One of the curious features of opposition to the government in Parliament is the popularity of taking up causes for people who are not UK voters. Many Opposition MPs seem to think that the UK is either guilty of many of the imperfections of the world, or could take action to remedy everything from civil wars to poverty, and from authoritarian excesses by other governments to mean and violent conduct where ever it occurs. They also often seem to think that the EU is always right and the UK should give in to whatever the EU wants or says. They rarely take up causes that will benefit the millions of UK voters who have jobs, pay the taxes and provide food, clothing and housing for their own families. They ignore or play down the great generosity the Uk already shows to economic migrants, overseas causes and the relief of tyranny and poverty worldwide through state payments from taxpayers, charitable giving and an active private sector.
Popular causes with them today include pressing for more overseas aid to be spent, with no analysis of what works. They stand up for EU migrants to the UK who have not taken advantage of the substantial time limits to claim a permit to remain settled here, as if the UK had done something wrong. They stand up for economic migrants coming across the Channel illegally. They want the UK government to intervene in the Arab/Israel dispute as if we could resolve that long running schism. They side with the EU over their deliberate disruption of trade between Northern Ireland and GB. When it comes to fighting carbon dioxide they seem to think the UK is the only country that has to do more, urging us to do things the Chinese, the Germans and the other large generators of the gas would not dream of doing. The UK has shut down practically all its coal power stations whilst China is still building more and Germany intends to keep on with hers for many more years. They have a long list of items the UK should not make and supply, recommending bans on various sales to leave those markets open to overseas competitors.
Everything they want us to do in these fields cost more money. They tell us we collectively are not paying enough tax, and want to put business taxes up. That would mean higher prices for us all to pay the bills and less business and investment here to pay tax. They also want to tax the more successful people more, assuming they will all stay to pay and will all put as much investment and effort in as before. Is it any wonder a lot of UK voters seeing and hearing this decide not to encourage more of it by voting for such perverse policies?
July 4, 2021
Good morning.
I seem to remember that it was the Conservative Party whilst in government that created the Department for Overseas Aid. Giving borrowed money to countries that do not need it and, in some cases, are hostile towards us and our way of life.
Remind me again which political party signed us up to the Treaty of Rome, the Single Market, the WA and the NIP ?
Your Party Leader has signed us up to Net Zero. This will entail great hardship for those who can least afford it. All for the sake of 1% output of a gas that makes up less that 0.03% of the air we breathe.
The job of the Opposition, as I have stated numerous times before, is to hold the government to account. Alas as we all know but the Conservative Party is as yet to cotton on to this, the Blair Years were put to good use in creating its client base – ie Labour in power whilst out of power. The Conservative Party is just implementing ALL Labour policies which, when they come to fruition, will ruin the reputation of the Tory’s. By this means, setting you up to fail, they will gain power. We have seen recently what ‘negative’ campaigning can do. Their long ‘march through the institutions’ has succeeded. And you didn’t even put up a fight.
We are lost.
July 4, 2021
Very good.
I do wonder what the rich-but-not-that-rich think will happen to them.
Do they believe themselves exempt from vast new heating bills and taxes and enforced building on their leafy 1/4 acre? Nearby big houses turned into bedsits? Absolutely no medical care? Think of the security they will need. See Whitty.
Do they REALLY believe they can come out of all this unscathed?
Are they on some sort of a promise that will not be kept ( obviously)?
July 4, 2021
Wealthy people aren’t bothered about heating bills and congestion charges, it’s pocket change to them. Those on subsistence incomes are the ones who suffer.
July 4, 2021
That isnât my comment!
Of course they do!
It is all relative. That is what I am saying.
If the cost of heating a 6 bed houses rises beyond their income then they will either go cold or have to move.
It certainly looks as if GPS and Dentists have talked themselves out of lucrative jobs.
What will they do?
July 4, 2021
Oh is that a profile name?
July 6, 2021
đ
July 4, 2021
Spot on and one of Labours problems is that the Tories have moved left into a high tax and spend interventionist party forcing Labour to go further left where no one wants to vote. The Tories are in a false ascendency because of this.
Incidentally this tosh about overseas aid Sir JR conveniently forgets there is a sufficient rump of Tory MPs, Mitchell and May to name but two, that would vote with Labour and HMG would lose.
Their Front Bench and Leadership looks weak, inexperienced with no coherent policies. A shame because there are plenty of targets.
More scrutiny of Sunaks Mansion House speech is another triumph of PR guff over substance. His admission we will not achieve equivalence highlights the fact that Boris sold out the City as well as NI and fishing and no amount of puff about deregulation will make up for the loss of a large market.
Equally generally Brexit to date has achieved little causing more problems, large numbers of small businesses have stopped exporting because of the cost and bureaucracy, musicians have lost a big market, unique items coming the other way are now not available etc. Again more puff than performance. Sir JR again in denial.
The sclerotic bullying approach to Covid. Only the vaccine halo allowed them to get away with it.
Lies re PPE, did you not see Sir JR NHS staff having to buy/make their own, people dumped to die in Care Homes, contracts given to mates, unnecessary testing and quarantine rules etc.
Yes an effective opposition would achieve traction. You are lucky that Tony Blair in his heyday was not across the floor of the House. You would then be toast.
Reply The Aid rebels clearly did not think they could win so they made no objection to the Aid budget with cuts passing unopposed this week. So we have had a unanimous vote.
July 4, 2021
I agree with your analysis Mark B. All major political parties in this country including the Tories now sing from the same elitist hymn sheet. None of them represent the silent majority of middle of the road voters who want to get on with their lives without constant government interference, with even the Conservatives now open to increased taxation and other damaging (net zero) costs. Itâs ironic that these measures will particularly fall on the so called âsqueezed middleâ, a Tory phrase that at least recognised the partyâs actual and potential voter base but which has been abandoned. I wouldnât even be surprised if a Tory chancellor and PM were to suggest that economic growth should no longer be prioritised should this be floated by Biden or others.
July 4, 2021
True there is no party at present for which I would willingly cast my vote.
If our Prime Minister makes it to the next election this constituent will be voting none of the above. Given the resources Labour will be putting into unsettling him that is a vote he would be wise to pursue.
Zero immigration until the young can purchase or rent a house at a decent price, less pollution not less carbon, increase the tax threshold at least in line with inflation and collect taxes from international companies instead of me. Aim to balance the budget once we open up again and at least accept our past as a great nation that has shaped the world. Equality for all, with no special treatment of identity interest groups.
July 4, 2021
NS
“True there is no party at present for which I would willingly cast my vote.”
Oh I dunno…..I’d vote Labour, just to get this lot slung out on their backsides. If that’s what it takes so be it.
July 4, 2021
If you’re ever ”allowed” to vote again, of course. But I suppose Dominion voting machines may well be brought in by then.
July 4, 2021
I’m in the same boat as you Steve, apart from the fact that I don’t trust any major party – I will cast my vote but not for the top 3, they’ve all lost there way
July 4, 2021
Indeed. New Health Secretary is quoted as wanting to raise Council tax further to pay for socialist care. Robbing us to pay for those who haven’t saved!
July 4, 2021
Exactly. Taxes are at their highest for 70 years already.
The governmentâs forcing of ânet zeroâ with very expensive electric cars, wind, PV, heat pumps agenda is insane in CO2 terms, economic terms, jobs, growth and political terms – it will be insanely unpopular when the proverbial hot the fan. It will make no difference to world CO2 levels or climate either.
As Mark Littlewood puts it in the Telegraph – In a yearâs time, Brexit and vaccines will be memories, not policy positions. The Conservativesâ basic offer of a high tax, high spend, heavily regulated economy is what will remain. The millions of voters who wanted a buccaneering, enterprising and liberated post-pandemic, post-Brexit Britain will feel not just disappointed, but politically homeless.
July 4, 2021
I read that DIDO HARDING has been blocked from becoming the next chief executive of NHS England by Sajid Javid, it was reported last night.
Good after Jeremy Hunt, Hancock and Simon Stevens the last thing the NHS needs another PPE graduate. Perhaps someone who understands about working on the front line in the NHS?
