Do you believe in Brexit?
Fourth upon a time the Brexit elf went in search of the true Brexit. He had been over the moon all those years ago when the British people had voted to leave the EU. He looked forward to an early and complete departure. He expected the creation of a land of freedom. He looked forward to wise government from a newly independent and powerful Parliament. He knew the British people thought votes mattered. It never occurred to him and his friends that many of the Remainers in powerful positions would try to stop the will of the people.
He had been over the moon for a second time when in a wet and cold December in 2019 the people once again made clear they meant it. They told their wicked old Parliament that had fought them and tried to block Brexit that they really meant it. They voted again to get Brexit done. They said to the Remain Parliamentarians “You sit on a throne of lies”. We are taking many of you off the throne, replacing you with those who will implement our vision.
After that election some things did change. The Leader of the Opposition who had fought pugnaciously against Brexit in the old Parliament, said he now accepted it. It still did not stop him taking the EU’s side in any negotiation, and he still wants to tie us in to most of what we left.
After more wrangling and disagreeable negotiations with a rattled EU, the elf was over the moon again in January 2021. The UK had eventually left the EU. The people were free at last. The Parliament and government once again after fifty years of colonial status could decide on laws and taxes, budgets and tasks, responding to the people.
So why, one Christmas later, did the Brexit elf feel he had once again to travel the dark and largely empty covid cleared corridors of Whitehall in search of the true Brexit? The problem was that whilst we had left the EU, practically every EU law remained in place. Despite departing, the EU 20% VAT tax was still on almost everything the EU had placed it on. We had the freedom to set up Freeports, but they still had not come to pass. We should take control of our fishery, yet somehow it was still not in our grasp. We could replace the Common Agricultural Policy, yet much of it remained and some were unhappy with the sketched replacement which did not seem to help UK farmers.
Our Brexit elf as always was positive, cheery and determined to see it through. He was sure there was a true Brexit that would be good news, and was equally sure we still did not have it. So he decided to start at the Cabinet office where much of the Brexit negotiating was conducted.
He politely introduced himself to the Chancellor of the Duchy, a reassuringly old title that linked today to an age when our government was independent. He asked the Chancellor if he believed in Brexit. Of course, said the Chancellor. Like you I voted for it. I had to be brave to do that as the government I supported at the time did not want it. Reassured, the elf asked why it was the government had still not removed any of the old EU laws. After all, he pointed out, there were plenty of such laws we had opposed or criticised at the time they were placed upon us. When would they go or be improved?
Well said the Chancellor, it’s not that easy. Of course we are committed to tidying up, repealing a bit here and amending a bit there. We are finding it very difficult to get agreement. Lots of officials tell us we should not deviate too far. They point out business gets along with it all now it’s embedded even if they didn’t like it at the time. I think they are worried by the way whatever we do if we take the EU’s view of the Northern Ireland Protocol all the EU laws will still apply there.
So, said the elf, when can I spread some Brexit cheer by singing aloud for all to hear that EU laws are a changing? Well , said the Chancellor, we are working on it. Watch out for any consultations we might announce, as we will want to take it gently.
A bit dispirited, the Elf decided to take himself to the Treasury. It’s not normally the place you go to raise your sugar levels,but its boss is a well known Brexit voter who surely will want to implement the true Brexit. The Elf asked him why the UK economy was still being run under a version of the old Maastricht austerity rules. No, said the other Chancellor, that surely was not true. We now had a shiny new economic framework suited to the UK. In that case said the Elf, who knew a thing or two about economics, why are you still reporting UK figures against the Maastricht Treaty state debt and deficit requirements. Oh that must be a mistake came the reply. We will stop that. Even if you do said the Elf, you still have as rules the need to get the deficit down to below 3% just like the EU, and the need to get state debt falling as a percentage of GDP, just like the EU control. Oh, said the Chancellor, that is just a coincidence. This is now a UK policy. Well said the elf, I would like us to have a pro growth policy and a counter inflation policy, not a spending cuts and tax rises policy. The Chancellor was a busy man and ran out of time to pursue all this. The Elf had wanted to ask him why he hadn’t even taken VAT off green products, but the meeting was over.
The Elf just liked to smile and get on with things. So he went to the Environment and Agriculture department, where there could be so many Brexit wins. He asked the Environment Secretary if he believed in the true Brexit. Yes of course, he beamed. He had been a leading Brexit supporter. So encouraged he asked when would we have full control of our fishing grounds. He was told that was still in transition, but the plan was to make them ours in due course. He asked why we had given so many licences to French boats to fish in our waters and was told that was to get on well with the neighbours. The Elf asked why the French were not then happy with us, but there was no reply. He asked why we had not banned the very damaging super trawlers, all foreign, of over 100m length which pillaged our stocks and damaged our marine environment. There was no clear response. He asked why the replacement for the Common Agriculture Policy mainly would give money to farmers to stop farming and turn their land over to wilderness. What is more vulnerable than a peach asked the Elf? Or an English apple? Wasn’t that just like the EU grant scheme to get us to grub our orchards so we imported apples from the continent? How did that help the world environment, and why did we want to destroy our own industry? Again he did not understand the reasons which were all about public goods and seemed very abstract.
Let down again the Elf took himself off to the Foreign Office. He was worried here, because the Foreign Secretary had voted for Remain. She immediately sought to reassure him that she had seen the light and like him wanted the true Brexit. However, it soon became clear that although she was Foreign Secretary she did not seem to handle the crucial talks with the EU or with France and could not help bring about his vision.
Back to reality he took himself to the Northern Ireland department. The Secretary of State told him he believed in the true Brexit, though he had not at the time of the referendum. The Elf wanted to know why Brexit did not extend to Northern Ireland and why the Protocol was causing so much angst. Well said the Secretary it is very complex. I tend to leave sorting it all out to Lord Frost who tells me he is working on it. The Elf painted a picture of a butterfly in the meeting as it wasn’t going anywhere.
He decided to make one last call, on Business and Energy. Surely here there would be buzzing anticipation of a better future as they used the new freedoms to advance UK prosperity. After all there had been a great success for the UK developing its own vaccine for the virus when the EU’s common system failed to build one. So he asked the Business Secretary when the UK was going to be self sufficient in energy once again. He was told that would not happen, as they intended to rely more and more on imports through pipes and cables to the continent as part of their domestic net zero policy. Far better the CO2 should be generated somewhere else.
By this time he was a very angry elf. Just as even he was losing his smile and his belief in the true Brexit the British people spoke to him. Cheer up, young elf, they said. You are right. Brexit teems with opportunities. We will tell Whitehall again that is what they have to do. We will make them find the true spirit of Brexit so you can smile and sing about it to your heart’s content.
Only a bad Santa tells you Remain were right all along. We know they are wrong, and we will make sure all those departments come to help. If they don’t, we will vote again to make our intentions clear. Does someone need a hug? Brexit is about cheer and optimism, to cast aside the dour grey commands of the old remain establishment. We will win our freedom.
December 17, 2021
Exactly right but will we actually ever win a real Brexit?
Boris was elected to deliver one but all we got was vast tax increases, pointless lockdowns, do as I say not as I do hypocrisy, evermore red tape, pent up inflation, vast government debt, declining living standards, the expensive energy/net zero economic insanity and generally very poor and declining public services.
Hence this by-election result. Well done Carrie or Covid for turning Boris into a loser and an economic and electoral disaster.
December 17, 2021
Agreed, something has gone awry with this chap.
December 17, 2021
Got off track just after the last general election, and been drifting since he had Covid and got married.!
Connection, not a clue, but the government failing on so many fronts now.
Green revolution, banning of ICE vehicles, illegals, fuel prices, covid rules, triple lock, tax rises, now interest rates, to name but a few.
December 17, 2021
Agree
December 17, 2021
But the press say it’s because of an xmas party at No 10 last year. I don’t know if the press are just ignorant or they are trying to trick Boris into sticking with the same policies. Either way one xmas party one year ago won’t dent voters opinions if he wasn’t messing up with all the policies you have listed.
December 17, 2021
Javelin
What gets me is that I’m now being jabbed at a rate of 1 every 4 months and being forced into a de facto lockdown and told to wear a mask.
So much for “Flatten the curve”
So much for “Circuit breaker”
So much for “15,000 jabs to freedom”
So much for “1 jab each and we’ll all be free”
So much for “This release from lockdown is irreversible”
We are entitled to know
A) All the details of the one omicron death. This should not be a state secret
B) Exactly how many have died *of* or *with* Covid (an important distinction) this should not be a state secret
C) How many have died or been hospitalised within 28 days of the vaccine – this information should be known and should not be a state secret.
We have embarked on a vast expansion of triple jabs knowing that more people have died of vaccination than of omicron.
Further deaths by vaccination will be manslaughter.
And these should not be a state secret either.
December 17, 2021
Like the Civil Service, the press work for the blob.
December 17, 2021
Ferguson infected the PM, the Health Secretary (Hancock), the Cabinet Secretary (Sedwill), the CMO, and the PM’s Chief Adviser all in one fell swoop. Was it an intellect-sapping strain? None of them have been the same since.
December 17, 2021
And how could I forget, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Gove).
December 17, 2021
Boris was a wrong ‘un all along. You were blinded by your zeal and put your faith in someone who told you what you wanted to hear as opposed to the truth.
And yes I did tell you so.
December 17, 2021
Correct.So did I!
December 17, 2021
I was never a great fan of Boris – but he was sure better than any of the alternatives like Hunt or Labour if he went back to the old Boris he still would be.
December 17, 2021
LL, you used to like Owen Patterson, IIRC.
December 18, 2021
MWB – why do you say used to I still do – Owen Patterson was a good MP in general.
December 17, 2021
Correct.
Personally I have moved from “I am no fan of Boris Johnson, far from it” in September 2019:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2019/09/19/the-eu-and-empires/#comment-1056676
to being unable to bear seeing and hearing him on TV.
December 17, 2021
No, Johnson has not gone awry, he has always been a supporter of uncontrolled immigration, and has advocated an amnesty for all illegal immigrants. This was known before he was voted in as Tory leader and PM.
December 17, 2021
We need Faraback to light a fire under the government.
It’s the only way we will feel the benefit of Brexit. The whole Civil Serpents blob are wedded to Brussels and the stables need a good cleansing.
December 17, 2021
Well done the lib dem for winning Stafford. If ever you needed a wake up call this should be it.
December 17, 2021
Well done indeed, miraculous in fact, since there wasn’t even an election there.
December 17, 2021
Agree
December 17, 2021
Something went awry with the Tories as a whole quite some time ago.
The voters of Shropshire are not just fed up with the overtly dissolute conduct of the few in the party.
As in Amersham, decent folk no longer want to be associated with the kind of people whose votes they now so shamelessly woo, and so they distance themselves from the whole shower.
That’s Identity Politics for you. It bites all ways.
December 17, 2021
Ooh. That sounds very much like “The deplorables” NLH. Do be careful.
December 17, 2021
Aye, they could always have voted Reform, but very much didn’t.
December 17, 2021
Always keep a hold of nurse for fear of finding something worse. (Belloc).
December 17, 2021
Battered wife syndrome!
December 17, 2021
@lifelogic +1 – Spot on
Brexit = Democracy all rules, regulations and laws are administered created, changed and repealed in ones own domain by those that have been ‘lent’ the authority and power to do so by a democratic mandate.
December 17, 2021
Lifelogic – I saw the triumphant Boris “Got Brexit Done !” office photo and thought “My. That looks staged.”
Off topic.
Two years and three jabs later we are in a defacto lockdown (no furlough or business support required from the Government) and the news reports this morning are as dramatic as I’ve ever seen them.
I have repeatedly told you on these pages that this would be so and now I predict that this is never going to end.
Well. We have more people killed and made ill * by vaccines than by omicron so far. Clearly the risk assessment has not been done. This is a Marxist putsch using the NHS for which we face national bankruptcy in order to save… and which will sink itself when there is no money coming in to pay for it.
* We all must know people who have had to take proper sick leave after their jab (it hit our home this week) – not just the asymptomatic self isolation because of a test result or contact.
December 17, 2021
And I’ve repeatedly told you it no worse than the flu
December 18, 2021
Covid-19 is perhaps not quite as fatal as Spanish Flu (the original H1N1) both around 1% fatality (before vaccines and previous infection). But COVID is much more transmissible. The problem is that everyone is getting ill at more or less the same time – if it was spread over time there would be less of a problem.
