Referendum vote. The Remain campaign said how terrible leaving the EU would be; and Leave said how wonderful it would be. But both agreed with what the definition of the word was. Leave was the action; the argument was about the consequences.
Then after the vote, continuity Remain accomplished the propagandist’s prize trick – changing the meaning of a word. War is Peace. Leave is Remain. So successful have Remain been that even some Leave voters began to accept that remaining partly in the EU (rather than leaving it) was Leave.
How much “Leave” have we got? One might claim c80%, using Pareto’s principle, to indicate the continuing control the EU has over our country (Northern Ireland), laws (the non regression provisions), money (payments to the 2060s), fish (to 2026, at least), and so on.
Is the TCA and WA better than being a serf state of the EU empire subject to continuing EU ideology? Of course. Is it the Leave we were promised (or threatened with!) before 23 June 2016? Of course not.
January 1, 2021
Thank you, Sir John.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/01/eu-fishermen-banned-electric-pulse-trawling-uk-takes-back-control/
A great start to the New Year :o)
January 1, 2021
Happy New Year boss and I look forward to some positive benefits as an independent nation.
There will of course be a large swathe of public bodies trying to thwart us.
Britain first should be the mantra when spending public money.
No more Chief Constables riding round in BMW and Mercedes.
We need to follow the French on procurement and only buy foreign if absolutely necessary.
January 1, 2021
+1
January 1, 2021
+1
January 1, 2021
Fully agree.
January 1, 2021
“follow the French” I thought they were part of the EU ?
What cars do you suggest they buy ? The old BMC is gone – their cars made for empire dirt tracks couldn’t cope with real roads.
January 1, 2021
They should be made to drive eco electric ones manufactured in the UK.
January 1, 2021
There are plenty of vehicles built in the UK. Much better than what France and Germany make.
I always try to buy British so this my 4th Honda will be the last as they are pulling out of Europe.
reply Indeed. some good Nissans, Toyotas etc
January 1, 2021
The top Police and other UK elites could buy Jaguars, Range Rovers, Land Rovers, Bentley, McLaren, Rolls Royce, Mini, Toyota, Nissan and add to UK prosperity, improve our balance of payments and create and presrve jobs for UK people.
But you carry on just sneering as usual Martin.
January 1, 2021
MiC
“The old BMC is gone ā their cars made for empire dirt tracks couldnāt cope with real roads.”
……you have no knowledge of what you’re talking about.
January 1, 2021
Martin, What an odd comment. Why shouldn’t we choose to follow the French if they do something worth copying? What has their being a subject state of the EU got to do with it? I hope if Japan does something sensible we would also copy it if we want.
As for BMC making cars only for “empire dirt tracks” you show both your arrogance and your ignorance. Cars capable of negotiating dirt tracks can usually cope with “real” roads. The reverse is less likely. As it is, the police could buy British made cars from JLR, Mini, Nissan, and Toyota.
January 1, 2021
come to Berkshire – a lot of roads here remind me of dirt-tracks!
January 1, 2021
Ian Wragg
I can just imagine our Chief Constables riding around in a Del Boy car.
Can you suggest a British made car the police should buy? Aston Martin? I believe even they are about to sell a 20% stake to the German Mercedes company.
Not much left to choose from.
January 1, 2021
See above.
You are so sneering about the nation you live in.
Is there a nation on Earth you actually like?
January 1, 2021
You hate your own country so much. If there were another war we would fully expect you to be a spy working against your fellow countrymen. Sickening!
January 2, 2021
We really must stop the BBC and left wing losers in general continually whining about the awfulness and unfairness of everything British. It is just shooting yourself in the foot if you want to compete in the world.
As a 40 year expat I can assure you that the British are some of the fairest, most reasonable and good humoured people on the planet. Sometimes (stupidly) bending over backwards to accommodate those who actually hate and envy us.
January 2, 2021
You have to live abroad to appreciate that. And no amount of advising those who stayed safe at home can persuade them of the veracity of the observation.
January 1, 2021
Touching little tug of the forelock there, Ian.
January 1, 2021
Who is he touching his forelock to martin?
January 1, 2021
No, we need to build cars so good that public officers don’t want to buy foreign cars. Protecting domestic manufacturers always leads to a loss of competitiveness in the long run.
January 1, 2021
Land Rover again for us. Our 5th one. Never had any problems with them despite all the doom and gloom reviews on them.
January 2, 2021
We do make cars that are good enough already. I can’t think of a serious car manufacturing country that would allow its police or other government agencies to buy foreign made vehicles if a domestic one was suitable. We seem to have done it because of some EU sourcing rules. If so, the French, Germans, Italians must have ignored them.
It’s not protectionism to support the home team, it’s just common sense.
January 1, 2021
And a Happy New Year to you, Sir John.
I hope we’ll see a daily briefing, at the podium, by government ministers spreading the word that the sky hasn’t fallen in. I want to see a rash of announcements of how the government is taking advantage of our new-found freedoms. And I want the Secretaries of State for the devolved nations spreading those messages beyond England – because two of the First Ministers won’t be. Let’s get a wiggle on!
January 1, 2021
Perfect because you can be certain that the Adonis/BBC etc axis will be overblowing any scintilla of an opportunity of a negative brexit story.
I hope that HMG has a plethora of changes to make and enacts them in the next parliamentary session.
The question is will the pro EU lords fight against what they will deem to be āantiā EU legislation?
January 1, 2021
+1
January 1, 2021
Well done Sea Warrior – I agree entirely.
Against the odds, we’ve forced the ruling UK ‘elite’ to take us out of the EU (we are of course still part of Europe) and now we expect them to get on and make the most of it. I’m not holding my breath, because I think we employ vast numbers of incompetent pen-pushers who wouldn’t last five minutes out in private industry – but we will see.
At least they are our pen-pushing incompetents and not the ones appointed by Brussels. It’s taken 40+ years to dig the hole we are in and we shouldn’t expect to just leap out in one great bound.
January 1, 2021
Ian T
“Itās taken 40+ years to dig the hole we are in and we shouldnāt expect to just leap out in one great bound.”