July 4, 2021
Talking of dopey PPE graduates I see that Justin Rowlatt (the BBC’s Chief Environment correspondent) is yet another reporter who does even understand the difference between energy, power and their units. Talking complete drivel about 11.5 Terawatts generated in 2018. Can they not send them on a âscience for complete dummiesâ course too busy doing courses diversity and use of pronouns I suppose.
July 4, 2021
âTalking of dopey PPE graduates..â
A novelty on this site, for sure.
A comment in the covid columns of the current âPrivate Eyeâ states :-
âScientists tend not to be attracted to politics because they hate the bluff, bluster, lies and deceit. Science is about sensible guessing with uncertain data, making errors, owning errors and learning from them in real time. It is the antithesis of politicsâ.
PPE is a relatively new kid on the block though. Classics was a more common field for old school British politicians.
July 4, 2021
Indeed Peter. The sorts of people who aspire to politics are so often totally or rather unsuitable. Often driven by a desire for power, status or just like to pose and order other people about. I even have a mistrust of the types of people (even some scientists) who often aspire to being on certain overseeing committees, government panels, trustees of say the National Trust and the likes.
July 4, 2021
Itâs amusing he thinks Brexit will be a memory. These people donât yet realise theyâre ultimately going to prison, do they?
July 4, 2021
Andy
“Itâs amusing he thinks Brexit will be a memory.”
Except it has’nt happened, we’re still waiting.
July 4, 2021
Andy
“These people donât yet realise theyâre ultimately going to prison, do they?”
And I suppose you fancy yourself as the Arresting Officer. LMAO.
July 4, 2021
Andy, what prison are you talking about, weâre not in the EU anymore, who is going to prison and following what charge? You told us that you have a home in France I personally think you live there or Brussels. Often you write as though you donât live here.
July 4, 2021
Gulags, not prison. Get it right, Andy.
July 4, 2021
+1 Well said Mark, we can only fumble and watch our GREAT country sink into the mire of world woke! I begrudge my vote to the local MP as she is a puppet, however I could not ever bring my self to waste a vote on far left Labour. We have no opposition as those Local we would support are drowned by the two party state. We need lots more Independant MPâs in Westminster
July 4, 2021
MFD there should be a rule that if less than 51% of the eligible residents vote then different candidates need to be put up because that is a rejection of the candidates on offer.
July 4, 2021
Very well put, Mark B. As I too keep saying, it’s all about the seduction of power and who holds it! Successive UK governments have borrowed our precious powers at a GE and without our consent, routinely and permanently surrendered them to others whether the EU, international bodies, regional assemblies, mayors, etc, none of whose parochial policies were mandated for UK plc. Westminster has emasculated itself by elevating others to its level and I’m not convinced it has either the confidence or ability to invoke the relatively few key retained powers held exclusively by them. In my book, the UK Parliament has become little more than symbolic.
July 4, 2021
Mark B
Unfortunately, Iâm inclined to agree with much that you say ⊠the Conservatives most definitely appear to be implementing a lot of labour policies. To be fair⊠apart from a handful of backbenchers such as JR, so many MP really donât seem to have a clue and just follow the party lineâŠtoo much centralisation of choice of candidates and thus poor quality candidates (?)
July 4, 2021
Indeed lots of LibDims, big state socialists and career politicians in the Tory Party, presumably as they assumed they had a better chance of a nice & safer seat. Only about 100 sound real Conservative MPs that I can see currently. I note all the four major party candidates in Batley & Spen failed to take the sound stance over that poor teacher being threatened with his life for doing his job.
Perhaps now she is elected the new Labour MP for Batley might take an honourable stance on the matter but I rather doubt it.
July 4, 2021
+100
July 4, 2021
JR
Just about sums it up.
But please bear in mind your party leader, his predecessor, and their cohorts have to take responsibility for the undemocratic, uneconomical and downright dangerous policies you describe. None of which were declared in manifesto and none of which we voted for.
Should anyone require definition of a party that deliberately and completely disconnected from it’s electorate then look no further than Johnson’s conservatives.
We currently have an extremely dangerous anti – English PM and his cohorts doing as the hell they like because they believe they can, because they were elected, and we the voters can therefore be ignored. This is called ARROGANCE. Be assured we the voters will have revenge at the next general election and we don’t care what crisis ensues, we’ll be having your lot out even if it means Her Majesty cannot invite the formation of government, or there has to be a Labour one.
We will not be walked all over like this.
July 4, 2021
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
…..yeah I bet it is. Still, you’re the MP here Mr Redwood and as such a publicly funded representative of this government. You read it and that’s what matters.
July 4, 2021
The hope that Sir John read these truths is neither here nor there. What matters is whether the other so-called Tories read them, and smell the coffee. It would seem they go through their lives without the cafeine alert. Perhaps the GE Ballot result will be a startling wake-up?
July 4, 2021
The Conservative Party gives the impression we live in a world of make-believe and as if all about us will applaud high-minded gestures to save the planet. Soft and cuddly will get us nowhere. Instead of the unrealistic ambitions of the present leadership (and wife), we desperately need realism and a hard-nosed assiduity to both domestic and international issues. We need a âRealist Partyâ!
July 4, 2021
+1
July 4, 2021
………..The Conservative Party is just implementing ALL Labour policies which, when they come to fruition, will ruin the reputation of the Toryâs……………Indeed. All the selection policies to provide woke/pc candidates to lead all health, public services, police, Councils etc etc are all still in place after 11 years in office. Either this is dreadful incompetence on a gigantic scale or simply……policy support. The boat people are not being removed but actively sought to be brought here by the Border Farce who are now hiding their positions and communications with the French. Numbers now double of last year and rising to invasion levels. Will the people have to take action or will the Government take action to make it impossible for them to remain on arrival?
I’m sick of paying for this Governments incompetence, deceit and betrayals.
Is Boris going to stand up to the EU or to continue to roll over to the bullies. Looks like Tory Ministers are to “busy” with their private affairs than the business of Government.
July 4, 2021
It seems JR totally agrees with you.
July 4, 2021
Spot on Mark B. Add to “incompetence, deceit and betrayals” Boris’ subservience to the G7 lot. Time for a robust Treason and Sedition Law to protect us from it.
July 4, 2021
The key word is âoppositionâ. This government has been in power for ages. No need to fret about othersâ causes.
Just deliver on promises – unless the opposition is a welcome distraction from failure to deliver. Genuine Brexit including Northern Ireland and illegal migration being two examples that concern many voters.
July 4, 2021
+1 totally!
July 4, 2021
It’s being reported that over 900,000 Romanians have arrived here since 2014 and are now registered to remain (5.6 million EU citizens are also registered to remain, repeat, 5.6 million) as this Government refused to put in place restrictions on numbers like many in the EU. They actively laughed at Farage at his predictions, claiming that 10’s of thousands at most would come here. Population of Romania. 19.4 million. So 5% of that Nation alone has moved here! Doctors appointment? school place? congestion or greenbelt? oh but we must reduce our carbon footprint and pay the highest taxation in 70 years to pay for them all! Baloney. In office for 11 years so opposition cannot be blamed for………anything
July 4, 2021
So you are paying for all those people over there whilst those of us older Brits who have had to move to foreign parts find our pensions frozen (13 years and counting) despite having paid for them for 40 years of working life in UK!
July 4, 2021
Richard, when resident pensioners get their state pension in the UK they spend most of it in the UK to the benefit of the UK economy at large, a fair share of local taxes, ÂŁ2000 council tax per annum on average they contribute from their ÂŁ9500 if living alone, so what the government gives them on one hand they get back in the other with UK VAT a quick 20% on nearly everything, taxation from the supermarkets they buy their food from, the couple of hundred quid just to watch the tv here. What donât you get that youâd receive if you lived in the UK? Why has your pension been frozen for 13 years did you pay in a full 39 years? What rate was it frozen at? Online it says you can get your State pension if you live abroad?
July 4, 2021
+1
Why are we even talking about opposition ?
The People told the government clearly what they did not want and gifted the Tories an 80 seat majority so that we didn’t have to spend Sunday’s discussing what should be irrelevant.
Priti pretends to have just got what people are on about regards the rubber boats and offers a lame solution. (Imprison people after Border Force have taxiid them here.)
Yes.
This post is a distraction from a gross failure to deliver policies with a clear mandate to do so.
