Privileged ease of movement and gridlock in Dover

 Every year, some our friends from the US come to the UK to stay in West Wales to avoid the hard and cold winters in Colorado; they would like to stay longer or even become British citizens. They enter the country under visa free rules and are usually allowed to stay for just six months. Their chances of becoming British citizens are virtually nil, and getting visas to stay longer than six months are intensely bureaucratic and expensive. Sometimes, they stay in the EU but they are restricted to staying  90 days within a 180 day period. Our friends would be model citizens if they were allowed to stay long enough to apply to become Britons or Europeans, as they are self sufficient and would not be any sort of burden to their new country of residence.

 There is no such thing as absolute "Freedom of Movement", as the migration rules of the EU do not permit immigrants from another EU country to reside in another EU state for longer than three months unless: they are employed, self-employed or running a business, a student or a retired /self-sufficient individual. If you break these rules you could be asked to leave or even be deported- there is no free lunch. Usually you have to register as a resident after three months of staying. All these restrictions were lost on the majority of  UK voters in the 2016 referendum.

EU citizens are, however, allowed to cross EU borders for tourism, business  and family reasons with hardly any formality, and if your country is in the Schengen area you do not even need a passport or identity card to cross borders.

This ease of movement is a privilege which is something to be cherished in an increasingly controlled and bureaucratic world. I have discussed migration many times with our lovely American friends, as they would love to have such arrangements to ease their "freedom of movement" while visiting and staying in Europe. This privilege is a social bonus even if you do not take full advantage of it.

Today , I was looking at the chaos at the UK-Dover border with France; freight and tourist traffic was being held up for hours because British travellers are now subject to unfamiliar  border regulations because they are now "Third Country Nationals". These regulations are now causing delays at peak holiday times. The town of Dover is now in gridlock, because of inadequate management of the tourist traffic. Brexit is the cause of this.

The Port of Dover is blaming the French border control authorities for not having sufficient personnel  to examine passports. British travellers now have their passports examined for date validity and for overstayers who have stayed in the Schengen area for too long. This all takes a lot more time. Before Brexit none of these checks where taking place. Under Schengen rules you could now also be asked for proof of a return ticket and sufficient funds to support yourself, and proof of where you are going to stay.  This is a bureaucratic nightmare. I've got a feeling that some of the French border control staff are turning a blind eye to families where one of their members has a non-compliant passport etc. They are not waging a vendetta against the British; they are just trying to implement the rules.

In easier times, in the past, I have often travelled between Jersey and France without showing a passport and if challenged I would say I forgot it, but  no difficulties resulted. I often travelled in Europe with a work colleague who regularly forgot his passport  and he was allowed to enter European countries for work purposes without a passport, and when he returned to the UK he simply said he had forgotten his documents and they let him in. Not anymore, you will not be allowed into any European country without a passport, if you are British, unless you are going to Ireland the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man. British citizens are entitled to re-enter their country without a passport but try it now without one;  you will delayed for a long time while they check you out.

It is no use complaining, for by leaving the EU and  the Single Market, the British people have lost their ease of  movement privileges. This is what the British people voted for-  the control of our borders: we are denying EU citizens ease of movement into Britain and the EU countries are reciprocating. It is no use whinging that the French , Dutch or Spanish are not staffing their borders properly or that they are  not waiving the rules for the British because "we" are exceptional. France, Holland and Spain are sovereign countries and they staff their borders appropriate to their own needs and not to the desires of  the British.

Britain could probably negotiate a better agreement on ease of movement but this would have to be reciprocal, but in the current climate of bad relations between Britain and the EU this is unlikely.

Our American friends are not complaining about British or EU  border controls not being easier for them, but they would love to have the privileges EU citizens have to travel almost freely within the EU and Schengen areas. A privilege that the British have lost. As a Briton, do you feel proud or duped?