Lockdowns only help reduce the peaks BUT they cause massive economic damage and effectively INCREASE the length of the pandemic because they slow the build-up of immunity. Vaccines help – but immunity does wane and new variants come along. Many of the flu waves we get in winter (sometimes killing tens of thousands) are descendants of Spanish Flu- so we (and our descendents) will probably be battling Covid for at least the next 100 years.
December 17, 2021
Two babies in 2 years for a middle aged man, this would be a strain for anyone – plus a serious bout of Covid. Being Prime Minister means 100% concentration on the job in normal times – these are not normal times
December 17, 2021
That he’s having two babies (of umpteen children and marriages) in middle age says it all.
The man is chaotic.
December 17, 2021
How many men do you know who are 116 years old? He isn’t middle aged and he isn’t even a fit, healthy 58 yr old ….. he’s entering and early old age and in my opinion is irresponsible having two more children.
Doing it when he is supposed to be Prime Minister, with the stresses that job inevitably brings, is doubly-irresponsible.
December 17, 2021
I don’t usually comment on politicians’ private lives, but I agree with you entirely on this, Donna.
December 17, 2021
Yes LL we need a CONSERVATIVE party, not having had one since Margaret Thatcher was pushed from office by a cabal of lesser people.
We have perhaps 100 Conservatives in the present conservative party, the next few days will tell us whether they are willing to put an end to the current charade.
Remember, the North Salop vote was against current conservatism on many counts, absolutely not a vote in favour of any other politically dead philosophy, whatever the outcome.
December 17, 2021
But who (in with any chance) would be better. A you say we have only about 100 real Conservatives. Tax to death, borrow and waste, inflation causing Socialist Sunak seems favourite!
December 17, 2021
We need new blood I’d suggest Steve Baker….in fact any other backbencher
December 17, 2021
But he clearly has no chance given the make up of mainly dire Tory MPs.
December 17, 2021
Agricola, +1, Nice comments, thank you
December 17, 2021
An apt summing up Sir JR. Indeed more than apt. Conservative Party supporters are increasingly perceiving that the Conservative Party is no longer a Conservative Party.
December 17, 2021
Spot On James1
December 17, 2021
Boris met reality. The reality of Brexit’s disaster and the reality ofCOVID. I feel sorry for him. He has over a hundred backbenchers who demand he ignores reality
December 17, 2021
Yawn. Here you go again, blaming everyone else for why Brexit is going so very badly. Here’s an idea. Blame yourself. Blame yourself for forcing through a project that has created massive barriers to free trade with our closest partners, endless red tape for importers and exporters, caused shortages of labour in vital sectors like care and farming, cut off NI from GB, and left Britain isolated and without influence in the world. All predicted by Remainers. All now reality
December 17, 2021
Please! It is the EU which creates the barriers. Goods from Ireland let in here without checks. Goods to Ireland need checks. It is the EU who are precious and protective, not UK.
December 17, 2021
So there were no checks when we in the EU. Now we have left there are checks. But that is nothing to do with the UK’s decision to leave. Riiiiiggght. Tell me, do you have the first idea what Brexit means?
December 17, 2021
The majority of us don’t want to be part of this undemocratic abusive outfit. Do you understand what majority means?
December 17, 2021
SJS, +1, exactly, the EU mask has slipped
December 17, 2021
Polls suggest that only a minority – around 35% – of people believe anything like that.
However, with FPTP there might be just enough of them for the Tories to hang on by their fingernails, so, yeah, give it a try.
December 17, 2021
Checks are only not happening because this Conservative government failed to implement them in time. They are coming.
December 17, 2021
Goods are let in here without checks because the government here is scared of what happens when checks are introduced.
This is now a customs border. Goods are supposed to be checked. This is what you voted for. Apparently without realising.
December 17, 2021
They suffer from the Faith Fallacy, as the religious often do, Andy.
That guy only failed to walk on the water like his master because he did not believe hard enough.
To think, that we were taught that baloney at primary school too…
December 17, 2021
Only a tiny percentage of goods passing through borders get physically checked young andy.
Customs declarations, TIR, trusted trader schemes, pre delivery paperwork done electronically are used.
I realise you know little about trading goods internationally so can I suggest you go to any major UK port and see how many of the tens of thousands of containers are opened in a day or count how many lorries entering the UK get pulled over and checked in a day
And the same thing happens all over the world when the UK sends goods abroad.
December 17, 2021
Indeed. But when there is a lot of trade checking a small amount of it still means a lot of checks.
This is Brexit. You voted for it. I didn’t. I think your Brexit bureaucracy and your Brexit checks are completely pointless – but you wanted them. Apparently you won something – more red tape perhaps.
December 17, 2021
Not correct young andy.
You keep showing your lack of knowledge of how international trade operates.
Checks were done by customs and excise on goods going from the UK to Europe pre-brexit.
The checks you keep referring to, were and are, nearly all done by electronic means.
Few are physical checks and when they do they are mainly looking for contraband or illegally copied counterfeit goods.
The authorities use intelligence gathering to do this and they use X ray machines to scan containers and lorries.
My experience pre-brexit was that there was little difference in the administration burden in sending goods to and from the EU and sending them elsewhere in the world.
December 18, 2021
There is no need to check much at all inbound into the UK. That again is EU ‘hard shell, soft body’ thinking.
If a non-compliant item is brought into the UK how do you sell it? Our consumer legislation is far stronger than anything in the EU and gives consumers a near absolutely right to return items as not fit for purpose. Therefore firms selling to consumers will not source non-compliant items, or they’ll just get them back again with all the cost of returns. The repetitional scandal of selling non-compliant products would kill their business.
Since they can’t sell non-compliant products without severe risks, they won’t order them, and they will check that the items they do order are compliant. That then moves down the contract line to the next supplier, and the next supplier and so on.
You don’t need checks and you don’t need import tariffs. You just need strong consumer laws, with hefty enforcement against anybody found trying to work around them. Simple competitive back pressure then allows you to get rid of everything other than the basic phytosanitary checks.
We can do that as the UK because we now have one set of laws that govern the entire physical area of the islands we rule.
December 17, 2021
As mentioned on any number of previous occasions, for example here four weeks ago:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/11/20/gps-and-nhs-management/#comment-1277584
under Article 7 of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement imported goods only have to be checked to the degree required by the risk management system of the importing country.
Given that for a quarter of a century we were required by EU law to allow loads of stuff to just roll in from Ireland without any routine checks, by sea and by air and across the land border to the north and possibly then by sea or by air, having agreed through the Single European Act we would rely upon the Irish authorities to uphold satisfactory EU Single Market standards, and given that Ireland is still in the EU and still subject to those EU Single Market laws, there is no compelling reason why we should immediately start inspecting everything that comes in from Ireland.
Back in September Lord Moylan made a sensible contribution on this:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/09/16/we-need-more-electricity/#comment-1260196
“My Lords, I welcome this delay, and indeed I hope that it becomes permanent. EU goods are safe, and the food is wholesome; we have been using them and eating it for 40 years. Trade rules do not need to be reciprocal, and, if the European Union chooses stupidly to impose upon its consumers the penalties of protectionism, there is no need for us to reciprocate. Does my noble friend agree that it is about time that the British Government were setting a free trade example to the European Union, and indeed showing it that such an approach could be applied with benefit on the UK’s border with Ireland, in place of the undemocratic protocol?”
December 17, 2021
So, as usual with you clueless Brexiters, your “plan” is to leave the EU but expect to be treated as if you are still a member. No chance matey. Leave the EU, and you get border checks, red tape, etc etc. You voted for it!
December 17, 2021
Fine, let imports into Britain without checking they’re safe or made to spec. But if you want to export to the EU, you can be sure they will do checks. Because Britain’s not in the EU anymore. That’s Brexit, it’s costing our country millions hour byhour, but you voted for it
December 17, 2021
See my posts to young Andy above, Lerry and Garry.
I bet you have never exported not imported goods to or from the EU in your life.
Just reading Guardian articles is as far as you’ve ever got.
December 18, 2021
If the continent want to do checks that’s up to them, but that just increases the cost of goods going into the EU and those in the EU will pay that cost – because tariffs and costs are paid ultimately by the importing area.
We have a floating exchange rate with the Euro, and that adjustment settles at the point where the exporters get what they would have got without the tariffs. That’s because international trade is ultimately a productivity play.
So if the EU imposes costs on UK exports, then the cost is ultimately paid by EU exporters to the UK when the UK starts sourcing, say, more tomatoes from Morocco than Spain because the shift in the exchange rate make Moroccan tomatoes cheaper than Spanish ones.
The same effect applies in the UK. The best way to help our exporters is to eliminate and reduce our import costs.
December 18, 2021
We have not left the WTO, and nor has the EU and all its member states including the Irish Republic, and under the WTO treaty to which we are all parties is down to us to decide what level of formalities will be applied to imports from the Republic, and vice versa. And that is not just my layman’s interpretation, the WTO itself has said it:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2019/11/07/what-do-free-trade-agreements-add/#comment-1069358
“JR, I think that after your “there is no WTO requirement to impose tariffs on imports” it could be usefully added that there is also no WTO requirement to inspect imported goods, whether that is to be accomplished by intercepting them at the border or by tracing them to depots or wholesalers or end customers after they have entered the country.
This was made clear by a WTO official speaking in Dublin a year ago:
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/wto-says-its-rules-would-not-force-eu-or-uk-to-erect-hard-irish-border-1.3710136
“WTO says its rules would not force EU or UK to erect hard Irish border”
“Expert says it is up to London and Brussels to protect their own markets in no deal Brexit scenario”
“There is nothing in WTO rules that forces anyone to put up border posts,” said WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell on a visit to Dublin last week.””
That is from two years ago, and the statement from the WTO official was a year before so that was three years ago, so isn’t it about time Remoaners caught up with that?
I would also point out that the level of checks on imports should be that justified by the assessed level of risk associated with them, and an unnecessarily high level of checks would violate WTO rules:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/03/13/goldilocks-policy/#comment-1215662
“4.2 Each Member shall design and apply risk management in a manner as to avoid arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination, or a disguised restriction on international trade.”
December 17, 2021
@Sir Joe Soap – Yup, an unelected EU Commission that is not accountable or responsible, with its own courts and rubber stamping Parliament that have chosen like BJ to rule by decree not consent is the barrier to World harmony and trade.
December 17, 2021
That “rubber-stamping” parliament, which threw out TTIP, and of which the Tories were afraid would not “rubber stamp” their WA, you mean?
Ah, that one. The EC is accountable to that, to the ECJ, and most of all to the Council of the 27 leaders of the democratic sovereign nations. Laws also have to be passed by the Council Of Ministers.
If you want to see one par excellence on the other hand, look at Tory UK with its majority of 80 composed largely of eager-to-please newbies.
How did the last “rebellion” go?
December 17, 2021
Well a hundred voted against their own party NHL
Whereas the opposition were very eager to please.
December 17, 2021
Gary – gaslighting is a narcissistic trait, you know. They do it with racism, with covid, with equalities and leading Remainers do it with Brexit.
When I saw May appointed leader I thought “Well. That’s Brexit stopped in its tracks then. ” I even said so on these pages many times. The Red wall turned Blue once she was out of office – alas Boris is a charlatan.
Sabotage and you full well know it.
December 18, 2021
“To sabotage” is a transitive verb. It must have an object.
What, exactly, is being sabotaged, and by whom?
“Brexit” is meaningless.
What, exactly?
December 17, 2021
Well said Gary Megson!
December 17, 2021
It has also devastated our huge cultural and media sectors, with musicians and other creatives facing ridiculous, time-consuming, expensive and unnecessary bureaucracy if they wish to perform around Europe.
December 17, 2021
Nothing to do with Covid then ??? Are you sure ?
December 17, 2021
All because the EU is a tiresome and retaliatory construct. You’re demonstrating why we want no part in it
December 18, 2021
It ain’t “retaliation” on the part of a golf club, to make you sign in on terms and pay, if you want to play there after having resigned your membership, me ol’ flower.
You’re demonstrating how silly you are.
December 19, 2021
Odd golf club where there are 27 members all with a vote 9 pay in the rest just take out.
And where one member who leaves gets treated differently to other people who are not members.
December 17, 2021
I was just glancing at the dire 135 pages of the – Net Zero Review
Analysis – exploring the key issues from the Treasury. Profoundly depressing and totally deluded it all is too.
Clearly written by scientifically illiterate fools, net zero religious nutters and/or pure propagandists and blatant liars.
I see Joy Morrissey MP has deleted a tweet in which she said the UK was not a “public health socialist state” after England’s chief medical officer urged the public to be selective in their social interactions ahead of Christmas.
