Category: Chips on Shoulders

Cheer up!

The prophets of doom need a cause. The flavour this year is Brexit failing and the downfall of civilisation as we know it. Every hack has an informed source to prove the point; conspiracies, rebellions and incompetence abound in every corner of the Tory camp. Allegedly.

So may I respectfully aver that the Eurolands have no interest in a dead Brexit, whatever their unelected prats may say. In the next two years the wobbly wilderness aka the EU will be struggling to avoid further flounces, bankruptcies and distractions;  never mind scoring a famous own-goal by upsetting its almost-former member, their trusted trading partner.

So come on Ms May, do it on Tuesday and stick it to those self-satisfied Europrats.

 

And the winner is…….

oscar

 

 

 

It’s an annual occasion tailored out of extravagance, excessive emotion, self-congratulation and self-deception; strangely appropriate to the state of the nation itself, if its new President is a bellwether. Perhaps unsurprisingly the man himself is reputed to abhor the whole business, owing to Hollywood’s leftish leanings, or perhaps in reality because he is a luvvie himself but can never win the coveted statue. The winners will speak as if with authority – just like him and spare no tears for anyone, if it makes good copy.

Who’s going to pay the piper?

nato gdp 1

President Trump has declared that NATO members must pay their whack. Apparently members ‘should’ be paying 2% of GDP p.a. but very few do, notably Canada, France, Germany and Italy, whose annual subs fall well short. Only Greece, Estonia and Poland pay up alongside the US and UK.

Now, being a simple soul, I think Trump has a point. No doubt the defaulters have long lists of excuses to offer but (as Jazz has kindly observed) I’m a stickler for rules.

At a time when Russia seems intent on reigniting the cold war and reasserting its control of its borders with the EU, are the less enthusiastic NATO countries expressing their apathy, their poverty or wha’?

Answers please on anything saleable.

K.I.S.S.

Justin Welby

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/feb/13/archbishop-suggests-brexit-fascist-tradition

I beg to differ, Justin. And I offer the K.I.S.S. mantra in celebration both of today’s romantic tradition and of common sense. The British attitude (yes, a generalisation, I know, but a well-documented one) to European unity post WWII was always to welcome uncomplicated trade ties but to be suspicious of political links. We were gradually entangled in the tentacles of a growing monster, allowing ambitious politicians too much rope and suffering the consequences. And voting to leave cannot be called a fascist act! If it can be termed a revolution , then it’s against the abuse of unelected power and the loss of British sovereignty, and in support of real democracy.

The EUroprats will seek to over-complicate Brexit, believing erroneously that procrastination will serve their cause, while many of the individual member states will wish to hasten a solution, to avoid disruption of bilateral relations with the UK.

Simples.

The so-called President

donald-duck-trump

His VP says we are getting used to him ‘speaking his mind’. Well, yes, but there is a clear line between expressing an opinion based on facts and expressing an objection in derogatory terms (ad hominem). His latest jibe – the ‘so-called judge’ crosses that line.

This portrait catches admirably his other Donald Duck-like features.