EUROPE'S MIGRANT STRATEGY

So Europe thinks it's cutting a deal with the Turkish Government led by President Erdogan. I'm a fan of the European Union, but we need more solidarity with one another not less. Britain is not part of the deal and the Danes have an opt out too. Hungary, Slovakia and Poland are also hostile to the deal, Germany, The Netherlands and others are in, but the feelings of the people in Germany remain to be seen. Sweden too has been open to asylum seekers and desperate immigrants, but maybe things will change there, it's hard to say. Europe seems to be slamming its doors. Or trying to by proxy.

An American General accused Putin of exacerbating the migrant crisis in Syria in order to destabilise Europe, he may well be right. For Russia, who's President is all about power, it's a win, win, support their ally Assad AND cause problems for Europe. So where are we really?

The deal says we take Syrian refugees, deemed as genuine refugees and Turkey takes the others back. What a pantomime; so a boat is intercepted in the Aegean with say ten Syrians on board and ten from elsewhere, it goes back to Turkey and ten other Syrians, already in refugee camps are flown to Europe for resettlement. Does anyone really think this is going to work?

Then the UN throw their lot into the mix talking about legalities. Well, actually legalities and human rights do matter, even if the UN is a compromised and fundamentally flawed organisation. Has anyone noticed that four of the five permanent members of the laughably entitled Security Council are at war in Syria and lets face it, not all on the same side or pursuing the same ends!

The UN does some good in sending humanitarian aid, sometimes, but as a tool to end war it is utterly useless. Have people already forgotten Bosnia? In Bosnia UN peacekeepers kept their weapons holstered while genocide was committed and a UN Colonel even shook hands with the perpetrator. It's true that the powers away from the front line made the position of the troops on the ground untenable, but still it was appalling. Utterly appalling.

In Syria today the USA, Russia, France and to our shame the UK are throwing ordnance around and only Russia has a strategy and the other three don't buy into that one, so what happened to jaw, jaw? The UN and the Security Council is a sad, sad, sorry organisation.

So, the UN is part of the problem, not part of the solution and the European Union, unable to agree and speak, or act as one, is turning to Erdogan. This is a man who uses force to suppress demonstrations, people who don't want a shopping centre built on the last green space in Istanbul, people who want their most popular newspaper to remain free.

In return for his 'help' he wants six billion Euros and EU membership back on the table and visa free travel for Turks, actually weakening the border, or am I the only one who sees that? And he can't be trusted. And he doesn't share our values. Actually he should be tossed out of NATO, for those very reasons.

In the UK Cameron has negotiated the UK out of ever closer union, and most of the British public cheer that. Actually if Europe is ever to speak with one voice and act as one what we need is closer union, but politicians, following what's expedient for themselves won't see that. Wilfully won't see that just as clown Boris has jumped on Brexit in the hope it will suit his career.

Countries like India, China, Russia, the USA have huge populations and of recent times it has made them players on the world stage. Populations in India and China are becoming better educated and more productive, making them more powerful still. As in fact we saw historically in the USA. The USA incidentally once welcomed all and it made them strong. Then they started to clam up, they became more isolationist. What we're seeing in Europe is like the same thing speeded up by a factor of a hundred.

Funny thing is that once we looked down on isolationist ideas. I know immigration causes problems, teaching a class that has a dozen different languages doesn't work. Having more people than there are jobs or housing doesn't work. Nonetheless we should be better at solving problems than doing a deal with Erdogan.

If we can assimilate these people and help them to become productive, contributing members of our society it makes us stronger. There are job vacancies online, all the time and here in Yorkshire it's a shameful fact that for every homeless person there are ten empty homes! Really.

Anecdotes are not statistically valid BUT on TV the other night an interview with a fifteen year old girl fleeing Aleppo where she had been at school. Her English was perfect, damned if I can speak Arabic. She played the violin, as I did at school, her dream to play professionally. Of course they're not all like her, but I'd wager many are, and those who didn't go to school still could.