July 4, 2021
Not so much opposition John. It seems to me that this government is falling over itself to comply with every economy busting policy it can. Does Johnsons government want the UK to fail because from what I read in your post this morning it’s the only inclusion I can come up with. The public are well sick of the woke, grovelling nation we are being forced to become. As I’ve said before, this is NOT a Conservative government. This is NOT a government that is serving it’s people but just a virtue signalling bunch of idiots.
July 4, 2021
Sorry that should be conclusion not inclusion.
July 4, 2021
Youâre right. It isnât a conservative government. It is a UKIP government – and is as corrupt, incompetent, morally bankrupt and nasty as we might expect as a result.
July 4, 2021
Andy, this Tory government is definitely not a UKIP government. Tell us which UKIP policy has it implemented as UKIP would?
July 4, 2021
They ran away from UKIP policies like a greyhound spotting the rabbit.
July 4, 2021
+1
July 4, 2021
Aaaaaargh!
It is SO simple. They are left wingâŠfar left wing extremistsâŠMarxistsâŠ.commies.
All they want is to DESTROY this country/ Western civilisation.
Overwhelm our economies with demands!
Their main danger lies in their ability to pull the wool over the eyes of those who should know better. And they have infiltrated very high places.
They have cynically used Christianity and democracy against us.
Moral blackmailâŠand they care not one jot for the feelings/health/wellbeing of those about whom they bleat.
July 4, 2021
I literally canât begin to fathom why/how/where Johnson.
Who is controlling him? WHO?
What on earth is it really all about?
Who fears a virus more than the total loss of liberty?
What leader allows thousands to go untreated for the sake of said virus?
Have we really been sacrificed for big Pharma and the genome industry?
Johnson always seemed like a fairly reasonable sort of chap.
Body snatchers maybe?
Are you MPs going to scrap the Coronavirus Act? You should insist on it!
July 4, 2021
Next question – why did the people of Uxbridge and South Ruislip return him to Parliament? Do they know something we don’t?
Mind you, the runner up was Labour, so it’s not like he had much competition.
July 4, 2021
Thatâs the trouble isnât it?
Vote for the lesser of two/least of three evils.
However they are obviously all pursuing the same agenda.
A âdemocracyâ with no one to vote for!
And new parties apparently impossible.
July 4, 2021
+1 Sorry ! But I agree with a lot being said here this morning
July 4, 2021
I am thinking there must be an equation that connects “Denialists” with “Conspiracy Theorists”. I am told by fellow data miners that there is one already, it’s called Anosognosia.
July 4, 2021
Acorn, here you come again to insult people you disagree with as having a severe mental illness. I wonder if there is a name of a condition that explains your obsession away?
July 4, 2021
Everhopeful
“Who is controlling him? WHO?”
He’s half – Belgian, is catholic (therefore will always side with catholic countries) , he was an ardent remainer but now is a covert remainer.
Anyone can control him, except the Anglo Saxons who naively elected him.
July 4, 2021
Everhopeful – The UK Establishment control and have done for centuries, however Nothing can stop what is coming, Nothing.
July 4, 2021
Indeed – a group of tax borrow and piss down the drain, woke, socialist idiots too, ârunningâ appalling and declining public services that fail millions.
July 4, 2021
Labour was determined to unseat him. They campaigned long and hard but Uxbridge wanted to leave the EU, one of the few parts of London that did.
Next time…………..
July 4, 2021
should have been a reply to Dave Andrews above – apologies
July 4, 2021
I don’t think the people of Uxbridge consider themselves a part of London.
July 4, 2021
Speaking of “generosity”:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jul/03/irish-premier-urges-no-10-to-reciprocate-eu-generosity-over-ni-protocol
“The Irish taoiseach, MicheĂĄl Martin, has called on Downing Street to âreciprocate the generosity of spiritâ shown by EU leaders on the Northern Ireland protocol after they extended the grace period allowing chilled meats to be shipped to the nation from Britain.”
July 4, 2021
The generosity of three month more sausages!
July 4, 2021
Yes, I hope they show their gratitude by cooking toad in the hole for 3 months.
July 4, 2021
Denis Cooper
âThe Irish taoiseach, MicheĂĄl Martin, has called on Downing Street to âreciprocate the generosity of spiritâ
Perhaps the EU could set an example by showing some gratitude for our country liberating them from nazi tyranny, the Berlin Airlift, and decades of their security during the cold war. Not to mention the amount of dosh we’ve let them screw out of us.
I also don’t take kindly to Irish PM’s bad mouthing our country from behind the EU’s coat tails…..how very brave of them.
I think it’s time the NI protocol & May’s WA were ripped up and a hard border was built between NI & RoI. But then that would require an Anglo Saxon leading the country.
July 4, 2021
+1 as an ex Ulster man, (I left when Mr Blair wanted me to let a murdering iRA terrorist become the minister for my children’s education) . I fully support your suggestion of walls between Ulster and our Republican enemies. We must defend our country as they will not go away remember!
July 4, 2021
The Irish Taoiseach needs reminding the UK took no punishment action against Ireland when they achieved their Independence, they still have a common travel area, they can still vote in the UK and take up jobs here, they can still export here but hopefully the UK people are taking note and will boycott the products from Ireland and the EU that we are not allowed to export in three months time and we start to support our own. We showed the way when Ireland sought and gained their Independence and they spat that back in our faces. I wonât forget that.
July 4, 2021
a-tracy
“…..hopefully the UK people are taking note and will boycott the products from Ireland”
Millions of us have been doing so, right from when Varadkar allowed the Dublin press to publish : England 0 Ireland 1…….as a response to May’s betrayal of NI.
Our local supermarket has to dump virtually all RoI meats and French cheeses. Nobody will touch it.
Insult our country = we don’t buy from you.
July 4, 2021
There are causes aplenty and home grown should the opposition deign to take them up.
The resolution of the UK/EU fishing industry differences.
The insanity of the NI Protocol.
The voting limits in UK elections of UK citizens living overseas.
The refusal to pay UK pensions in full to those living in retirement in certain countries overseas. They contributed so pay up HMG.
Inadequate treatment of veterans.
A plan to solve the backlog in the NHS post Covid.
A equitable plan for the care for the elderly who need it.
The sieve like immigration performance. We have long forgotten what the policy is supposed to be.
Most of the above are moral questions which the opposition see as political questions, so they shun them as they would lepers. Current oppositions are not people with big ideas, more Nay than Nye, they prefer ideological struggles among themselves and therefore have little to offer. Even to the extent of failing to realise that Brexit Britain has long moved on and much of what they say is yesterdays chip paper. The downside is that it makes government smug and complacent, a fact that will come to bite them in the backside in three years time when the vaccination programme is history. Recall Winston Churchill’s election result after an outstanding performance during WW2. If it could happen to him the present incumbents will be a pushover.
July 4, 2021
Posted before 07.00, chop chop.
July 4, 2021
Excellent post
July 4, 2021
They also campaign to destroy our cultural heritage and traditional institutions such as family life which embody and sustain our British values.
July 4, 2021
Giles
Yes, and it’s happening under Tory watch.
July 4, 2021
O/T: kudos to the new Health Secretary for saying that we have to learn to live with Covid, just as we have learned to live with influenza.
July 4, 2021
And the next Chancellor will be telling us we have to live with inflation, the next Home Secretary that we have to live with dingy invasions, the next Foreign Secretary that we have to live with lavish foreign aid giveaways etc.. There is going to be so much kudos going around to explain away failure that we should plan on bottling it and selling it.
July 4, 2021
(:
July 4, 2021
Perhaps you have not yet read this morning’s news that Ms Patel will this week be introducing the first reading of a new Bill about the illegal immigration problem.
July 4, 2021
But is it serious? She seems rather keener on a new no smacking bill a distraction attempt I assume.
July 4, 2021
SM
And she will rightly be laughed at, then dismissed.
July 4, 2021
Inflation and high interest rates. Suits me. Not my children, though.
July 4, 2021
SM
“O/T: kudos to the new Health Secretary for saying that we have to learn to live with Covid, just as we have learned to live with influenza.”
Why should we ? we didn’t let the bloody thing into the country, Johnson did. Let him live with it.