She is quite right to delete it as the UK clearly is very largely ‘a dire public health socialist state’ with a communist & failing NHS. Also perhaps slightly unfair to attack Chris Whitty as he is surely just doing as bid by Boris/Javid/Sunak – they are in charge and not Mr Whitty.
Though vaccinating children seems to do far more harm than good Whitty.
December 17, 2021
Well done to the people of Shropshire – quite some swing. They do not, of course, want LibDem policies as that is what Boris is largely delivering. The Libdims were just the only protest vehicle they had available.
They want real conservative polices Boris – real Brexit, far lower taxes, far less state sector, manifestos that are not ratted on, certainly no ‘do as I say not as I do hypocrisy’, cheap on demand energy, far less red tape, no net zero lunacy, no net damaging lockdowns, real freedom and choice, sound border controls, public services and an NHS that actually work, sound money and some increasing not declining living standards as is now being delivered by you duff policies Boris & Sunak.
December 17, 2021
They do not wish to associate themselves with the degenerate, that is plain.
December 17, 2021
The landslide were not Libnodems….the voters were basically normal decent people who had expected a Conservative Government to be safe hands. They reflected on Cameron, May, Brexit and Johnson and thought ‘we’ve had enough of this, any change is better than the slope we have been sliding down for so many years’.
December 17, 2021
Yes, vote for the Yellow socialists, not those Blue socialists. Globalists still win.
December 17, 2021
MT, +1, I’m sure that you’re right with your succinct analysis
December 17, 2021
If they wanted all the things you say they wouldn’t have voted Lib Dem, they would have voted Reform UK. Why they voted Lib Dem beggars my belief, and it appears just about all the posters on this site as well.
Just goes to show neither you nor I can fathom what goes on in the heads of British people.
“All the world’s mad, except thee and me, and I’m not sure about thee.”
December 17, 2021
Dave Andrews 100% agree with your comments.Libdims are just another Labour.Let’s have the balls to vote for a party who 95% agree with Conservative policies.
December 18, 2021
Why didn’t they vote Reform?
What do you think the folk of North Shropshire are?
Millwall-supporting hooligans?
December 19, 2021
People are very fickle, they will not try anything new even though they have nothing to lose. However the Globalist UK Establishment run the show and always have.
December 17, 2021
Good post – but I think your third sentence is inaccurate. There was a protest vote available: Reform UK. Richard Tice will be scratching his head this morning; his party should have done much, much better in that constituency.
December 18, 2021
I know people from North Shropshire.
They are polite and amiable.
The results are therefore no great surprise to me.
December 17, 2021
I think you are spot on there.
Some of the replies ask why Reform didn’t do better. If voters wanted to give the Tories a real kicking for all the reasons alluded to, that meant losing their seat and not just their majority. No point in giving Reform a lot of votes if the Tory still gets elected. I guess the ghastly Libdems had better odds if the sole goal was to unseat the Tory.
I could not have stomached voting Libdem, but I assume that across a lot of the Remain South East that’s what a lot of ex-Tory voters will do next time. Deservedly a lot of Tory MPs will get kicked out.
December 17, 2021
Huge congratulations to the EU – as today the 27 will surpass 700m vaccine doses delivered this year. They are on course to have done more than three quarters of a billion vaccines in a year. A staggering achievement.
Particularly countries like Malta – which as well as being one of the most vaccinated countries in the world with 88% of its population at least double jabbed – also has the best booster rollout in Europe. Ahead of the UK.
Portugal has also double jabbed nearly 90% of its population and is accelerating its boost campaign.
Spain and France – thanks to the introduction of Covid passports in the latter – both have 80% of their populations double jabbed and a quarter boosted.
The UK is a laggard. With just over 2/3 of the population double jabbed Covid has more than 20 million unvaccinated people to spread through. A failure of politics – particularly by the Tories who repeatedly vote against public health measures – leaves us facing a tidal wave of Omicron with many people completely unprotected. What an appalling position we are in here on Tory Brexit Plague Island.
December 17, 2021
There’s a graph waiting for you over at Guido Fawkes. Off you trot!
December 17, 2021
https://i0.wp.com/order-order.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/FGvL8G_UUAAT9Tj.jpeg?w=680&ssl=1
Recent Covid-19 death rates: UK below 2 per million, EU above 4 per million.
December 17, 2021
Andy, I’m afraid your double-jabbed data are pretty meaningless by now. The government’s latest COVID-19 vaccine surveillance report (week 50) shows that Covid vaccine effectiveness is negative for all age groups between 18 and 70, i.e. the infection rate per 100,000 people is higher in the jabbed than in the unjabbed. This means that vaccine passports/mandates wouldn’t prevent transmission. As you could already see from the escalating Covid rates in continental countries during the autumn, despite their vaccine passports.
You can also look at Covid deaths per million on Worldometer, and you’ll see that the UK is doing better than Germany and France, and about the same as your example of much-jabbed Portugal.
It pays to keep up.
December 17, 2021
Worldometers.info as of 16/22/2021
Country. Total cases…Total deaths….Active cases…Cases/m….…deaths/m
UK………….11,097k………….146,937……….1,292k…………..162,237……..2,148……
France…….8,460k………….121,171……………909k…………..129,203……..1,850…..
Germany…6,709k………….108,154………….982k…………….79,706……..1,285…..
December 17, 2021
My apologies, Hefner, I meant Our World in Data, which gives the JHU figures, taken as the international standard, at https://ourworldindata.org/covid-deaths
As of yesterday, 7-day rolling average Covid deaths per million were:- Germany 4.52, France 2.12, UK 1.68, Portugal 1.50.
These figures tell you what’s going on now, i.e. the position we are in ‘in Tory Brexit Plague Island’, as our mutual friend puts it. The Worldometer figures seem to be retrospective totals over 2020 and 2021 rolled together.
December 17, 2021
So the EU ‘leads’ Britain in imposing experimental injections on unwilling adults. A proud boast. Covid can be carried and spread by the jabbed, some figures say to a greater extent than unjabbed. Ask yourself why the WEF are so keen to impose these three-monthly injections on the whole planet.
December 17, 2021
Andy – You know. I’ve never ever heard you say anything positive about this country ?
Why do you stay in a country with so many people whom you clearly hate ?
December 17, 2021
It gets most things wrong and lies about the rest – what makes you think it lives here?
December 18, 2021
No longer anonymous
Totally unnecessary comment
December 17, 2021
Andy
Is this a race to get as many jabs in us as possible ?
I’m now being jabbed at a rate of one every twelve weeks !
This is NOT what we were told was going to happen.
December 17, 2021
Some of us have chosen to remain in an unjabbed Control Group ….. much to the anger of the Globalists, including Johnson.
I suggest if you don’t like getting a jab every quarter you start saying NO.
December 19, 2021
Donna, I am with you all the way but so many have been brainwashed. I am not too sure how they will react when the truth is finally outed and it will come out.
December 17, 2021
LL – We are being driven to insanity and national bankruptcy to Save the NHS.
More deaths by vaccine than by omicron to date, yet we push on with mass vaccination, a (defacto) lockdown and alarming news reports at least as intense as two years ago.
When is this ever going to end ?
December 17, 2021
It will end when the general public stop consuming UK media and ignore our idiotic politicians.
December 17, 2021
AP, +1, relief and catharsis awaits.
December 17, 2021
I’m surprised the Green Party didn’t win…this government has full-on green policies, its turning everything green, it tells us we want a green revolution – well the people have spoken…we don’t want your green crap
December 18, 2021
They want Reform’s ideas even less if you want to take such a silly view of the results.
December 17, 2021
Good morning
We haven’t deviated from the EU because, at some future stage, we will be rejoining. And we will have the EURO as our currency.
The wheels of this European Integration train were set in motion more than 100 years ago, and it is not going to stop for nobody.
December 17, 2021
@Mark B +1 We have a remain Parliament lead by jumped up remain supposed leaders and supported by a remain (even now) campaigning Civil Service that have no intention of respecting the referendum. Every nook and cranny is being used to slide the UK People back into being subservient to a rule by decree Political Elite.
December 18, 2021
You have, absolutely, the results of your advisory referendum.
Own them.
December 17, 2021
‘The wheels of this European integration train were set in motion more than 100 years ago’: Could you be a bitty more historically precise, please. I am always keen on learning from history buffs.
December 17, 2021
You could go back c200 years,in the wake of the Congress of Vienna, and Tsar Alexander I’s semi-mystical Holy Alliance,based on -but not exclusive to-the three Eastern Empires-Russia,Austria and Prussia.
From memory,I believe only the British,The Pope and the Ottoman Sultan objected to the idea.
December 17, 2021
M, thanks for your comment. Do you really think as Mark does that the present geopolitical situation is similar to what it was c100 (or c200) years ago?
December 18, 2021
Broadly yes!In Biden’s simplistic terms,Autocratic East,Liberal West.Arguably the original source is the division between the Carolingian/Frankish-Germanic West and the Byzantine East,greatly exacerbated by the Papacy’s illegitimate claim to universal temporal rule/veto, the Schism between the Eastern Church and the Roman church and the challenge to the Eastern emperor’s legitimacy (although the Popes also fell out with the German/Holy Roman Emperors too!)
December 18, 2021
If our kind host allows :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Salter,_1st_Baron_Salter
December 17, 2021
You had me laughing at the very first word, Sir John, but I felt like crying by the end.
December 17, 2021
Ho, Ho, Ho….
Well done Brexit Elf. Your tenacity in pursuing The True Brexit is commendable.
Such a tragedy that it is not reflected in the actions of ministers who lack the courage to take advantage of the opportunities we now have.
As Lord Attlee said in a Robin Day interview “If ministers have the strength of character they run it (their department), if they don’t, they accept what the civil servant says.”
December 17, 2021
thats it in a nutshell.
December 17, 2021
@Nan T +1
December 17, 2021
The True Brexit … like The True Cross, isn’t it?
December 17, 2021
The Elves are not up to the task,perhaps,like Aragorn,you need to summon the Army of the Dead:
“For this war will last through years uncounted and you shall be summoned once again ere the end.”
*****
“”The dead are following”said Legolas.”I see shapes of men and of horses,and pale banners like shreds of clouds and spears like winter thickets on a misty night.The dead are following.””
December 17, 2021
North Shropshire lost. Brexit lost. Freedoms erased by Parliament. We’re heading in the wrong direction under successive Tory PM’s who have without reservation acted to defend the interests of themselves and theiir party above all other considerations.
There is no Brexit. Brexit is a political inconvenience. It will be destroyed by forces from within and without
And now we have the divine gift that is Covid. Oh, how the Marxists and Socialists across Labour’s unionised client state cheered when it struck. What an opportunity to enrich themselves with more funding and powers over our lives. The Public Health fascists baying with bile and bigotry as they slander those who dare to challenge the poison of Covid politics
No Brexit. Tory party dead. Covid fascism. Freedom erased. New speech laws to come.
We so desperately need a Thatcherite Tory leader who replaces these Eton types and confronts this Marxist assault on our world
December 17, 2021
If you think that there’s no brexit then try using the EU Citizens – very short – queue at a Continental airport with your daft blue passport which you could always have had anyway.
December 17, 2021
you recently escaped from Cardiff, then?
December 17, 2021
@DOM +1
Then we have the little remain voices that think the World is just the European mainland. The Democracy is the Dictatorships on the many by the unelected unelectable
December 17, 2021
Yes Dom.
Shropshire is excellent news.
And it’s very different this time. There is no “Vote Tory to keep Labour out” this time because Boris has out-Laboured Labour. Genius !
There will be no fringe parties stepping down candidates to clear the way for Tories and there will be no Red Wall or Yellow Wall (where I am) lending their votes either.
By the next GE people are going to be cold, hungry and still under Covid lockdowns and masks. Nothing but a future of watching Andy pass by in his Tesla and heating systems that cost the earth and don’t work. (He even supports a jab roll out and lockdown that has already killed more healthy adults and children than omicron.)
The Tories have to be extinguished before we can start to heal as a nation. We have to go further into the cave to get out of it, I’m afraid.
December 17, 2021
John, do you know elves dont exist? Just like your fantasy Brexit doesnt exist
December 17, 2021
I did think that Sir John was setting himself up for this comment. I’d hope he’d have a response.
I think the EU is a fantasy too… it survives only by ignoring very real monsters in our midst and hiding the facts about them. After Maastricht it started almost the next day with squeegie gangs intimidating commuters at London traffic lights… it then went on to organised crime, murder, rape and the re-introduction of slavery into the UK. They even had the bloody cheek to call it *modern* slavery and not *EU* slavery.