Firstly happy new year to you Sir.
I have a brother who shares that very sentiment. To me, if that is the case it means during those decades there must have been some serious damage being done to this country from within.
I think there should be a list of names of those who did it, like a kind of National Wall of Shame. Obviously some will have passed away, but the ones that haven’t could and should be exposed and publicly shamed for what they did to our country.
January 1, 2021
“At least they are our pen-pushing incompetents and not the ones appointed by Brussels”
…..yes and it means we can get rid of ’em.
January 1, 2021
No one said that the sky would fall in.
Informed commenters predicted a slow, grinding decline.
It has begun.
The Leave voting villagers near a proposed lorry park in Kent say that they have been “betrayed”.
In fact they got exactly for what they voted, and millions will feel the same before long.
January 1, 2021
Wrong
Many remain fans told us of chaos disaster stock market collapse pound in free fall huge rises in unemployment house price crashes and an endless list of other Project Fear hyperbole.
Hilarious that on the very first day after brexit you are already seeking to deny it.
January 1, 2021
call the BBC they like a nonsense story for the 10pm news.
January 1, 2021
Sea_Warrior
“Secretaries of State for the devolved nations spreading those messages beyond England ā because two of the First Ministers wonāt be.”
Indeed not. Nicola Sturgeon asked Europe today to keep the door open as “Scotland will be back soon”.
Welcome to a rump England with about as much say in world affairs as Liechtenstein.
January 1, 2021
More twaddle from you Margaret.
85% of the population, gdp tax revenues and influence.
Some rump.
January 1, 2021
Why are you so fixated on Liechtenstein, Margaret? England on its own is c300 times larger in GDP terms than Liechtenstein. You have previously insisted that size matters in these things.
January 1, 2021
You can be sure Sturgeon and Drakeford will be totally negative and do nothing to promote the UK.
January 1, 2021
Nicola Sturgeon would be a hypocrite if she did promote the UK, wouldn’t she?
Mark Drakeford’s job is to do the best that he can for Wales. He holds a Welsh, not a UK office.
January 1, 2021
MiC
“Mark Drakefordās job is to do the best that he can for Wales. He holds a Welsh, not a UK office.”
So what you saying, Wales isn’t in the United Kingdom ?
January 1, 2021
“Nicola Sturgeon would be a hypocrite if she did promote the UK, wouldnāt she?”
No, she would just need to be able to do arithmetic.
January 1, 2021
So are you saying that if the UK does well that doesn’t affect Wales and Scotland? Same as if the UK did badly? Martin, you would say black is white just for effect. Pathetic really.
January 1, 2021
JR
“a government which now has more power to shape events for us.”
That’s what worries me. It assumed too much power when it sold out NI and the Falklands, let french fishing boats stay in our waters, etc. Now we have Johnson’s green crap and hatred of internal combustion engines to deal with.
We should be shaping events. Governments are supposed to do as we say, not the other way around.
Our freedoms, identity, values are fought hard for, government’s job is to protect them, not mess with them.
Though I suppose I shouldn’t worry too much, your party won’t like the accountability we are going to hold it to after today, it will naively think that we can be appeased by replacing Johnson, but it won’t work…..you’ll still be out of power the next election.
Should have gotten rid when we said on Oct 16th.
January 1, 2021
Happy New Year and welcome to the old world without EU control. Not that at the moment we have that much to cheer about with the ongoing Covid situation.
As an aside, I notice this website still has a ‘please activate Adobe Flash’ against Sir John’s book banner. Flash was discontinued by Adobe as of today, you will need another way to advertise your books.
January 1, 2021
I believe Adobe will no longer offer updates. Current use ought to continue.
January 1, 2021
Happy New Year, Sir John, to you and yours.
May I also thank you for all your efforts over the years to explain and promulgate the benefits to the U.K. of leaving the EU. Your belief in the strength of this country and its people never faltered.
January 1, 2021
Happy New Year to you.
“2021 should be a year of economic recovery and renewal, the year when we put the pandemic behind us and embrace the new opportunities”
Sadly, I strongly suspect this year will not be a year of economic recovery it could be…
However, if Hancock and his SAGE mob are removed and replaced with an MP with less dictatorial traits and is advised by medical scientists who are also not control freak doom mongers with track records of failed predictions. I would also prefer that none of them have any personal financial interests in big pharma.
If that did occur, then the country could indeed look forward to economic progress and the prospect of positive outcomes in the New Year. Instead of the current escalating loss in tax revenue and National debt due to continued business closures, subsequent job losses and non-covid related deaths.
January 1, 2021
+1
January 1, 2021
+1
January 1, 2021
How nice to see a positive post.
Shame the BBC did not put on anything last night that was positive, instead we got the typical dirge.
I see from Guido Fawkes posting yesterday, and the front page of the Daily Mail this morning that retired medical professionals are having to go through the usual Politically correct and Woke challenges if they want to volunteer to help out with the vaccinations.
The result, many do not bother in the first place or give up in utter frustration.
Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of careers are trusted to give their loved ones daily injections, as are those who need to self inject on a regular basis for a whole host of medical problems.
I also understand that in order to keep registration (once retired) an annual fee is charged.
As usual it seems management/administration and front line staff of the NHS are on different planets, with a completely different agenda.
January 1, 2021
If true this is an utter disgrace and MPs need to be calling it out. I want to see a plan from Hancock not talk of more lockdown.
1) What is the timescale for the delivery of the vaccine?
2) Why isn’t the vaccine being given 24/7? I know the vaccine producers are working 24/7 to produce it.
3) At what date will the most vulnerable have been vaccinated? Why can’t restriction be lifted at this point?
Why aren’t politicians and the media asking these questions rather than the idiotic and point-scoring debates we have to endure?
January 3, 2021
Exactly.
How many cumulative doses have been delivered? How many cumualtive patient doses have been injected? Report that daily.
Sounds like bureaucrats are frustrating a simple process & the volunteers. Ministers need to impose themselves.