July 4, 2021
An odd comment, Steve – I’m not aware that any Government leader, no matter how bonkers, anywhere in the world, willingly allowed Covid into their country. What everyone, everywhere, is realistically going to have to learn at some stage is how to keep their economies going, to provide food, power, medical care, education for all – and that means politicians, the media AND ordinary people like you and me.
July 4, 2021
SM
Johnson did not stop flights from Wuhan, when he should have, and pulled the same stunt with the Indian variant.
Doing nothing to stop the import of a dangerous virus is by any definition letting it in.
July 4, 2021
SM
“…..and that means politicians, the media AND ordinary people like you and me.”
I am doing nothing. Johnson is directly responsible for covid levels in this country, it’s his problem not mine.
July 4, 2021
The current fashion appears to be to ignore all the good that people (and our country) have done, and concentrate on the bad, no matter how minor it may be, or even if was legal at the time.
I am particularly annoyed by ‘positive’ discrimination, which is still discrimination no matter how ‘positive’ it may appear to be. Why do minority groups get priority over the majority, regardless of wealth? I remember a bursary for poor white boys being rejected as discriminatory, while a similar bursary for blacks only (which made no mention of wealth) was permitted. The pendulum of balance has swung too far. We no longer have, or even try for, equality.
I suspect the children of Rishi Sunak/Priti Patel/Savid Javid have the same golden opportunities as the children of any other wealthy influential person. It isn’t colour that gives one ‘privilege’. It is wealth and influence, as it always has been in the UK. Why do we not judge all equally, ie. give equal opportunities to all, regardless of colour? This ‘positive’ discrimination is causing more division and dissatisfaction.
July 4, 2021
The trouble with âequalityâ is that it is very discriminatory.
Someone has to decide where âinequalityâ lies and then take from those who have âtoo muchâ and give to those deemed in âneedâ.
Not to mention the fact that the equality business and charity scam are both very big earners.
Probably the fault of industrialisation⊠and the asset-grabbing âeliteâ of course.
And how will we ever have such a thing as equality when said âeliteâ spend their time redistributing the wealthâŠmostly into their own pockets?
July 4, 2021
Lots of evidence emerging that white working class children are being disadvantaged in many areas, particularly education. Ignored by our woke class politicos as it doesn’t fit with their narrative!
July 4, 2021
+1
July 4, 2021
Have you ever wondered how many MPs (Conservative, Labour, LibDem) are working class?
The whole path to an elected position is both expensive (if not sponsored by this or that established group).
See Isabel Hardman, âWhy we get the wrong politiciansâ, 2018, Atlantic, really worth reading, often in public libraries (⊠at least mine đ).
July 4, 2021
oops, both expensive and tortuous
July 4, 2021
In Wokingham you’d have to travel a long way, after finding about 8 libraries closed, to visit one in restricted opening hours, in order to possibly find a copy.
July 5, 2021
Micky, But couldnât this be a rather pleasant past-time for a retiree? Wokingham, Woodley and Lower Earley are open on a rotating basis (wokingham.gov.uk Libraries) This will give you the opening days and hours, access to their catalogs, how to have a book transferred to the nearest library to you, ⊠and the fine if you fail to return the book on time.
Donât be so negative, specially when you have not checked before commenting!
July 4, 2021
Good morning Sir John,
You are correct, we are hitting the buffers of elective dictatorship.
We need more direct democracy, as it was originally conceived in ancient Greece. The technology to do this is at our disposal.
July 4, 2021
Ps. Obviously the Tory spin machine out in force about bullish Boris announcing freedoms on July 19th as if it is a triumph. The fact is that the data that much of the decision taking is based on has been demonstrated to be false. Test and trace has been an unmitigated expensive disaster ÂŁ45 billion for which the Government cannot prove it has saved one life.
July 4, 2021
They blundered into the brown smelly stuff and are trying to come out smelling like roses.
July 4, 2021
+1
Very true, and thank you for my first smile of the day.
July 4, 2021
By 19th July we will have 65,000 positive tests per day with hospitalisations increasing by 500 each day if current trends are a good indicator. We have three capacity events at Wembley to come with most of those attending packed onto public transport so the trend is not going to go down.
When they open up on 19th it will prove that decisions are nothing to do with data and all about what the public would stand.
The public have been duped for the last 15 months.
July 4, 2021
Narrow Shoulders, I don’t think it’s such a bad idea in a democratic country, for governments to do things the public ‘will stand’. And not to do things they won’t stand.
I think the government has spent long enough doing only what its doom-mongering ‘advisors’ will approve of, when again and again their alarmist predictions have been proved wrong.
Hancock and Gropegate showed up a man who lectured the public about a threat he himself evidently didn’t believe in. A lot more people are realising that now.
July 5, 2021
No, not a chance. Currently we have 25k a day new cases and only 300 *total* serious cases. The connection between new cases and hospitalizations really has been broken.
July 4, 2021
There are five million fellow Europeans here.
Many are children being raised, but of the adults it is an utter disgrace that they are generally not allowed a vote.
They have higher levels of employment and of productivity than UK-raised people, and they came here ready-educated and skilled. They also cost far less in pensions and benefits than those, being generally young and fit.
The American war of independence was fought under the banner of “No Taxation Without Representation” quite rightly.
It is blatantly clear why the Tories would deny these taxpayers and subsidisers of Leave voters the vote here and it is an international disgrace.
July 4, 2021
https://www.gov.uk/apply-citizenship-indefinite-leave-to-remain
“You can apply for citizenship if youâve lived in the UK for 5 years and have had one of the following for 12 months …
… âsettled statusâ (also known as âindefinite leave to remain under the EU Settlement Schemeâ) … ”
Moreover:
https://www.gov.uk/dual-citizenship
“Dual citizenship (also known as dual nationality) is allowed in the UK.”
July 4, 2021
Precisely Denis.
July 4, 2021
What a foolish comment. If people want to vote in U.K. general elections they have to be U.K. citizens – same in every other country. Including as far as I am aware every country in the EU. If you want a vote for the government in a democracy, you need to become a citizen of the country in question.
Do try to think a little before you post.
July 4, 2021
Photo of eligibility to vote http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8985/assets/b1028794-79b5-4227-9956-35ffcc3369bc.png
July 4, 2021
Thanks, Acorn.
July 4, 2021
Correct Richard. Once again, tosh from MIC.
July 4, 2021
Or a member of the Commonwealth unless I recall incorrectly.
July 4, 2021
They can take up British citizenship if they wish, and obtain a vote that way.
What of 16 and 17 year olds who pay income tax but don’t have a vote? Is that not taxation without representation? Either give them the vote or relieve them of income tax.
Regarding without representation, how can the citizens of NI vote to end the NI protocol?
July 4, 2021
Yes, and when they have all done that then I wonder what the electoral effects of it will be?
Let us hope that they do not delay.
July 4, 2021
So in a country already over populated, you’re happy to house 5 million others?
How about another 50 or 100 million? How far does this go before you start to feel the pressure of cramped living, crowded roads etc.? How much further will the standard of living of our indigenous poor have to go before you notice? Bubble world, truly.
July 4, 2021
Well, we’ve got room for seventeen million mostly wastes-of-space, so there you go eh?
July 4, 2021
Yup.
The Tories think exactly that of them too, MiC.
July 4, 2021
Ridiculous trolling MiC
July 5, 2021
Peter, donât stop him it is fascinating to read that people like Martin who claims to be from Cardiff or Yorkshire want foreigners to register in the UK quickly as citizens so that they can vote en-mass to elect more pro-immigration MPs with no restrictions on numbers, freely allowing people to float in here without passports or checks, who want to totally obliterate Britain as a unique independent Country, if it is so important to him why doesnât he move to Brussels where heâd fit right in, or perhaps he is actually already there in a comfortable pensioned job. Do you think the average labour voter truly knows that the Martinâs are up to?
July 4, 2021
If many are children what are the chances that overall these 6+ (not5) million are contributing more than they take. Each child costs over ÂŁ6K to educate per year plus capital costs, health, child benefit, free travel and law and order with housing and other benefits directly attributable to number of children.
Takes a lot of minimum wage tax and NI to cover that.
July 4, 2021
MiC – if everything is as Utopian in the EU as you always suggest, why do nearly 6 million Europeans want to live and work in the UK, and why do so many migrants from much further away want to come and live in the British hellhole you describe?