No-one wants to talk about Brexit

Britain finally left the EU single market and the EU customs union on 1st January 2021. Since then most of my Brexiter friends have not wanted to talk about it, I get the feeling that secretly they believe that they voted to be worse off and now they regret their decision. When I tackle them about the issue they clam up. Even the most avid supporters of Brexit who are to prepared to offer some sort of opinion cannot identify any tangible, economic, cultural, social, political or immigration benefit. They mumble on about sovereignty but still cannot explain why Britain  has lost more of  its sovereignty to Nato than it ever did to the EU. If Russia attacks Latvia then the sons and daughters of Britain will be obliged by international law to defend our Nato ally without  a question or a vote - but quite rightly in my estimation.

No one wants to talk about the prospect of Scotland and Northern Ireland leaving the UK union. This may not be an immediate prospect but it is certainly on the cards.

No-one wants to talk about the terms for having a referendum. Many countries reject the first past the post system and insist on a two thirds majority for radical constitutional change and for good reason, as you can see what has happened to the UK. Countries such as  Australia insist that a majority of the states must also vote for change. In the case of the UK this would mean that three of the component states would have needed to vote for Brexit for it to be implemented. No one wants to talk about this.

England was the dominant nation that voted for a change but what right does England have to decide for Scotland and Northern Ireland who voted to remain? No one wants to talk about it.

No one wants to talk about our poor relations with US as a result of  the shenanigans over the Northern Ireland protocol.

Britain now has a skills and labour shortage owing to  restrictions on labour movements, and no one wants to talk about it?

The British economy is being held back by a lack of investment and poor trading statistics - see the Reuters article below. The recovery from the Covid 19 pandemic is therefore being made more difficult, and no one wants to talk about it.

The promised sunny uplands have failed to materialise and so has levelling up, and everyone keeps off this subject.

The British Labour party has now decided not to talk about Brexit too, and this is appalling. It means that both major political parties are not talking about the problems and failures of Brexit, so they only talk about amorphous challenges. 

The EU will not let us back into the EU for a long time and we will not be allowed into the single market without paying a huge fee. There is nothing to stop Britain, however, trying to negotiate a trade and cooperation agreement which improves trade and relations between the UK and the EU. If we were willing to allow freedom of movement of labour then it could transform the trading and  political problems into rational solutions. A return to the single market will probably alleviate the pressure for Scotland and Northern Ireland to leave the UK and help to completely change the bad blood between the UK , the EU and the US. Better cooperation between the UK, US and EU will improve international cooperation and help to reverse the decline in Britain's power and influence. It maybe possible to negotiate tri-partite trading agreements. Britain would even be allowed back into the EU horizons project. All this is possible if we talk about our problems and not stick our heads in the sand.

The time has come for fatuous talk about the benefits of Brexit to stop. We desperately need action, as we cannot wait the 8.3% of GDP balance of payments gap needs fixing, and fast, before an economic crisis hits us - see below. It is time for the labour opposition to step up to the plate and stop being frightened, and it is time for the conservative party to stop the making slogans and false promises. "Getting Brexit Done" achieved little or nothing, as it was just an empty meaningless platitude.

Our nation deserves some truth and it certainly deserves better.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/uk-economy-grew-same-previously-thought-q1-2022-2022-06-30/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-22/how-a-year-of-brexit-thumped-britain-s-economy-and-businesses

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/brexit-largely-blame-uk-exports-160934258.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMqZqY438B-F7iFoEaaIMhNinb2hItnoR5dYTug_E1dY0BRsCby50RPWfj40jufwYBmYuxjZaiSiM_QrFUe3-72xDMtc318auhg_D-YvXoGGeiUcrPk_fjxTf-lGExrzzkCDycfYzHZ3-kL1FCFSlb0pTPsLNobsHF7w0j76o3yF

War in Ukraine

 I fear that the war in Ukraine will not be resolved quickly or satisfactorily. It is clear that Russia's invasion is illegal and breaks Geneva and UN conventions, but this cuts no ice. Both sides in the war have broken the Minsk convention, and this cuts no ice too.