January 1, 2021
JR Whilst I fully understand the logic of giving the first injection only to as many people as possible, and to delay the second jab for 3 months (not the original 3 weeks) in order to initially protect as many as far as is possible
Has the vaccine actually been approved for such use.
Has the vaccine been through the correct tests for such and will kit be as effective as promised after that second jab.
or
Are the people who are just making these decisions simply making an assumption it will be ok and still work ok and as well as originally planned and approved..
Would be nice to know.
January 2, 2021
YES YES & NO.
January 1, 2021
Clean water and air is clearly good. Expensive renewable, intermittent energy is insane with current technology for renewables & batteries. It is job and CO2 exporting lunacy. It will not even have any significant effect on CO2 levels – let alone on climate.
CO2 is a not a significant problem anyway (probably on balance a net good) and even if it were the renewable make no significant different and you need world cooperation.
We have to work with human nature but also with real science and physics. Not the lunacy of the Greta/Prince Charles religion types. Hybrids that do just the city 20 miles on battery is the best current solution. Also clean up the emissions vehicles that work all day in cities. Buses, taxes, delivery drivers.
January 1, 2021
” to use our new freedoms to promote our voice for the good abroad”
Or we could set ourselves the more humble ambition of upholding fundamental freedoms in our own jurisdiction, and let that track record speak for itself internationally.
January 1, 2021
Nivek, Well spoken!
January 1, 2021
I saw a very good, as usual speech, by JR ( who as we know abstained from the vote) expressing his two reservations re ādealā and speaking of potential future EU ātentaclesā.
Is the whole thing totally done and dusted though? Or do we still have some wriggle room to say no to/change various things?
January 1, 2021
You clearly have not grasped the basis of the agreement, nor the fact that no UK parliament can bind its successor.
With mutual agreement anything may be changed at any time.
January 1, 2021
Well that isn’t going to happen for four years.
Then you socialist parties have to overturn an 80 seat majority.
And that won’t happen either
So that’s 8 years minimum from now.
January 1, 2021
Second marriages are the triumph of hope over experience. Doubly so if it’s to the same person.
January 1, 2021
That’s not what you said about the WA, Martin.
January 2, 2021
With the authority of the population. The settled status is now āout of the EUā settled status has an advantage over āchangeā. Both EU referenda were conducted with the settled status being within the EU.
The EU forecasts itās own financial decline. Who will vote to be poorer Martin, and accept the debts attached to the Euro (which will have to be adopted in total – all 3 phases).
The U.K. will NEVER rejoin the EU. Individually Scotland will NEVER join the EU and the Northern Irish still want OUT!
January 1, 2021
Everhopeful, I could easily see the EU – which has only accepted the TCA provisionally – rejecting the TCA in the EU parliament in a few weeks time, enabling the EU to have a second bite at the cherry, so to speak. That really would take the wind out of Boris Johnson’s sails. And make him likely to capitulate some more in fear of losing what he has achieved. That’s just the way the EU operates.
January 1, 2021
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Though I do not feel very happy at all!
Slightly cheered by reading that, rather than having hugely sinister motives, Sage really didnāt believe for one minute that a Chinese style lock down would be possible in the West. ( Good tweet by P. Hitchens re this). They just tried it on..and lo…
NOT good shepherds…they didnāt know their sheeple!
January 1, 2021
Just went for a walk.
Loads of other families out walking.
AND they were inclined to smile and nod.
Wonderful.
HAPPY NEW YEAR and HAPPY BREXIT!!
Now all we need is EXCOVIT.
January 1, 2021
Happy New Year Sir John!
Thank you for this intelligent and far seeing blog.
Thank you too for seeing possibilities where many other people see problems and looming disaster.
Serve to lead!
January 1, 2021
Sir John
A Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to you and yours. With similar wishes to all your followers and contributors.
We have been dealt a hand, lets make it work. Its a straightforward quest, just hard never ending work.
@ian
January 1, 2021
This should be a time for rejoicing, a time to be thankful, and an opportnity to look forward to the good times to come.
2021 shouldbe a year of economic recovery and renewal.
Yes, there are many major opportunities out there in the world, and Great Britain could so easily take advantage of them, we should.
Chairing the world conference on green matters will give us influence.
Except that:
– we have semi-permanent lock-down to look forward to which will drain our spirit and kill off so many innovators;
– we can show just how green we really are, as we throw away old reliable means of power generation and usage, while legislating to starve our nation of energy, for a global lie;
– the world is no longer free. This is a world ruled by globalised organisations, where democracy is a dirty word;
– treaties tie us into supporting the colonisation of our country.
YES we are free of one dragon, but there is a whole world of them out there as well as indoctrinated stupidities, and if we do not focus on them, in the same spirit as BREXIT, then we will never be free, not at all!
Sorry to be so negative, but we have so many wasted years behind us, and the future does not look as good as it should. Any euphoria over BREXIT has simply disipitated.
January 1, 2021
Having got out of one undemocratic supra-government, we now need to get out from under the undemocratic system of national government in this country which, more often than not, returns a minority Tory government.
January 1, 2021
Under a PR system the Conservatives would still have a majority in this Parliament.
There would be a lot less SNPs in our Parliament, so perhaps PR has some virtue after all.
January 1, 2021
I would like to wish our host and everyone posting here a much happier 2021. That should not be too difficult to achieve, given 2020 !
We are finally OUT. What a victory, considering all the forces that were ranged against us. Yet the Remainers, with the notable exception of Gina Miller, are not giving up.
We will have to be vigilant in holding the Government to account and resist attempts by the Europhile-dominated Civil Service to keep us fully aligned with the EU. The plan, I am sure, is to ensure that there is the absolute minimum divergence in order to make it as easy as possible for a future Starmer-led government coalition with the SNP to take us back in.
The present government should, must, therefore, do the exact opposite and make the very most of our opportunity in 2021 to genuinely take back control. This can be done by coming up with a long list of changes, many of which are designed to matter to voters and make global business easier and implement them rapidly. Perhaps our host would consider asking for suggestions ?
