By January 2020, Boris, Great Leader of the Independent Kingdom of Brexitannia, had set the nation and its people free from the tyranny and oppression of the unelected EU dictatorship.
This new found freedom was celebrated with universal joy and relief by Leavers across the country.
Topic: INDEPENDENT KINGDOM OF BREXITANNIA 2021 – 2034
Module 6. Independent Kingdom of Brexitannia
And so, after nearly six years of conflict and sacrifice, the country that had been at war with itself declared a fourth and final Independence Day on New Year’s Day 1st January 2021. This new found freedom from the tyranny and oppression of the unelected EU dictatorship was celebrated with universal joy and relief by Leavers across the country, except that public celebrations were impossible because of the global pandemic and the need to sanitise, socially distance and ‘Trace, Face, Space’. But a Festival of Brexit had already been promised by Mrs May at some time in the future so the People had something to look forward to. Emboldened and empowered by being free from the tyranny and oppression of the unelected EU dictatorship, Boris wasted no time in enacting the European Union Future Relationship Act giving him the power, in so-called ‘urgent cases’, to create laws without going through parliament, a bit like an unelected dictatorship. These were known as Henry VIII powers, appropriately so for Boris who saw himself as King of England, had many wives, presided over sweeping changes in his nation, broke ties with Europe and engaged in numerous costly and largely unsuccessful conflicts with the French and Scots. Using his Henry VIII Powers he installed himself as Prime Minister in Perpetuity, or PMiP, reasoning that no other mortal could do better than he or be more popular with the People. With characteristic wit, the People took to lovingly calling him ‘f**king Boris’, as in ‘oh it’s that f**king Boris again.’ With equal measure of sarcasm and linguistic laziness, the first syllable was dropped in common parlance to become ‘king Boris, which Boris didn’t mind because as a child he wanted to be King of the World. He went on a tour of Britain to meet the People, whose Will he verily hath done. He was applauded wherever he went, enjoying much popularity.
‘king Boris
While visiting a recycled toilet paper factory he announced that, in view of the nation’s new found independence, under his special Henry VIII powers the United Kingdom of Great Britain (Northern Ireland was mentioned as little as possible) or UK would forthwith become the Independent Kingdom of Brexitannia, or IK. And he declared that the Tory party would henceforth be re-branded the IK Independence Party, or IKIP. For too long dissent had torn the nation apart and so the Independent Electoral Boundary Commission was ordered to redraw constituency boundaries to ensure that the IKIP would always be elected under a strengthened ‘First Past The Post’ system, ensuring continual strong and stable government in the interest of national peace and harmony. There remained a large number of the People known as Traitors or Remoaners who, for the sake of democracy and bringing people together, were allowed to vote for other parties approved under the Misrepresentation of the People Act 2022, even though they would never win any more than two or three of the 700 seats in parliament.
It seemed as if the newly independent Independent Kingdom, free from the shackles of the unelected EU dictatorship, was set fair for a bright future, a Golden Dawn. But the country still faced a number of challenges. It was still in the grip of a global pandemic which would not end until after 2023. Vast swathes of the economy had been destroyed by the pandemic and even more destroyed when the EU blocked all trade after the 2022 North Sea Haddock Wars. Brexit itself had cost more than £250 billion in government spending and lost economic activity, almost as much as the total amount paid to the EU over its 47 years of membership. By the fourth Independence Day in January 2021, the national debt had risen to more than £2 billion, more than 100% of the Gross Brexit Product (GBP). Exclusive trade agreements with the USA and China allowed cheap products and privatised public services to flood the country. Unable to compete, factories and businesses that had not moved abroad were forced to close. Border controls and custom checks restricted imports of food and raw materials leading to shortages.
Food shortages
The years following Independence were dubbed the Age of Brexterity, nostalgically harking back to the years of Tory Austerity under Gideon and Dave. Brexit had not yielded the ‘dividend’ that was promised. Lord Grease-Smogg, renowned Leave campaigner, multi-millionaire offshore hedge fund manager and man of the People, had predicted it would take 50 years for the ordinary man in the street to feel any real benefits, not that he knew or wanted to know any ordinary man in the street. He spoke with great experience in these matters. With great foresight, before independence, he moved his private wealth fund management businesses to Dublin to stay in the EU, reasoning that he would be unable to keep his family and Nanny if he were to go out of business, and would not wish to be a burden on the State.