The other fantasy was that Europhiles thought they could go on gaslighting and slapping around the general populace without consequences.
December 17, 2021
It’s been a very long time coming John and I think most people are now facing reality and know it won’t happen. We will never be free of the threats and bullying coming from the EU because we are too dependent on them and this has been the masterplan all along. I believe there are many countries in the EU who are leaning towards an exit but are frightened when they look at the tactics used particularly by the French but also outside interference of the US. It stinks.
December 17, 2021
Depends.The confrontation with Russia and China could destroy the EU and ultimately cause the US to implode,especially with the construction of an anti-dollar competing financial and trade architecture as Presidents Putin and Xi mentioned this week-part of this is already in operation.
The Dragon-Bear ,the mythical beast which haunted the imaginations of Kissinger and Brzezinsky(sp?)made flesh and bone,claws sharp and breathing fire!
December 18, 2021
Remember European’s will resolve this problem. It is the EU that is the problem.
We just need to stay afloat as a flickering beacon of light to our democratic (real legal votes from real living people) friends in the EU and the US.
We do need to clear out the 5th columists who clearly have no interest in following referendums to JUST leave the EU.
It was always clear to me that the vote meant nothing unless acted on by a faithful & forceful democratic parliament.
December 17, 2021
Isn’t true Brexit a great fairy tail?
For all the longing for true independence, the challenges of coming decades will only make us more interdependent
December 17, 2021
What, you mean “and they all lived happily ever after.”?
I will plump for that. Much better than “and they continued their lives under the servitude of Brussels with no power to do anything about it.”
December 17, 2021
Sharing – what – like Quality Street ? Or Covid in this instance ?
Welcome back, PvL (though I doubt you ever went away.)
December 17, 2021
Fairies don’t have tails 🤣
December 17, 2021
There were good and bad arguments on both sides in the referendum. But one thing was clear: there’s absolutely no point enduring the undoubted disruptions and frictions of brexit unless the govt moves boldly and radically to take advantage of the freedoms of brexit. Otherwise it would have been better to have remained and had a quiet(er) life.
I suggest leaving it until next summer to give a chance for a complete reboot, and then (if there is no reboot) reviving Sir John’s old slogan ‘no change, no chance’. Certainly if we get another tax, borrow and spend budget in the autumn there will need to be an immediate change of PM (and chancellor).
The by-election is a well-deserved kick in the backside for Boris. For the first time in my adult life I find myself pleased to see a Conservative defeat. (Although Theresa May’s 2017 humiliation was richly deserved).
Wake up Conservative MPs, the clock is ticking.
December 17, 2021
+1
December 17, 2021
What “advantage” is there to be taken of what “freedoms”, exactly?
The loss of freedoms, and of rights, on leaving on the other hand is simply enormous, and with them all the advantages stemming therefrom.
December 18, 2021
Well in principle it would be possible, outside the EU, to move to a low tax, light regulation, free trade economy. Rather like the most prosperous and successful economies of recent decades around the world. But there seems to be no intention by the government, notwithstanding an 80 seat Conservative majority, to move in such a direction. Perhaps for the understandable reason that there isn’t, in practice, public support for it, however good an idea it would be.
December 17, 2021
Having completed his journey – and having seen nothing but miserable failure – it finally dawned on the Brexit elf that maybe he was a bit of a fantasist. Bit late thought everybody else as they surveyed the ruins of everything the Brexit elf had done.
Just then came a message of Christmas future from the good people of North Shropshire land – who showed the Brexit elf what happens to Brexitists who don’t apologise for Brexit.
December 17, 2021
North Shropshire voted for Brexit! It certainly now looks like the voters are going to blame someone for the disaster that is Brexit, and they aren’t going to blame themselves, they are going to blame Conservative MPs who sold them so many false promises. If that can happen in a Brexit supporting seat, I would be very very worried if I were a Brexit-supporting Conservative MP in a seat that voted Remain
December 17, 2021
@Gary Megson +1
Yes North Shropshire voted for Brexit and were betrayed. The Conservative betrayed the referendum, then betrayed their election promise to get Brexit done. To over-come this the Conservative Government is trying and for the most part succeeding in removing Democracy, removing Personal Freedoms, pushing the People down, supressing them. The one thing the Conservative Government wont do is let the People Free and then Trust Them.
December 17, 2021
Ooh, you are awful…
December 17, 2021
… but I like you. (Not Andy but you NLH.)
December 17, 2021
We will win our freedom, but not with these jokers in charge.
Not with Labour in charge, who pretend they don’t want to rejoin but will try.
Not with the Libdems in charge, who openly campaign to rejoin.
December 17, 2021
If Reclaim, Reform and Heritage had come together under one banner they could have been in fourth place, within touching distance of Labour. The squabbling leaders need to understand that political parties have to be a broad church, you won’t produce a significant group of people who agree with you on EVERYTHING.
December 19, 2021
Sir JS – Yes we will win our freedom. Nothing can stop what is coming, Nothing.
December 17, 2021
I was pleased to learn, this morning, that the trade agreement with our Aussie mates has now been signed. That’s quite an achievement, given that so many Remainers told us that such deals take years, or decades. But today, Conservative MPs need to put their letters in and get Fred Scuttle out of No 10. Reform’s failure in Shropshire North tells us that if Scuttle stays we will have a left-wing government after the next general election – and that would be a disaster.
December 17, 2021
That will only make up a very small fraction, of the trade already lost from exports to the European Union.
Whoopie-doo.
December 17, 2021
Good trade deals do take a long time to agree and sign. Remainers made the mistake of assuming Brexitists wanted good trade deals rather than any old tosh.
But it seems you are happy with tosh.
December 17, 2021
‘The Department for International Trade’s internal assessment is that the deal with Australia could increase the size of the UK economy by £2.3 bn a year from 2035’.
That’s 0.08% of GDP. Thank you Anne-Marie.
December 17, 2021
A very nice fairy tale, but it is just a fairy tale. UK politicians are too lazy or too arrogant to take any notice of democracy! Democracy in the UK is dead and buried, thanks to the remainers and other minorities who will not respect other peoples choices, or democracy.
December 17, 2021
@Shirley M +1
And Boris is trying to dig a bigger hole so that it can be buried to far to be resurrected. A remain parliament with no respected for the people that leant them their authority
December 17, 2021
North Shropshire has delivered its decisive verdict on the failure of the government to deliver what it said it would deliver and the way it has gone about it.
December 17, 2021
@Oldtimer +1
What come to mind is lies, dammed lies and political promises
December 17, 2021
Agree Oldtimer – The PMs interview at midday today on the BBC was a complete train crash, no remorse, no responsibility, no leadership….on the strength of that alone he should be removed
December 17, 2021
An excellent summation of why I voted Tory. You better get that back on track or else it won’t be just a by-election you get wiped out in.
You might start by telling Ministers desperate to do anything to stay on the payroll that in a couple of years unless they stand up, be counted and start to perform, that payroll will disappear.
December 17, 2021
@Nig l +1
If only, but they have sown there is no backbone.
December 17, 2021
I wonder if the Elf, and the small group of True Brexit-believing Elves in Parliament, have understood that the person they thought was Leader of the Elves has gone to the dark side and no longer believes in a True Brexit (if he ever did).
Unless the Leader of the Elves is forced to deliver a True Brexit (or ejected) and The Brexit Hating Blob are REMOVED from their citadels, it will not happen.
PS. We didn’t vote for Socialism, Green Lunacy or for the country to be run by a Public Healthcare Mafia. It’s a shame it’s the LibDems who delivered the kicking but they did, at least, vote against “vaccine passports.”
December 17, 2021
spot on
December 17, 2021
+1
December 17, 2021
+1
Oh yes!
A CHANGELING!
December 17, 2021
Gollum Boris!
December 17, 2021
@Donna +1
So very, very true
December 18, 2021
Very true Donna. ‘The Leader’ has gone to the ‘dark side’ particularly, on the Green Lunacy and the Public Healthcare Mafia.
December 17, 2021
Someone, anyone bring down Johnson before he does real harm to our most precious freedoms.
The North Shropshire victory for the LD’s is a total rejection of internal passports being pushed by petty fascists, despots and autocrats both within Whitehall and across the now politically infected Socialist public sector who see Covid as a once in a lifetime opportunity to embed itself as the final arbiter of our freedoms.
It won’t end in passports but with the total control of life, death and soul
December 17, 2021
If what you claim were true, the the good voters of Shropshire might have switched to Reform rather than to the LDs.
They came in fifth, behind the Greens, however.
December 17, 2021
Carrie will be really upset. At the Conservative drubbing? NO! at the Green’s poor support of course.
December 17, 2021
…but what of her green revolution now ?
December 17, 2021
Didn’t the Lib Dems vote against the passports? Not likely they will be any better on immigration or wokery though. If Boris falls, it would be a great chance to get a Conservative in charge, since the troughers who supported the passports will largely do what the whips tell them and don’t care who the leader is. JR should join any ‘Stop Gove’ movement, since Gove is an opportunist who will follow the WEF more slavishly than Boris.
December 17, 2021
+1
December 17, 2021
NLH
Doubtless the Tories will see that as a cue to emulate the Libs/Greens even more.
December 17, 2021
Correct. The path the Government is on ends in total control. But unfortunately, the sheeple won’t realise that until it’s too late.
Today on Talk Radio (Mike Graham) they were talking about the anticipated exodus of dentists/dental assistants if the compulsory “vaccines” for NHS staff goes ahead. That will be the final nail in the coffin of NHS dentistry.
Those championing compulsory “vaccines” might feel differently when they have agonising toothache and either can’t get a dentist or the only option is a private one charging top dollar. But those demanding they “be protected” regardless of the impact on other people don’t think that far ahead.
December 17, 2021
The three dentists working for the practice nearby, taking both NHS and private patients, had put an announcement on their website about nine months ago that all the practice’s personnel are following the Government guidelines regarding safety for staff and patients.
(I checked it today and it has not changed since both one of my sons first then I had been there in the summer).
This includes a ‘warning’ that somebody will be checking proof of non-infection (i.e., vaccinations certificates/app and/or recent PCR/LFT tests are accepted) when anybody is entering the premises. Although this is not specifically said the overall thrust of the post is that staff is actually vaccinated and patients are also expected to be.
I am absolutely fed up by people unable to think any farther than their crumpled brain allows. Dentists are educated people and are more than likely to know what is good for both their practice’s finances and them as individuals.
December 17, 2021
Will they help patients who cannot have the vaccine?
December 18, 2021
Peter2
Your comments on trade not requiring more paper work or preparation before or after Brexit in tarde with Europe just shows you do not udnerstand trade requirements.
December 18, 2021
Hi bill
Another of odd posts in the wrong place from you again.
I didn’t say what you have written.
What I said was, that over many decades I found very little difference importing and exporting goods whether they went to or from the EU or to and from the rest of the world.
The administration burden was very similar.
I haven’t been actively involved post 2016 but my trade contacts tell me that apart from France who play up on occasions the administration burden hasn’t altered very much.
Trade goes on.
December 18, 2021
If one suffers from anaphylaxis (i.e., strong allergic reaction to some food but mainly from all sorts of injection, stings, …) and the condition already appears in the dental practice’s files that person will be treated.
December 18, 2021
None of those are proof of non-infection. You can only prove you have had a vaccine and some test of variable efficacy for some set of viruses on a specific date.
And you are really stretching things with “Although this is not specifically said the overall thrust of the post is that staff is actually vaccinated and patients are also expected to be. “
December 18, 2021
No P2, Sir John’s blog is simply a mess. I can understand that he might not be familiar with the nooks and crannies of the coding for his blog, but one could have imagined that someone conversant with whatever language was used to build it would have done a better job in terms of allowing answers to align with the relevant comment (as was the case in Sir John’s previous blog).
It might happen that people are distracted and write away from the place they expect their comment to appear but the occurrence of misplaced comments is too regular (usual several daily) to be just the result of distraction. It is a badly designed website. Full stop.
I just hope that the site ‘designer’ did not charge too much … or maybe that’s how all things are with private contractors working for Conservatives.
Reply My web contractor works for me, not for the Conservatives. I suggest you stop coming to my site as you so dislike it.
December 19, 2021
hef
I find the vast majority of posters seem to manage to get their posts to line up underneath but that your pal bill regularly finds it very difficult.
Hence my comment to him.
PS
Some very sensible and pertinent advice from our host for you to contemplate.
This site does seem to make you unhappy in a number of ways
December 17, 2021
I looked to the BBC minutes ago to find the result. A 20 thousand majority lost to a 6 thousand defeat.
