Brexit

Now that we've all had a couple of days to calm down (which some of us it would appear, have chosen not to do) the serious business of 'what happens now' needs to go ahead.  The United Kingdom is now to sever its link with European Union, and Scarlet has been flooded with requests for comment, first of all here's what I'm not going to tell you:

Which way I voted and why - That isn't what this is about, if you all want to know I will happily tell you but I don't want to broadcast it across the world, because it doesn't matter anymore.  The people have spoken and Brexit has had more votes than anything else has in the history of the United Kingdom and the process has already begun.

Now onto the proper business, its a bit scattered but I have made plenty of observations:

The Domestic Establishment 

The perception of British Politicians as being out of touch with the everyday people has been brewing away for years.  The rise of UKIP and of Scottish Nationalism has been a direct response to the desire from the British public to see something new from our political mainstream, social mobility is in free fall in the United Kingdom and given the chance the British people have stuck the knife in and twisted it.

Naturally this is all speculation, but whether they tried to or not the electorate have taken down some big hitters with this result, two massive politicians have now well and truly cooked their goose:

- David Cameron - For getting a deal no one wanted and then losing the vote.

- George Osbourne - The Co-ordinator of the so called 'Project Fear' which rightly or wrongly, the British people have rejected

Inquests will be had and heads will roll very quickly, the Labour Party may get a new leader and all of the big political groups that backed remain will need a PR make over if they don't want to be left behind.

The Brussels Establishment

Having been absent from the entire campaign the presidents of the EU must be wondering, why didn't we get involved and try and keep the Brits in? They won't let it show but Brexit has completely rattled Brussels and questions are now being asked all across Europe, the Eurocrats will now be under the microscope of the European media as the populist independent movements across the continent start to ask more questions.

Thus far the answer to brexit from Brussels appears to be one of "ok mate, get on with it, make the first move and we'll start talking".  There will be pressure on Brussels to make life tricky for the new UK so as to set an example for any other countries who may well have the bare faced cheek to challenge the system.  I suspect that the general tone at the moment is to take some of the early shots before the UK has a proper leader in place, and to undermine their place at the table; it does however seem a bit unwise and the Eurocrats will need to play their hand very carefully lest the likes of Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden start to wonder if the Brits are on to something.

The Generational Gap

As was expected most younger people voted to stay and most older people voted to leave.  Has anyone stopped to wonder why this is?  It is entirely possible that it breaks down one of the older political lines we have:

Left/Right - It is known that younger people are more left wing than older people as a general rule.  Most of the rest of the EU is to the left of the UK and EU politics did have a socialist bent, as well as heavy market regulation which one associates with the left.

A Nation divided

If we leave out Scotland for a minute, there is a clear division in this particular result.  As is often the case the losing side are aggrieved and angry, it will probably quieten down after a few weeks but there is a possibility that a counter-brexit movement will destabilize our political system, it is clearly the most divisive political campaign which we have had for many many years, and if our nation is divided by Brexit politics after the referendum it may make things a hell of a lot worse.

I have seen one beautiful call for unity spring up already (that's a reference to Elizabeth Marshall), let us hope Scoxit and Loxit do not become serious factions, and that we can all work together in an old country, that is renewing itself under a familiar guise.

The Project starts to falter...

The EU has lost one of its big players and other established economies are asking questions about their membership and what it does for them, a look down the issues with some of the other nations below gives you an idea of how the entire marketplace could start to fall apart at the seams:

Spain - Currently confronting a constitutional crisis as the richer part of the countries start to think of going it alone, keep an eye on Catalunya, as she may play a part.

Greece - The financial horrors don't appear to be dying at the moment, Grexit from the Euro remains a real possibility.  I recently saw a documentary by Simon Reeve which demonstrated some of the resentment held in Greece, could the land of Democritus himself play a decisive hand?

France - The sick man of Europe, France is fighting on several different fronts: social, political and economic.  With the far right in with a real shout of seizing the presidency next year, the infamously volatile French Electorate may well rise again.

The New Government

There will be no election this year, given the violent shock our nation will inevitably take for a while it is sensible that we have a Government to get things started, the question is who will lead it? It seems fairly straightforward to me that the Johnson-Gove ticket surely must triumph?  Whatever we may think of Brexit it is vital that we present a strong 'Exit Cabinet', I never thought these words would be written down, but the man in the picture below must surely be our next Prime Minister....