What we really need is closer integration in Europe and policies which make all of Europe stronger. Stop the bickering and turn a problem into an opportunity, don't do deals with oppressors and don't have them as military allies. Scrap the UN and start over with an organisation that actually works for peace. First though Europe need to be whole. Britain should stay in for our benefit, Europe's benefit, the world's benefit and we should stop throwing our toys out of the pram. There's not too much wrong with British values on the whole, we should help not hinder.

In AND better friends. 

Is Republican The New Lemming?

Do the warnings from history have a best before date? Do people forget, or is it just that later generations disassociate themselves from the lessons of the past? Maybe there is actually a Lemming instinct in humanity, such that suddenly huge sections of society are happy to follow someone into the abyss.

In the 1930s people wondered how a basically civilised, cultured and christian country like Germany could align itself behind the anti-christ. How could Germany turn a blind eye to Gestapo torture and SS genocide, or did they actually back it? Donald Trump has openly said he'd go after families, that's innocent women and children to you and me, he's said that not only does he support waterboarding, but he'd endorse more extreme torture too.

As Hitler blamed his country's ills on another race, so Trump blames Mexicans and Muslims. It's a worry. If you'd toured Germany at the end of 1945 you'd have seen what it is to follow a man like that into the abyss. Of course millions of Germans never did see, because they, like their leader, died in the fall.

Sounds extreme doesn't it. Yet the destructive force of Hitler's weapons, which laid so much to waste, are as nothing compared with Americas nuclear arsenal. Today a man like that could achieve much.

Britain has nurtured what it thinks of as a special relationship with America, although it's really kinda one sided in reality. However, such as it is, it's based on shared values as well as a common tongue. And so I respectfully suggest that IF America elects a President with such different values from our own that we do not also become Lemmings, that we let that relationship go, that we withdraw from NATO and  ask other members to follow that example until sanity is restored.

Torture, murder, war crimes, racism, bigotry and division are not British values. I hope and believe they are not American values either. If Republican is the new Lemming then lets hope for a Democrat landslide.

Protest now.

The Plight Of the Middle Classes

Here in the UK there was a Chancellor of the Exchequer, later Prime Minister although not by popular election, who destroyed, well hugely devalued anyway the pension provisions of hard working middle class people. Some of them took it on the chin but others looked at other ways to provide for their old age. One of those ways was through buying property to rent out.

As with their pension decisions people based their choices on the rules at the time. A new Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, is now waging war on those people, forcing them to sell up or lose money, Hobson's choice. The high moral position that he takes is that it will help first time  buyers. Which it won't really.

Now, many of the buy to let investors are slightly older people and when they bought their first homes they had to save for a deposit, there was no such thing as one hundred percent mortgages back then, no help to buy schemes either. Most paid astronomical interest rates too, which skyrocketed with little or no warning. Double figure rates.

Things are not materially worse for first time buyers today unless they are already saddled with huge debt from their education, another wrong brought about by politicians, Tony Blair principally. The really iniquitous thing though is how they (the politicians) seek to divide society.

The attack on buy to let landlords, who on the whole maintain their properties and charge fair rents, is just one example. The rhetoric pitches the landlords against the first time buyers, when actually there is no conflict at all. No one forces you to rent, everyone makes their own decisions, when to leave home, what education to pursue, what career to pursue, when to get married, when to start a family, when to buy.

If buy to let landlords flood the market with property, there may be a short term dip in prices. The thing is, that usually when property prices fall there is a corresponding loss of confidence too, it doesn't really help, it's a bit like the old boom and bust Gordon Brown promised to eliminate.

There is a welfare system in the UK, but that's selective too. I know a middle class couple, late middle age and the wife has early dementia. It's a genuine tragedy, but they will pay for her care, probably for years and years, until the husband is left not only with no wife, but also with no future and no proper retirement for himself. Middle class you see, worked all his life.

If they had nothing, had done nothing, owned nothing the state would help. Now no one is saying the state shouldn't help those with nothing, but it does seem iniquitous that those who've contributed all their lives struggle to get help when they really need it, again it's divisive, them and us.

And yet it is the middle classes that are the power house of any economy, it's generally the middle classes who generate the wealth and espouse family values and education and decency, so why are they the enemy of all political parties?

Leading a decent life T shirts.