January 1, 2021
Well, the cliff edge came we crossed over ….. and nothing happened. We still read the same moaners demanding free movement to europe, always a plane or ferry trip away with a fractional bit of preparation similar to how we all can travel to the whole world, and somehow even freer trade than our exceptional free trade agreement now gives, thanks Boris and Co. I think the thought process of the remaining moaners is highlighted by this insistence that red tape will inundate us, ( I suppose its all they have left to keep dooming). We already are good at that, reading how our bureaucratic NHS needs 21 documents to be submitted to allow retired medical professionals volunteers to stick a needle in us, obviously based on eurocracy procedures. This is again highlighted by the repetitive gloat that “Just in Time” procedures will be seriously threatened by delivery “delays”. Clearly they don’t realise that JiT requires planning, and delivery times are always included in the plans. Another hour, another day, even another week just needs the same planning … that’s why its called Just in Time. Bring on 2021, we will thrive. Cheers everyone, even the moaners.
January 1, 2021
Happy New Year.
Happy Independence Day.
January 1, 2021
That was last January.
What has been decided are the post-exit trade arrangements with the European Union for the time being, and the temporary privileges of the transition period have just ended.
These are nothing to do with the referendum, and if you don’t like them then you will need to campaign for change and to vote for whoever might offer that in the usual way.
Those adversely affected by them have already started, as the spokesperson for road haulage has just demonstrated.
Many more influential people will follow.
January 2, 2021
The transition period when we supposedly left EU jurisdiction ended 00:00 2021-Jan 01.
January 1, 2021
There is zero indication that the government intends to put the pandemic behind us. It is still lying about the numbers, about the severity and about the problem that no laboratory has ever managed to isolate the virus. That makes this whole year a gigantic crime against humanity. If and when this reaches the public consciousness politicians had better have really good explanations for why they ignored the evidence and allowed vaccine salesmen to rule the world. Either that or that or they had better practice running.
January 1, 2021
Aw, missing the pub, are you?
January 2, 2021
with your views you best avoid the Cardiff ones!
January 1, 2021
+1
January 1, 2021
I keep trying to find clues re all this.
No doubt that ONS stats do not tally with level of panic.
I reckon tho that it is prob a case of follow the money or funding.
Apparently the return on developing a vaccine is 20-to-1.
So anyone who is helpful in the marketing etc would most likely get a nice whack.
In the spirit of the times I have now got several test tubes and a Bunsen burner in the shed….
January 2, 2021
Quite right.
January 1, 2021
Happy New Year Sir John. Indeed today is Day 1 and tomorrow is Day 2. No time to waste. Radical policies please.
January 1, 2021
Iām glad we are out and content I did my little bit in working towards that end.
I doubt the ability or willingness of a majority of our politicians to make the most of it… if only our host and some others like him had more sway.
I see a great irony that as we wake up on this first day of supposed liberation, our Conservative Government has already taken away our freedom of movement and association, and in the preceding 9 months has more than decimated our economy. This ugly authoritarianism appears here to stay, much as the disease it purports to control will also stay.
Next we will be coerced into taking rushed-through vaccines that neither prevent one from catching or spreading this disease, but may dampen the symptoms in the 2/3 of carriers who actually show any, depending on the strain of the disease they have caught. Even today the government has said it will make people take the Pfizer vaccine over 12 weeks rather than the 21 days recommended by the manufacturer, thus lengthening our captivity.
I donāt have faith in this government on making the most of life outside the EU, or making our country a better place for ordinary people to live in.
January 1, 2021
So Nigel Farage, who played a big part in getting us out of the EU, has been ignored in the honours list while the incompetent policeman who ordered his men to stand by during the criminal damage to the Bristol statue occurred has been given a medal. This follows an Establishment pattern, if ordinary people screw up they face disciplinary action or dismissal while if one of ‘theirs’ drops the ball they get promotion or an honour to show the common folk how little influence they have.
January 1, 2021
Those responsible for the apparent criminal damage to the statue are being prosecuted by normal process.
Please stop inventing these fictions to support your silly claims to victimhood.
January 1, 2021
Martin, Beresford’s comment was about the disparity of the treatment of a senior police officer who allowed his men to stand idly by while BLM thugs ran rampant, compared to ordinary people who are persecuted (threatened by the police, fined, sacked, etc) for refusing to adopt woke norms.
January 1, 2021
+1 !!!
January 1, 2021
āEvery adult is a voter who can choose MPs to pass the laws and spend the state budget as we wish, and who can dismiss MPs at elections if they let us down. ā
Totally in agreement with you until that last bit John. Can you tell us how we can dismiss SNP MPs and the likes of windbag Chris Bryant from voting on things in England which we donāt like?
āThe restoration of accountable democracy is at the centre of the Brexit projectā
Does that mean when Johnson hands his 71 extra new powers to the devolved nations, the nation of England will be offered the same too?
Thought not. Happy new year to you John!
January 1, 2021
+1
January 1, 2021
I do not sense that the Government recognizes the urgency and drive that are now needed to exploit all the opportunities now presented. Nor does it seem to appreciate that it needs to keep selling the idea of Brexit, not least to Evil Empire citizenry so they understand why it happened.
I have detected only a modest boost in Government performance, not the great leap forward I expected, following asking the people’s Blue Boris himself to read this diary every day. Perhaps the memos he issues to Ministers after his daily read should be headed “Action this day”?
January 1, 2021
We live in a culturally and financially impoverished country, defined by the twisted dreams of the far right, UKIP, and the BNP before it . Life goes on, but it reminds me of Crocodile Dundee ( of all things ) , “Well, you can live on it, but it tastes like —“. It makes every day worse , every joy less, and poisons our hopes for our children.
January 1, 2021
More pathetic smearing, I see Martin.
When did any extreme right wing party ever get an MP elected?
Still you cannot come to terms with an 80 seat huge win for the Conservatives with their let’s get Brexit done message.
The three remainer parties had a dreadful election.
January 1, 2021
Edward 2 – I noticed your remark that services were not part of the single marke . The equivalent recognition of Insurance security ( known as passporting )- has been a crucial loss . The mutual recognition of legal and other professional qualifications, another. Grown ups know this and much more .