Anyone else feel the need to sit down and have a drink?



Good luck United Kingdom

Scarlet

A Crisis and our reaction

On Friday night I interrupted my viewing of the England match to see the start of a chilling news programme which would leave me awake until the early hours of the morning.

A bitter and dire situation has unfolded on the land of Marianne and it will cast a shadow over Europe, a shadow made up of extremism, hatred and twisted, evil faith.  As I stand a few days after the awful shadow looms, as the spears are sharpened and the belt of security is tightened across the Western World we must all try and sit around the table and sort all of this out.

The Assad regime in Syria is a disgusting, backward dictatorship but the circumstances of the world have now forced our hand, we need not back Assad but we are forced into a corner now, ISIS is inside Europe, we must push on and remove their power at the source, in Syria and the Middle East

Promising signs at the G20 have shown Mr Cameron sat alongside Mr Putin, I have no affection for this man but need I remind you that we allied with Stalin to beat Hitler?  That we are happy to stand alongside Saudi Arabia and recently recommended them for a human rights seat at the UN?  I'm not saying we should have no morality internationally but diplomacy is often more difficult than 'this is evil so we won't support it' or even 'this is good so we will support it'.  Right now our path is clear, all of the big players want ISIS gone and currently chipping away separately is not hitting them hard enough.  The concentrated might of NATO and Russia would destroy their apparatus quicker than the current situation could ever hope to.  As unwise as it may appear at face value we have to get rid of this threat, and we have to do it now.  The Russians, NATO and all of our key allies are behind it, everyone seems to be.  In response to the foul Islamic State it is vital that the world unites against this evil, you cannot negotiate with these people and even if we could would we want to?

War is hell, we all know this and it must be avoided wherever possible, I agree with this very strongly as a man of peace who sees violence as the last resort, yet the last resort we have reached...  Innocent people will die, Assad will stay but that is how war works and many will lose even if they survive.  Right now we have a greater call, a call to remove an evil that knows no bounds, with no international allies there is no reason for ISIS to march to the drum of anyone but itself.  If we allow it to continue London, Moscow, Marseille, Madrid and Washington may see more blood spilled.

The values of Marianne were built on the blood of the upper classes, the American Revolution allowed colonialists to build a nation on slave labor and Trafalgar allowed the British to choke the worlds resources in the name of Britannia for another 100 years.  History is built on blood, the decision we face now is not What will the world think if we back Assad? rather the question is What will the world think if we do not destroy ISIS?



Finally I must point out that the Egypt disaster may not have been ISIS (I don't know, no one does) but it was a foul act that seems likely to be the act of similar extremists, today I weep not just with Marianne but with Mother Russia too.

3 Ways the UK will be different in 50 years

1. The National Health Service
The NHS was hailed as the greatest free healthcare system in the world when it was adopted in 1948.  She has been a beacon of pride to the British people for over 60 years now and has helped all of us at one point or another.

The cracks have started to appear.... A&E waiting times through the roof, GP's going on strike over 7 day weeks and an ageing population are all factors in the slow deterioration of the service.  As our once proud NHS is sold off one piece either by Labour or by Tory the service will change beyond recognition.

I know not how Britain will be servicing her peoples health in 50 years time, but I highly doubt it will be free at the point of entry, I highly doubt it will as comprehensive and I highly doubt it will be called the National Health Service.

The reason you ask?  Money!  Healthcare is big business the world over and tax hikes in the modern world will never generate the wealth needed to support a nation predicted to be upwards of 80 million, when the NHS was founded we had 37 million people.  It was a nice project, and one routed in the finest tradition of Socialism, but the NHS is for the scrapheap.

2. BBC
Again, the BBC was built for another time.  The BBC had a monopoly on (legal) radio transmissions and the only television channel for years but the era of mass consumerism has brought a clutch of multi-national media firms into the fray.  In the modern world how can the BBC stand up to BSkyB in the UK and various outfits across the world?  Furthermore the British people will start to resent having to pay for the BBC when they spend all their time watching Sports and Movies the BBC can't afford to provide for people.