Super Tuesday

I love America and I'm saddened to see it so divided. The Republican Party seems to be getting ever more extreme which is shown by the rise of Donald Trump. It's funny in a way how the word 'liberal' seems to have become a dirty word, when actually the American constitution is very liberal in terms of liberty and equality. Likewise the republicans seem to have tried to hijack the notion of patriotism and yet by becoming ever more right wing they are getting further from what the constitution aimed to achieve. Very patriotic.

And so we come to 'Super Tuesday'. The angry part of my soul would like to see Trump get the Republican nomination, just so long as he's utterly humiliated in the poll that really counts.Alternatively the republicans could move now to heal the division in the country. A divided USA helps no one.

Something else the constitution aimed for was justice - judges should not be republican or democrat they should be open minded and interested in serving the cause of justice, Obama should nominate a new Supreme Court Justice and the senate should behave responsibly, but I cannot see that happening.

By the way, do Americans know that in the UK 'Trump' is a euphemism for 'fart'?

Protest

Bad Case Eloquently Made

Watched the Andrew Marr show today and saw Iain Duncan Smith making the case for out in the European Referendum. He was opposed by Angela Eagle for the IN Campaign and unfortunately as a seasoned politician (not a compliment) he performed well. Seldom have I heard a disastrous case presented so well. Hopefully he upset a few people by patronising Angela. He also complimented Cameron even as he slid the knife into his ribs. Personally I don't much care about Cameron's future, but I do care about the future of my country.

IDS used impressive but misleading statistics. Yes lots of UK companies don't trade with Europe directly and yes they have to obey the rules. However, lets take a cafe, for example, many of the 'rules' will be about employment and food hygiene and so on, they're not necessarily bad rules and it's a level playing field for all cafes. In some areas European tourists will be important to them too.

Now take a small company that has a product. If I had such a company, and I am thinking of making a product as it happens, I could fill the boot of my car with samples and cross the channel and show that product immediately to retailers and potential distributors all over Europe, no red tape, no problem.

IDS says they'll keep on trading with us, yes they probably will, but things will get more complicated, more obstacles will arise, it's a nonsense.

Apparently Scottish himself, IDS was also asked about Scotland. Now, we all know that if we leave the EU Scotland will want to leave the UK and try to get back into Europe, but, disingenuously IDS said we should only consider the one issue. How ridiculous, the whole thing is about future consequences.

After 2000 years of largely tribal conflict in Europe we've been friends and growing closer since the disaster that was World War Two. Cameron's so called 'new deal' is not the point and nor is the idiotic idea that if we vote for out we can negotiate an even better deal for ourselves. Since when did we become so bloody selfish. What's wrong with getting closer? What's wrong with a joined up world? What's wrong with equality across Britain, across Europe?

Show your support!  For women and men in different languages.

Selfish and childish.

The European Union has created peace in Europe for the first time in about two thousand years and has improved the lot of many European citizens. No, it's not perfect and all members should strive for a strong economy, high standards in education and health, and work towards equal opportunities for all.

So, at a time when Europe faces a migration crisis, when there is terrible conflict in the Middle East, even by Middle Eastern standards, when relations with Russia are at low ebb and North Korea is developing long range missiles, David Cameron just wants to talk about Britain.

Do things our way or just maybe we'll leave. I apologise wholeheartedly and unreservedly to our European neighbours. The fact is David Cameron wants to stay in Europe but cannot lead his own party, so he needs the country to make the decision. It's not really even a decision we should be considering. His party's angst and indecision has caused a constitutional crisis in effect, he did it over Scotland too. Now, just suppose people are persuaded to leave, then Scotland will raise its head again because they want in to Europe and it will never end.

Most people I know are appalled by Donald Trump and his politics of division, you can influence your friends; make enemies and understandably they don't want to listen. I'm not saying that a Britain outside the EC would become an enemy, but it would be an outsider by definition, no longer at the table and that's a step in the wrong direction. Many of the 'out of Europe' campaigners concede it would be a step into the unknown, that jobs and investment would be put at risk, ah, but we'd have more control, yes, more control of a weaker less influential country, great!

