MORE EU BLUSTER.

As the European Union forged a supposed 'agreement' on the vexed matter of migration, one of its leading figures, Donald Tusk, set about telling the UK that quick progress was now needed on a number of issues if a Brexit deal was to be agreed by October. What a hoot !

The 'agreement' on migration is nothing other than a vaguely worded fudge which has led to sharp disagreements between the various national leaders within hours of it being announced. However, and for reasons which are only too clear, a similarly fudged agreement regarding Brexit seems to be impossible. As has been the case all along, the EU simply keeps demanding that the UK produce answers to all of the bones of contention for fear of dire consequences if we don't.

Mr Tusk, who is President of the European Council (whatever that is) believes that the most difficult issues remain unresolved and wants the UK representatives to "lay their cards on the table" very quickly in order that a deal can be done. He makes no mention of the need for the EU to do anything similar, even though negotiation is usually a 2-way process. As far as the EU is concerned, it's for the UK to make all of the proposals and for the EU to simply tell us that the ideas are no good, the aim being to end up with such a watered down version of Brexit that we might as well stay in the dreadful organisation.

Well Mr Tusk, perhaps you've forgotten the phrase "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed". You may go on about issues such as the puffed up 'Irish Border' problem but the UK actually has the whip hand, if only we would use it. In the absence of an agreement, it is the EU which will suffer a huge potential loss through reduced trade and it will lose some £39bn of cash which it's expecting. The EU would be so diminished that it would crumble, whatever its arrogant bureaucrats might say. 

It is time for the EU to make some realistic proposals of its own, rather than sitting back in the smug conviction that the UK will ultimately see the error of its ways and agree to accept whatever the EU wants. Tusk, Barnier, Juncker and all the rest of these buffoons need to beware; the people of the UK can bite.

EUROPE ISN'T THE ONLY MARKET PLACE.

As the Brexit negotiations chug along to their inevitable conclusion - yet another fudge - it occurs to me that our 'friends' in Europe ought to think long and hard before pushing the British people too far.

I drive a German car, in fact my last 2 cars have been German. I also drink French wine and have done so, by the bucket-load, for decades. My kitchen contains olive oil, the produce, so it says on the label, of Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal. No doubt there are many other European products which I also consume in one way or another, just as do millions of other Britons. At the same time, my television is of Japanese origin, my laptop probably made in China. Many of my clothes and household linens convey the message that they were made in India, Bangladesh, China, Malaysia and heaven knows where else. 

My conclusion from this is that there are many places from which to buy goods which are not in the European Union. If the Bureaucrats in Brussels continue to obstruct Brexit at every turn my next car certainly won't be German, nor French nor of any other European origin; I hear that Japan, China, Malaysia, the USA and more all make perfectly good models. My French wine will be replaced with similar and sometimes superior products from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, the USA and others. Olive oil isn't essential and there are plenty of alternatives that will do. My fruit and veg will come from elsewhere than in Europe and my clothes already do. 

On balance, I reckon the EU will be the poorer for mistreating me and serve them bloody well right !

WHEN WILL REMAINERS EVER SHUT UP ?

Once again, the abominable Vince Cable has raised the spectre of another referendum on the little matter of the UK's relationship with the European Union. Of course, Cable doesn't call it a referendum but simply a vote, which is a fine example of the deceitful way in which he and his like try to corrupt our language.

Today, there is to be a march in London by anti-Brexiteers who still refuse to accept the result of the 2016 referendum. On television this morning, Cable asserted that polls were showing a definite movement away from Brexit - he did not give any details. In fact, his interview on 'Breakfast' was the usual jumble of highly selective 'facts' and distortions of the truth. Cable is one of those who will do anything, say anything, in order to achieve his aim of keeping the UK inside of the appalling dictatorial bureaucracy that is the European Union.

When I voted to leave the EU, I did so knowing that the process of withdrawal was likely to be tortuous though ultimately highly beneficial. I did not expect the EU to be happy or helpful and, in fact, I expected that its leaders would carry on as if nothing had happened, anticipating the usual solution in such situations, that is, that there would quickly be another referendum which would overturn the result of the first. That this has not happened must have been hard to take and it meant that the EU was in new territory. It's response has been to lay the responsibility for suggesting the mechanisms to be put in place after Brexit on the UK, the EU simply sitting back and acting like General de Gaulle in the 1960s; de Gaulle was the French President who famously said "Non !" in answer to the UK's initial attempts to be admitted to the then named Common Market. Today, it is Michel Barnier and his pals who are saying "Non !" to whatever the UK's negotiators put forward.