The explanation for the 80 seat majority was that the Conservative Party retained its remain support, and on the 18th of December remain polled 47% to 40 % ( Coms Res )- despite the futility of such views at this stage
The fact that UKIP and the BNP were not able to pierce the fptp system is hardly surprising, that is what it does.
There are some engaging and well informed Brexit supporters on this site but you are not one of them and , frankly , confirm every remain prejudice about the Brexit voter .
January 2, 2021
Passporting is still available for financial companies.
Mutual recognition talks are in the pipeline.
Sadly you end as many remain fanatics do with personal abuse.
Always a sign your argument is lost
January 3, 2021
Passporting is still available for financial companies.
Excuse me for not according you due respect but you are 100% wrong about the subject you are attempting to discuss . As usual..
January 3, 2021
Financial services trade between the City of London and Europe will continue very successfully into the future.
I know this will depress you.
But it will.
January 3, 2021
There is a three year TPR system now in place which is the equivalent new name for passporting.
Watch as your endless Project Fear hopes dissolve in salty remainer tears yet again.
January 1, 2021
“… and poisons our hopes for our children.”
Nothing does that more than stratospheric house prices.
January 1, 2021
No Longer Anonymous
Well at least you can’t blame that on EU membership since they have gone through the roof since Brexit. Coupled with the stringent demands made by mortgage lenders it will be nigh impossible for our young to get on the housing ladder.
January 1, 2021
As they have in the EU.
Seen the price of a nice apartment in Amsterdam Paris or Rome lately?
January 1, 2021
House prices through the roof in one day, Margaret? How do you work that out?
January 2, 2021
Have you seen the stratospheric salaries this generation earn? Inflation on both sides of the balance sheet. So they can and do afford houses.
January 1, 2021
Newmania, Fortunately, to the great joy of most, we have largely left behind your rotten, corrupt, EU ideology. Hopefully more countries will escape from the dirigiste monolithic imperialism (chortling about making the UK their colony) of Brussels.
January 1, 2021
No, to the displeasure of most.
Polls now show a large majority who consider that voting Leave was not for the best.
Already, natural effects have reduced the Leave voters by well over a million and increased would-have voted Remain ones by an even greater number too.
January 1, 2021
Martin In Cardiff
……such a cheerful little chappy.
January 1, 2021
Too late.
Even with your dodgy polls.
Laws have been passed.
January 1, 2021
So you’re happy to be a colony of the EU, Martin? What an ambition for your country!
January 1, 2021
Happy New Year
Next step Covexit
January 1, 2021
Sir John, could we get your thoughts on how to handle data sovereignty now that we donāt have the large trading weight of the EU behind us? Larger nations like the US, and China could use their economic strength to force the U.K. to accept terms that they could not while we were a member of, and backed up by, the EU.
An example of this is Facebook reportedly moving U.K. data to California rather than eu datacentres where the regulations are not as stringent.
Whilst I approve of the U.K. leaving the political union of the EU, I always thought a large multi country trading association that could stand up to the US economy and/or the Chinese economy was a good thing to avoid being overrun by those larger economies.
Aaron
January 1, 2021
Aaron, The disadvantages of a “large multi country trading association are”:
1) If each country has a veto on a trade deal then each individual country will not be able to get the maximum benefit of a trade deal which suits their particular economy.
2) If the association does not require the acceptance from all countries, just a majority, then a country could easily find its assets, or institutions or economy traded away in return for benefits for other countries.
3 The larger the grouping, the more there is the potential for conflicts and retaliatory action against all members of the association, even for those countries who are not directly involved.
January 1, 2021
I do not feel in the slightest degree free from the European Union this morning. In part this is because their loyal supporters form the government here.
January 1, 2021
Sorry but you really are fighting the wrong battle.
The huge cyberattack on the US government (via the Sunburst attack) ought to be a warning that the internet needs urgent re-organising to tackle state sponsored attacks.
January 1, 2021
Highlights of 2020:
Andy āreading upā on tampons
Martin saying we should follow Senegalās Covid strategy
Margaretās silence on the 60 occasions Liz Truss signed a trade deal.
Gave me a laugh. Well done all.
January 1, 2021
I didn’t say that Roy, but if I did, then compared to the utter money-and-time-wasting shambles of the Tories’ response it would have been a huge improvement if the UK did.
January 1, 2021
yes you did
January 2, 2021
Yes you did;
“Numerous countries, from Japan to Senegal, from Vietnam to Norway, and from New Zealand to South Korea have practically eradicated the epidemic within their borders.
Theirs is the state-of-the-art to emulate.”
Martin in Cardiff
Posted October 21, 2020 at 3:21 pm
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2020/10/21/tackling-the-virus-2/#comment-1168351
January 1, 2021
So I have not missed much then š
He he.
January 1, 2021
now what’s wrong with it this time?
January 1, 2021
It’s all hankies and loud sobbing round at the BBC today, as everything is running tickety-boo down at the ports today.
Perhaps their forecasting department should take a leaf out of Nostradamus’s book and start making their predictions in the form of obscure quatrains that could conceivably be interpreted as accurate prophecies whatever actually happens.
January 1, 2021
Salud ,de acuerdo. Do you not think, politics apart, that the unquestionable leading part that Nigel Farage has played in the foundation and creation of the Brexit we have today should be rewarded with a Knighthood. In this regard people of dubious intent and achievement have already been rewarded. Where do you stand on the subject.
January 1, 2021
Compared to the many who have been “honoured” for essentially just doing the job they were paid for – then of course Nigel should be at the very front of the queue
But he won’t be – because he (standing head and shoulders amongst all others) was the main reason we have left the EU and the Establishment will never for give him for it. Nor will Boris want to share any glory with him.
But Nigel was the reason we got the referendum – without which Boris would have had no platform to campaign on.
January 1, 2021
Yes, Eden should have got one for Suez too. And one for whoever took the UK back onto gold.
January 1, 2021
+1
January 1, 2021
agricola
“Nigel Farage has played in the foundation and creation of the Brexit we have today should be rewarded with a Knighthood.”
