A Bonfire of Common Sense

One of the many things I've discovered about living outside the UK is that the BBC is not the news organisation that many believe it is and definitely does not deliver the impartial view of the world that everyone thinks it does.

We are fortunate to have frankly channels from more countries than you can possibly watch in a lifetime but when you watch them you get a very different perspective on world events. There seems to be a prevailing view that the BBC has got more like a Tory mouthpiece of recent years (surely that can't have anything to do with the appointment of the new Chairman being a mate of Boris'?).

Anyway that aside it is fair to say that the rest of the EU has long since moved on since Brexit and is very focused on growing the collective economy, sadly the UK is still stuck in that post Brexit rut. Inflation for example is already falling far more sharply in the EU than in the UK, both at a country and as a trading bloc level, growth is going to exceed expectations from the likes of the IMF in 2023 for all G7 countries, except the UK.

Just look at the issues in the UK, most economists say that Brexit is having at least a negative 4% impact on UK growth, the UK economy is the only G7 economy not to be back where it was pre-pandemic plus it'll be the only G7 economy to show negative growth in 2023. Even the Russian economy, despite sanctions will grow in 2023! In fact it is expected to be the slowest growing G7 economy for the next two years!

Why does the UK media like the BBC not lay out these stark facts to the British public? The cost of living crisis in the UK is beyond any joke and it is currently experiencing a "Winter of Discontent" and we all know how the last one of those ended. Then this morning you have stories of energy suppliers actually breaking into homes of vulnerable people to install pre-payment meters, whilst the government and the regulator stand by on a problem that has been know about for years? Why? Because these are the same people that bankroll the corruption in Downing Street.

Then of course the UK has this sunset clause for some 4000+ pieces of EU legislation that it plans to repeal by default on the December 31st 2023, that assumes of course they can actually find them all 🤣. The monetary cost alone of doing this both on the Civil Service and in legislative time is something the UK cannot afford or even achieve in the time. The UK was one of the countries that voted for this legislation and saw real value in it, like consumer and employee protection, data protection, security, anti-money laundering and fraud, the list of laws that will just expire is beyond comprehension and most people resident in the UK have no understanding of the consequences to daily life, why because mainstream media makes no attempt to explain this people. The governments solution is to use the so called Henry VIII clause which allows the government to make decisions on legislation without recourse to parliament, seems like the mother of Parliaments has just got a divorce from the Government.

For those who are employees the impact of the change should be particularly concerning as a long time friend and former colleague of mine posted a few weeks ago here.

The UK Government's excuse in all of this is it is all down to wider economic factors aka The War in Ukraine. If Brexit and the Tory economic policies were such a great decision then the UK should be outperforming the EU as a trading bloc inspite of wider economic factors, reality is Brexit was suicide, the EU has moved on and the UK population is paying a price, sadly no political party, no even The Liberal Democrats is saying rejoin is the right answer. Sir Ed Davey on GMB this morning when pushed multiple times on this, despite it being LD policy refused to say he wanted the UK to rejoin. 

The sad reality is the best the UK can hope for in the short term is closer ties with the worlds largest trading bloc, but that won't happen until the blinkered idiots in the Tory party and to some extent the other parties actually move on. It is not just about trade it is about co-operation on many topics such as security and finance. Reality is a see change in UK politics is required which requires my childrens generation, born in the 80s and 90s at the end of the last century and later who have only ever known the UK in the EU get into politics and change things. A lot of the generation that voted leave have departed this world and left a car crash behind them. Those still around like Truss, Johnson and Sunak having got the guts to admit the reality.

Maybe the UK will benefit from Brexit in 50 years time as JRM says, but by rejoining the EU...