Airbus and BMW have both been in the news in recent days complaining about the lack of clarity of the economic position after Brexit but both appear to have aimed their remarks at the UK's government. Why are they not also complaining to the EU's leaders about their unwillingness to be positive and constructive ? Needless to say, both companies are perfectly comfortable in the protected environment of the European Union and neither wants to see their current rather cosy situation upset by any criticism of the EU's leadership. Equally needless to say, Vince Cable and his supporters have leapt upon the statements from Airbus , BMW and others and added them to the 'Project Fear' cauldron, having carefully and selectively edited the contents first.

To be campaigning for a further referendum on the final terms of Brexit is dishonest. Brexit means Brexit. It does not mean staying in the customs' union or single market. It does not mean accepting freedom of movement nor rulings of the European Parliament, Court of Justice or any of the myriad of other European bureaucratic institutions. The electorate did not vote with any such provisions in mind, it voted for leaving the entire European Union. Those who now tell us that we were, in fact, too stupid or ill-informed, or simply did not understand what we were voting for, to have cast meaningful votes are following an utterly anti-democratic line. The referendum was promoted as a once in a lifetime opportunity and the people took it; it was always clear that the result would be final and that there would not be any further referendums on the issue. 

Cable and his ilk lost the argument. It is now time for them to accept this and shut up.

GOSPORT MEMORIAL HOSPITAL DEATHS.

The report that hundreds of hospital patients their lives shortened by the administration of strong powerful in the years before 2000 comes as no surprise. However, I find it far less concerning than does the media.

There is no doubt that some patients were hurried to their end by being given large doses of morphine although such patients would have been those with terminal conditions, very near to death and who would have been in considerable pain had they not been medicated. was

In 1997, my brother died in hospital after losing a battle with leukaemia. At the end, he was unconscious, had no chance of recovery and his airways were increasingly blocked with blood. His breathing was harsh and terrible to hear and, had he been conscious, I am certain that he would have been in terrible pain. I made it clear to the senior nurse that I did not want him to suffer any more than was necessary and the nurse acknowledged that she understood my meaning. Within less than an hour, my poor brother had died and I am sure that he was helped to his end by a large dose of morphine. Far from being angry at this, I am forever thankful that the ward staff saved him from what may well have been many more hours of suffering.

I don't know whether the patients of Dr Jane Barton at Gosport Memorial Hospital were in similar situations to my brother nor whether Dr Barton was simply following this widespread practice or was another Harold Shipman. However, until this is clearly determined, the media, and others, would be well advised to be highly circumspect in their comments for fear of creating a situation akin to that of the much maligned, though entirely innocent, Bristol landlord, Christopher Jefferies.

KANE BEATS USELESS VAR !

With the football World Cup now in full swing, refereeing decisions are back in the headlines.

Theoretically, the advent of the Video Assistant Referee, or VAR, system means that there should be less argument over the decisions of referees, be they right or wrong;  indeed, VAR is also supposed to see some things that the on-field referee misses and bring them to his attention.  In the first few games of the competition this seemed to work quite well, with offsides being adjudicated and penalties being awarded which otherwise would not have been, but last night was a different matter entirely. 

For England's match against Tunisia, it appeared that the VAR was only working part-time. The assistant referees appeared to be flagging for tight offside decisions which it had previously been said that they should leave to the VAR, while the VAR seemed to be only partially sighted when he did intervene. After a VAR review confirmed that Kyle Walker's swinging arm had made contact with a Tunisian, who promptly fell on the floor as though pole-axed, and awarded the African side a penalty, far more deliberate and blatant acts against England were totally ignored.

While the penalty awarded against England could be the subject of dispute, Captain Harry Kane was the victim of the most obvious foul play on at least two occasions, being grabbed and wrestled to the ground by Tunisian defenders who clearly had eyes only for him. In the penalty area and paying no attention to the ball, the Tunisians seemingly had only one aim, that being to stop Kane any way that they could. The Colombian referee either didn't see the incidents or chose to ignore them, while the VAR sitting in front of numerous screens in Moscow saw nothing which required him to raise concerns. WHY ?

Nothing could have been more clear and yet the system failed completely. Thank heavens that Captain Kane eventually took the result of the match out of the hands of these incompetent officials.

UPSKIRTING ? GIVE ME STRENGTH !

There was a time when crime was denoted by genuinely bad acts - burglary and theft of all sorts, assaults of all types, murder and other offences which caused real harm. Sadly, the world we now inhabit sees many more acts as crimes.

The current furore surrounding the newly invented 'offence' of 'upskirting' is a case in point. For anyone to indulge in attempting to take photographs from underneath a woman's skirt or down her blouse is such a puerile act as to warrant school detention and a hundred lines; it is a stupid and childish thing to do but can it really be called a crime that can be punished by up to two years in prison ?

