Bridges & Walls

Off to Hamburg tomorrow - probably for the last time to work as I leave De Montfort University in 3 months time, and have no current private contracts in Germany. Sad really, not just because I like Germany a lot, but over the last 38 years of commuting I have seen amazing changes in both our countries - fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification - a new generation building a great multi-cultural community - the Maastricht Treaty which brought our countries so much closer (after all the Queen is a German immigrant!). Seems strange that we are cutting ourselves off from our European roots - seeking a Nirvana of a Golden Age that never existed.

Odd memories that stand out include the day my Deutchmark Bank Account transformed into Euros, and I got my first real Euro check book and ATM card - suddenly I was able to spend my earnings all over the place without being ripped off by bankers - 2 years later the notes and coins followed.
Then there was our first crossing of the Hungarian-Slovak border, near Aggtelek (North East Hungary) - the guards were amazed to see a UK passport at such an obscure crossing - and both sets of guards came out to wave us on - a decade later thanks to Shengen that little border post had gone when we next passed through it, and the world seemed smaller and friendlier.
A trip to the Ardennes also comes to mind,where there is a thin sliver of France that pokes into Belgium. Believe or not on the obscure mountain road that we were driving along there was a little box with a French border guard who jumped out to stop and search the car - probably the only car he had seen all day. Today of course that barrier has gone too - yet here in the UK we are building walls again, not least with Ireland.
I am going via Brussels, calling in on old friends - denied the right to vote in the referendum - but now stripped of their rights, nationality and personal freedom as a result.
What dreams and hopes we had, as the first post-war generation to see a European Alliance built on trade, culture and free movement - as opposed to a military alliance. Our children and grandchildren grew up as citizens of Europe, free to work, live and study anywhere in EEA - and now trapped in this little island, whose economy is declining, currency is unwanted, friendless and alone - their rights and freedom eroded.
No apologies for being miserable - the next generation deserved something better from us - and that has been stolen from them. We had the opportunity to enjoy and benefit from a United Europe, no-one forced anyone to use those freedoms – but it is wholly wrong that those who did not understand or want the freedom that European Citizenship offers chose to take it away from our children.

'Deal or No Deal'

'Deal or No Deal'; but it is not a TV reality show even if you hold hands with Donald Trump. Britain will leave the EU, but who will secure the 'Best Deal'? Theresa May sacked 20,000 Police, to be replaced by a 'Commission for Countering Extremism'. Despite Security Service warnings, 'No Deal' takes us out of Europol, ditches the European Arrest Warrant, and quits Euratom which ensures the security and safety of nuclear reactors and uranium fuel. In contrast Labour will recruit 10,000 police, 3,000 firefighters, 3,000 prison officers, 1,000 security and intelligence agency staff and 500 more border guards.

Rising inflation, devaluation, zero hours contracts, 18% fall in car production, national debt soaring to 89% of GDP, are just a foretaste of what is to come under more Tory Austerity. If we are to remain a trading and exporting nation we must retain access to the EU's Single Market, the largest Free Trade Area in the World which takes 44% of our exports. The hardest hit will be small businesses, costs will rise, and export markets will be lost – and the Government's response was to whallop British entrepreneurs with a huge rise in National Insurance, whilst giving away billions in Corporation Tax Cuts to multi-nationals. The Tories have never understood that our wealth comes from designing and manufacturing quality goods for sale and export; not rents, dividends or from 'managing money'. The end result is that Tory Economics have left nothing to maintain the NHS, our schools, police or care for older people unless they pay the Dementia Tax.
If you want a secure Britain cooperating with our Allies, offering decent education to our young people with grants not debt, skilled and well paid jobs, export led growth with access to the Single Market, dignity in old age, and an NHS to be proud of you can only choose Labour. This election is not about Brexit it is about our future, and the sort of country that we bequeath to our children.

Dementia Tax

Theresa May's decision to seize the homes and money of older people in need of care must rank as one of the most callous proposals of the century. As a 2010 Labour Parliamentary Candidate the policy that I was most proud to present was Gordon Brown's National Care Service, to be funded by a small levy on all deceased estates. It was fair and progressive, each contributing according to their means, and all benefiting through a substantial increase in care funding. The Tories condemned that as a Death Tax - and then spent 7 years undermining the NHS as well as cutting Local Government social care funding. Like Faust, pensioners have had their votes bought by the Tories for years, but Theresa May has come to collect their souls, their pensions, their cash, and their houses - big time. The total spend on adult care is about £18 Billion per annum, the total value of ALL deceased estates is about £70 Billion. A 5% levy would increase the amount of money desperately needed to deliver care for older people by 20%. Rather than spread the cost fairly the Tories have proposed an ill thought out scheme that means that those with greater health needs, and the most vulnerable, pay the most.