But I was taken aback to read-
“In a sense, two weeks ago, nobody would have seen this coming,” Curtice says. “Two weeks ago, yes the Conservatives were in trouble – their position in the polls was down to neck-and-neck and they lost 13 points in the Old Bexley by-election.
“But [North Shropshire] was not a constituency first of all that at all looked like promising territory for the Liberal Democrats – it voted 60% to Leave – very, very different from Chesham and Amersham… and secondly while the Conservative position had weakened it hadn’t weakened that much.
“The Liberal Democrats do look like they have reclaimed their mantle as the by-election party of choice,” Curtice adds. “Meanwhile, we’re seeing Conservative voters and Leave voters in a true blue constituency taking the opportunity to protest pretty spectacularly about what they think of this current government.”
‘nobody would have seen this coming? Really.?
Not so, I and many on here have been warning Sir John of the fate of his Party with the fool who has lost the helm, the boat drifting powerless in the ocean swell but assuring the sheeple all is well and he is in control and knows best. Good luck with finding land – you’ll need it eventually.
December 17, 2021
@Micky Taking +1
Everyone but this Conservative Government saw this coming – you cannot lie to get elected, then daily rob people of their rights, personal freedoms, and the ability to take personal responsibility. You cannot then cover your ineptitude up by siding and embracing the WOKE and Cancel culture while rejecting to support the majority of people and the UK itself.
December 17, 2021
Agree – The writing was on the wall 2 years ago when Boris bailed on brexit, NI and fisheries
December 17, 2021
Oliver Dowden, speaking just now on BBC, claims that the government has got Brexit done. Perhaps you should have a word with him.
December 17, 2021
@Oldtimer +1
I think that is ‘say that or get fired’ A case of a lie to cover a lie, when honesty will always get you through
December 17, 2021
You can be a repetitious fundamentalist and still create magical images, Pilgrim`s progress ticks all those boxes, but the humour here is that the elf is so obviously John Redwood saying what he always says in an Elf suit having sucked on a helium balloon. So awful its good
December 17, 2021
I once took delivery of a takeaway having sucked on a helium balloon.
“Fank yoooo ! Heeeere’s your tip !”
The lad had to hold it in because he didn’t know if that was my real voice.
December 17, 2021
I remember you once saying about the EU just before the referendum ‘I wouldn’t put anything past them’. Well, that’s how Leave voters now think about this government. There’s nothing Conservative about it and in many respects the EU would have been less bad.
December 17, 2021
I’m always puzzled why Elf is so fixated with 100m what it comes to trawlers. Our very own Kirkella is classified as super trawler even though it is “only” 83m long. If we forbid super trawlers here maybe we should we should not use them either? Like ethically?
Maybe soon true Brexit Elf releases that the Brexit he has been wishing to see is actually a Christmas Carol? Things that he was promised will either take very long time to materialized or won’t happen at all. In reality the bad Santa were brexiteers who trolled 52% of the nation to believe in Global Britain who would again had her own voice and be invited to high tables. Nice illusion but unreal. Lies.
But I want to cheer up Brexit elf and present a riddle: Brexit Success, Santa Claus and man without legs had a competition. 100m hurdles. Who won? Man with out legs. The two other do not exist.
December 17, 2021
@Billy Elliot
You miss the point. Democracy is when the rules, regulations and laws are created, amended and repealed by only those that we the people lend our authority to. Anything else is not a Democracy. No democrat is bothered about ‘Global’ anything, they just want to take responsibility for their own well being.
December 17, 2021
Well said.
December 18, 2021
The Scots and others are subjected to laws which they as a nation do not approve, as are the people of London as an identifiable group.
Both voted Remain convincingly, for example.
What would you recommend that they and others like them do?
December 17, 2021
The Daily Express has given a very favourable mention of your story, JR:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1536923/brexit-news-boris-johnson-brexit-deal-lord-frost-uk-eu
“John Redwood delivers hilarious ‘Brexit elf’ Christmas story with brutal dig at Boris”
But I wasn’t actually looking for that, I was looking for this:
“Lord Frost issues latest threat to the EU”
“Following the decision to delay checks on goods entering Britain from the island of Ireland, Lord Frost claimed the EU must show pragmatism.
He said in the House of Lords today: “The degree of pragmatism that we show in future to Irish goods coming to Great Britain is going to be related to the degree of pragmatism and flexibility that the EU shows in allowing goods to move freely around all parts of the UK.””
I think that is worthy of discussion from several angles.
And unfortunately there is also this breaking news:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1537448/brexit-live-lord-frost-european-court-justice-ejc-northern-ireland-protocl-Maros-Sefcovic
“Brexit LIVE: Capitulation to EU! Lord Frost CAVING on hated court demands TODAY”
“BRITAIN has dropped its key demand on Europe’s highest court in a bid to reach a breakthrough on talks with the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol.”
That is also worthy of discussion.
December 17, 2021
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/britain-accepts-eu-judges-role-in-northern-ireland-protocol-t6f9s85dv
“Britain accepts EU judges’ role in Northern Ireland protocol”
“Britain has formally dropped its demand that Europe’s highest court should have no legal role in the controversial Northern Ireland protocol.
In a key concession to Brussels Lord Frost, the Brexit minister, will tell his EU counterpart today that Britain now accepts that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) must be allowed to interpret the protocol of the Brexit agreement.”
From only six days ago:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/12/11/advisers-advise-ministers-decide/#comment-1282789
“Off topic, Lord Frost has contradicted reports that the UK has watered down its demands for the EU’s court to be excluded from the operation of the Irish protocol:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-protocol-frost-european-court-b1973987.html
I don’t see the EU could possibly allow that while Northern Ireland remained under EU Single Market rules, and under the present protocol, or any other legal arrangement designed to avoid any checks and controls on goods being carried across the land border into the Irish Republic, all the goods produced in the province must conform to EU Single Market rules just as much as the goods imported into the province.
As pointed out some years ago and repeated ad nauseam the correct solution is the introduction of a system export checks and controls applying just to the goods being carried across the land border, the only goods in which the Republic and the EU have a legitimate interest, and in deference to the Irish government’s fairly reasonable concern that any such checks should not take place at the actual border it should be arranged for them to be performed at sites well away from the border.
Unless the UK government breaks out of the present negotiating cycle and takes unilateral action to impose export control I do not see how this saga can end in anything other than our surrender, possibly announced by Boris Johnson in another special TV broadcast on Christmas Eve and dressed up as a triumph.”
Reply There is much disinformation and pro EU briefing around. What matters is what Lord Frost announces or agrees, not these innuendos.
December 17, 2021
The reply to Denis may be correct. However why is such a simple matter taking Frost so long. I would submit that those in current power are unwilling to govern for a sovereign state. I doubt they fully accept Brexit. If I am wrong, explain the delay.
December 17, 2021
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/lord-frost-statement-on-the-protocol-on-irelandnorthern-ireland-17-december-2021–2
Reply Shows he did climb down over ECJ Perhaps those who alleged he did would now apologise.
December 17, 2021
It’s in paragraph 10 out of 13, “Finally, a solution is needed on governance … “.
December 18, 2021
DC: Was that Lord Frost’s testament?
(A ‘not’ is likely to be missing in Sir John’s reply).
December 17, 2021
Denis you guys are bunched you havn’t a leg to stand on so why do you go on?
December 18, 2021
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2020/1/section/38/enacted
December 17, 2021
Yes, I believe in Brexit! A true Brexit free of all EU guidance and interference.
I do believe that Covid may be the remainers in high office’s undoing. It has shone a light on so many inefficiencies and looking at yesterdays bi-election results, people are finally speaking out with their votes. I’m just sorry the Reform party didn’t win. I still don’t trust the LibDems any more than I trust Labour.
December 17, 2021
@Sharon +1
The LibDems are actually those that were rejected by Labour. They in part arose from the ashes when Jeremy Thorpe destroyed the Liberal Party just as Boris Johnson is doing with the Conservative Party.
December 17, 2021
@Sharon; Covid 19 will be the undoing of the hard right, those most in favor of Brexit. As for Reform UK party and the North Shropshire by-election, given more people voted for the Greens, this in a once staunch Brexit constituency…
December 17, 2021
So if you are very enthusiastic about brexit you are automatically hard right in your opinion
Another one of your unsubstantiated cheap slurs Jerry.
December 18, 2021
@Peter2; Once again you prove yourself the troll, you never debate the issues, always the words used. I guess the truth stings you, your only deference is to try and disrupt the debate – your behavior is why message filters were invented for on Usenet and social media.
If Corbyn had won either of the last two general elections and was now PM, the labour party in majority govt, I would be referring to the hard left instead. After all how many centrist politicos can you name, Peter (or is it Edward?…), who actively supported and pushed for Brexit, I suspect you will be hard pushed to count then on the fingers of one hand, I can only think of one name, the ex member for Vauxhall (south London, not the brand of car, in case you get confused).
December 18, 2021
Just repeating what you implied Jerry.
Hard right= most enthusiastic brexit supporters.
That is what you said Jerry
Therefore following from your claim it is logical to ask if you think all brexit enthusuasts are hard right.
And where you got that idea from
Try answering a simple question with a simple answer just for once.
PS
Troll
Definition by Jerry anyone who dares to respond to his posts, also child
December 18, 2021
@Peter2; Once again you play the man, not the ball, debate the issue(s) man, prove you’re not a troll…
December 19, 2021
I will post what I want to Jerry, with our host’s acceptance.
You write as if you are in charge of this site.
You carry on with your childishness shouting troll at people.
Your attempt at bullying won’t have any effect on me.
December 19, 2021
@Peter2, Glade to see you received the mirror, or did you simply catch your own reflection in the monitor?… 😛
Want others to stop calling out your trolling, stop trolling, play the ball, not the man.
I know what your aim is, it will not work, you can not de-platform me, only one person can do that, after all as you pointed out yourself, you do not own this site either.
December 19, 2021
You carry on Jerry
Your personal abuse just makes you look poor.
December 18, 2021
Obviously not P2. In the 2016 referendum as you have told us numerous times the question was: Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the EU or not?
Everything good and bad that has happened since was not on the vote bulletin. Given the lack of a definite road map pre- and immediately post-referendum, different groups and people then started to fill the clear result of the referendum with their own expectations, or fears, or hatred of the EU, or desire to stay in the SM, keeping the ECJ or not, desire for a change in their daily life, wish for the Anglo-sphere or is it a global Britain, … and so on … depending who was talking.
From there there were different possibilities for an agreement with the EU, some rather neutral, some more ‘nationalistic’, some rather curiouser and curiouser. In that context some proposals could have been left-wing, others could have been said centrist, a bit right-wing or some seemingly advocated by contributors herein hard-right.
And Brexit supporters are not one tribe as you seem to think P2, I would guess they cover all these possibilities
To say that the result of Brexit could only have one possible outcome is to be rather delusional, dishonest or John Redwood.
But for you P2, I understand that this type of argument is ‘far above your pay grade’ 😂
December 19, 2021
Gosh I see you and ypur pal Jerry hunt in pairs now heffy.
I’m very puzzled by your lengthy post.
When have I said brexit supporters are one tribe?
When have I said brexit could only have one outcome?
I think it is you who is being delusional heffy.
And you end with cheap abuse as usual.
December 17, 2021
And we now read Frost is going to capitulate. Wherever we look we are giving in. The Remainer blob is winning.
December 17, 2021
Frost capitulated in 2019 when he negotiated the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Most of you then went on to vote for at this at the December 2019 general election as it was in the Tory manifesto. Remember ‘Get Brexit Done?’ The Withdrawal Agreement and Northern Ireland Protocol was the oven ready deal you all voted for. I doubt any of you read it. I did – that’s why I could never bite for it.
Just about every Tory MP then voted for it in January 2021.
Everything Frost has said since is bluster. All trying to distract from the appallingness of the deal you all voted for.
December 17, 2021
This whole government & parliament have capitulated
December 17, 2021
That little elf knows what to do.
Firstly NO PRESENTS for the evil Brexit deniers…
Secondly a loooooooong trip to the North Pole for the mad Grinch….and then add HIM to the stupid “red list”!
December 17, 2021
When even the Daily Express has started running stories about how the EU economy is doing much better than the UK economy and the difference is mainly down to Brexit, what more needs to be said?
Brexit is delivering what was expected and the trivial gains projected from deals with countries like Australia fall way short of replacing what has already been lost.