Of course, it is yet another example of the myriad ways in which nasty men supposedly do horrible things to women, and this, alone, justifies its conversion into a serious 'crime' in the eyes of many. In reality, it is no more than another addition to the pantheon of perceived social offences to which we are now subject. Many of these offences, wolf-whistling springs to mind as another, have been dreamt up by the monstrous regiment of militant feminists who see men as agents of the devil. Why on earth do we put up with such nonsense ?

It is long passed the time that we should have created a clear distinction between crime and social unacceptability. The penalties for the first include prison, for the second a trip to the headmaster's study and public shaming if, indeed, they are really even offences. Many things offend me but I don't expect them to be turned into crimes; feeling offended is not the same as being robbed, physically assaulted or murdered.

TIME TO END FARCICAL BREXIT 'NEGOTIATIONS'

The European Union's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier seems to be making himself clear with regard to the UK's latest proposals aimed at reaching an amicable Brexit arrangement - he doesn't like them at all. In fact, he appears to be saying that the UK has no choice but to accept the EU's own proposals.

All I can say to this is "Up Yours, Barnier !"

If the EU wants it all their way, then the UK has no choice but to revert to the previously stated "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed" position. Theresa May should now tell Barnier in no uncertain terms that the UK will leave on WTO terms, arrangements for trade across the Irish border will be up to them as the UK will make no changes to the present situation, and the EU can whistle for its billions.

The UK will no longer include companies from EU countries in major tenders and we will no longer provide support for EU projects of any sort. There will be strict immigration controls at all border crossing points, including in Ireland and Gibraltar, not to mention at the UK end of the Channel Tunnel. EU citizens will be treated no differently from other foreign nationals with regard to work, taxation, benefits and healthcare; we will no longer abide by any EU laws, rules, regulations or directives regardless of when they came, or come, into force.

We need to tell the EU that their time is up. Theresa May should end these farcical 'negotiations' forthwith.

BORIS IS RIGHT BUT IT'S ALL TOO LATE NOW.

Boris Johnson has made his way into the headlines again by managing to be recorded at a private function.

In typical Boris style, he's apparently referred to the Treasury as being the "heart of Remain" and saying that the government's Brexit negotiations strategy lacks "guts"; he suggested that Donald Trump would do a better job. Needless to say, his words have been seized upon by the media as yet more evidence of turmoil within the Cabinet.

Frankly, Boris is right. Ever since the referendum, the Treasury has been producing negative forecasts of the consequences of Brexit and has been at the forefront of 'Project Fear'. Coupled with this, the government has seemed to be running scared of the Eurocrats on the other side of the table; at every turn, our representatives have backtracked and simply failed to show any backbone at all. Rather than tell the EU what WE will and won't do. we have kow-towed to THEIR every whim; we have been treated like, and have accepted the position of, a naughty child doing its best to get back into the 'good books' of its parents.

Donald Trump would never have done this. As a man with none of the political baggage that so besets genuine politicians, Trump would have taken a much tougher stance with the EU and would have taken control of the negotiations. Sadly, our political leaders, constrained by all manner of nonsensical political twaddle, have failed miserably to do any such thing and Brexit, when it happens, will be a pale imitation of what the people voted for.

The EU needs a deal every bit as much as does the UK. By now, Trump would have walked away and the EU negotiators would been the ones in turmoil; they would have been desperate to drag us back to the table and would have been prepared to give us almost anything to safeguard their trade surplus with us and to ensure that the billions already promised aren't lost. 

I say again, Boris is right and our government has betrayed us.

VISA FAILURE SIGNALS THE PERILS AHEAD !

We often hear about the ways that computers and other 'IT' will make our lives easier and easier. All of the drudgery of our daily lives will be taken over by machines and we will be left to 'enjoy' the resulting freedom.

Ho, Ho ! Yesterday's problems with the VISA computer system threw the world into turmoil as shop owners and customers struggled to cope; payment cards were refused and cash was King, at least for the day. Sadly, many people have almost forgotten what cash is and found life most difficult.

While this was but one isolated problem, it surely should focus our minds on the potential for disaster when the much vaunted IT systems fail us. Cars, trains and planes all rely on computers and if the computer fails, so does the conveyance; when it comes to 'driverless' cars, I shudder.

Digital technology is everywhere, in our mobile phones, televisions, laptops and tablets; booking systems, health systems, government systems for taxes and benefits. The police rely on computers as does 'big business'; much manufacturing relies on computerised assembly lines. Without GPS, many drivers would be unable to find their way, having forgotten how to read a normal map. Without IT, our microwaves wouldn't work, nor many other household appliances. 

We hand over control of our lives to such digital technology at our peril. Yesterday was simply a tiny foretaste of the chaos that can result.