July 4, 2021
SM, Could it be that they are much more likely to have got a bit of English than any other European languages? Could it be that the ânon-existingâ climate change that creates more and more areas of drought/flooding in semi-tropical and tropical regions makes a temperate country, specially an island generally under the influence of Atlantic winds, an aim for such emigration? Could it be that a country without any sensible system of ID is an open goal for people wanting to slip under the radar once arrived, compared to other European countries where one of the first things to be obtained is a recognised ID document, required for any administrative operations (renting, banking, health, schooling, âŠ)?
July 4, 2021
My wife was not born in this country Martin but took British citizenship and casts her vote when required. I’m sure any (former?) EU person living here and wishing to vote could do the same. I’m also sure any Brit who has moved to Europe could take up French/Spanish nationality and do so too.
It’s just a matter of deciding whether you wish to become a permanent resident/citizen or not. If not, that’s fair enough, you simply remain a visitor with no right to vote.
July 4, 2021
This is far more generous than Spain, where to even obtain residency, a person has to have thousands in the bank, pay for their own health care, and have no recourse to claim Spanish benefits. We see thousands of British people who have lived there many years being deported simply because they canât afford these demands. Where is the level playing field? Where is your outrage for these people? Where is your demand for Spain to be kind and generous? Or must all British people be punished in your sick world?
July 5, 2021
EU people with settled status (therefore more than five years in the UK) can apply for British citizenship for ÂŁ1,330 (non reimbursable if application fails) + ÂŁ19.20 for biometric information taken and registered.
According to gov.uk candidates must:
– be over 18, – prove their knowledge of English (showing your B1, B2, C1, C2 level or degree qualification), – have passed the âLife in the UKâ test (books ÂŁ22.99, inscription ÂŁ50), – be of good character (the 41 pages of the guide to be such a thing are a delight to read), – show a proof of Comprehensive Sickness Insurance valid for at least the previous five years of oneâs staying in the UK.
So it is not as simple as implied in some of the comments above.
July 6, 2021
No – nor is it intended to be, for obvious reasons.
July 10, 2021
I’m talking about residency, not citizenship.
July 4, 2021
I am a Resident Permanente in Spain but do not have a vote in their national elections. I am not resentful of this.
You who would wish that these very welcome productive EU citizens would sway a return to EU dictatorship are most unlikely to be answered. Ask yourself why they wish to be and remain here.
It is not an international disgrace but an international agreement. They will be able to vote in a general election after 15 years or when they take up citizenship.
July 4, 2021
When they become British citizens they will be able to vote… Simple
July 4, 2021
MiC
“It is blatantly clear why the Tories would deny these taxpayers and subsidisers of Leave voters the vote here and it is an international disgrace. ”
English matters are not international matters.
Have you any proof that those who voted leave are subsidised by those who voted remain ? No?…I bet you don’t.
I think you should consider stepping out from those curtains Martin, you’d see you have your man in No 10 and have all along been barking up the wrong tree.
July 4, 2021
Can all us Brits now vote to bring down the EU? – – just asking.
July 4, 2021
And more evidence of the stench at the heart of this government. The man appointed to be the head of the Cameron/Greensill enquiry used to be a Tory member and ex MP candidate and his father was a government minister.
So truly independent and no cronyism then?
July 4, 2021
Shock horror. The people you vote for are corrupt. Who knew? Well me, for a start.
July 4, 2021
As someone once wrote “…your corrupt ways have finally made you blind”.
They cannot see it themselves until it is too late.
July 4, 2021
Takes one to know one?
July 4, 2021
No surprise there Andy as you think you are an expert on every subject.
July 4, 2021
Andy
“Shock horror. The people you vote for are corrupt. Who knew? Well me, for a start.”
Most are, regardless of which party they belong to.
July 4, 2021
No, rather it is evidence of the opposite. Recall enquiry heads are not appointed for their independence (though appearances can help) but, per Sir H. (“never set up an enquiry unless you know the result”) Appleby, for their soundness for a sound person will understand the nuances and total picture and thereby deliver the verdict the Government seeks.
The Cameron/Greensill scandal is a triumph for this Government as it can actually show it rejected all of Cameron’s entreaties. It needs a sound enquiry head to publicize that and it seems it has one, to the benefit of us all.
July 4, 2021
F57
It is inquiry, not….en-quiry.
July 4, 2021
So what?
July 4, 2021
And his daughter danced with the Prince of Wales.
July 4, 2021
Nig L,
In the spirit of light touch financial regulation and the chumocracy.
Enquiries and official regulators are only for show it seems.
Nothing to see here. Move along please.
July 4, 2021
Iâm afraid I have to agree.
I watched the debate on Foreign Aid last week, and I was disappointed to see Conservatives like Andrew Mitchell, Tobias Ellwood etc. stand up and say say there should be no cut, and that we are not doing enough. They seemed totally oblivious to the state this Country is in, due to the pandemic, and they seemed to not care that this money is borrowed ,to give away.
Iâm afraid, Boris is weak, and prone to buckle under criticism from all sides.
We are a very generous Country, but we get little credit for it. No matter what we do, it is never enough. There is lots of talk of our âsoft powerâ, but what we are is a âsoft touchâ, and the rest of the world knows it.
July 4, 2021
Cheshire Girl
“Iâm afraid, Boris is weak, and prone to buckle under criticism from all sides.”
More a case that he isn’t one of us, and will always serve foreign interests. Research on him demonstrates this.
July 4, 2021
Cheshire Girl, we are in a sorry state not thanks to ‘the pandemic’ but thanks to the government’s measures following what was called a pandemic. Viruses don’t deprive people of livelihoods, cancel vital hospital appointments, close schools, and drive people to despair. Government agencies do.
As you say, we have a weak Prime Minister, who is easily influenced. Then the question is, who by?
July 4, 2021
Pandemic???? where are/were the piles of dead bodies in the streets the queues at the crematoria and cemetries. There never was a pandemic, it was a plan demic and the majority fell for it. Wake up people.
July 5, 2021
A few years back I think it was Andrew Mitchell who at the time was Secretary of State for International Development when asked “why are we giving money to India which has a nuclear weapons program?” his answer was along the lines of “if we don’t finance Indian health care and education for girls then no one will!” . Is this really how foreign aid should be used, i.e. to support the development of nuclear weapons?
And slightly tangential to this, certainly any funding of asylum seekers should come out of the foreign aid budget.
July 4, 2021
Labour and their now criminal activism will politicise any human issue to leverage political control and carve open an electorate bas. Human issues have no relevance. The exploitation of those human issue to achieve political and electoral leverage is now their poisonous remit. I believe this is criminal in nature and they are now beyond the criminal law. They have become a source of evil. The Tory party’s silence of the above is simply abhorrent. Who exactly is going to oppose this vicious sectarian and racial politics if not the Tory party?
Tory party self interest above all other considerations is causing grievous issues and citing resentment. This silence is evidence of either endorsement through fear of political damage to Tory party interests or simply appeasement to a more powerful lobbyist sect that now use race and gender to dominate our world. it has destroyed speech and demonised tens of millions. Collective punishment is criminal but it is being used by official sources to assert control.
John’s party must commit to freedom of expression so that we are all able to expose the fascist poison of the extreme left. If the Tories don’t oppose this politics it will lead to fracturing and further resentment.
Only the Conservative Woman site is exposing the rancidity and evil of the progressive poison that both parties have embrace. Labour because it is their natural instinct and Tory out of pure sell interest for fear of racial and religious slander.
July 4, 2021
Much more easy to find fault or criticise others, than to fix something yourself.
Much more simple to spend others money, rather than your own.
Much more simple to promise the earth when in opposition, than when in Government.
The opposition to government policies is easy, as it requires no responsibility.
Unfortunately governments in recent times have made it easy for the opposition to criticise, due to its own poor performance, legislation, regulations, pet projects, and wasteful spending.
July 4, 2021
Alan
The simple answer to the Opposition and their carping is thus – “You are in ‘Opposition’ for a reason. No one trusts you !”
End of.
July 4, 2021
No M_B, a majority as established by the FPTP election system does not trust you. Somewhat different, I would think.
July 4, 2021
And in response to Mike Wilson yesterday who worryingly berated young people of today for not being like chimney sweeps earning a crust.