Indeed Sports is an area where the BBC are losing their way already, they have lost full coverage and exclusivity on pretty much their whole programme these days, it is only Wimbledon that will be with them in 20 years.

This is before we even consider the terrible publicity that Operation Yewtree has brought on the national corporation.  The mass cover up looks rotten to the core, and the current Government will jump at the chance to remind people that the BBC is far from perfect and almost as full of middle class white guys as the Tory party.

Scarlet suspects a large amount of the BBC will be sold off, in 50 years time we will have the BBC World Service, Radios 1-5 and BBC News.

3. Scotland
Scotland will leave the UK, after all if you live in London or the South East you have everything and the Scottish get nothing.

Oh wait, that isn't true, well they will probably leave anyway.

Cecil The Lion

I'm sorry if this one doesn't make much sense today but I'm deeply upset:

#Cecilthelion

We have to ask ourselves why big game hunting exists don't we?  The pursuing and killing of animals for 'the high' we get from it is a pathetic and backward habit.  It is a sad excuse of a thing to do, when rich people from America fly over to Africa for the sole purpose of wiping out a beautiful creature which is one of the few remaining natural marvels of the world.

For goodness sake lets put a stop to this pathetic behaviour, let us enshrine it in international law, please people.  These creatures feel pain, they have minds and they have fear.

If we prick them do they not bleed?

There is a line in all of this, I think Animal Husbandry is a completely reasonable part of humanity. I think we need the likes of meat (I certainly do anyway) but where do you draw the line?  Where do you draw the line?

The people writing death threats I cannot condone, but nor can I condone the slaughter of this beautiful creature.

A tearful Scarlet signs off

Jeremy Corbyn

As someone who tends to sit on the Tory side of the benches my opinion of Jeremy Corbyn shouldn't seem all that relevant, but Scarlet always feels the need to speak out.

So for those of you who haven't noticed the race is on to become the next Leader of the Opposition.  A national representation of our Democratic state the role is one of the most important in the system.

The next leader of the Labour Party will be the most public voice against the Government until the next election (provided bonnie Prince Charlie keeps his mouth shut that is).  There is now a very real possibility that that person will be veteran Labour left winger Jeremy Corbyn.  Jezza is everything Labour was thirty years ago, Scarlet's observations:

The Return of the Left?

Outside Scotland Parliament has near enough lost its bent to the left.  The New Labour bandwagon turned the old party of the unions into a centre right alternative to the Tories, indeed Lady Thatcher once claimed her greatest victory was getting Labour to shift to the right.  

Although many welcomed a shift to the right for Labour it has left the party in nowhere land, these days if you want to vote for a mottled Centre Right you can vote for Cameron and Boris, why would you vote for Labour?  As for the left, well Labour really aren't there anymore, I didn't hear Ed Milliband suggesting any Re-nationalizations or a strengthening of the unions?  Without anything to reach for Labour appears stale and the socialist movement has no-one to vote for.  Could Corbyn bring Socialism back to the agenda on the national table?

#ToriesForCorbyn

What nasty political skulduggery this is.  Many Tories are registering/supporting through media Corbyn in an effort to get Corbyn elected believing he is an unelectable spoof candidate the British public will see through, what a horrifyingly unsporting thing to do.  If you support the Labour Party you should have your say but to feign interest to try and destroy a political party is so vindictive even Lord Archer would be embarrassed.

Secondly what if Corbyn proves popular?  Imagine if the left rise as above and Corbyn gets into number 10 and you as a Tory helped it happen?  What a Muppet you would feel.  Let us leave who is representing Labour to Labour, and then debate their leader on mutual terms.

A Real Opposition

What is the point in an opposition like the current Labour Party?  Yes they rant and rave about Tories and complain about their handling of everything but there is really no ideological reason for this, it is just part of their ploy to get back into power.  If Red Ed was the PM at the moment we would see a cut in the deficit, less public spending and HS2.  Sound familiar?

With Corbyn at the helm we would see a whole new agenda, I'm not saying I would agree with it at all but at least we would have something different on the menu, a leader of the opposition arguing for much higher taxes on the rich and a return of Socialist values.  This might draw some of the protest vote back in, in the last general election Labour/Tory seats in the house are 86%, in 1992 between them they had 93%.  The big parties are losing their support: UKIP, SNP, Greens may be here to stay.  Labour could grab back from all three with the right package.



