Need to get this out of my spleen. You know. This UKIP shit, the Tory twats, the legitimising of racism, arseholes in their millions about to shoot themselves and 50% of the rest of the population in the foot? For what? Some spurious and largely abstract notions of 'freedom', 'sovereignty', 'control' about which I am fairly sure the vast majority have very little idea about beyond vacant, empty meaningless words used essentially for the vanity of that appalling over-rated conman, Boris Johnson - a vicious right winger who has got this far surrounded by sycophants not least in the media, and by having an alleged shambolic 'personality' which has helped him to be voted in, twice. Why the success, the populism? Simple really, you know vote for Bojo ' 'cos he's a bit of a laugh, innit?' A sadly successful ploy to win the support of the hard-of-thinking. And we are supposed to believe that this highly educated and articulate opportunist is now for Brexit based on 48 hours of weighing up the pros and cons of the EU rather than his own sordid career advancement.
Farage, the genial racist-in-chief, of course has had to have a purpose to his life, I can see that and whilst deploring the poisonous bigot have slightly less disrespect for him than Johnson. Not that either of them would ever really care I dare say. Gove at least has a little more intellectual clout about what he says; however, the results of his education policies show that such intellectual clout leads to badness. It comes to something when I end up agreeing whole-heartedly with John Major's summation of the ideologues pushing Brexit.
Now, back to the EU - I remember being taught about the process of European integration as part of my history A level. Doubtless it must have been nefarious EU propaganda as it seemed pretty reasonable given all the horrors of European history and the great post-war advances in western Europe which have since cemented democracy in the post-Soviet east. Moving forward, when teaching in secondary schools, Europe, what it's for and how it functions hardly got a mention. So little wonder that folk no so little and depend on a one-eyed septic press which has been nearly all hostile, passing misinformation as fact for as long as I can remember. One Alexander B. Johnson was involved in that - making up facts got him the sack from I think The Times. The Great British patriot Murdoch sacking a liar - it must have been bad.
So, it should be no surprise that most people have little idea of what the EU is for nor what it does; nor do I suspect most politicos really know either. Out of curiosity, I attended a few Labour meetings to see what was happening after a thirty year absence. Not a lot. Dispiritingly, I stopped attending as, among the youngest, I felt like I was in the last days of a near extinct species - that may just have been Thanet where the local Tory MP, Craig McKinley, is being checked out for fraudulent election expenses. Ultimately, aside from Plod and C4 news, who cares?
How does it affect me? Well, I suspect many of those bringing in nearly 50 million quid into the area through its language schools might choose to give their money to somewhere less overtly racist. Why stay with a host family who hate, without really knowing why, where you are from? Yes, racist, white on white racism. Ironic really, if it wasn't so sad. Yes, blame fellow Europeans for taking advantage, as many Brits also do, to travel and improve their lives taking advantage of often shit wages that British employers, perhaps donors to the Tories, choose to pay them.
Democracy and sovereignty - yes, on the doorstep many I spoke to in Thanet anyway, have little concept of what either of these two concepts mean. I had one muppet say that she wanted Britain to remain so that 'we' could stay in the Eurovision Song Contest. I tried not to wince but at least she was for Remain if for perhaps not the right reasons. Others talk frequently of dictatorship without being able to name a single example of it. That said when you talk of pooling sovereignty people take that in. No war between major states since 1945 also resonates. Free movement of people still though does not do much against the once dog-whistle migrations.
Freedom, sure there will be. There will be lots more. Lots more for the extreme right, the loony neo-liberals, running the Tory party. Freedom, even more deregulated, unfettered freedom for companies, not-necessarily with our best interests at heart, to buy parts of the NHS which we allegedly own, and then sell it back to us for inflated prices.
Of course it may all turn out to be milk and honey but I very much doubt it and as we queue up in the lines for non-EU passport holders, pay a premium for access to a club we were already in and have to accept free movement of people half the population supposedly don't want. And, further down the line perhaps when the milk has turned sour and the honey doesn't taste quite so sweet, under a Gove / Johnson / IDS government, 50% of the population might scratch their braincell and ask' why did we do that?'
Farage, the genial racist-in-chief, of course has had to have a purpose to his life, I can see that and whilst deploring the poisonous bigot have slightly less disrespect for him than Johnson. Not that either of them would ever really care I dare say. Gove at least has a little more intellectual clout about what he says; however, the results of his education policies show that such intellectual clout leads to badness. It comes to something when I end up agreeing whole-heartedly with John Major's summation of the ideologues pushing Brexit.
Now, back to the EU - I remember being taught about the process of European integration as part of my history A level. Doubtless it must have been nefarious EU propaganda as it seemed pretty reasonable given all the horrors of European history and the great post-war advances in western Europe which have since cemented democracy in the post-Soviet east. Moving forward, when teaching in secondary schools, Europe, what it's for and how it functions hardly got a mention. So little wonder that folk no so little and depend on a one-eyed septic press which has been nearly all hostile, passing misinformation as fact for as long as I can remember. One Alexander B. Johnson was involved in that - making up facts got him the sack from I think The Times. The Great British patriot Murdoch sacking a liar - it must have been bad.
So, it should be no surprise that most people have little idea of what the EU is for nor what it does; nor do I suspect most politicos really know either. Out of curiosity, I attended a few Labour meetings to see what was happening after a thirty year absence. Not a lot. Dispiritingly, I stopped attending as, among the youngest, I felt like I was in the last days of a near extinct species - that may just have been Thanet where the local Tory MP, Craig McKinley, is being checked out for fraudulent election expenses. Ultimately, aside from Plod and C4 news, who cares?
How does it affect me? Well, I suspect many of those bringing in nearly 50 million quid into the area through its language schools might choose to give their money to somewhere less overtly racist. Why stay with a host family who hate, without really knowing why, where you are from? Yes, racist, white on white racism. Ironic really, if it wasn't so sad. Yes, blame fellow Europeans for taking advantage, as many Brits also do, to travel and improve their lives taking advantage of often shit wages that British employers, perhaps donors to the Tories, choose to pay them.
Democracy and sovereignty - yes, on the doorstep many I spoke to in Thanet anyway, have little concept of what either of these two concepts mean. I had one muppet say that she wanted Britain to remain so that 'we' could stay in the Eurovision Song Contest. I tried not to wince but at least she was for Remain if for perhaps not the right reasons. Others talk frequently of dictatorship without being able to name a single example of it. That said when you talk of pooling sovereignty people take that in. No war between major states since 1945 also resonates. Free movement of people still though does not do much against the once dog-whistle migrations.
Freedom, sure there will be. There will be lots more. Lots more for the extreme right, the loony neo-liberals, running the Tory party. Freedom, even more deregulated, unfettered freedom for companies, not-necessarily with our best interests at heart, to buy parts of the NHS which we allegedly own, and then sell it back to us for inflated prices.
Of course it may all turn out to be milk and honey but I very much doubt it and as we queue up in the lines for non-EU passport holders, pay a premium for access to a club we were already in and have to accept free movement of people half the population supposedly don't want. And, further down the line perhaps when the milk has turned sour and the honey doesn't taste quite so sweet, under a Gove / Johnson / IDS government, 50% of the population might scratch their braincell and ask' why did we do that?'