Young chimney sweeps were typically bought by a sweep master from impoverished families as an âapprenticeâ but were paid no wages. They were regularly beaten or sometimes even fires were lit to force them to climb quicker. Deformation and cancers from the soot were a regular occurrence and they rarely lived past middle age.
So a decent way to earn a crust, something for modern kids to learn from. I pity any that you have.
July 4, 2021
You seem to have developed an unhealthy interest in working class small boys covered in soot, climbing up chimneys where their bottoms can be admired. May I enquire what century you are living in?
July 4, 2021
Surely Opposition MPs behaving as you describe present an open goal to the governing party? Why do so few of your colleagues not aim, shoot and score? No opportunity to do so should be overlooked.
July 4, 2021
+1
July 4, 2021
It is because the tories are so scared of being called âThe Nasty Partyâ ( Oh Heaven forfend!!).
And they have got themselves into such a bindâŠ.always giving in to the left.
Had they tried to do the sensible thing and ignore global diktats the opposition would have screamed at them that they were putting money above peopleâs health and welfare.
Why not just be bloody nasty âŠand open up the countryâŠif there is anything worth salvaging.
Johnson would have lost some popularity whatever he did ..as we see in the two latest elections. So he might just as well have saved the economy. Unless of course all is actually going to planâŠ..
July 4, 2021
or is it that the government actually likes the opposition policies
July 4, 2021
You’ll fnd one T May sticks up for them also
July 4, 2021
Then the party Whips need to have a word. Either she tows the party line or crosses the floor.
July 4, 2021
Ah, that’ll be the “them”, hated by the “us”, I take it?
Do you know nothing else?
July 4, 2021
An ineffectual opposition usually signals that the party in power is doing more or less what they would do… The Tories are particularly known for this when not in power..
What we have here though is just a shade more than being more or less in agreement with government policies – Labour have to demonstrate their liberal credentials – their socialist mindset.
That labour want more taxes to fund their grandiose schemes around the world shows how out of touch with reality they are, while being mean spirited enough to continue their tax war on the middle classes.
Higher taxes for businesses means life gets more expensive for the average person on the street – a lesson labour refuse to acknowledge.
July 4, 2021
The announcement that the HS is announcing stronger sentences just about sums it up. These dingy people will swap a few months in our prisons because they are still here when the prison doors open unless they are deported before the end of the sentence.
Stop picking them up and bringing them ashore unless it is straight onto a flight out of here. Either way the tax payers still pay.
The role of the opposition is ensure that government is doing everything that actually benefits this country. That is not happening in virtually every area of politics at the moment and all we have is an all double talk and no action government.
July 4, 2021
Farage has said the French are actively guiding dinghies into English waters where they are being rescued and brought ashore. We should be towing them back to France but the French won’t allow it. The Australians returned migrants back to Indonesia and illegal trafficking was stopped. Why are we paying the French for this nonsense and just for once can Andy or Mic please tell us what numbers to be resettled here are acceptable?
July 4, 2021
You tell us. Youâre the ones obsessed with foreigners and numbers. I really donât care. Immigration is – and always has been – a completely non-issue for me.
I judge people on what they are like, not on where they come from. And you listen to Farage. (Which may be where you are going wrong).
July 4, 2021
Ah the carefree attitude of a typical rich elite middle class person called andy.
Open borders is it andy?
1 million a year?
2 million a year?
Or even more perhaps.
July 4, 2021
Sky News reporting another 200 crossed the channel today
July 4, 2021
Stronger sentences than what, as Andy will tell you illegal entry is not currently a crime. In the unlikely event of such a Bill coming before the Commons it will be kicked back over and over again by the bleeding heart Lords. Just a smokescreen to get through the mass trafficking of the summer months. At the risk of repetition, the first step for a serious government is to withdraw from the UN Global Compact on Migration. Doesn’t involve any delay, doesn’t even need a debate in Parliament (since it was signed without one). How can you say mass migration is ‘necessary and desirable’ and then imprison the migrants when they arrive?
July 4, 2021
Some food manufacturers have reportedly urged the government to call in the army to help deliver supplies to supermarkets because your Brexit has left us with a massive shortage of lorry drivers.
I have certainly noticed random shortages in my supermarket – along with a massive increase in fresh products close to their expiry date. The Tory pensionerâs masses of extra bureaucracy is really having a predictably negative impact with products clearly taking longer to get to shelves.
Many of you elderly Brexitists said youâd pick fruit for England – but you never did. So the fruit is rotting. You missed that boat so maybe you can take up the slack in the hospitality sector – waiting tables or making hotel beds. Perhaps you can fill gaps in care homes? After all itâll be people of your generation who have nobody to care for them. Or you could drive lorries – as nobody else will.
We really should make you work for your pensions – and you have lots of choices. Whoâs up for some HGV work? Anyone?
July 4, 2021
Andy, I have a suggestion. Why not encourage your children to do these jobs when they leave school? Or better still, why not get all the lazy sods who are claiming benefits and not working when they could to do them? I truly believe your mind is warped. All you can go on about is pensioners who have done a full lifetimes work and many have done well over the pension age. I know many of our friends who are pensioners and are running businesses and have no intention of retiring. My husband is 74 and only retired last year and not because he wanted to but because I made him leave Scotland to live in England. Look around you and you will find plenty of youngsters who have never done a days work in their lives. Ignorant doesn’t begin to describe you.
July 4, 2021
I think the HGV driver shortage is more to do with the Covid pandemic than Brexit, as EU drivers don’t want to be stuck in the UK when they want to go home. Though I agree Brexit is also a factor.
This problem has been brewing for some time, with UK hauliers able to hire cheap from Europe, rather than train people to do a job that won’t pay enough for someone to raise a mortgage and support a family in the UK.
July 4, 2021
Yes, cherries were ÂŁ10/kg at our local fruiterer’s, and only just within eat-by time the other day.
There are no tasty Italian tomatoes at all any more.
July 4, 2021
Plenty of supplies at cheaper supermarkets andy.
But I expect you don’t go in those ones.
July 4, 2021
At Lidl, this morning, ÂŁ1.39 for 200 g pre-packed, looking good, and ÂŁ6.49/kg loose, looking not-so-great despite me being there when the store opened at 10:30.
July 4, 2021
Gosh hef
Am I keeping you busy checking prices?
The claim by andy was “massive shortages”
There are are no massive shortages.
Try again.
July 5, 2021
Funny, in case you didnât realise, P2, I was corroborating your answer to MiC. But that might be a bit too complicated for you to understand. A bit limited, arenât you?
July 5, 2021
Sad you are unable to comment without sarcastic abuse.
You let yourself down .
“massive shortages” was what andy stated.
As I said in reply to him that is a ridiculous exaggeration.
July 5, 2021
PS
I wasn’t replying to MiC
Bit to complicated for you to understand it seems.
July 4, 2021
The shortage of HGV drivers is easy to explain. This is a direct result of EU free movement and employers greed, and now they reap the rewards.
What happened? Haulage companies and others involved in HGV used to employ people, and those suitable were put through the HGV training and test, which took around two weeks.
When free movement started it was cheaper to take already qualified foreign drivers as this eliminated the training costs. However, they could avoid even more costs. The (previous) employers started demanding that drivers became personal service companies. Not only did this eliminate training costs, but it meant the companies avoided holiday and sick pay, and Employers National Insurance and no hassle with employment law. The drivers themselves incurred these additional costs, plus accountancy fees and the additional administration of running a company. The only alternative was an expensive umbrella company which took care of the company administration, but at a high cost.
All these additional pressures made HGV driving unattractive, and many left for other careers.
The BBC is claiming that HGV qualification takes ‘years’. It tales only weeks if you are old enough and capable, but it does cost a fair bit and not worth it unless the pay is good. Instead of demanding more immigration the employers should look to treat their drivers better and encourage more UK people to become HGV drivers.
