The siren voices softly insisting we stay part of the single market

Weasel words from SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, offering to "co-operate" with Brexit so long as the United Kingdom stays part of the single market:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-38528058

No-one should be fooled by the siren voices softly insisting we stay part of the single market.

The intention of these people is to keep the United Kingdom so close to the EU that a future pro-EU government (perhaps a Lab-Lib-SNP coalition) can take us quickly back into the European Union with the minimum of fuss.

That is why we need to leave the single market, whatever the economic circumstances.

Brexit must be permanent.

Brexit must mean Brexit.

An attack on British democracy

Channel 4 News this evening led with the alleged Russian hacking that is supposed to have influenced the American elections:  https://www.channel4.com/news/russian-hacking-controversy-in-us-elections

Senator John McCain has called Russian interference “an unprecedented attack on our democracy”.

When President Barack Obama interfered in the British referendum on EU membership was that an attack on British democracy?

Back of the queue indeed!

I hope Theresa May makes it clear to the Obama family that they are not welcome in the United Kingdom after 20th January.

And if by any chance Mr Obama does turn up in future years at Heathrow, can we make sure he is at the back of the queue for the passport checks.

No-one told him because they did not trust him

"We do not yet know what the government will set as negotiating objectives for the UK's relationship with the EU after exit" complains Sir Ivan Rogers in his petulant resignation letter:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38503504

Did it occur to Sir Ivan that he did not know what the negotiating objectives were because he was not told them - and no-one told him because they did not trust him.

And the idea that the civil service is impartial is ridiculous.  Over the last fifty years no Eurosceptic would ever get anywhere in the civil service.  They would be frozen out immediately.

Quisling

We are used to thinking of Channel 4 News as a biased organisation purveying news tainted with barely disguised partisan opinion.

However, this evening Jon Snow really confronted Nick Clegg with the logical impossibility of civil servants negotiating Brexit when they do not believe in Brexit.

Sir Ivan Rogers is a very distinguished figure and one hesitates to apply the description "quisling" to him.  Nevertheless, I cannot think of any other word that will do.  He is a quisling - his allegiance is not to the United Kingdom but to the EU, and he is so immersed in pan-European ideology that it is difficult to see him ever holding a public appointment again.

https://www.channel4.com/news/brexit-nick-clegg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38498839
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quisling

The current position of the left

In an otherwise rambling article in the Guardian Jeff Sparrow pins down the current position of the left:  ...the left – a movement dedicated to social transformation – has become the defender of a status quo that no one much else likes.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/02/trump-brexit-left-progressives-aghast-they-should-be-emboldened

2017

In 2017 we look forward to the first formal steps in unchaining the United Kingdom from the corpse that is the EU.

In all the negotiations that lie ahead we must keep in mind that the Leave vote was a revolt of the ordinary people against the hypocrisies and corruption of a society degraded by the worship of money.

If liberty is to be a solid and lasting possession it must be gained by patient years of working and waiting.

Services to the Leave campaign and the Brexit result

It is the time for national honours to be awarded.

I would like to make an award of my own - to Dateline London for services to the Leave campaign and the Brexit result.

Throughout the campaign the programme presented a seemingly endless parade of foreigners with varying accents and ethnicities almost all sneering and jeering at the British people in a way most calculated to annoy the viewers and persuade them that whatever the arguments of the referendum this claque of foreigners must have their faces smacked (metaphorically).

So thank you Dateline London guests, and keep on what you are doing.

Brexit will be more final for your efforts.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b087kcr8/dateline-london-31122016
https://twitter.com/gavinesler
https://twitter.com/AgnesCPoirier
https://twitter.com/steverichards14?lang=en
https://twitter.com/abdelbariatwan?lang=en
https://twitter.com/StrykerMcGuire

A significant point is being conceded

Very little comment in the news about the Pakistani planned expulsions of millions of migrants:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38457236

And absolute silence from all the usual pontificators.

Nothing from Sundar Katwala (British Future sic), usually so keen to give an opinion on these matters.

Nothing from Shami Chakrabarti (former head of Amnesty International and now Corbyn toady in the House of Lords).

Nothing from Yasmin Alibhai Brown (Independent writer).

And little evidence of Hope Not Hate no-platforming Pakistani academics at British universities.

Of course all these people (and many others) are master exponents of Molierean Tartuffery.

Nevertheless, a point is being conceded here.

That it is possible for a nation state (one with a huge diaspora population in the United Kingdom) to expel millions of migrants and nobody says a word.  They look the other way.  They pretend it isn't happening.