December 17, 2021
@PP; Indeed, and the Daily Express also questioned if Tuesday’s Tory backbench CV19 rabble might be proved wrong, ‘what if Boris is proved correct’ they asked on their front page.
December 17, 2021
Not down to Brexit, but down to those elected to carry out Brexit and have largely failed.
December 18, 2021
But who chose them if not the electors who gave this PM a 80-(rev.78) majority?
December 17, 2021
“If they don’t, we will vote again to make our intentions clear.”
Yes ‘we will’, unless the Conservatives grow a spine and start to deliver the next GE will see them out for an awful long time.
December 17, 2021
And I see the excuses coming in. The electorate is tired and fed up due to Covid. No we are tired and fed up because of Boris Johnson’s failure to deliver what he promised in fact it’s because his promises have been proved to be worthless.
December 17, 2021
@Nig l; Your conclusions would make more sense had UKIP or Reform won last night, not the LDs!
But yes I agree with the thrust of your argument, the electorate are feed up, of Boris not standing up to the (unthinking?) hard-line on his own backbenches, feed up with Brexit [1], feed up with a govt shirking their duty to govern, such as (re)imposing effective infection controls etc, and when they actually do, not obeying their own rules.
[1] seemingly stuck in some half-way house, and no I’m not talking about the NIP, the entire UK is worse off now than had we remained in the EU, joined the EEA/EFTA, or left on WTO rules
December 17, 2021
I think many people are sick to death of the way Brexit is being dragged out.
The remainers, including the EU, msm, and politicians are putting obstacle after obstacle in the way. They claim we the voting public, are so thick we didn’t know what we were voting for.
When I left my golf club, I wrote to the membership secretary and gave the notice of my intention as per my membership agreement. By the end of that notice period, I had cleared out my locker, settled outstanding accounts, returned any property I had of the club’s and that was it done.
I was no longer required to pay fees, I no longer had to adhere to the club’s rules and I was free to play at any other course and or join any other club I may choose. I cannot see why leaving the EU should have been any different.
The EU, in my opinion, is a sinister organisation. They seek to go way beyond their remit. They are sharp elbowed bullies and should not have any seat at NATO meetings nor at G7 meetings nor at the UN. Not even observer status.
They are a danger to world peace, especially in Eastern Europe.
December 17, 2021
@Cliff. Wokingham; Once again a totally unaccountable gaggle of undemocratic Brexiteers start bleating again, crying into their beer that they are not getting their own way! If they wanted to tell the govt, Westminster, never mind perhaps 49% of the adult population how the UK should have left the EU they should have sort to take the options back to the electorate, put their case and asked for a majority to the “How” question – so why didn’t they.
Although having voted to Remain in the first referendum, I would have voted to leave on WTO terms had the “How” question been put, so please do not accuse me of wanting to over turn the original referendum. It is possible to have referendum with more than two options on the ballot.
As for your rant about the EU and NATO, you appear to be siding with Russia…
December 17, 2021
The only one ranting is you Jerry
Calm down man
It is the season of goodwill to all.
December 17, 2021
Jerry
Sort?…. Sought…. There I’ve corrected that for you.
Your final sentence says far more about you than it does me.
I did not accuse you of anything, unless you are the EU, MSN or a politician.
Season’s greetings to you and yours.
December 18, 2021
@Peter2; Again you prove yourself the troll, choosing to play the man, not debt the issues, take your own advice! 😛
December 18, 2021
@Cliff. Wokingham: You made the comment about the EU and NATO not me, especially your last line, try actually thinking through your arguments before clicking the “Post comment” icon!
By the way, EEC/EU members have been majority members of NATO since the early 1950s.
December 18, 2021
It’s your fevered language Jerry.
Calm down dear
December 19, 2021
Jerry missing the irony abd hypocrisy of calling people trolls and making personal abusive comments, then telling others to stop doing it and engage in polite debate.
Hilarious.
December 18, 2021
Jerry
NATO, UN are made up of individual countries. The EU is not, as far as I’m aware, is not a country therefore should not have any type of seat at the aforementioned meetings.
You need to stop assuming people are thick and that you are the font of all knowledge. You often appear to deliberately misunderstand people’s point just so you can patronise them in reply.
December 18, 2021
@Cliff. Wokingham; You need to stop assuming people are thick and that you are the font of all knowledge, ho-hum…
It is up to the NATO organization who they allow to be members, or party to their affairs, not you, nor me, nor our host, and if our PM is out voted to bad, s/he has two options, be the diplomat or do what ex POTUS Trump did, threaten to take our ball home; result NATO 0-1 Russia.
December 18, 2021
Lord Frost obviously had a lot of faith in it!! Mega LOLZ ps please don’t ask if I read that drivel. Of course not!!!
December 17, 2021
Willie Nelson, lyrics.
Turn out the lights
The party’s over
They say that
All good things must end
Call it tonight
The party’s over
And tomorrow starts
The same old thing again
But the crazy crazy party
Never seen so many people
Laughing dancing
Look at you you’re having fun
But look at me
I’m almost cryin’
December 17, 2021
what happened to my country? At least my Grandparents, his war-grave in France, and my father kept in Germany after the end, with a young family who didn’t recognise him, did not have to live to endure this.
I remember my carefree childhood and fun youth, the promise of a home and family, acceptable laws and a struggle that eased with passing years.
Until – politicians joined civil servants, justice not available unless you could afford it, media free to make up news, invasion of privacy, society honouring those who least achieved anything, violence and legalised theft by the rich while Police watched on….
I repeat : what happened to my country?
December 17, 2021
Meanwhile Rome burns….
As I said the other day, the disconnect between govt, their backbench and the voters is akin to the 1990-97 period. John Major was also anointed as leader, also won a GE (against a weak Labour leader), also had to fight off a hard-line revolt from his backbench; the party went on to loose the next election and be out of power for the next 13 years -18 if one includes having to shack up with the LibDems!
December 17, 2021
One last comment before I get on with my day: would Boris Johnson hold onto his own seat at the next general election?
December 17, 2021
@Sea_Warrior – No
But he will throw a lot of good people under a bus on the way
December 18, 2021
+1
December 17, 2021
And when you get rid of Boris and a true remainer takes his place we will have lost everything.
December 17, 2021
And I read Lord Frost is going to cave in on the ECJ role in NI. It couldn’t get much worse. Did we vote to leave or not!!
Is it any wonder the we lost a seat we have held for 200 years.
December 17, 2021
It’s because the odious lying deceitful unprincipled bull…..ing coward ‘Boris’ is PM. He ought not to be but most, probably all Tory MP’s think he is an asset. In any case the party comes first. The people are just to be laughed at (behind their hands of course, especially those of ‘Boris’. )
December 17, 2021
If Theresa May had continued as she started (or seemed to) it would not have become necessary to replace her and we would not now be in this dreadful predicament over Northern Ireland.
December 17, 2021
BW .. Stupid people you have no choice but to fold in the face of the EU and the US admin
December 17, 2021
I have the following relevant letter published in this week’s Maidenhead Advertiser, under the heading:
“Propaganda war has sabotaged withdrawal”
“In his letter of December 9 James Aidan argues that other things are more important than anti-Brexit campaigners “waving an allegedly bogus banner”, and on the face of it that is certainly true. However that argument begins to wear thin when the same people have been doing it repeatedly for more than five years, and their activities are just part of a continuous and large scale anti-Brexit propaganda campaign.
I recall that on June 7 2018 the Advertiser kindly published a letter headed “Why lack of ripostes on EU from Whitehall”, in which I pointed out that shortly after she had become Prime Minister Theresa May told MPs that she would not be giving a “running commentary” on negotiations with the EU, and she had kept her word on that, so instead the “running commentary” had come from opponents of Brexit.
Also about then Theresa May assumed personal charge of the negotiations with the EU, supported by the two thousand strong Cabinet Office, but apparently nobody could ever be found to counter the hostile propaganda that was being pumped out daily; again a year later Michael Gove let it be known that he was going to set up a “rapid rebuttal unit” to take on “Brexit fake news”, but that never happened.
There is no doubt in my mind that although those who wished to leave the EU won the 2016 referendum the subsequent propaganda war has been won by those who overtly or covertly rejected the result and sought to undermine – sabotage – our withdrawal; which rather than suggesting that it was a mistake to vote to leave exposes the extent to which EU membership had degraded our national democracy.”
December 17, 2021
It seems we are being guided into a future choice of a pro-EU party or another pro-EU party, as was offered to us for many decades until Farage appeared. The Conservatives appear to be more pro-EU with every passing week. Does any UK political party respect the electorate, and democracy? It appears not!
December 17, 2021
It is patently evident Johnson must be replaced by the Tories, and the sooner the better.
The danger in this however is who is to be his successor. On past performance it seems the Tories will make a pig’s-ear of the selection and inevitably choose another wrong ‘un.
There should be a short-list derived from those remaining on the list of “Spartans”; only in this way can it be assured that Brexit may finally be achieved.
December 17, 2021
A propos Brexit – Mark Francois has written a wonderful book – Spartan Victory: The inside story of the Battle for Brexit.Available on Amazon £7.99 to buy.He had to self publish on Amazon as over 30 publishers refused him (DT article Dec 3). Savaged by one star reviews on Dec 3 I read first chapter on early history enjoyed, found fascinating – obviously Mark Francois a courageous individual and put a five star review in. The reviews are polarised now either five star or one star generally. It is on Amazon’s best seller list. You can now look inside and read the contents. Remainers are still there – upticking one star reviews.
December 17, 2021
Another on order. Saw the GB News interview and yes, disappointing ( for want of a more apt word… ) response to his attempts to mainstream publish. But it’s what we’ve come to expect. Leave Voter – persona non grata.
December 17, 2021
Here we are on the brink of meltdown with no alternative worthwhile trade agreements in sight and certainly none that could ever match our membership of the EU and this guy has written a book about how good brexit is.. jeez give me a break
December 17, 2021
I see Oliver Dowden in total denial on the TV this morning spinning the usual boleaux.
Carry on like that, guaranteed to lose.
December 17, 2021
The party and government has lost its way, it ignored its own tradition, policy and principal….your leader choose his own way, and your own MPs backed him
You can’t blame the people, your can’t blame the opposition – you can blame Boris
December 17, 2021
Sir Charles Walker:- ‘But it doesn’t mean the end, and it certainly doesn’t mean leadership challenges. The Conservative Party is not going to have a leadership challenge as we are heading into potential further restrictions around Covid and difficulties around Covid – I mean that would be completely self-indulgent’
Stand in the corner of the room then, facing the wall. The teacher will say ‘well done all of you, except that dunce in the corner’.
December 17, 2021
And “Happy Christmas Boris” say North Shropshire folk living in the real world and that’s before the new energy price rises and tax hikes.
P45 beckons not just Boris but the Conservative Party will suffer for Brexit sold short by the metropolitan elites.
December 17, 2021
“Do you know, that every time a Leave voter stops believing in brexit, a set of Union Jack fairy lights on an ex-council house goes out?” Said Tinkerbell.
December 17, 2021
and every time an EU spokesman wants to have an Interconnect, our lights go out.
December 17, 2021
Spat my coffee out at that one, NLH !
December 17, 2021
I have seen a good many ‘New dawns’ for the Liberals and LibDems, but this is the first that I have actually welcomed as another shove to get rid of the Big State Social Democrat leader of what used the be the Conservative Party. My question for you, Sir John, is, have we a potential replacement for the current Prime Minister who would be a welcome Christmas present for the Brexit Elf? I am not sure I can see one from the outside.
December 17, 2021
My old school motto ‘Fortiter et Tenaciter’ is displayed in spades full by the The Brexit Elf. I am in awe.
What a courage free zone are our Ministers. What disrespect for the electorate and democracy and no it is not difficult, they simply are not up to the job, they are themselves so embedded in socialism that they are happy to be led by the deeply socialist CS right back into the EU.
We need a lot more than a new leader. We need a whole new batch of MP’s. Remember the Libdems battle cry “Bollox to Brexit”? Well they won big yesterday.
December 17, 2021
At the end of the day the people that voted for brexit wanted a clean break ie WTO, your tory leadership wanted a water down deal….the worse of both worlds that will always leave us at a disadvantage and the brexit voters pis*** off
Your leadership is the problem
December 17, 2021
As soon as I saw your post was about the EU I knew you were waving a tartan rag to a bull!
You have to get rid of Boris. Perhaps Liz Truss will enable us to truly leave?
December 17, 2021
I have very little (if any) faith in ANY of the current members of the Cabinet, since every one of them has gone along with all the appalling policies that Boris has been pursuing, but if I was absolutely forced to choose one of them then I would probably plump for Dominic Raab. I wonder if our kind host, who clearly knows him better than I do, might tell us if he thinks Raab believes in a ‘true Brexit’ and would deliver this?