July 4, 2021
It’s always Brexit with you, isn’t it Andy? Here is the probably more authoritative view of the Road Haulage Association: their CEO has put out at statement in a food industry trade Journal (‘Justfood’). Yes, he said that uncertainties over Brexit have played a role in this situation. But he also related the driver shortage to factors you didn’t seem so keen to mention – drivers returning to their country of origin during extended periods of Covid lockdowns and not returning to the UK. He said many drivers are retiring thanks to prolonged periods of inactivity during lockdowns, or else they are finding employment in other sectors. He also highlighted the shutdown of vocational driving tests throughout much of 2020. 25,000 fewer drivers than in 2019 were able to complete training successfully. In other words, the driver shortage has a lot to do with the destructive lockdown policy that I’ve never seen you criticise.
July 4, 2021
Great post Phillip showing up the remain obsessives on here who see everything through the prism of brexit.
July 4, 2021
OK
We knew five years ago we were leaving the EU. (Or did we ???)
There was plenty of time to foresee this shortage and train drivers up.
Remainers were adamant that we weren’t leaving the EU and blocked any preparations to do so, so sure that the voters would not deliver a leader committed to delivering Brexit (despite your claims there was buyer’s remorse.)
Boris won a landslide victory.
This was deliberate sabotage.
July 4, 2021
Itâs not just the opposition taking up causes for people who are not UK voters, your party is guilty of exactly the same thing. We now see Boris is considering a U-turn on the temporary reduction of foreign aid due to pressure from his own party.
July 4, 2021
For many years your party has allowed candidates to stand who do not have conservative values. You reap what you sow.
July 4, 2021
Very true
July 4, 2021
Why are you allowing ex-pats to vote in UK elections? People not living and paying taxes here should have no right to dictate how we live.
July 4, 2021
I’m an expat for family reasons rather than pleasure, I’ve recently paid what is (for me) a significant sum in taxes to HMRC as I receive a (frozen) State pension and my savings are invested in the UK, and I obviously cost the UK nothing in medical or social care – I reckon I’m entitled to continue to vote for the next few years, not ‘dictate’ … if only!
July 4, 2021
But Christine, you must realise that some of them have been CUP donors and even Treasurer of the CUP for years. Why would you want to kill the geese that lay golden eggs? It is so much better to cry wolf about the Trade Unions financing the Labour Party (whose donations at least appear clearly in the LP accounts, checked by the Electoral Commission).
July 4, 2021
Why do donors to political parties have a connection to ex pats having the right to vote ?
Do you think they donate only because they can vote?
And why do you only mention the Conservatives in your post?
Do no other parties have wealthy donors living outside the UK?
How odd.
July 4, 2021
Are you doing it on purpose or are you a complete idiot, I wonder?
July 4, 2021
Typical lefty response hefty.
No argument no answers.
Just abuse.
July 4, 2021
Hear hear. If as is being reported today there is a debate and binding vote on foreign aid in the House of Commons, will you stand up and encourage the beneficent Tory toffs to commit half of their own salaries to ‘the cause’ rather than borrowing and spending money on behalf of less well-heeled folk?
July 4, 2021
Its the plebs money they’re spending – so thats okay
July 4, 2021
So you were given an 80 seat majority to quieten the opposition and so we didn’t have to concern ourselves with what they think.
Instead we get Priti Patel pretending – in a national newspaper – that she’s only just realised what the people meant about controlled immigration. Even then she got it wrong (deliberately.)
People are fed up with mass immigration of all sorts except the most selective.
The boat people crisis is being abetted by the Government.
July 4, 2021
200 more today
July 4, 2021
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/trudeaus-all-out-war-on-free-speech/
Sinister doesn’t even begin to describe this appalling development in Canada. I pray this fascist intent does not worm its way to the UK for if it does the UK is finished as a country of freedom
This politician was in my country only a few weeks ago. I actually feel physically sick knowing he tarnished my homeland by his presence
July 4, 2021
DOM, What about a peppermint or a ginger tea. It usually can help. Get well soon.
July 4, 2021
It is far more serious than your usual sarcastic pompous response heffy.
One day soon it will be your rights that are being diminished
July 4, 2021
I lived for two years in Canada. DOM clearly has a problem.
And indeed I would not be so surprised if my rights, here in the UK, were to be diminished.
July 4, 2021
But would you be concerned heffy?
Be it your rights in the UK or elsewhere?
July 5, 2021
P2, what do you think? Do you really need to ask the question? What do you try to show off by such a comment? Answer properly for once.
July 5, 2021
You first.
Always avoid questions don’t you heffy.
Just responding with childish abuse isn’t a proper answer.
July 4, 2021
Ah, you’re like that lady in Little Britain, Dom.
So they do exist.
July 4, 2021
Well I’m a bloody lumberjack and I’m OK.
July 4, 2021
Absolutely correct in analysing the damage being done to the UK and its citizens but Iâm not convinced it is all coming from the Opposition as we can see it from the Civil Service, the Educational Establishment, the Judiciary, our institutions and even some government MPs.
There are basically two groups.
One group are MPs who will say whatever it takes to get votes and therefore pander to large communities in the UK who have not integrated even if it causes contradictory policies within their party. For instance, one party, who claims to be the most egalitarian is quite happy for its senior members to attend gender segregated meetings.
The other group are simply Marxists who wish to destroy the UK by ruining our economy and culture. Such as those who campaign for the unilateral implementation of technically impossible net zero carbon emissions just as they campaigned in the last century for unilateral nuclear disarmament.
From this group we have green energy is cheap & reliable, open borders is safety, diversity is harmony, education is harmful, anarchy is lawful, weakness is strength, poverty is wealth, free thought and speech is toxic, submission is sovereignty and of course, socialism is democracy.
July 4, 2021
You forgot “brexit is good”
July 4, 2021
O/T but just to upset Andy/MiC. as I am sure they must have missed it as they haven’t mentioned it.
London has now overturned Amsterdam again as the leading trading hub in Europe. Crow no more, didn’t last long did it?
Equivalence now dead and UK will set its own rules away from restrictive EU. This will put a rocket under London trading. Hurray!
You asked what good Brexit has done. Here’s one, and a big one at that.
July 4, 2021
Erm, this is a classic case of a Brexitist not doing detail. Let me help you.
Daily trading in European shares:
Dec 2020
London ÂŁ14.5bn
Amsterdam ÂŁ2.5bn
January – thanks entirely to Brexit
London ÂŁ8bn
Amsterdam ÂŁ9bn
Today
London ÂŁ8.6bn
Amsterdam ÂŁ8.4bn
You are celebrating a daily loss of almost of almost ÂŁ6bn because you are still daft enough to think you won something.
July 4, 2021
Andy, The problem, on this particular topic as on a number of others, is that a non negligible number of people on this blog do not (or worse, are unable to) check any quantitative information. So they take whatever is said by their favourite website(s) (Sir Johnâs included) or newspaper as the Good Book.
Reply All my arguments where appropriate are supported by official figures and other data from reputable sources.
July 4, 2021
Reply to reply: you would be more credible if you were not mixing GDP, GDP per capita, and GDP per capita (ppp), if you were not quoting exchange rates only when the sterling is up, and if all your writings on this blog were consistent with things you write in other publications.
Apart from that, everything is hunky-dory.
July 4, 2021
Hef
That is what you do on here.
Using percentages to give a big figure of changewhen it suits your argument.
Or using cash figures when that measure suits your argument
Hunky dory indeed.
July 4, 2021
You don’t do detail either andy.
You are quoting gross value of shares.
It isn’t really ÂŁ6 billion
Only a tiny percentage of your figure is the share trade cost retained by the trading house.
July 4, 2021
You don’t do, well…anything at all, apparently.
July 4, 2021
MiC
And you actual point is what?
Just abuse and trolling as usual.
The left in action yet again
July 5, 2021
P2, indeed, youâre absolutely right, but the âfeesâ are roughly proportional to the volume of daily trade. So if since 2020 the amount of trade in Amsterdam has increased by a factor of 3 and decreased in London by 40% in London, the fees are likely to have followed the same path. Which I would think means that Amsterdam traders are better off and London ones not so.
July 5, 2021
So you agree.
andy’s six billion claim is false
July 4, 2021
As usual, you don’t understand what you are doing. My point is that London is back where it always was and growing. I never said it was making a profit over the last 6 months, but is now the leading city again and will go on from here. Let me have your figures again at the end of the year. Ever done any trading in your life?
