I could not leave the subject of BBC4's astonishing EU documentary without mentioning Charles Moore's observations on the two programmes in this morning's Telegraph.He writes -
Perhaps most striking, however, was what was absent. At no point did Guy the Great and his rather foul-mouthed pals give the slightest thought to why all this was happening, which is that more than 30 million British people had voted on it, and the majority had decided to leave. Contempt for Britain was almost unqualified ...These EU apparatchiks hold not only democracy but their own voters in contempt - and these astonishing programmes make it plain to see. But this contempt for those whom they are supposed to serve also induces a blindness, an unwillingness to hear, a shunning of reality that isolates these authoritarian demagogues from the world outside.
Even more striking by its absence was any mention by M Verhofstadt and his fellow MEPs of their own voters. They never once even pretended to be interested in their constituents. I don’t think the word “democracy” crossed their lips. Their identification with the purposes of the EU’s machine, as opposed to its people, was complete.
We're at top of the economic cycle and close to levels of full employment, yet taxes at 36% of GDP are at their highest for 40 years. We are overdue for a downturn, parts of the EU are already in recession and a cold economic wind is gathering strength. Parliament and government between them have created a Brexit debacle that will cost the economy much more than it need have done.
PwC forecast the effects of AI on the British economy costing 30% of existing jobs in the next fifteen years. We're better placed than others – they forecast 37% of German jobs will go – but this scale of impact requires visionary political leadership.
Already, before either cyclical economic or Tier II AI changes have begun to bite, the UK, in common with much of the developed world, is already faced with mounting voter anger. Brexit is not the cause, but itself has its roots in causes including, but not exclusively
- Increasing financial inequality
- Static or declining living standards
- People excluded from decision making
- Decline of working class power
- Globalism causing disempowerment
- Cultural loss – loss of cultural identity
- Attrition of social institutions, high anomie
I think they will learn that sometimes, just sometimes, the voters that they hold in such contempt can bite back.
18 comments:
What is even worse than Verhofstadt's open contempt for democracy and "the little people" is that the vast majority of our own political class now have exactly the same attitude: they just hide it slightly better, claiming to "respect" the result of the Referendum despite doing everything they can to overturn/effectively overturn it.
You can almost excuse the EU apparatchiks. After all, most of them have only been democracies for half a century or less. But in the UK, with the Mother of Parliaments which exported democracy around the world, it is appalling.
I hope all those tribal Labour working class voters (I vote Labour because me Mam and Dad did) are waking up to the fact that Labour abandoned them and their interests in 1997 and Corbyn is just a north London champagne socialist and Marxist revolutionary. The only interest in the working class he has is ensuring that they are marginalised and deprived enough to eventually back a revolution.
Bizzare that HMG does not want its population to participate in democratic MEP elections.
The EU (and its earlier iterations) was built on good intentions and a lie to achieve them.
The good intentions have faded over time but the lies continue. this time to keep those in charge, in charge. Its a nice little earner.
Nothing based on a lie can exist for ever. We are better off out.
Cultural loss, or really the belief that our ruling elites are happy to give away our country through continuous large scale immigration despite 2/3rds of voters believing that current levels of immigration are too high, is a very major concern.
This is showing how the ruling elites are ignoring the majority opinion of the country and, as for their refusal to implement Brexit, are always lying at election time to say they will reduce immigration when in fact they have no such intention to do so.
Also, as a small (relative to the EU let alone the world) country, which has become a destination country because of our very generous non-contributory health, schooling and welfare provisions, such an open borders policy, as demanded by EU membership, will inevitably cause an eventual ending of most of these benefits.
I just came across this, some of you may be aware of it but it was news to me, seems once again the eu rides roughshod over its cattle.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=391&v=4Ia81e5KQpE)
RAC, that's a good video, not only for the CIR scandal looming but for summarising all the ignoring of votes that the EU has done over the years.
I think I read somewhere that Farage is getting the programme rebroadcast to a wider audience. Hope so.
Also 'nice' piece in the Guardian about stopping Farage...by Tong Blair! LOL
Having just watched the program it seemed clear to me that those quoted lines about making the UK a colony were said jokingly, although it is quite likely that there are individuals within the EU who do hold that view.
"Many a true word said in jest".
The key to regaining control is and always has been the media - even if they are foolish enough (as with this BBC 'exposure') to do it for us inadvertently.
This potential threat is now being recognised given the way that social media platforms are actively censoring conservative outlets so 'we' need to get in whilst the going is good.
Quote from Blair's piece:
"This is not a vote to choose a prime minister or a government. It is a vote for the Farage Brexit – or against it."
Actually Blair, it is a vote for or against the concept of democracy, something that the Labour party has a pretty good record on, considering it only exists because of democracy.
The "Farage Brexit" would have been completed two and a bit years ago!
Mr. Moore says that there is no evidence that Mr. Farage is competent to govern. This is of course true.
However there is no evidence to suggest that Mr. Cornyn is competent to govern, and mounting evidence that Mrs. May is grossly incompetent. Indeed the only party leader who can point to actual management experience is Mr. Cable, and he wants to ignore the express wishes of the people.
Perhaps Prime Minister Farage is the best available option.
A key mistake being made by many Remain campaigners is to assume that a large majority of Leave voters voted Leave, because they were deceived, by the lies, spouted by Farage, by Johnson etc., and by those in the foreign-owned UK press.
No, many of them were fully aware, that most of that was always utter boIIocks. Rather, their stated reasons for voting Leave were in fact excuses for doing so. If they told the truth, then they would say that they did it out of nothing more than spite, towards the people who did better than them academically, and who apparently benefited most from the UK’s member status, being also those who got the attractive partners, and the interesting, secure jobs, with the decent occupational pensions.
Those covertly motivated by the vice of envy, and operating cynically, will never be persuaded either by reason, or by moral arguments.
Success lies in motivating those Remainers who did not vote last time.
@Cheerful-but-dim Edward
are you fekkin serious? The word 'delusion' doesn't even come close.
Fuck me......
Dave - it's Brexit Derangement Syndrome. He's projecting again.
You can whimper and deny all you like.
It's the only rational explanation, for the bizarre claims, maintained by Leave voters, even in the face of the ever-more-towering mountain of evidence that EU exit is the utter disaster that the Remain campaigns always said it would be.
@Cheerful Edward
Even if EU exit proved to be an utter disaster that doesn't excuse the sabotage of the Referendum result which HMG promised to implement, and which the two main parties included in their manifestos at the last GE. The government should have complied with the Referendum result rather than wasting 3 years trying to subvert it (and democracy).
If fresh evidence had come to light which made Leaving disastrous then the government of the day should have brought that information before the public - they haven't. We have been shown none, and Project Fear has been pretty thoroughly discredited by events.
Can you point to "the ever-more-towering mountain of evidence that EU exit is the utter disaster that the Remain campaigns always said it would be."? I don't think so.
LOL...projection, deflection etc. poor old Ed is anything but cheerful methinks. Images of that cartoon of Hillary in a straitjacket with the word 'Trump' scrawled all over the padded cell spring to mind.
Then think on our own lot, a parliament which gave it's imprimatur to industrial suicide - 2008 Climate change act, all of which means, in the UK business and manufacturing labout under the most expensive energy costs in EUrope and inclusive of: the G7.
we can't compete and still the wankers CCC want to make it worse 'zero carbon by 2030' ?
instanity piled on insanity.
damned gadgets, must learn to type and proof read.
;(
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