The Idle
With the decline of the economy there was a significant rise in unemployment, to 3 million in 2022. In 2024 there were approximately 5 million people classed as ‘Idle’. The ‘Brexit Living Wage’, a simplified benefit which replaced all previous welfare payments, cut red tape but could not cover the increasing costs of basic food and clothing. The People were unable to make ends meet, but didn’t grumble because they had taken back control. Farmers struggled to survive after cheap migrant workers from the EU were denied entry due to strict immigration controls introduced by the Minister of People Mrs Prattle, herself of immigrant descent. Families were forced to eat home grown foods such as potatoes, turnips and bread. Meat, vegetables, fresh fruit and milk became luxury items, traded on a black market. In one West Midlands town shoppers rioted outside a supermarket when a small quantity of Little Gem lettuces arrived from Spain.
New Commonwealth Citizens
With EU workers no longer allowed, the government identified a source of labour in what they called the ‘New Commonwealth’, which was pretty much the old British Commonwealth but new. The Brexitannia Nationality Act was introduced by the Minister of People Mrs Prattle, herself of old British Commonwealth descent, and the call went out for workers to help rebuild the nation. Learning lessons from the 20th century it made no distinction between black, white, yellow or brown and in the spirit of equality classed all members of the New Commonwealth as ‘Commonwealth Citizens of Brexitannia’, conferring the right to settle as long as they had £100,000 in savings, an ‘A’ level in English and a certified job offer from an enterprise registered in Brexitannia with more than £1bn annual turnover. Unfortunately many applicants found it difficult to meet these requirements.
Module 7. Independence Government Schemes
‘Global Is Good’
Lord Grease-Smogg
One of the main aims of Brexit, apart from closing the country to foreigners and other undesirables, was ‘Going Global’. Under the ‘Global Is Good’ (GIG) initiative the government allowed all domestic industries, businesses and public services to be taken into the hands of a small number of Global Owners. Called the ‘GIG Economy’, these global owners were permitted to put profit before the wellbeing of workers and consumers (the People) to ensure they would not go out of business and could keep going globally for the benefit of the People. Lord Grease-Smogg’s ‘Keep It Clean’ and Lord Sunup’s ‘Free For All’ schemes were key elements of ‘Going Global’. The idea that ‘Going Global’ meant literally going out around the Globe had been misunderstood by many. Strict border controls and immigration rules implemented under ‘Take Back Control’, and any businesses of any value moving out of Brexitannia, led to a gradual reduction in any trade with the outside world until Brexitannia became a closed, inward looking island. Which was not a problem because that is what the People really wanted all along.
‘Keep It Clean’
The domestic economy had failed but the government was not short of cash to spend on exciting new infrastructure projects and property investments at home and abroad, with enough left over for the Brexit Benefit and Brexit Boy payments. Exploiting its new found freedom from the shackles of the unelected EU dictatorship, and in recognition of the Brexit aim of ‘Going Global’, Lord Grease-Smogg of The Caymans was appointed Minister of Money, tasked with establishing Brexitannia as the go-to global offshore money laundering destination. Under his ‘Keep It Clean’ scheme, he quickly enacted the necessary financial and fiscal mechanisms to process the proceeds of serious and organised global crime including corruption, bribery, theft, drug dealing and tax evasion. A department of the Ministry of Money was dedicated to servicing the corruptly obtained assets of overseas politicians and public officials.
‘Free For All’
Global Free Trade Zone
The ‘Free For All’ initiative was led by Lord Sunup, former Chancellor, ex-hedge fund manager and billionaire son-in-law of a billionaire global information systems businessman. Exploiting the IK’s new found freedom to remove all regulatory protections, Global Free Trade Zones were established around the coast. They utilised the vast areas of land sequestered by the government for giant lorry parks built under the pretext of improving Brexit border crossings, which quickly became unnecessary with the collapse of all cross border goods trade. The GFTZs allowed entrepreneurs, Global Owners and ‘Wealth Creators’ complete freedom to operate however they wished using unregulated low wage local labour, in return for payment of a fixed annual fee to the government. The plan was for GRTZs to engage with a global network of autonomous self-governing states within a state called Free Trade Micro Cities in countries such as Colombia, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Oman and Saudi Arabia, plugged into a tariff and tax free Global Free Trade Superhighway.