……Kneeling before one’s Sovereign Monarch is not enough these days.
January 2, 2021
you get more attention for kneeling on a stadium’s grass.
January 2, 2021
Certainly award Farage a knighthood, it’s the least they could do after the honour they heaped on Ollie Robbins who promptly left the country.
January 1, 2021
Hancock and Johnsosn (or is it Kemal ?) said that there were 100 million doses of vaccines available, enough for everyone in the country. I now read that there is a shortage.
What’s going on ? Press lies or another shambles from this useless government ?
January 1, 2021
MWB, The shortage is global. Including in the EU. For obvious reasons.
January 1, 2021
In 2021 I want to see a bold government, a government that is strong, true to its mandate & convictions and one that honours its people as the source of its power
To that end I would hope that this government immediately reduces VAT by the 20% we remit to the EU (less NI due to NIP but including Gibraltar and Cyprus sovereign area)
This government got a cross party vote to satisfy Brexit ā it needs a general election to confirm its continued mandate
January 1, 2021
Where are you moving to? You won’t get the above in this country.
January 2, 2021
I can only dream
January 1, 2021
Glen
“it [gov’t]needs a general election to confirm its continued mandate”
Fully agree Glen, but to win they need to make radical changes including scrapping the electric car agenda / scam, and replacing Boris Johnson.
Otherwise the fall is going to come hard.
Trouble is, if you suggest what the conservatives need to do and your input gets held in moderation. It’s as though our votes are assumed.
However, posts intending to circulate hatred of the elderly and the English as a cultural group are allowed.
Some might say it’s hypocrisy, others might say it’s inviting attention of the law regarding the circulation of hate material. Certainly if this was a newspaper then knuckles would be rapped.
January 1, 2021
Going from MsM observations this morning a serious question is posed. Give half the recommended treatment and keep fingers crossed it could work out cheaper. Or fly in the face of the only ‘known’ science and risk lives.
Prof Chris Whitty told medics that the āpublic will understand and thank usā
When you have ‘Never’ been correct, ‘Never’ got close to being right. When you call guesses science. The people already think you are a bit flaky confirming that isn’t likely to generate thanks.
How are you still allowed to keep making dire descissions on a hunch that affect us all.
The only science available is shown to be from the scientists involved.
Pfizer said in a statement: āData from the phase 3 study demonstrated that, although partial protection from the vaccine appears to begin as early as 12 days after the first dose, two doses of the vaccine are required to provide the maximum protection against the disease, a vaccine efficacy of 95 per cent.
āThere are no data to demonstrate that protection after the first dose is sustained after 21 days.ā
This Government has a lot of ground to make up with respect to believability and credibility.
January 1, 2021
Happy New Year.
When are your MPs going to form specialist groups and start to lead projects on getting things done instead of looking to the public like youāre all just left reading speeches on the back benches ignored and able to become isolated? If you disagree with this start to tell us from today what is being achieved on a weekly basis in a roundup please. This Country needs a dose of good news.
When your party with its big majority do remove VAT from green products let us know which green products so that we can check that manufacturers have passed the savings on and show up the ones that donāt.
When your party redirects some of the previously āsent to the EU taxesā like the 20% of UK VAT I discovered recently went to the EU tell us where it has been directed to, and what this money is spent on because the majority of your supporters donāt want it sinking into Borisā HS2 sink hole.
Can you just make sure Boris knows we wonāt accept excuses for not getting stuff done anymore.
January 1, 2021
If they would only walk away from the “Green” agenda, we stand a chance of achieving prosperity out of the EU. I fear that we will be seeing more green nonsense which will increase our costs across the board for no benefit to the UK or the planet. There are plenty who will profit from the billions being thrown away.
January 1, 2021
Dennis
“If they would only walk away from the āGreenā agenda”
Follow the (our) money Dennis, the stuff of which conservatives are obsessed. Then you’ll realise they are not going to drop this green crap without a fight. A bit like trying to get a mouse from the cat’s jaws.
January 1, 2021
A Happy New Year to our host and all contributors here. Time waits for no man so everyone needs to knuckle down and start getting things done in this new era.
On defence, our host writes: “As a leading member of NATO I want the UK to be a force for peace in the world, building on recent advances with peace treaties in the Middle East, and acting as a strong deterrent to disruptive actions by rogue states and movements.”
I worry that this phrase contains the seeds of over-reach. I would have said “As a leading member of NATO I want the UK to be the unquestioned guarantor of security in the North Atlantic region, denying entry by sea and air to any adversaries and enabling action by our Allies.” which seems to me to be a more deliverable objective. I look forward to this debate later in 2021 when the government publishes the results of its Integrated Review.
January 1, 2021
Great news for Andy. VAT is abolished on tampons and sanitary products. That should put his mind at ease.
January 1, 2021
Happy New Year to everyone?
January 1, 2021
Sorry, typo
I meant Happy New Year everyone!
January 1, 2021
God bless you, Sir John. If you didn’t exist we would have to invent you! A Happy New Year to you and yours, and to all readers of JR’s diary. The feeling of freedom is palpable
Our hope must be that the Government, MP’s and people will live up to your visions of a prosperous and energetic United Kingdom. The future is in our own hands.
January 1, 2021
Happy new year to you and its good to finally be free.
The easiest decisions can be done first – no vat on energy is a no brainer, but after a while they start to get harder.
Immigration for work is a tough one, on one hand looser immigration benefits business and has the promise of cheaper services. But on the other hand it drives down wages and incurs a cost in healthcare and pensions for our welfare state that eventually must be paid. I feel we have left it too free to the point that minimum wage law is needed and too many silly jobs exist in places such as car washes and takeaways that can be easily automated cheaply.
I hope our new immigration system encourages us to recruit more from Britain (I note it was ironically Enoch Powell who started mass recruiting commonwealth nurses into the NHS! We actually train enough each year but pay too low to retain). I also hope we remain calm and let the country rebalance herself with more prosperity in the north of England and a little less in the SE as UK trade rebalances to be more international.