Of course, it would be unthinkable for the United Kingdom to forcibly expel millions of migrants.

But we could usefully expel a hundred thousand or so (and we more or less know the ones we don't want).

Therefore I repeat - a significant point is being conceded here.

https://twitter.com/sundersays
https://twitter.com/libertyhq
https://twitter.com/y_alibhai
https://twitter.com/hopenothate

Conflicts that are nothing to do with us

Guardian writer Owen Jones appeared on Sky News Press Preview and made a comparison between the old fear of Soviet Russia exerting an undue influence on left-wing movements in the West, and the new Russia of Putin exerting a supposedly equal influence on right-wing movements today.

This is a false reading of history.

Soviet Russia had a communist ideology that it was determined to export to the rest of the world.  It was a direct threat to Western nations.  It had to be confronted, and the useful idiots that supported it needed to be negated.

There is no such necessity today.

Putinism is not an ideology that has any relevance or appeal outside Russia.

Russian foreign policy may be expansionist, but it would have to expand a long way before it began to touch us in the United Kingdom.  Let them keep the Crimea.  Let them take the Baltic states (look how insultingly rude the leaders of those states were to the United Kingdom during the Brexit referendum).

There are already signs that imperial-overreach is beginning to curb Russian expansionism.  Imperial overreach is a self-correcting mechanism in international affairs.  As we only too well know, empires might deliver prestige, but are extremely expensive to maintain.

We need to be careful about Russian expansionism, but not get involved in conflicts that are nothing to do with us.

http://news.sky.com/video/sky-news-press-preview-10648649

https://twitter.com/OwenJones84

Israel

On the whole I think it is shameful the way the outgoing Obama administration is treating Israel.

Obama was only ever a token President - and everything he has done has been tokenistic and without substance.

Now in his last days his administration is talking abusively knowing they can scuttle away and not face any consequences.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/us/politics/john-kerry-israel-palestine-peace.html?_r=0

I am sorry to see Michael Gove leaving the government:  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/michael-gove-justice-secretary-theresa-may-cabinet-a7136191.html

Theresa May's government

Alec Nussbaum:  "You can't judge Theresa May's government by the senior appointments she makes on the first day.  When Margaret took power she was obliged to stuff her Cabinet with wets like Walker, Prior, Gilmour and the rest.  Only when we see who the junior ministers are will we know the real ideological direction Theresa May intends to travel along."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36785814

A priority for Mrs May

And so today Theresa May will become Prime Minister.

I welcome her appointment.

And like many others I am speculating about what her policies might be.

Obviously Brexit.

And as a practicing Anglican I trust that Christian principles will guide her decisions (and perhaps she can reassert Prime Ministerial control over the appointment of bishops so the senior clergy do not continue as a self-appointed elite).

But one of the key areas Mrs May must address is the issue of immigration.

The referendum (as Sundar Katwala pointed out in one of his tweets months ago when he thought Remain would win) was a referendum on immigration.

And the people voted no to immigration.

That vote must be respected.

Above all, the continued existence of ghettos must be brought to an end.  Gently one hopes.  But robustly if necessary.

Post-war immigration has meant, for ordinary English people, the appearance of ghettos in every city, suburb and town in the country.  Not just one wave of ghettos, but a continuing process of ghetto-generation so that nowhere is safe from this blight.  Ghettos have even appeared in the rural countryside in the last ten years.

These ghettos have not been addressed honestly as a public evil.  Instead we have been told that they are vibrantly diverse communities to be celebrated as part of the (now discredited) policy of multiculturalism.  Anyone who spoke out against the creation of ghettos has, heretofore, been called a "racist".

This must stop.

Ghettos have appeared as a result of government policy over the last sixty years.

They must be dealt with as a result of government policy.

No more ghettos.

Therefore a priority for Mrs May must be the development of policies to stop the creation of new ghettos and disperse the existing ghettos.  In particular this must mean the ending of family visas enabling the importation of south Asian brides.  As for those Eastern Europeans already here, the young men can stay (they will be absorbed into the population easily) but it must be made clear that they will not be allowed family visas - if they are missing their families they can travel in the opposite direction.

Immigration policy is going to be a key test for Mrs May and her government.

If it does not stop, and the ghettos start to be removed, her name will become anathema to the majority of British people and large sections of her own party.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/688834/Theresa-May-stop-migrant-crisis-PM-vows-end-free-movement-EU

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/07/theresa-stand-eu-immigration-160712074543697.html

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/38e535f6-4443-11e6-9b66-0712b3873ae1.html#axzz4EHXufOJu

https://twitter.com/sundersays

David Cameron has, for right-wing Conservatives, been a disappointment

We are to have a new Prime Minister today.