‘Making Life Useful’
Brexit Boys
The Useful Life Act was introduced to bring unemployed people classed as ‘Idlers’ back into ‘Useful Life’, known popularly as ‘Skivvy Street’. Under the ‘Making Life Useful’ initiative, Idlers classed as ‘Useful’ were recruited to a National Service and paid the Brexit Living Wage. Dubbed the ‘Brexit Boys’, they were recruited in order of age and length of idleness. Underlying all the government’s policies was the notion of personal freedom, so those unable to be useful because of physical or mental deficiencies were categorised as ‘Useless’ and free to scrape a living however they wished. Many former military personnel who were released due to government spending cuts were immediately levelled up as Brexit Boys and provided with a basic living space and subsistence payment.
‘Notional Health Service’
An exclusive tariff free ‘open doors’ trade agreement with the USA, called ‘Come On In’, made possible a flood of private enterprise insurance based personal health services, which the government brought together under a light touch regulatory framework called the Notional Health Service, or NHS. Paid for by lifelong personal insurance cover, but free at the point of use, it brought health care to all who could afford it, from cradle to the grave.
‘Life Of Learning’
Learning to earn
The 2025 Learning to Earn Act introduced a new approach to education that would more closely align with the new post Brexit economy called ‘Life Of Learning’ (LOL). The school-leaving age was lowered to 11 to allow more personal flexibility in young people’s learning opportunities, more attuned to their personal lifestyle choices and the needs of the economy. The objective was to level up the People for ‘Useful Life’ on farms, in factories and services by ‘Learning to Earn’. Primary schools continued to be free of charge for those who needed them but Secondary schools became an optional extra, charging £3,000 a term with a 20% discount for online stay at home learning. Those who could not afford Secondary education moved seamlessly into ‘Useful Life’ at the age of 12, unless classed as ‘Useless’.
‘Space Race’
Living Space Modules
The Government was keen to level up the enormous shortage of housing and millions of properties made derelict through neglect by homeowners and landlords with no money to spend on upkeep. Many houses needed levelling up, for example over 1 million homes did not have an ensuite master bedroom and few had even a basic hot tub in the garden. Under the 2025 Living Spaces Act, the government introduced the ‘Space Race’ programme to build over 1.5 million new living spaces between 2026 and 2031. They were provided by Living Space Providers run by self regulated cartels of entrepreneurs personally appointed and approved by the Minister of Living Spaces, Mr Raabid, who had been influenced by an earlier German ‘Lebensraum’ scheme. A million cheap and cheerful prefabricated Living Space Modules known popularly as Prefabs were provided under the Space Race programme, creating much useful work for Brexit Boys and Idlers. By 2030 some 150,000 Prefabs, 10 percent of the target, had been provided (figures subject to audit by the Brexaudit Commission).
‘Keep It Up’
Despite the difficult times, referred to jokingly by ‘King Boris as ‘bumps in the road’, and ‘teething problems’, there was still much optimism and hope of a better future. Having taken back control, for most of the People the sweet elixir of freedom was enough to keep them going through thick and thin, whatever the weather, do or die. But the People had put up with much hardship and made many sacrifices for Brexit, and expected something in return. The policy of ‘Bringing People Together’ saw keeping up morale as a major challenge. The People needed distractions and Minister of Minds Lord Cumming of Covid introduced the 2025 Information Act to deliver a 24/7/52 social media streaming initiative to raise morale, maintaining unity, loyalty and confidence using cutting edge techniques of ‘Social Mind Warping’.
Gathered round the Brexigram
Called ‘Keep It Up’, it was franchised to entrepreneurs, Global Owners and ‘Wealth Creators’ personally appointed by the Minister of Minds who worked as a loose partnership called the Boundless Brexit Cartel or BBC. A continual counterfactual information channel offered the People an infinite variety of distraction modules including music, comedy, soap operas, home improvements, dressmaking, gardening and cooking. A ‘Keep It Up’ social media streaming wrist strap mounted App called the ‘AppStrap™’ was developed by the Cumming Analytica Corporation (CAC) which sensed what the wearer was thinking and tuned them in to an appropriate distraction module. ‘Life Of Learning’ learning modules kept the People in sync with latest government thinking, also supporting the policies of ‘Bringing People Together’ and ‘Levelling Up’ by making them all think the same way. Access to government programmes or services required an up to date certificate of completion of the latest modules. The ‘Keep It Up’ initiative supplied every living space with a dedicated ‘wireless’ device called the Brexigram which was constantly tuned into the BBC. Imported from China under an exclusive trade agreement, to a specification developed by Lord Cumming of Covid and by 2037 every living space, even in the poorer areas of which there were many, had a Brexigram.