Both sides are fighting themselves to a standstill, but it is highly unlikely that Ukraine can recover its lost territory by military means without the help of Nato who would need to provide direct military assistance with boots on the ground. Direct Nato intervention runs the risk of the conflict descending into  all out war between Russia and its allies and Nato, and this would be unthinkable. 

Ukraine might have to agree to a negotiated settlement which would result in them losing "sovereignty" over the the Donbas and Crimea, not that they had much control over these regions before the full war started. 

To achieve a negotiated settlement Ukraine would demand that Nato would  guarantee the "sovereignty" of the remaining regions of their country, but Russia may not agree to this.

There is considerable opposition, within the nationalist community,  to Ukraine ceding territory, and this could lead  lead to post war political instability. If Nato is seen to have deserted Ukraine then this too could lead to instability too. Nato has armed Ukraine with ultra-modern weaponry and there could be a danger that these weapons could be turned against the alliance.

All in all it is not a good prospect. It might have been better if both sides had adhered to the Minsk protocols and negotiated a settlement. But this was too much to hope for. One thing is certain, if the crisis leads to a war between Nato and  Russia then everyone will lose. Russia will have laid claim to a territory that has been destroyed and Ukraine will have lost thousands of lives to recover territory that has been wiped clean. Europe, including Russia, will see hundreds of thousands of deaths from a third world war, if not millions: and so could the US. Zelensky and Putin should watch their steps carefully. European leaders should not be banging the drum for war, they should be banging the drum  for a negotiated peace. The real politik of the situation is that Biden and Putin will decide. 

I have had a long and happy life which I don't want to end under a mushroom cloud. Do you? You are probably much younger than me, you, the European or American citizen, deserve to live out your lives in peace. 

The appeal to Biden and Putin is simply: negotiate an acceptable peace and quickly

Foreign Policy Disaster coupled with a democratic deficit

It is clear that a majority of people in Northern Ireland support the Northern Ireland Protocol which was negotiated by the British Prime Minister, who claimed the protocol to be a triumph. The Prime Minister signed the agreement and it must now be implemented in full. There should be no ifs or buts. The public of Northern Ireland voted for it and they deserve to be listened to. There is discontent within some of the Unionist community in Northern Ireland but this is no reason for the DUP to block the formation of a government for Northern Ireland unless the Northern Ireland Protocol  is abolished, as this is blackmail. It is a policy which is playing into the Irish nationalist's hands, and it is a self- defeating policy which will lead to a referendum about Irish unity. Such a referendum if based on a first past the post vote majority could lead to further division and perhaps violence. The DUP and the British government are playing with fire.

The US congress and the EU parliament have united to oppose the re-negotiation of the protocol. Britain is being isolated by its two closest friends. In a world of increasing political instability Britain needs unity rather than conflict.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/northern-ireland-protocol-biden-johnson-b2084695.html

The UK is now being excluded from the very valuable EU Horizons project which is due to invest billions in new scientific and advanced engineering projects. Britain is being excluded because of the failure to implement the Northern Ireland protocol, which is an International Treaty.  There is a possibility of a brain drain to the EU where British scientists  leave their home country for better opportunities in Europe - just like in the 1960s. Britain is going backwards.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/04/eu-urged-to-finalise-uks-membership-of-80bn-research-programme

I often ask myself who are the true patriots; our country is being lead backwards, backwards to where the UK becomes the sick man of Europe again instead of being economically and socially progressive? Brexit voters may realise, too late, the errors of their desire for an inward looking state. 

Looking at Porn - not me gov

 No MP should be looking at any sort of films in Parliament, as they should be concentrating on the debate. The British public deserve better: why should they pay for their representatives to watch films in the debating chamber?

Any employee who watched a film whilst they were attending a business meeting would be sacked. As for watching pornography well this is beyond the pale. If, as alleged, the miscreant  is found by an investigation to be watching porn films in parliament, then he should be sacked on the spot and encouraged to resign his seat for a new constituency election. If the alleged miscreant was watching child porn then he should be reported to the police.