January 1, 2021
Sir JR
So, you decided not to vote for Johnson’s deal at least you are very consistent.
To be in company with Owen Patterson, does however not speak in your favour.
January 1, 2021
Hasn’t changed my view of you one jot Sir John.
I haven’t always agreed with all your opinions but you have been very consistent in them and I certainly respect that fact. Since I reside in your constituency, hopefully that will be more comforting than the views of those here who do not! š
January 1, 2021
Is that from where you are sitting Bull – Berlin?
January 1, 2021
He is a very nice guy and a very good MP.
He was returned to Parliament by his constituency voters with an increased majority gaining 63% of the total vote.
Why dont you like Owen Paterson?
And why do you think if you happen to vote a particular way you should be judged by the character of anyone else who happens to vote the same way?
January 1, 2021
Bill, To be in company with Andy, Margaret and Martin, does not however speak in your favour.
January 1, 2021
Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott abstained too, you know.
January 1, 2021
are you sure they abstained? I think you will find they did not….ha ha .
January 1, 2021
Right. They have now gone back to being what they always were, pointless back-benchers.
January 2, 2021
ooh … you are naughty
January 1, 2021
As an ex-NI Secretary, he fears this new Agreement does not suitably cover NI. Many agree and in a democracy, it is his right to vote or not.
January 1, 2021
On the World at One R4 just now, masks should /may become mandatory outdoors. I wish people would stop with the conspiracy labels and see how step by step this is progressing.
I dont mind if you dont post this . I’m not a “conspiracy theorist” but am very, very skeptical
and read and listen to all sources right/left mad/sane.
January 1, 2021
I’ll drink to all of that – cheers! A Happy New Year to Sir John (many thanks for this blog) and all who sail here!
January 1, 2021
Can anyone explain what legal changes the UK will need to make in order to join TPP?
January 1, 2021
If the people of NI can be Irish? or British or both? and still retain EU citizen rights as they wish it hardly seems fair that British and Scottish people in GB cannot be British Scottish and EU citizens or British Scottish and non EU citizens? If I lived in Britain I know I would be furious at the way citizens are treated- imagine being a citizen of somewhere for decades and then to see it just snatched away
January 1, 2021
Like the Irish in 1922, you mean?
January 1, 2021
Sir Redwood,
Happy New Year
Regarding: A medical experiment on the whole UK population
The new vaccine related policy (second jab after 3 months) is a travesty of the governmentās declared intension to follow the science.
We both know that this decision is PURE expediency and AGAINST best recommendation from pfizer (and previously from AstraZenica)
The simple truth is ā this is an administrative decision which OVERRIDES medical opinion.
The problem is obvious ā there is NO experience in postponing the second shot, the vaccine is a brand new one tested to a minimum to allow speedy deployment and now on top the government has decided to change the regimen dictated by the manufacturer.
Even a pharmacist is not allowed to change the doctors instruction for a prescription.
I ask you to raise hell and object to this decision, as do many (if not most) GPās.
Note that this is AGAIN an act similar to the one in March-April when the NHS mandated emptying the hospitals in preparation for the pandemic. The government change is leaving the care homes, now partially vaccinated in this vulnerable situation which may result in another large death toll in care homes.
Sir Redwood, I believe in science, and so do you, this must be stopped.
January 1, 2021
Now that we are free of the EU’s tentacles, it is time to initiate urgent constitutional reform.
The last four years have highlighted the fact that our parliament doesn’t represent the people. The unelected House of Lords has done everything in its power to block the will of the people: it needs to be abolished, not as a punishment but as a realisation that it is a loose cannon in the body politic. Likewise the FPTP electoral system has allowed liblabcon remainers to override the wishes of the people until the Tories took fright and conceded a weak Brexit.
We urgently need a new electoral system which will enable the voices of all people to be heard equally anywhere in the country and in which the voices of the major party backers are consigned to the dustbin of history. Those of us who joined political parties intent on getting us out of the EU are not finished yet.
January 1, 2021
Yay! Congratulations Sir John. We have banned pulse fishing in U.K. waters. Well done and with just 3 minutes.
January 1, 2021
@Lynn
Unfortunately, the EU Voted to give EU States the option to ban pulse fishing in February 2019. This is just Boris Grand Standing.
The real ban needed is the massive trawlers that are ripping up the breading grounds in the UK Marine Protected Area during the breeding seasons. They are ensuring there are no fish for anyone.
Reply they have licenced Lukeās fishing in U.K. waters which we are now stopping
January 1, 2021
That is excellent news. Now tackle the factory ships.
January 1, 2021
As an outsider and thinking back about how British negotiations were conducted in times past like Versailles or Uthrecht and I have to say am disappointed that UK could not get a better result’ at least a result that would have included for Services and financials and also the movememt of people- 90 days is hardly a good result? Jeez am not a negotiater but could have done better than that meselfš
January 1, 2021
If this is what Boris gets done in Year One, what does he have in mind now? He really does not seem like the kind of man to put his feet up and coast until 2024.
January 1, 2021
Today Ireland takes its place at the top table of the UN Security Council- not bad for a small country of five million who fought its way to independence not so long ago. I mention this because despite being a minnow anything and everything is possible if attitude is right
January 1, 2021
Ireland donāt even pay their fair share into NATO. How do their contributions to the UN compare? Does the UK get a reduced NATO contribution to account for Northern Irelandās contribution to NATO you know to match up with the South or does everything only work one way?
January 1, 2021
Dear a-tracy,
The Republic of Ireland doesn’t pay its fair share into NATO just because, as a neutral country, it isn’t a NATO member-State.
Try learning Gaelig for a change…
Yours truly,
Fernando Ferreira
January 2, 2021
How can any Country be neutral, when it comes to protection they will want NATOs guardianship. No Country should be able to get away with 2% of their GDP to keep to themselves whilst otherās in NATO pay to protect and defend them. It is just a tax dodge that some Countries seem to be able to enjoy.
Why are you suggesting I learn Gaelig – do you know it? Iāve done business in Southern Ireland for years and have had many business acquaintances there, they never ask me to speak Gaelig with them or I may have learnt it as I have a couple of other European languages.