Festival Of Brexit
Celebrexating
A Festival of Brexit (FOB) to bring people together and level them up was originally promised by the clergyman’s daughter Mrs May and promised again by ‘king Boris. It was allocated a budget of £6.8 billion representing £100 for every man, woman and child in Brexitannia. Former film maker Martin Grinnan-Bearit was appointed Festival Of Brexit Chief Executive Creative Director (FOBCECD) to think up ‘Big Brexit Ideas’ that would bring people together and showcase Brexitannia’s boundless Brexit creativity to the world. He came up with a three word slogan ‘Open, Original, Optimistic’ and selected ten ‘Things’ for the festival which could be physical or virtual, inanimate or animate, happening anyhow or anywhere, that might last a minute, an hour, a day or a year, one big act or ten million tiny acts. Mr Grinnan-Bearit said “creativity has always been brilliant at exposing more of what we have in common than what we don’t have so the opportunity to bring people together in an open, original, optimistic way is really timely and very much of its time”. No date had been set due to endless debate over objectives, ownership and funding.
9. The 2034 General Election
‘king Boris
The last election had been 14 years earlier in December 2019, and ‘king Boris could not resist having a general election to celebrate his 70th birthday on 19 June 2034, just for fun. As Hero of Brexit and Father of the Nation who had rescued the country from the shackles of the unelected EU dictatorship, he was bound to win. In any case, the Independent Electoral Boundary Commission had redrawn constituency boundaries to ensure ‘king Boris and his IKIP Party would be continually elected. Other parties were allowed to participate in the interests of democracy, notably the Useful People’s Party (UPP, formerly the Labour Party), the Faragist Party of the People, the Abolish Everything Party and the Scottish National People’s Party which was still campaigning for Independence. A Remoaner Party had been banned for going on about wanting their freedom back, as had the Green Party for promoting unpatriotic and traitorous theories of ‘Climate Change’ contrary to Brexit principles of personal freedom. The LibDem Party had been re-purposed as a Charity for Sick Animals and Plaid Pobl y Cymru, Party of the People of Wales, had almost disintegrated due to incessant factional disputes over the importance of the Welsh language in Welsh life. Nevertheless it struggled on in hope of establishing Gwlad fy Nhadau a Mamau, Land of My Fathers and Mothers, free of the shackles of the dictatorial IK. Northern Ireland, still nominally part of the IK, was effectively part of Ireland and left to its own devices. In fact a heavily patrolled marine border in the Irish Sea prevented anyone crossing to or from Northern Ireland and its people showed no interest in voting for a parliament in London.
The Prime Minister in Perpetuity ‘king Boris had every expectation of winning. But things had changed; a new generation of the People had grown up. Those who were 12 at the dawn of independence were now 23. Despite all that was done to keep them distracted by the 24/7/52 ‘Keep It Up’ media stream, it had not prevented them from learning of life beyond the tightly controlled borders of Brexitannia. Some people from Northern Ireland sometimes accidentally broke through the Irish Sea Border, and occasional Europeans penetrated the English Channel Blockades and even some foreigners managed to qualify as Commonwealth Citizens of Brexitannia. Like a virus, news of life on the outside slowly spread and infected the minds of the People who began to realise there was more to life than living on a Brexit Benefit or working as a Brexit Boy; that there were other possibilities, other things to eat than turnips, stale bread and the odd Little Gem lettuce. The sullen but cheerful acceptance so characteristic of the People, whose popular greeting was a mumbled “Mustn’t Grumble”, was turning to a confused hopelessness and a growing discontent was casting its shadow across the sunlit uplands, unnoticed by ‘King Boris and his advisers.
