EU REFERENDUM : THE MEDICINE ISN'T WORKING, SO TAKE MORE.

The longer the referendum campaign lasts, the more those leading the 'Remain' side appear like the purveyors of old style 'patent medicines'.

Cameron, Osborne, Corbyn, Darling, McDonnell et al, keep telling us that the medicine dispensed by the European Union in terms of its laws, rules and regulations is good for us and certainly much better than not taking the medicine at all; indeed, they go still further. For those of us who have taken the medicine for many years, but found it be ineffective or that it has made us feel worse, they tell us that the problem is that we haven't taken enough of it. They tell us that what we need is more and at a higher dose which, of course, incurs a higher cost.

The European Union is an anachronism. It was built on a fallacy and is now nothing but a self-serving edifice which has no purpose in the world of today. It is arbitrary, largely undemocratic and unaccountable; it's accounts are a mess and it is corrupt. It is restrictive and protectionist. It has destroyed the British fishing industry while supporting hugely inefficient farming practices; it interferes in our everyday lives for no acceptable reasons, with rules such as those which govern the labelling of the items in shops. It requires us to accept hundreds of thousands of migrants from all over Europe every year without permitting us to vet them in any way. The European Court of Justice, an organ of the EU, is superior to our own misnamed 'Supreme Court' and can, and does, overrule it. It's aim is to create a United States of Europe, a continental nation to rival the USA, Russia and China, and wants to have its own army. All of this and it is hugely expensive, too.

Do we really want to keep on taking the medicine ? VOTE LEAVE.

 

EU REFERENDUM : PENSIONS UNDER THREAT ?

Oh dear, oh dear. Cameron, Osborne and company really are getting desperate.

Today it's reported that David Cameron and his chum from Number 11, George Osborne, have said that they 'might' not be able to protect spending on pensions, the NHS and defence n the long term if the UK votes to leave the European Union. They claim that the strain on public finances caused by 'Brexit' would threaten the so-called 'triple lock' which guarantees rises in the state pension, and Cameron has added that "It wouldn't actually be affordable".

A few months ago, Cameron was telling us that if he was unable to reach a satisfactory outcome in his renegotiation with other EU members, he would recommend that the UK left the organisation, making no reference to the frightening scenario of which he's now trying to convince us; in fact, he said that the UK would survive and prosper.

The truth is that Cameron and Osborne have as little idea of the future outside the EU as anyone else; in reality, there is no evidence that leaving would have any seriously adverse effect on the UK's finances beyond some initial uncertainty in the financial markets. The scaremongering claims are just thoughts plucked out of the air to frighten voters; today it seems that their targets are mainly older people and pensioners. It is cynical and disingenuous, and calls for a very large dollop of scepticism. Indeed, it calls for total rejection of these lying hounds.

VOTE LEAVE !

EU REFERENDUM : TREASURY DOES ITS MASTERS' BIDDING.

The shockingly disingenuous nature of the Government's efforts to persuade us to vote to remain in the European Union becomes ever more apparent. Today, we are being confronted with a supposedly independent analysis and report from the Treasury which sets out the latest horror scenario; following the publication of this report, Cameron and Osborne, in an obviously orchestrated move, are appearing at the headquarters of the DIY company B & Q in order to emphasise the potential disaster of a vote to leave. Apparently the choice of venue is some sort of ham-fisted attempt to say something, though exactly what isn't obvious.

All of this has the very nasty taste of a Government stitch up, not to say a serious attempt to feed a load of unprovable 'facts' to the British people. The Treasury is, after all, an organ of the Government and does its bidding; is it surprising, therefore, that its report comes out solidly in support of its masters' view of the world ? Their analysis is based on a large number of assumptions, all, some or none of which may be accurate or true, but they have undoubtedly cherry picked the scenarios which best suit the picture which their bosses want to paint.

It is claimed that the pound will collapse, house prices will fall, prices will rise, thousands of jobs will be lost and we'll have a terrible recession. In truth, this is all economic forecasting which is historically fraught with difficulties and frequently wrong. Years ago, we were told that not joining the European Union's exchange rate would prove disastrous, so we joined; it turned out that joining was actually what was disastrous and we withdrew on the infamous black Wednesday in 1992, along with Italy which had also had enough.(Sadly for them, they later decided to adopt the Euro).

Undaunted, the same people who had advocated joining the ERM went on to tell us that we had to adopt the Euro, or else all hell would break lose - we'd lose, jobs, the pound would collapse, our economy would 'tank'; in the event, it has been those countries which did adopt the Euro which have suffered, some of them very badly indeed. While the British economy has grown and been reasonably healthy in the face of worldwide economic difficulties, the Euro-zone has gone through, and is still going through, an appalling period of turmoil which shows little sign of coming to an end after many years.

Let no one be in any doubt, David Cameron never had any intention of allowing the UK to leave the European Union. His claimed renegotiation was a sham and its outcome was meaningless. He is now engaged on a campaign of disinformation and outright lies aimed at frightening the British population into voting to stay in a corrupt, undemocratic, protectionist, outdated and moribund organisation. In so doing, he is following in the well worn path taken by so many politicians, that of avoiding political change at all cost in order to maintain control and safeguard their own positions.