This information did not come from ‘my favourite website’ as intimated by another ‘expert’ Hefner. It came from one Mr. Rishi Sunak in a speech he gave at the Mansion House last week. Perhaps you two may have heard of him and he said equivalence negotiations are now dead and the UK will go its own way, unhindered by the EU. which can only be a good thing. This is confirmed by a leading portfolio manager, no names or JR will not publish, but with your vast resources you can easily check.
July 5, 2021
Just a note to Hefner. Always be very careful when you back up Andy – he is invariably wrong and will make you look stupid as well.
July 5, 2021
G46, Thank you.
July 4, 2021
OK Andy
Detail.
Without looking who were your MEPs and which EU party did they belong to ?
July 5, 2021
And the commissions are one *half* of *one* percent of that. Sorry, Andy, but you truly are an ignoramus.
July 5, 2021
And the real point here is that we are back to 50-50 after the EU used its regulatory power to try to exclude us from the market altogether. That’s how simple economics and natural advantage beats EU regulators trying to rig markets.
July 4, 2021
Children are not UK voters, hence, presumably, the willingness of Sir John to dump bills into the future.
More generally, this Government has taken enormous risks with peace, jobs, services, and wasted billions on its Nationalist hobby horse. In the view of many, this is foolish and irresponsible. To pretend the millions who object, and regard the slippery antics of over N Ireland, for example, as a source of humiliation ,are a gigantic fifth column, argues the onset of a âMessiah complexâ. People who strongly disagree with our current Government, are still UK voters are they not?
Opposition to cutting aid has been loudest in the Parliamentary Conservative Party. It is Boris Johnson who has made wild and delusional promises to cut emissions, and the Conservative Party who have hiked up corporation tax.( see explanatory glossary of terms )
Glossary of terms
The UK: ” People in the UK who agree with me. ”
British People: ” British people who agree with me. ”
Opposition: ” Any member of any Party who disagrees with me. ”
UK Voters: ” UK Voters who agree with me. ”
They/ opposition :” The leadership of my own Party, when they do unpopular things or ..disagree with me “
July 4, 2021
Nothing has indebted our kids more than the lockdown you wanted.
July 4, 2021
The “deliberate disruption of trade between Northern Ireland and GB” is the result of the deliberate choice of the UK government to accept disruption of trade between Northern Ireland and GB. And in January 2020 you voted in favour of it
July 4, 2021
Grey Friar
Whilst I agree with you, the second mistake was to trust that the EU would act in a sensible and honourable manner within the spirit of the agreement, when most of us our here in the real World knew that would not be the case, and the EU would indeed run with the letter of the agreement as written, whilst ignoring other caveats to which it related.
Friendship and co-operation is for the birds as far as the EU is concerned, its all about protectionism and money.
July 4, 2021
There is no such thing as ‘spirit’ of the agreement, the agreement is the agreement. If parts of the agreement including the NI protocol are not adhered to by UK side or EU side then that will show bad faith and will be seen as marking further divergence and in this case I don’t suppose we we can make progress either in the areas of Financials, Insurance, banking passporting etc into EU countries that we so badly need. Then there is the added question of visas for out entertainment workers and markets for our fish- need I say more? except to say the more we diverge the harder it will be for everyone.
Looks like Boris invited Mrs Merkel here in the last few days with a visit to HM thrown in as a last throw of the dice to sweettalk Mutti and the Germans on board but alas no chance – I think all he got was a clip on the ear telling off for his trouble. In M Thatcher parlance the lady was not for turning.
July 4, 2021
Mission/job drift â there was a time when an MPs effort was 100% to represent their constituent and only their constituent, their only focus was to ensure the wealth, health and employment of their votersâŠ..this is no longer the case
July 4, 2021
I don’t have any problems with Labour. It’s a bit rich for you Sir John to go on like this.
The problem is your party and leader, your government and your man as PM. He and his ragbag are the ones ruining the country, having in particular failed to get us free of the EU but lying about it.
July 4, 2021
Not to mention the opposition often appearing in the Governing party on these issues
July 4, 2021
Yes, Sir John, these are the people who – in the words of George Canning – are “the friends of every country but his own”. They are, in a word, traitors. But the problem is that Boris Johnson seems to have the same policies, doesn’t he? He expects Britain to suffer enormous costs to reduce CO2 output whilst doing nothing about China, he does nothing to stop the invasion of Britain by illegal immigrants, he is now going to give away even more of our money to foreign governments, he does nothing to fight the EU’s attacks on Britain (in NI, in fishing, in financial services, etc), he is increasing corporation tax, thus deterring businesses from coming here, while doing nothing to compete with the low taxes in our main competitor – Ireland.
Basically, Boris Johnson is doing NOTHING to help Britain, while doing everything to appease “every country but his own”. And that’s why I no longer vote Conservative.
July 4, 2021
“When it comes to fighting carbon dioxide”
There is no battle here to fight. CO2 is innocent of the charges against it.
July 4, 2021
hear hear
July 5, 2021
CO2 is not poisonous, but neither is water.
However, tsunamis, floods and dam bursts can be disastrous.
The position is analogous.
July 4, 2021
The most perverse policy we have at present is Net Zero. It will make us poor, cold and hungry. Many will lose jobs, their cars and even their homes under present plans. It has to be the most perverse thing attempted by any government short of genocide. It will result in many early deaths through being poor, cold and hungry so it may not even escape that.
When will our MPs wake up and put an end to this terrible tyranny? Or will we have to establish another party to get this done?
July 5, 2021
The C Party should be renamed ‘The sitting on hands Party’.
July 4, 2021
Stop Press: JR attacks government by attacking the opposition for doing all the things he disapproves of his own government for doing. The Tories take a different side in the Palestine/Israeli dispute as one of their rights of passage as Tory MPs is to visit Israel to see what a marvellous place it is. In general, though, there is no blue water, not even a ditch between them.
July 4, 2021
Valid points, SJ. Very valid.
I would ask these people why they would consider the plight of non-Brits more important than their own citizens.
We are no longer the world power we used to be and no longer the rich country before we had to cover the costs of two World wars, here in Europe.
So why would they expect us, who are currently running a massive deficit and ultra high national debt, should borrow more to aid those who have absolutely no affiliation with this country? If we are not legally bound to assist then we have no obligation to do so.
Where would their money handouts come from? Only from even more borrowing.
We, unfortunately, can no longer afford to house the world, feed the world, nor medically treat the world. Technically, we are bankrupt but as we can print our own currency, we are ‘protected’. BUT only as long as the RoTW accept our currency. When that fails, so does this country collapse.
Be in no doubt, there is a financial catastrophe around the corner that will dwarf the result of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Just like then, 92 years ago, the recent years of irrational exuberance will bring down the financial edifice again, only this time there is not fall-back position. Interest rates are ultra low and we no longer have the financial clout to cover the huge losses to come.
Fortunately we shall not be alone, for most every Global Nation has been caught in this super-extended credit trap. The last thing we should be doing is handing out more of our borrowings to those who cannot help or pay us, ever.
July 4, 2021
We voted for an 80 seat majority yet the opposition’s ideas are what are becoming policy. Running scared of the BBC and twitter mobs.
11 years of Tory rule has been a disaster.
(Imprisoning illegal immigrants over here is too late and Priti Patel knows it.)
July 4, 2021
I think a lot of this article could be summed up by saying that Labour long ago gave up trying to debate political issues rationally, and decided that they could get more mileage by giving every single issue the “shock, horror, scandal!” treatment.
That probably plays well with the less educated section of Labour supporters, but it means that Labour can easily be manipulated by anyone who has analysed Labour tactics.
Look closer at ll the issues where Labour appears to play a negative, disruptive and anti-British role, and I think you will find players promoting causes who have figured out that they can use Labour’s sensationalist methods for their own benefit.
Just as children exploit their parents disagreements and use family issues for their own purposes, Labour has become the passive and largely helpless creature of anyone who has spotted the limited and simplistic nature of Labour thinking.
July 5, 2021
Labour’s enthusiasm for causes such as Kashmir and Bangladesh is explained by its zeal for harvesting the votes of various groups of low-wage immigrants it welcomed in from southern Asia in large numbers decades ago, a misguided decision whose results are still unfolding. There was a Conservative MP and government minister with an educated, intimate knowledge of the Indian subcontinent who pointed all this out at the time.