The election result was a surprise. The election campaign masterminded by Lord Cumming was flawed; it was some time since his last campaign and his algorithms weren’t what they were. By focussing on ‘king Boris’ as Hero of Brexit, it did not appeal to a new generation of the People who wanted something else, even though they had not been told what it was and didn’t know. The campaign slogan ‘Make Boris Great Again’ did not resonate with them, making an awkward acronym ‘MBGA’ and in any case was a four word slogan which they were not used to. The Useful People’s Party had a three word slogan, a play on their acronym, ‘UPP And Away’, and hit on the idea of a six word slogan ‘Let Us Face The Future Together’, perceived as wholly new and exciting. As the first election since 2019, an unusually high number of people voted out of novelty. Perhaps the People believed the Useful People’s Party would bring some relief from years of Brexterity, bring back some control over their lives. Whatever the reason, UPP secured a landslide victory and the reign of ‘King Boris was over. The People could now dare to dream that the dawn was breaking on a new country which would be called…. Britain.
Notes
1 After years of reappraisal, risk assessment and reworking, it was decided that the Festival Of Brexit to bring people together should be scrapped. FOB Chief Executive Creative Director Martin Grinnan-Bearit was awarded the Order of Brexit.
2 After Scotland gained independence in 2036 and joined the EU, a new Federal State called Britain was constituted, comprising six English ‘Counties’ and the autonomous Principality of Wales. It joined the EU in 2040.
It’s nearly four years since my last post, written soon after the referendum of June 2016, looking at why people voted for Leave. Some thought we were out but, as I said, it was only just the beginning and we had years of wrangling ahead of us. Well that was correct but unfortunately the possibility that we may never leave the EU did not happen. During those years of incessant wrangling UKIP became the Brexit Party, a privately owned subsidiary of Nigel Farage Inc. which people did not join but subscribed to. Despite Leavers claiming otherwise, xenophobia, bigotry and ignorance continued to inspire them but of course none of them were racist. And, having taken back control, the millions of Eastern Europeans, Turks and even Syrians who would arrive if we remained in the EU, failed to swarm over our little island.
Many years later this BBC Teaching aid would be found…
BBC style Bitesize Revision
GCSE Subject: History
Topic: BREXIT AND BREXITANNIA 2010 – 2021
1. Mutterings of Discontent
The bad old days
The forty years between 1975 and 2015 had witnessed unprecedented change across the British Isles. Up until 1973 Britain had never fully recovered from WW2; the nation was in poor shape and labelled as the ‘sick man of Europe’. Thanks to joining the European Common Market in 1973 and the European Union in 1985, there had been a dramatic rise in prosperity and living standards. In a changing world, Britain was able to reconcile the manifold dilemmas occasioned by the ‘end of Empire’ and to redefine a new place for itself in a world dominated by the superpowers of USA, Russia and increasingly China.
Things were going well until the worldwide banking crisis of 2008. Despite swift action to counteract the damage, thirteen prosperous years of a Labour government came to an end when an ungrateful electorate turned against them in the general election of 2010. Led by Mr David Cameron, a Tory government scraped into power, aided and abetted by ‘LibDem’ collaborators. Mr Cameron, son of a City stockbroker, was an ordinary bloke who liked to be called Dave. He went to Eton School and Oxford University where he was a member of the Bullyboys Club, a dining society with a reputation for heavy drinking, boisterous behaviour and damaging property. He married Samantha, an ordinary girl who was daughter of Sir Reginald Sheffield, 8th Baronet of Normanby and Annabel Lucy Veronica Jones. Pursuing an ideology of fiscal sadism, Dave and his Chancellor George Osborne brought in the Austerity Years, invoking nostalgia for the post war years. Son of Sir Peter Osborne, 17th Baronet of Ballentaylor and Ballylemon, George was born Gideon Oliver but liked to be called George. Despite cuts to welfare benefits and public services during their first five years, Dave and George were re-elected in the general election of May 2015. The People seemed to want more of the sadistic rigour of Tory Austerity, evoking folk memories of the times when Britain against all odds beat the Germans in WW2 and the 1966 World Cup. Yes, those Germans.
George and Dave
The following years were to be dominated by the Tory party’s never ending mutterings of discontent over the UK’s membership of the EU. Dark forces were at work, not only in the Tory party but across the nation where a United Kingdom Independence Party was making merry in parts of Britain that most people never knew existed. Its quest for UK Independence, which they called Brexit, was puzzling to most British people who rightly thought that the UK had been independent ever since its creation in 1801, not that many knew the date. It was led by a Mr Farage, who had a large mouth and was son of City stockbroker and alcoholic Guy Justus Oscar Farage. Mr Farage liked to be called Nigel and claimed to be a man of the People although he was a millionaire former City commodities broker. Often photographed in an Olde Worlde style English Pub in the attire of a Tory country squire with a winning smile and pint of Greene King in hand, he attracted much attention and more and more mainly English people good and true were persuaded by his proposition that the UK was in fact not independent and jolly well should be. Worse still this once mighty colonial power was now no more than a colony itself, a vassal state, ruled by an unelected dictatorship in Brussels called the EU which in turn was the plaything of the arch nemesis Germany, who of course Britain had defeated in WW2 and the 1966 World Cup.