It is an exciting moment.

David Cameron has, for right-wing Conservatives, been a disappointment.  The disillusion began when he reneged on holding a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.  I know it was already signed by the time he took office, but he could have held a symbolic and consultative referendum.

Instead he chose to renege on his promise, in what became a slap in the face for the Eurosceptics.

And not surprisingly the Eurosceptics slapped his face back, and went on slapping it until he had had enough and petulantly resigned after saying he would stay on whatever the referendum result.  So on your way Mr Cameron.  I don't wish to sound ungracious but on the whole you will not be missed.

More:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3687933/David-Cameron-s-day-office-PM-sets-No-10-final-Prime-Minister-s-Questions-handing-power-Theresa-May.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/what-happens-tomorrow-for-cameron-a7133371.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-camerons-last-day-of-term-this-swift-and-brutal-political-thriller-reaches-its-anti-climax-a7133241.html

Intellectually dishonest article about Sterling

Another intellectually dishonest article about Sterling in the Independent:  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/brexit-pound-sterling-bitcoin-prices-unstable-volatile-exchange-referendum-a7129311.html

If you line up establishment commentators predicting economic disaster in the event of Brexit then is it any wonder that investors take fright when Brexit happens.

It is akin to shouting fire in a crowded cinema.

Make do with the immigrants you have already

Thus begins the special pleading over immigration:  http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3c4e393a-4525-11e6-b22f-79eb4891c97d.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fworld_uk_politics%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct#axzz4E2SQfUds

Under the new normal of Brexit the guiding principle for all future immigration must be:  will it benefit the ordinary people?

Not the ivory tower academics,  Not the fat cat employers.  Not the upper-middle-class servant-employers.

They've had their turn.  They've had stonking levels of immigration (which the rest of us have had to pay for).  Now it is time for Sir Leszek Borysiewicz and his ilk to show some restraint.

You make do with the immigrants you have already Sir Leszek, 3 million should be more than enough for anyone.

It needs to be done

Regarding the Labour party, the Parliamentary party must (MUST) reflect the membership.

Until this happens there will be no end to the crisis.  So the activists need to deselect the ones who are unrepresentative.  Painful and unpleasant, but it needs to be done.

The Conservatives also have this problem, but so far we are bit more discreet and polite about the issue (perhaps too discreet and polite - at least the EU referendum flushed out the Remainers).

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/09/labour-leaders-mp-collision-course-partys-soul-election-jeremy-corbyn?CMP=twt_a-politics_b-gdnukpolitics

I doubt this is a serious threat

Via Sundar Katwala the news that 20 Conservative MPs will defect if Leadsom is elected.

I doubt this is a serious threat.

But for the future someone needs to note the names so they can be deselected.

https://twitter.com/sundersays

Andrea Leadsom has asserted the primacy of family life

Conservative leadership candidate Andrea Leadsom has asserted the primacy of family life over all other forms of social organisation:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36752865

It has been a long wait for Conservative members to hear this welcome message.

As a single person with no children (but nieces and nephews!) I nevertheless realise the fundamental importance of the family in creating and sustaining the sort of society I, and so many millions, wish to live in.

Society has been sick for so long that perversion (in its widest sense) has become the new normal.

But with Andrea Leadsom as Prime Minister things will change.

Let us look how far we have come since the Referendum:

• Post Brexit the United Kingdom has become a nation state once again.
• With Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom as the two leadership candidates we are assured that Protestant Anglican Christianity will be governing the development of policy.
• And if Andrea Leadsom becomes leader we know that the family will be at the centre of society.

Andrea Leadsom is supposed to have been "naive" in allowing her comments to slip out.

And yet if she had planned this disclosure it could not have done her more good among the Conservative membership.

Perhaps she did plan this?

And note the sneering has begun...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/09/andrea-leadsom-tory-leadership-am-dram-peasant-revolt?CMP=share_btn_tw

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2016/07/9-reasons-you-should-be-truly-terrified-andrea-leadsom-becoming-prime-minister

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/furious-row-andrea-leadsom-suggests-8382783

As it happens, Guardian writer Owen Jones is mostly right in this article:  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/24/eu-referendum-working-class-revolt-grieve

"It may not have been the working-class revolt against the political establishment that many of us favoured, but it is undeniable that this result was achieved off the back of furious, alienated working-class votes." 

But he is wrong to say:  "The growing chasm between the generations has only been deepened." - the thing about young voters is that they eventually become old voters, and as they accumulate assets they will change how they feel about politics.