December 17, 2021
I wonder, following the by-election results, if Boris has the character to walk and resign to save the party
December 17, 2021
Are you serious Glen? Not a chance. Bullshiter supreme will continue until forced out.
Anyway if you are thinking of buying a used car, he’s your man.
December 17, 2021
Agree – After seeing Boris’s interview today I’d say he’s in complete denial
December 17, 2021
Or maybe more to the point, does he have the character necessary to save his premiership? Probably not, alas.
December 17, 2021
Well the North Salop Elves have spoken for the majority of us. No more of this corrupt and at best social democratic government who have given more weight to rhetoric than manifesto promises and action. This was a vote against what sells itself as modern day conservatism. I was not a vote for the Lib Dems by an electorate who voted to leave the EU when we know that the Lib Dems are the very antithesis of such thinking. They were a convenient home for those that believe we must preserve our right to vote. I suspect many North Salop Elves stayed at home. For sure none of them wanted anything to do with Labour.
The only way forward for the Conservatives is a root and branch clear out. A replacement with people prepared to give the electorate what was manifested and voted for. If not it will give genesis to a new party that is prepared to. As things stand the political scene is in God’s waiting room.
December 17, 2021
hear hear
December 18, 2021
The message to those who are angry, perturbed, disillusioned or bewildered by Johnson’s ‘government’ is clearly you can register change by not voting, or voting for a weak pretence bunch like the Libnodems.
Once the political change has been secured you ‘might’ find the sort of candidates worthy of a seat in that ridiculous 650 chamber.
A Reset of sorts.
December 17, 2021
If ever there was reality staring the party in the face after the by election and the past six weeks of total self inflicted disasters that seismic change has got to be implemented now. Bring out the long knives and slash and burn to eradicate what this party has become.
Time with some real urgency to bring back the older experienced safe hands of senior members who have real beliefs in what real Conservatism is and always was about. There has to be a complete overhaul of the old,staid tired layers of management that passes for the civil service hierarchy. History shows that decisions like this work very well when real experience, vision, pride and total belief in one’s country is correctly applied.
December 17, 2021
When Prime Minister Whitty announced the latest lockdown yesterday etc ed
Three jabs on, death rates a fraction of what they were, a super-charged roll out of vaccines that we know for fact have killed and made ill more people than omicron ever has.
A miserable, demoralising Christmas yet again – a deputy PM who can’t even comb his hair let alone assure us that we can live with Covid without bankrupting our nation to “Save the NHS”.
Shropshire is the future of your party, John. It’s not just a warning shot. Ignore the polls (they are wrong time and again) and the BBC street interviews – it’s the votes that count. And this country is going to be a lot greyer than it is today by General Election time.
What a sneaky thing to do. Lockdown by stealth so that furlough and bailouts are not required – impossible jabs targets to “save Christmas” so it’s the people’s fault if we don’t.
A cop out by a government that either can’t or won’t stand up to scientists and the BBC.
December 17, 2021
When scientists are called as Expert Witnesses in court cases, they are generally taken more seriously than whatever is said by the Defence, quite rightly.
December 17, 2021
scientists used as expert witnesses always have to prove credentials- in other words – accuracy.
We are never getting accuracy, it is always ‘I think’ – no proof.
Ferguson deemed to be expert spreadsheet forecaster – stop laughing you at the back.
December 17, 2021
NLH – The scientists must report the facts in court cases.
They clearly don’t in the court of Johnson.
They won’t tell us who has died *of* or *with* Covid
They won’t tell us the details of the one death *of* or *with* omicron
They won’t tell us who has died or been hospitalised within 28 days of a vaccine.
This is in no way court standard evidence we are being presented here.
December 17, 2021
This of or with business is a contrivance.
You could apply it to many diseases.
Most people actually die of heart failure, whatever brought that on.
December 17, 2021
If you died in a road traffic accident and lost both legs and the shock and blood loss induced a sudden massive heart attack, but 27 days earlier you had tested covid positive without any symptoms…..what would be the recorded cause of death ?
December 18, 2021
Look, NZ had about 50 covid19 deaths and its excess deaths for the period were about the same figure.
The UK had 160,000 official covid deaths and excess deaths of around 200,000.
It’s the same in all countries capable of supplying reasonable figures.
Stop the ridiculous red herrings.
December 18, 2021
They won’t tell us who has died or been hospitalised within 28 days of a vaccine.(by vaccine & by age/sex )
Myocarditis is a known issue with vaccines. Never mind unknown longer term issues.
Layout the facts, let the Doctors and patients choose from the treatments, gene therapies,natural immunity, which are available, not just those pushed by those with legal immunity or no legal liability.
It might be possible to ask the question in good faith. The response will likely be an example of propaganda than answering the question worth less than worthless.
December 19, 2021
Stop the ridiculous comparison NLH
December 17, 2021
Well. The cadaverous Prof Whitty certainly did seem to enjoy delivering the bad news even if I put it rather crudely. Can you believe he’s only 55 ???
Each of us only has one life. It is not a rehearsal. Perhaps Prof Whitty doesn’t like pubs and parties but most of us do.
December 17, 2021
PS, I know a few relatives who are going to spend the remainder of their dotage in miserable hiding now.
Let us think this through. They may have three to five years of natural healthy days left in them… so they’re going to spend that like hermits ?
Unbelievable !
December 17, 2021
Cadaverous?
Compared to whom?
Peter Bone?
😂😂😂
December 17, 2021
Oh, and it IS a rehearsal btw, or so my mate Zen said.
December 17, 2021
It’s not just Covid, Juno, but to quote a poster on the Telegraph site ‘What I very much do care about is being thrown under the bus over the triple lock, the threat to my little petrol car, being forced to pay national insurance on my part time earnings, the threat to my gas boiler, demands to make my house reach EPC rating ‘C’ at enormous cost or leave it unsellable, etc. etc. etc. Very little mention in the media of these issues, yet this is what worries people like me, and it was people like me who gave Boris his majority. This is all now being squandered by prime minister Carrie Johnson’.
Perhaps Boris is only deputy to the deputy PM.
December 17, 2021
Well said JR – That needs sharing widely.
Thanks
December 17, 2021
Sir J.,
Christmas Greetings to you and I hope you have a safe time!
December 17, 2021
Oh do leave orf ! “… safe time.”
What are you ? Sir John’s Mum or something ???
December 17, 2021
Have you noticed that all the leaders of the four nations talk to us like they’re the headmaster and we’re the naughty children… and they have to tell us how to behave
December 17, 2021
“He decided to make one last call, on Business and Energy [where they said] :
“Far better the CO2 should be generated somewhere else.””
The BEIS Net Zero [CO2] Strategy is the Marxist Britphobic civil service’s full blown attack on Britain for voting to leave the EU.
It will make the economy destroying and personal restrictions of this Covid-19 pandemic look like a picnic in comparison.
The unilateral dash for cutting CO2 emissions is deliberately being started before the technology exists and hence we will suffer the consequences of insufficient and intermittent wind energy with insufficient and expensive backup resulting in a grid which can only be balanced through what BEIS call “demand management” (viz regular but unpredictable rolling blackouts). Whilst at the same being coerced through taxation, restrictions and deliberately rising fossil fuel prices to use less practical electrical devices such as heat pumps and evs.
It is designed to cripple our industry and agriculture so that we become more and more dependent upon imports of energy, food and goods until our international credit rating collapses.
The Net Zero Strategy (368 pages, largely repetitive) is the longest suicide note in history.
December 18, 2021
OR, +1, It’s a dreadful picture that you draw, so utterly depressing, and so true.
What is so horrific is the fact that there are real people steering this nightmare forward.
The leader and his followers seem oblivious to the obvious.
They talk and act like they believe in it and are determined that we all join them in their gadarene charge.
I have to believe that they really do believe in their foolish rubbish therefore I am compelled to act and vote in such a way as to rapidly eliminate them from their positions of power, regardless of whichever deranged alternatives lurk in the wings.
Later votes will have to deal with the successive waves of similarly stupid governments. One has to retain some residual faith that not all politicians are as dangerously daft as the current crummy bunch.
December 17, 2021
Sir John
Just been reading your comments on the BBC web site. Agreed you cannot deliberately and maliciously trash the economy, then pile on extra taxation and costs – and still think you have any support.
To me the so-called ‘leveling-up’ and ‘build back better’ are just marketing and PR whiz bang meaningless comments. The people themselves will always do better than Governments, they just need their lives back, their freedoms back. Metro Left Socialist London is not the UK, the UK is a lot, lot better than that.
The people didn’t vote for Socialism, the voted Conservative and freedom – they were mislead!
December 17, 2021
I like the cut of the true Brexit elf’s jib and strongly recommend he replaces Blue Boris as prime minister.
A merry Christmas and a happy new year to you too Sir John. Thank you for another year of top diarizing.
December 17, 2021
Sir John,
Should you be invited to No 10 ‘for a quiet chat’ please don’t accept.
You will be shown into a dance going on, with cameras at the ready to catch you having a party.
Stay safe and keep the talking points coming.
December 17, 2021
I am fed up of government inaction on brexit. I campaigned in 2016, joined the Bracknell Conservative Association to get rid of Dr Philip Lee and delivered leaflets through the streets of Wokingham by the lights of Christmas to ensure he didn’t get elected there. Boris has to deliver real independence from Brussels especially in Northern Ireland or he will be replaced by first time 2019 conservative voters like myself at the next election.
The Northern Ireland Protocol has to go and the region be removed from the single market. If the EU want a trade war they should get a trade war. Eastern Europe needs be told that the U.K. will block NATO action against Russia in Ukraine unless the NIP goes. The Republic must be told that the right for Irish citizens to live and work in Great Britain will end unless the NIP goes. Only when we bring matters into the negotiation that EU citizens care about and say No to them will EU demands come to an end. It is unbelievable that we have not even introduced customs checks into the U.K. Such inaction and incompetence by Boris and Frost only encourages EU demands. Macron is facing re-election and should be brought under pressure with the removal of all French fishing if the EU responds in any way against the UK invoking Article 16. Boris only has one mission on this earth and he has to deliver an actual or be replaced by someone who will.
December 17, 2021
“The Republic must be told that the right for Irish citizens to live and work in Great Britain will end unless the NIP goes.” And their right to VOTE here too!!!
The Irish republic have made it very clear that they are our enemies, and it is therefore time for the Common Travel Area to be scrapped. Why are we giving special privileges to people who hate us? Besides, most Irish citizens are NOT Conservative voters, and oppose Brexit, so abolishing their right to vote in British elections would benefit the Conservative Party, and also the Unionist parties in Northern Ireland. It would be a win-win policy – but Boris is too stupid, cowardly and treacherous to see this and so, of course, he will do nothing. The man is beneath contempt.
December 17, 2021
So here’s the thing Freeborn John – johnson has been trying to get a trade deal with the US for a long time now but so long as Biden is there and the Irish Caucus is on Capitol Hill we are going nowhere that is so long as we threaten to break international treaties – so if we are to progress we’ll have to abide by existing agreements – Then today it is announced that we have a new trade deal with Australia but looking at the sketchy details I don’t think it amounts to much – drawn up in a hurry by Liz Truss when she was International trade secretary we shouldn’t expect too much considering OZ is one months sailing distance away from us and we havn’t even got a British Merchant Navy anymore.. it was all sold off in the 70’s and 80’s..
December 18, 2021
Truly hilarious. You campaigned in Wokingham to secure the seat for the Conservative candidate, when the main point of the Conservative manifesto – the oven ready deal- wAs the Protocol which you now hate. As ever Brexiters have no clue what they are voting for
December 17, 2021
‘Boris’ has said he understands peoples frustration. No he damned well doesn’t. He just says that because he thinks people think he ought to say it. He doesn’t apologise. He has no feelings beyond his own self.
No-one in the administration or government trusts he will stick by anything. They just go about things as best they can. They know ‘Boris’ won’t fight for any principle. He hasn’t got a single one. And he is a coward.
If he had any morality or decency he would resign but he doesn’t think it is anything to do with him.
December 17, 2021
He may be a lot of things which annoy you, but a coward he is not, neither physically nor morally.
December 17, 2021
‘Er indoor won’t let him resign. She’s only just decorated the place.
He’s going to have to be dragged out.
December 17, 2021
From the MSM – Boris on the election ‘people were not hearing what he had to say on their own ‘priorities’.