January 2, 2021
āGaeligā is a French Christian name. Do you mean Gaelic as spoken in Gaeltachts scattered across Ireland?
January 1, 2021
Ireland negotiated its independence with teams of UK civil servants in Buckingham Palace. They now speak our language, read our newspapers, watch our TV, send their officers to us to train, reply on us to build their patrol boats, patrol their skies, clean up their terrorists, act as their Embassies in many capitals, bail out their Banking system, lend their Government pretty hug sums which often end up forgiven, and depend on us for immigration-free movement of people and automatic right to UK benefits even after Brexit.
January 2, 2021
Ireland, a subservient country within an Oligarchic Empire, does not qualify for a seat in the UN according to the UNās own definition.
(Look it up Bull; Iām not spoonfeeding you, just giving you an indication to find out the facts).
January 2, 2021
Makes you wonder doesnāt it. Iām going to have to look up who pays for the UN, is it a % of each Countries GDP equally or voluntary? Who would have thought a none NATO contributing, neutral Country would win a seat, talk about a free lunch, they get starters, main, pudding and free drinks.
The Republic of Ireland has won a seat on the United Nations Security Council for 2021/22. It secured the 128 votes needed in the 191-nation General Assembly in New York to win a two year non-permanent seat.
Norway has also secured a seat after a vote by the UN General Assembly.
The 15-member council has five permanent members – the US, UK, France, Russia and China – and 10 non-permanent seats, filled on a rotating basis.
January 1, 2021
According to figures released by the Institute for Actuaries, the C-19 ”epidemic” is nowhere near as serious as Mr Hancock would apparently like everyone to believe…….
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9101641/Deaths-England-Wales-just-7-CENT-higher-usual-week-ending-Dec-18.html
In fact, when deaths from untreated other causes are factored in, 2020 looks no worse than a bad flu year.
Yet you have ruined your economy.
As I said yesterday, does your administration have an ulterior motive ?
Polly
January 1, 2021
Hallelujah, we’re out and amen to your wishes and aspirations for our New Britain, SJ.
January 1, 2021
The UK was out LAST January.
The transition privileges have now expired, and been replaced by the post-exit negotiated arrangements for trade with the European Union.
They are NOTHING to do with any referendum.
January 1, 2021
Well they are.
You are being silly.
Without the referendum none of the following things you mentioned would have happened.
January 1, 2021
Martin, No, the UK was NOT out last January. As you have frequently been informed. Unless you can show where in the WA it says the EU no longer controlled the UK after 1st Feb? And why you were so bothered about clause 38 in the EU (WA) Act 2020?
January 1, 2021
All for you mancunius- and have just being reading the story of the Arcadians Cajuns listening to their music on you tube and can say nothing compares.. except to say about the Irishf famine.. anyway all too late for you ERG Types now and am not a bit sorry..
January 1, 2021
As usual the new years honours list is sadly mistaken in who it values.
January 1, 2021
Exactly, you just have to live up to the requirements of your job and you get honoured. It devalues those amongst us who follow a ultraistic, giving back ethos.
January 1, 2021
JR
I think you need to become unafraid of the naked truth and relax your moderation criteria.
National sentiment is out of the box now and we won’t be silenced any longer. You’ll be with us or you won’t, but don’t take our votes for granted.
You know what describes a situation where you allow obscene insults to pensioners and obsession with feminine matters, yet don’t allow genuine opinion given without profanity or obsessive pushing of taboo boundaries.
If you and your party want our votes at the next election, you have to refrain from silencing those of us who tell it like it is, and certainly you would be wise to stop the antics of one particular poster who’s input to this site comes very close to publication of hatred.
If your going to gag us for offering opinion…..you surely have to gag hatred of pensioners.
January 1, 2021
@Steve
The dilemma is, in providing this facility Sir JR, becomes liable for the thoughts of others in the eyes of the Law and our extreme WOKE state. Free ‘speech’ in a Democracy should be protected but our Parliament refuses to support that ideal, instead follows the teachings of the noisy minority.
January 2, 2021
Our choice is to continue accessing, even though the major thrust of the reason for contributing has been largely achieved, or abandon reading the contributions – as frustrating and idiotic as so many are. Our host is always worth reading so I’d prefer a mirror version with no comments allowed.
January 1, 2021
i support much of what you say but I definitely prefer Donald Trump’s foreign policy to Joe Biden’s. Given Biden’s past form, he is almost certain to send American troops into other countries.
We have to make it clear that NATO is a defence pact for mutual protection, not an armed force dedicated to supporting American foreign policy globally.
January 1, 2021
Lindsay, Indeed true – Biden must be told bluntly by Johnson that we will have no truck with the Democrats’ foreign wars.
January 2, 2021
NATO enforced German foreign policy when they (the RAF and the Luftwaffe in the air together) attacked our wartime anti-Nazi Allies, the Serbs.
January 2, 2021
Sir John, just to repeat you and emphasis the essence of the Brexit exercise.
Today we have again an independent country. Every adult is a voter who can choose MPs to pass the laws and spend the state budget as we wish, and who can dismiss MPs at elections if they let us down. The restoration of accountable democracy is at the centre of the Brexit project. 2021 will be the year to educate the official government into responding more to the needs and wishes of the people, and less to the requirements of an EU law code. Sir JR
It wasn’t Trade it was Democracy for the greater majority of freedom luvers. The quotes in the MsM attributed to our neighbors since we moved on, still demonstrates the EU’s notion of Sovereignty is something devised by the centralized politburo and handed down to the people. Were as in UK terms Sovereignty is lent by the People to our representatives. Or as Micheal Jackson said to change the World first change the man in the mirror.
Tomorrow is what we make it not what some secrete club chooses to hand out
January 3, 2021
Thank you Ian :as every one is trying to pull others down to give themselves a mirage of importance they ought to think of changing themselves . I know it is hard when one has to defend everything which is said and done , but some simply think nasty words and pedantry are clever . Smart ***** are in abundance at present but put them in a similar position and see how they fare …. A sight for sore eyes!