In spite of all this it seems to me that Andy Burnham will probably edge it, but New Old Labour could be on the agenda in 6 weeks time!

Cyclists

Quite often I begin these things by claiming 'this is not supposed to be a rant', much like the great Mark Kermode the rant tends to bubble over in any case, today Scarlet bangs on about the cyclists and he makes no apologies 'this is a rant'.

Why don't they ride in single file?

Why on earth is this even a problem?  Have you ever seen this insanity?  I certainly have, cyclists regularly ride 2 by 2 whilst cars are stacking up behind them because the cyclists can't make a hill.  I sympathise with the struggles of getting to the top of the hill but WHY? Why would anybody do that?

Why aren't they using the Cycle Lane?

Lets face it, motorists tend not to deal with Cyclists on the Road Network overly well.  The UK didn't invest in Cycling Infrastructure like most of Europe after the war and Britain's roads aren't exactly the widest in the world in any case.  Part of solving this issue was for councils to build hundreds of miles of Cycle Lanes alongside busy roads; flat and well surfaced these are particularly abundant in New Towns.  In certain areas the cyclists appear to snub them!  Anyone who has been behind a cyclist going round a corner with an empty 9 foot wide Cycle Lane to the side must surely have been wound up about this?  What are they doing? ARRRRRRGGGHHHH

Let us face it people, cycling is a fantastic way to get around, and we in Britain are finally starting to embrace it on our Road Network and it is great to see.  Boris Bikes, country tracks being built over old railways it is becoming an excellent and healthy hobby.  For the love of god can we please make sure the cyclists pull their weight on the safety front, after all they are the ones most at risk.

The European Union

Well I imagine most people already have some preconceived notions as to how Scarlet feels about the EU, you're probably not far wrong but this ISN'T A RANT, nor is it time for me to a lay a case out for leaving/staying in the union.  I'm just a blogger...

For those of you who do not know the start of what we all know as the EU today was after the Second World War.  Western Europe had torn itself apart twice in 40 years and the uneasy peace of Waterloo was done for, from the ashes of war came co-operation.  With an eye on the Communists to the East the West came together to unite, to tie their interests together and build a better Europe that could never go to war again.  As Germans haven't found their way into Paris and the British and Spanish aren't fighting over Gibraltar it seems like to an extent the original ambition has been achieved.  There is peace in Western Europe and it is as solid as ever, with NATO tying up the loose ends we seem free of any Military complications, WELL DONE ALL.

Somewhere along the line however something changed, the Common Market became a nation of its own. The EU now has a President, a seat at the G8 and more branches of Government than that bureaucratic hothouse France!  The issue here is that we went from something that was working quite well and accepted to something much bigger with no permissions sought, like it or not (and it seems many do not) our Houses of Parliament now play second fiddle to Brussels on most legislation.  As the Common Market expanded its influence economically and socially the UK quietly accepted it, particularly when Maggie was there demanding concessions for the bits and pieces we didn't like. Nowadays it seems the mild irritations are starting to boil over.

I have travelled to Europe several times in my life and have always enjoyed it, but it seems to me that even though we are in the EU, we don't seem to be really 'in' the EU.  How handy that there is a single currency so you don't need to exchange your cash.... Oh wait we opted out of that.  How handy that there is an agreement which keeps open borders between countries, you can go from one to another without a Passport check.... Oh wait we opted out of that.  This is the root of something that complicates our relationship with the EU completely, for the last 40 years we have picked and chose what we did and didn't want.  Like a Christian picking the nice parts of the Bible the UK has opted out of any major integrated decisions; and now we are too weak to bully more concessions.  The UK is not the player in the EU we believe it to be, not by a long shot.  De Gaulle blocked Britain's entry because he believed we would want to dominate, each day that looks like a slightly more astute observation.

It would seem that the whole of Europe is getting concerned about the super state, but it seems to me that we shouldn't.  The Euro is on the brink of collapse, the Greeks will set a precedent that will soon see the return of the Drachma, the Lira and the Franc.  A smaller diplomatic unit will emerge and Europe will sit in limbo once again.  Sadly it seems you can't please everyone; the UK will leave and the blame game will start, it has been nice working together but it simply isn't going to work.