You will do what I say! I will do all your thinking. Don’t you know, I know best for you on everything.
December 17, 2021
North Shropshire has given Boris the Traitor the kicking he deserves. He betrayed Paterson, who was clearly NOT guilty, and he has betrayed Brexit. I see that the government has admitted that the negotiations over the NI Protocol have not been successful and yet they will NOT trigger article 16, despite their talks deadline having passed. In other words, Boris the Traitor has backed down once again and left part of our country under the control of a foreign power. If that does not deserve the epithet of ‘traitor’ then I don’t know what does!
I know that by-elections are not necessarily representative of what might happen in a later general election, but what is really interesting is the in-depth analysis of what has happened to the Conservative vote. It turns out that while Conservative support among Remain voters has fallen by 5 points since 2019, it has fallen by a whopping 20 points among Leave voters! This is where all your problems lie – is the government too stupid to see this?
There is still time for the Conservatives to recover. The Con to LibDem swing was 34.1%, the second largest ever – but remember what happened in the record holder, Christchurch: in the 1993 by-election the Libdems won this seat with a swing of 35.1%, but lost it in the subsequent 1997 general election to your friend Sir Christopher Chope. What your party needs to do now is get rid of Boris the Traitor and replace him with a leader who genuinely believes in the ‘true Brexit’ and who delivers it!
December 17, 2021
“He asked why we had given so many licences to French boats to fish in our waters and was told that was to get on well with the neighbours.” If our fishing policy is based on appeasing France and the other EU fishing nations then we will NEVER regain control of our waters, as their demands are not going to change. That, surely, must be obvious to even the most stupid minister! What will change in the future which will allow the UK to restrict EU fishing vessels while not upsetting them? Nothing, obviously. So if we are going to have to displease them then why not do so now and get it over with, and also save our fishing stocks from being decimated?
Besides, a policy of trying to be friends though appeasement and surrender is not a policy I want to be associated with. The government are a disgrace to Britain. Cowards, liars and traitors. Surely you can see this? And surely, then, you will want to do something about it?
December 17, 2021
The people voted decisively to leave the EU so what went wrong? There was no political mechanism by which this could be achieved. The three main parties opposed the people and relied on the FPTP voting system to ensure that however bad they were or became, the voters would only be able to choose the least worst option.
The Tory party pretended to support Brexit purely in order to garner votes. Few of its selected MPs had any vision beyond the desire for personal political advancement or the opportunity to use their positions for financial gain. The Tory party is obsolete, the Labour party, Bolshevik-lite, should never have existed in a truly democratic country, and the LibDems are an amalgam of old protest parties now in explicit opposition to the will of the people.
Without a reform of the electoral system to ensure that every vote counts towards a final result, there can be no possibility of the replacement of the blundering useless Tories or the blundering useless others. The electorate understand that therefore they have settled for the possibility of making ‘protest’ votes against what they dislike rather voting for what they want.
December 17, 2021
That was a most excellent summary of the position we are in that you, Sir John gave to the BBC television news this am. You got it all in. And you have done the same here with the Brexit elf’s predicament.
December 17, 2021
I wonder whether this latest surrender in N Ireland has come about as a consequence of the overwhelming 24 hour media campaign against the PM this last two weeks during which we have had a news blackout.
December 18, 2021
Lord Frost resigned last week, reports the Mail on Sunday.
December 17, 2021
So you hang,draw and quarter one of your MP’s which triggers a bye election. Who wins the election? A party which will never form a government.
Never mind Boris still has a majority.But for how long?
December 17, 2021
What are you going to do about the incompetent, untrustworthy PM ?
December 17, 2021
Dear Brexit Elf, I’ve been a very good Brexiteer this year so would you please pass on to Brexit Santa my Christmas wish? It is that every day one member of the ERG publicly declares that he has written a letter to Graham Brady and will only retract it if and when the UK repeals the NI Protocol in its entirety.
How many letters do you think it would take for Boris to blink? My guess is 45.
December 17, 2021
An “Oven Ready” exit.
” And now, the end is near , I did it my way” BoJo deflating like Bojangles with clangers losing a 200 year old safe seat. Prize Turkey!
December 18, 2021
Much too late X-Tory the WA with the protocols have alreadg been agreed and signed off.. both Houses and ratified by the EU Parliamentand also don’t forget there were other protocols as well mainly about Gibraltar and Cyprus.
So consider this for instance if we now go tampering with International Treaties then where could it all end up – for instance what abouf Gib and the treaty of Utrecht 1713 Chapter X.. do you think the Spanish are going to sit idly by?
December 17, 2021
Any update on any policy to stop the illegal immigrants crossing the channel in small boats….it appears that GB news are the only people interested in reporting the daily numbers
Nb. Head in the sand isn’t a policy
December 18, 2021
900 more in 2 days.
December 17, 2021
No matter what the department, ambitious Civil Servants like to make a name for themselves by delivering successful projects for their Ministers. (I should know, I was one once.) Permanent Secretaries like to bask in the reflected glory. So I don’t buy the argument that there’s some kind of organizational “go-slow” across Government on Brexit. More likely in my view, and reinforced by a small number of conversations with people who continue to work in Government, is that positive business cases for change are a lot harder to find than people commenting on this website might think. I note today that the new FTA with Australia is going to deliver an uplift of – wait for it – 0.08% of GDP by 2035, and that securing this singularly unimpressive prize is not without its costs. The executive summary of the impact assessment includes this text:
“The economic benefits of FTAs do not arise without reallocation of resources within the economy (sometimes referred to as the gains from greater specialisation). The process of economic adjustment gives rise to adjustment costs for affected sectors, businesses, and their employees. The overall structure of the economy remains broadly unchanged by the agreement. However, part of the gains results from a reallocation of resources away from agriculture, forestry, and fishing (around -£94 million) and semi-processed-foods (around -£225 million).”
I am all for gains in national productivity and prosperity. What’s needed are some serious ideas – backed up by numerical analysis – as to how such gains are to be realised. And I suspect that if any of the contributors to this website can offer such ideas the Civil Servants who serve them will be pleased to start implementation very promptly.
reply Nonsense. I have supplied plenty of wins but they get blocked.
December 17, 2021
I know Shropshire well, from having worked there for over 40 years. It is the largest inland county, and is very largely rural. The western half is mostly hilly and has a strong Welsh flavour, especially N W Shropshire. The North Shropshire constituency has a very low population density, and I would imagine these sensible, down to earth people (who I hold in great affection) are particularly aghast at the Net Zero madness. How will they get around, keep their homes warm, or continue to farm in the time-honoured way, must be questions that are on many minds, even if not openly admitted. Many have voted tactically, knowing its now the only thing the government will heed. Past Conservative candidates have tended to have local roots or a resonance with the terrain, as did Owen Patterson and the late John Biffen (Baron Biffen of Tanat in the County of Shropshire).
December 17, 2021
UK covid deaths past 7 days
132, 52, 38, 149, 165, 146, 111…what emergency
December 18, 2021
and ‘with’ not ‘of’.
December 18, 2021
What would you say if a 737 crashed every day?
December 18, 2021
Thought we where keeping with the science and facts
To date only ‘one’ death ‘with’ omicron
The death rates are so low that the media have stopped telling us
December 18, 2021
Adjust the figures pro-rata the population versus the population flying and no doubt you would never fly again.
December 18, 2021
Don’t get on one?
December 19, 2021
What would you say if I told you over 10,000 people died every week in the UK?
December 18, 2021
Nicely told, but a sad tale.
It tells us what we gradually suspected – that the remainers are up to their old tricks, pretending to be Brexiteer elves.
The question then is… what can be done?
As an MP, presumably you, are wondering the same. If Boris goes then how do you avoid another May being cunningly foisted on the party/country?
Beaing in mind the way Leadsome withdrew with the weakest of pseudo-scandals as a “reason” – which was carefully crafted to not be remotely damaging to her career – and lo and behold, there she was: Leader of the House not long after.
If you won’t tilt at the leadership yourself – who do you trust to promote? And how do you get them into power?
December 18, 2021
Absolutely brilliant John !
John Redwood for PM. I couldn’t think of anyone more qualified.
Boris has made mistakes but this is what this media Witch hunt as been all about. It has been 24/7 round The clock relentless.
The placard waving, slogan shouting far right ideologues who consider him too left wing. Call Boris a Marxist are a bunch of idiots who have helped the Remainers enormously. Deserted small C conservatism that wins elections for ideological drivel that Unites nobody. Very quickly turning into a freak show.
When Farage says jump they jump after Farage picks the most decisive issue he can find. Who thinks England is the only part of the United Kingdom and not a nation of equals. A kingdom that wouldn’t entertain Farage as PM in a million years.
December 18, 2021
It would be nice to actually have some small c Conservative policies.
December 18, 2021
No, Di do not believe in Brexit because all the promises of more trade and more prosperity by a global Britain has come to nothing. Trade in export and import is down by 15% (source FT 18/12)and trading with the rest of the world will not change this. GDP will be down by 4% as forecasted by OBS back in 2016, which means £ 1.500 less income per house hold(FT) , so no Brexit has just been one big disappointment till now.
December 19, 2021
Is any of that reduction due to the world’s covid pandemic?
December 19, 2021
Peter 2
This was the OBR forecast back in 2016 and it still stands. Where are your facts?
December 19, 2021
The OBR forecast was a guess into the future of many years ahead.
It tried to guess what the growth in the EU versus the UK will be over the long term
It is attempting to say the UK might grow a bit less than it might have done.
This depends on the many different political and economic decisions made from 2016 into the next decade by the UK and the 27 EU nations.
As well as how Covid pans out.
As well as world economic decisions made by China Russia and USA
You may be confident in the OBRs predictions I am not.
But for you and the OBR not allow for the effect of the restrictions on commerce created by the world Covid pandemic is plainly a huge weakness.
December 19, 2021
Peter 2 I never said the covid did not have implications, I just quoted the OBR forecast, so I don’t understand your conclusion again?
December 19, 2021
I never said you did bill
But the OBR doesn’t allow for the effect of the Worldwide Covid Pandemic as it was researched and published in 2016.
So it’s conclusions are now in need of significant revision.
Yet it is still quoted as gospel by EU fans.
December 18, 2021
We certainly did not get a true brexit and Sir John, you have correctly spelled out why.
However, if your last two paragraphs are intended to suggest the North Shropshire result, indicates voter’s discontent on the BREXIT issue then you are wrong.
The voters throughout the country are PIG SICK of the COVID DICTATORSHIP.
They are pig sick of the CLIMATE CHANGE NONSENSE IN TOTAL. Not just because YOUR party has tied us back into the E.U.
They are also pig sick about illegal immigrants.
Lib Dems are even worse than your leadership, on Climate Change but it seems that Labour are even keener on Covid Dictatorship measures.
Since ONLY, one of the MAIN parties, stood any chance of getting elected, the voters in North Shropshire plumped for the one that would have least effect in the HoC.
What a sad state our once proud democracy has come to.
Absolutely no reason to smile and sing this Xmas.
December 18, 2021
X-Tory- Be careful with your outbursts – it can work both ways.. for instance there are hundreds of thousands of Brits happily living in ROI they have voting and other rights same as everyone else. Also as an aside I don’t think too many Irish are going over to Britain these days anyway- like other people I suspect they don’t care much for going to places where they know they are not welcome
December 19, 2021
Not welcome?
Why do you make that ridiculous assertion?
December 20, 2021
Peter 2
You fight with jerry, Hefner, me and Grennell and others.
maybe, it is time you look yourself in the mirror and sya. maybe, I should think before I write?
December 20, 2021
It’s was a straightforward question billy.
Do you think British people make people from The Republic of Ireland unwelcome?
I don’t.
But feel free to give me some data or research or actual proof if that is what your view is.
I’m open to listening to your views.
Are you?
December 20, 2021
Peter 2
Teaching you is I am afraid a waste
December 21, 2021
I will say I am learning from you billy
And it is your skill demonstrated here perfectly of avoiding the argument when you have lost it
December 19, 2021
And now, being reported, we have an EU Commissioner warning the UK not to choose a ” hardliner” to replace Mr Frost. So to borrow the pig sick reference above, I would say many are also pig sick of the constant warnings and demands from all & sundry. Utter arrogance. And as for Grennel’s comment, yes, a ridiculous assertion. Many of us have family, friends, neighbours, existing work colleagues, ex colleagues both there and here. Perhaps the comment is prompted by recent announcements re post Brexit likely new registration requirements or the mooted future policy in Ireland regarding an illegal migrants amnesty to which the UK has every right to voice any concern.