The EU has become a home for politicians who cannot find a job in their own countries but who fancy a well paid role with lots of expenses and no accountability. It's become a home for bureaucrats who are rarely if ever seen or heard of but who love to tell others what to do. It's become a talking shop in which everything is discussed, often over expensive dinners in the best hotels, but in which nothing positive is ever done. It's an organisation which spends its time working out what next to interfere in, what it can next tell us to do or not to do, always for our own good, of course. It prevents real competition by imposing a 'one rule fits all' policy across an entire continent, an approach which only some countries bother to follow but which the Union 'top brass' turn a blind eye towards.

The EU is a disaster. Voting to leave is the only sensible option but it does not mean we are anti-European, racist, xenophobic or any of the other words which are thrown about. It means that we are anti-EU which is an entirely different thing. There is nothing wrong with European countries working together and they do so in many ways outside of the EU; there is no reason that a withdrawal by the UK would change this. What it would change is the perception that a political union is the only way forward for the disparate countries of Europe and that would be to the benefit of all.

VOTE LEAVE.

EU CRUNCH TIME FOR CAMERON.

Oh dear, oh dear. The poor old European Union is huffing and puffing and making out that agreeing to new arrangements for the UK is a huge problem. As we get closer to the supposed 'crunch meeting', key players are letting it be known that the negotiations are hard, agreement may or may not be possible, there are 'sticking points' and so on. The truth is very different.

Of course there'll be agreement, mainly because there's very little that can't be agreed. Cameron's 'demands' are virtually meaningless and will make almost no difference to anything. The EU will continue on its merry way as before and all of the fuss that's been made over the last year or so will be forgotten. Migration into the UK will continue; paying benefits to migrants will continue as will having to provide them with all of the social facilities enjoyed by long term residents, such as free access to the NHS and assorted local authority services. The UK will continue to be beset by vast volumes of rules and regulations issuing from the faceless bureaucracy that will continue to shuttle back and forth between Brussels and Strasburg, not forgetting the vast costs incurred by simply having the various EU bodies of parliament, council, commission and God knows what else.

The European Union is a huge conglomeration of nations which serves no one but itself. It is inherently socialist, protectionist and inward looking. It is like an old-fashioned 'closed shop' trade union, with its leadership hell bent on maintaining power and status at all costs; no one can 'enjoy' its privileges unless they're members and no one can be members unless they sign up to its ways. Leave, and you forfeit all rights. This is a doomed organisation, utterly unfit for a world in which communications and trade are global; while it may have been a good idea, once, its day has passed.

Cameron will return from his latest round of talking just like Neville Chamberlain did in 1938. He will have at least a metaphorical piece of paper to wave at onlookers and will claim that he has achieved a wonderful result, and that all is now well. He will say that we can now vote to stay in this organisation without fear but that to leave it would be both foolish and highly dangerous.

POPPYCOCK.

Vote to leave. Get out. Open up the UK to business and opportunities with the rest of the world without all of the baggage of the EU around our necks. Di it now. Do it in June. Do it as soon as possible. Just DO IT !

ELECTION HORRORS AHEAD.

Thank God the election will soon be here though what it will bring us is another matter.

For weeks now we've been subjected to the lies, prevarication and disingenuous drivel of a vast horde of political figures, and others, all telling us what they think we want to hear and none of them telling us the truth. Questions put by interviewers have been ignored, avoided or answered in such a way that an impression is given without actually making any hard and fast commitments; even Miliband's recent statements about the SNP and possible deals with them still leave more than enough 'wriggle room' for Labour to do whatever they like in the event of a hung Parliament.

The opinion polls have remained stubbornly stuck, with no party seemingly making any significant progress in convincing the people that they are the ones to vote for. We have the likelihood, at the moment, of Labour probably having most seats and entering into an effective agreement, formal or not, with the SNP, a party which is desperate for the UK to be broken up. The SNP, for their part, have made it very clear that they will not support any Conservative led administration under any circumstances, confirming their position as a party of the extreme left. Likewise, Plaid Cymru have made a similar statement, though both the Liberal Democrats and UKIP have left open the question of whom they might be prepared to support.

In the end, what we are left with is the real prospect of a minority Labour government propped up by a mish-mash of extreme left wing parties including the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Greens. With the mantra of all 4 relying hugely on 'an end to austerity' we will find ourselves plunged into another financial abyss, with government borrowing rising again to unsustainable levels. Of course, there will also be vast increases in taxation, especially for anyone who has anything; I can see further assaults on the so-called 'well off', more raids on pension funds, huge increases in council tax and so on. Eventually, the bulk of the population will be much worse off.

What to do about it all. Sadly, voting for my preferred option, UKIP may well lead to my constituency electing a typically oily Liberal Democrat, though the best candidate I've seen by far is actually the Labour chap. Nationally, votes for UKIP may well help Labour to pick up Tory seats and make the horror of a Labour-SNP axis a reality. I doubt that I will make a final decision until election day.