I am European

So the next time I work in Germany I will be a foreigner. I have not thought that way for more than 20 years. No apologies Mrs May I reject the identity that you are trying to force on to me. I may be British but I have always been and will continue to be a European.

It has taken me months to get to the root of my anger, but I really think this is it. I genuinely consider myself to be European, all my grandparents are immigrants, as is true for a lot of people in Britain. In fact who is not an immigrant if you go back far enough. I remember posting some goods to Germany about 22 years ago (pre Maastricht Treaty), the post office clerk asked me a question which I cannot remember, I automatically replied "Its not going abroad its going to Germany" - I meant it then and still do not consider Europe to be 'foreign' - but the row that ensued in the queue was epic. I guess we are fortunate to have lived the main part of our lives as EU citizens, living with the benefits, and breathing in the freedom that came with them: an ethos that placed people at the centre of our society with freedoms our parents could only dream of. That freedom can never come from a Free Trade deal - because it is people who need freedom not 'things'. I had hoped we had moved on from Nationalism but clearly we still have a lot of work to do. I deeply resent the attack on my identity, and the loss of my rights.

Ban French words from English??? mmmmm

We know that many BREXITERS are just barmy - but the latest number 10 petition to remove all French from British Passports is truly incredible. Honi Soit Qui Mal y Pense, and Doit en Mon Droit - are entrenched in our heritage - dating to the French conquest of England in 1066. Most English Kings spoke French, as their first language, well in to the 14thC - Richard 1st is well known for neither speaking a word of English or even spending much time in this country. Much of Southern England recognised the French Prince Philip as King of England in the late 12th C. Norman French is still a legal language for Parliamentary debate, unlike the longer established Celtic native tongues. French dominance of British affairs however is long established; the French-Norman hegemony gave way to the Angevins (Anjou) who also claimed the throne of France - the Plantagenets (Angevins after the loss of the Anjou by the English Royal branch of the Angevins) also had strong French heritage - The Tudors as well, with a lot of Welsh mixed in - The Stuarts were as much French as Scottish, Charles II being raised in the French Court with his French mother- and in any case the 1666 conquest of England by Holland put an end to any chance of anyone 'English' ever again being King - that ended with Cnut long before William arrived. Today's Royal Family are of course German immigrants - Saxe-Coburg being their true family name.

Perhaps [middle English] the [German] time [German] has [German] come [German] to [German] remove[Latin or Old French] all [German] foreign [Latin] words [German] from [Old English] our [German] language [French].

Am I really Fat & Lazy? [Liam Fox & BREXIT]

Speaking as a 'fat & lazy' Director of a small business set up after being made redundant during Thatcher's recession riddled years, I am intrigued that Liam Fox is already laying the ground to blame everyone but himself for the inevitable failure to protect UK PLC from BREXIT.

Our modest turnover includes a small but growing slice of exports of which about half goes to the EU. Thanks to Liam Fox those exports are now threatened by the imposition of Tariffs; Customs Handling and the inevitable red-tape,costs and delays that brings with it; and the imposition of overseas VAT rates which are overwhelmingly higher than UK rates for the goods that we export.

Thanks to the end of freedom of movement I will no longer be able to work in EU, and a faceless bureaucratic at the Home Office will decide whom I am allowed to recruit instead of leaving it to UK businesses and universities to select the best person for the job. I now understand that I will have buy a Visa in order to travel to Europe for work or leisure.

Far from a great new trading future, Britain will be consigned to the backwater of the world's economy, and Liam Fox is one the BREXIT wrecking crew who are to blame.

BREXIT denial

We have a new phenomenon to add to Climate Change Denial - BREXIT Denial - though they are linked. It was extraordinary listening to BREXIT campaigner Chris Grayling today simply ignoring businesses who said that exiting from the Single Market and ending free movement of labour would damage their interests. A celery farmer in the Fens who uses seasonal East European crop pickers was adament that as he had similar farming interest in Poland he will simply relocate his crop growing to that country to be able to access the single market free of trade barriers - meanwhile Grayling ignored the statement by a hi-tech SME that their business relies on having the freedom to recruit the best from anywhere in Europe. He just babbled on about French farmers will still want to sell us stuff. I got to know a few of KIPPERS during my days in the East Midlands European Movement, and some of them were absolutely clear - leaving the EU would cost jobs and damage the UKs economy but they honestly believed that that was a price worth paying; now that is a position that I consider daft but worthy of respect. These Tory Brexiters simply have no credibility - all will be OK because we will have a free trade deal with Australia! We have to accept the result of referendum, but respect it? Never. For the sake of our country, its economy and security, and our personal freedom, we have to campaign for RETURN.