The European economy is not booming, there is terrible youth unemployment in many places, whilst unemployment here has been falling of late, despite immigration. Now, I don't want to see Britain's roads and hospitals at a standstill because of overcrowding, I don't want to see teachers faced with classes where there are half a dozen languages spoken and teaching becomes impossible. So the question we should be asking is not what can Europe do for us, but what can we do to help Europe? Especially in terms of youth unemployment. That's what membership means and it's what's best for us too. End this selfishly inspired childish nonsense now for goodness sake.

Interconnected Issues

On the news last night a big item on the increasing suicide rate in the UK, thousands every year and the age profile is going up, probably because more middle aged people are killing themselves, rather than because fewer young people are.

Maybe Great Britain isn't such a great place to live anymore. The government wants you to work until you're seventy to alleviate the pensions crisis they created. Now, if you're in a job at sixty it may be difficult for your employer to get rid of you, but try getting a new job and it won't be so easy.

Equally, young people are leaving university up to their eyeballs in debt, unless they're Scottish, which is another problem because the so called United Kingdom is neither united nor fair. What is all this passion for devolution anyway? The only thing worse than a national politician is a trumped up local one. And all these extra layers of bureaucracy add hugely to the cost too.

The Romans ran most of Europe and North Africa with a civil service of about three hundred people. Ah, but look what happened to them I hear you say. Well, it was the pressure of mass migration that happened to them, people from poor and strife ridden regions who wanted in to what the Romans had and ended in destroying it.

Sound familiar? Now Russia has caused a huge increase in the refugee problem in Aleppo. Personally I'm an advocate of greater engagement with Russia; the Russians are major players in the world and you can't influence anyone you're not talking to. It's childish, just like Cameron's referendum, which I'll come on to in a  minute.

Just think, if Napoleon hadn't fought Russia, if the Kaiser hadn't fought Russia, or if Hitler hadn't fought Russia, how would our world look today? I'm not saying that Russia has done everything right. I grew up in the cold war and heard the testing of air raid sirens and I watched films about nuclear attacks and nerve gas. All very scary.

I'm not a fan of communism either, it may sound ok in principle, but clearly in practice it leads to corruption and oligarchy. However, not engaging with Russia is a huge mistake, they aren't going to take all, probably not any of the new refugees they are creating.

On the other hand, the west hasn't been so clever either. There's a reason why the Arab world, or large swathes of it, began calling the USA 'The Great Satan'. I'm not supporting that position, but the USA and Uncle Sam's pet Bulldog think it's ok for them to interfere, sorry intervene abroad but not Russia, oh no not them.

Well Putin is demonstrating that what's good for the goose is good for the gander. He's interfering for his own good, but didn't we? We cannot sort out the schism between Sunni and Shia and it's pointless trying. And why do we support Saudi Arabia when we abhor their human rights policy? If it can be called that.

Once again jaw, jaw would be better than war, war. Which brings us back to the refugee crisis dividing European politicians. Britain, soon to be the suicide capital of the world if we carry on the way we're going is saying we want our way and if we can't have it maybe we'll leave. How childish is that? Is it any wonder if the rest of Europe think we're mad? And what happens if a collective madness brings about our exit?

I'm very glad I can travel all over Europe, I'm very glad I have the option to settle in a happier place. When I was seventeen I went on a British Schools Exploring Society expedition to Arctic Sweden. We made maps for the Swedish Government while we were there and afterwards I wrote to the Swedish government to enquire about emigrating there. Sorry son, no dice, but now I could, or I could go to Italy, France, Spain, Portugal etc as many Brits have.

The media fed us stories about straight bananas, milk lakes and butter mountains, but most of the real issues have been sorted and if you think that the Italian, Swedish, Danish, French, German, Dutch et al politicians are worse than our crazies think again. Frankly I'd sooner most of them than the British socialists, somewhere right of Attila the Hun and very clever at squeezing more money out of ordinary people for their own plans, or the Tories who've learned all they could from them.

In principle I ought to be in favour of referendi, because I think politicians should be there to serve us not push us around. Frankly however this Euorpe in or out referendum is purely because the bloody Tories can't make their own minds up and want us to do it for them. We need to be in Europe and engaged, not throwing our toys out of the pram, especially in a crisis. Lets all grow up, vote to stay in and leave this cursed island and go somewhere happy!