I don't believe that it is illegal to watch soft pornography in public but it is offensive especially in the workplace. An MP cannot be forced to resign over this matter. It is time for constitutional change. There should be an independent  constitutional court which has the power to remove miscreant MPs from office and force a by-election.  The court should also be able to remove from office a minister who lies to parliament or breaks the ministerial code: without this it is difficult to defend our democracy.

How to become completely crass and lose the plot.

 Recently, the British Prime Minister likened the struggle of the Ukrainian people, against the Russian invasion, to the vote of the British people to leave the EU. In his opinion both peoples were struggling for freedom. His comments were insulting to the Ukrainian people as they wish to be free to join the EU and are losing their lives to defend that freedom They were also insulting to the millions of British electors who voted to remain or abstained in the "Brexit" vote. His opinions on Brexit are crass and indicate to me that he has lost the plot in this matter. 

Brexit will not bring suffering to the British people who will survive and continue to flourish, however, Britain will become more isolated and less influential on the world stage. The nation will become inward looking and will be less vibrant. The EU did not infringe upon our liberty and democracy; it protected it. It was set up to prevent what is happening to the Ukrainian people at the moment. It was set up to prevent war in Western and Central Europe and to avert tyranny. It was set up to improve the economic prospects of millions of families, including British ones.  Divisions will weaken Britain and the EU which is exactly what the Russian government wants. We need to correct this because liberty and democracy can easily be lost in the fog of war. We need to support the Ukrainian people to get their liberty back and join the EU, if they vote for it in fair elections or in a fair referendum. Britain will be watching developments for the outside with a much reduced influence to shape European policy. Brexit was a major geopolitical and diplomatic error and Brexit voters will realise this, but too late.

War causes human beings to lose their sense of proportion, reality and reason

 War causes human beings to lose their sense of proportion, reality and reason, or perhaps I am seeing this the other way round. Human beings have lost their sense of proportion, reality and reason and this causes war. Or perhaps, more disturbingly human beings never had a sense of proportion, reality and reason.

The Ukrainian war shows us that some human beings as being unworthy of being considered as humain. There is absolutely no justification for the barbarity being shown towards the Ukrainian people. This war like all others will achieve nothing that is of any good. It will only achieve death and destruction, where are the generals and senior  politicians who are brave enough to put a stop to this tyranny? Where are the soldiers who are brave enough to refrain from breaking the Geneva convention to stop firing at civilians?

This war is showing up the worse aspects of human nature; so even in the midst of the carnage, "racism" and prejudice is showing its ugly head. It seems that some border guards and armed forces in both Ukraine and Poland are singling out black refugees for bad treatment, this should stop immediately all refugees should be treated with the same humanity

We are seeing the British government putting bureaucratic obstacles in the way of refugees from Ukraine entering the country. I never thought I would see this. It is all very pointless. All refugees from Ukraine should be let into Britain whether they have papers or not. This is what Britain did during the 1930's and 40's to help Jewish refugees. We can do it again. It is no excuse to say that the refugees are a security risk as they are mostly women and children or men over 60. The average Briton is much more at risk from Covid 19. Reason and risk assessment have gone out of the window. Let the refugees in and check them out when they arrive. All refugees deserve to be treated the same as well. There are thousands of deserving cases from Syria,  Afghanistan and Iraq. After all we did bomb them; so why should they have to risk further  depravation by making dangerous crossings of the English channel to reunite with their families. 

War causes the refugee crises so let's not start them in the first place.

Every human deserves respect, so  the tyrants should be controlled and restrained by those who have power too. Any western politician who is just being nasty should be voted out of power. You as an elector and a citizen  have the power to make changes at the ballot box, especially if you have the privilege to live in a Western liberal democracy. Use your privilege well by respecting humanity when you vote.