Fish
Even worse, foreign fishermen were taking all our fish. The People became more and more fed up with losing their fish as well as the Tory government’s cuts in public services and welfare benefits. But they were more fed up about fish. Mr Farage said it was all the fault of the unelected EU dictatorship from whose shackles this once proud nation must break free. The People were against the ‘global elite’ but believed Mr Farage even though he was well in with the ‘global elite’ and quite a few filthy rich capitalists who liked the idea of Brexit. Mr Farage was never short of funds. He was even friends with Mr Trump who would become the worst US President in history. The idea of Brexit was becoming so popular that he decided to leave his UKIP Party and start the Brexit Party and got his filthy rich multi-millionaire friend Mr Richard Tice to be its chair. Mr Tice was very busy running his asset management portfolios and offshore funds but selflessly decided to join Mr Farage as a Member of the European Parliament, even though they wanted to leave the EU. A bit like someone who doesn’t want to join a fitness club but joins a fitness club and gets paid a decent salary and expenses for turning up and doing nothing.
2. Referendum
In the May 2015 general election Dave won a clear majority so he didn’t need the LibDems anymore and could do what he liked. He thought he would put a stop to all the talk of Brexit and any further mutterings about Europe by having a referendum on membership of the European Union. He was confident that the good British people would see sense and vote to Remain. After all, most of his Cabinet, the Bank of England, the IMF, industry representatives and leading economists agreed it was the sensible thing to do. He wasted little time and the referendum was held in June 2016, asking people if they would like to Leave the EU, without any idea or explanation of what leaving would mean, like ‘jumping over a cliff edge’.
Gove and Johnson
Unfortunately Dave, being a nice chap, said his Ministers were free to campaign however they wanted. Things started going badly for Dave when two of his Cabinet, Michael Gove and Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, who thought we should remain in the EU, decided to lead a campaign to leave the EU, called ‘Leave EU’. Gove and Johnson thought it would be a jolly jape, a wheeze, a bit of fun, with no expectation of winning and set forth, taking a leaf out of Mr Farage’s book by pretending to be men of the People when in fact they were part of the elite that the People were against. Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, commonly known as Boris, was inspired by his student days in the Bullyboys Club at Oxford University, causing wanton destruction around the town and being rotten to poor people. None of them expected to win but they had the help of a clever boffin called Dominic Cummings who devised another three word slogan ‘Take Back Control’ which seemed to resonate with the People who, he found, seemed to resonate with three word slogans. It certainly resonated with the People who had no control over their lives and had sunk to the depths of despair thanks to five years of the Tories’ Austerity, but believed it was all the fault of the unelected EU dictatorship, thanks to Mr Farage.
Dare to dream
Everyone was surprised, especially Boris and Mr Gove, when against all odds Leave EU won by a slim margin of 52 to 48 percent. Mr Gove’s wife Sarah woke him the morning after with a poor impersonation of Michael Caine saying “You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!” We don’t know what Mr Gove said. Mr Farage was as surprised as any. He had predicted Remain to win by 52 to 48 which he said “would be unfinished business by a long way” and would lead to an unstoppable demand for another referendum. But when he realised Leave had won by 52 percent he said it was a clear victory for Leave, the People could now “Dare to dream that the dawn is breaking on an independent United Kingdom” and there would be no need for another referendum. Mr Farage said it was a victory “for real people, for ordinary people, for decent people” which left over half the country thinking they must be unreal and indecent. In fact he said it was a revolution that had been achieved “without a single bullet being fired”, even though Labour MP Jo Cox MP had been stabbed, shot and killed eight days earlier by an extreme right wing brexit supporter who, when asked his name in court, replied only “Death to traitors, freedom for Britain”.
Man of the People
A lot of the People said they voted to leave the EU because it was an evil dictatorship, but some said they voted Leave to give Dave and George a good kicking. Dave had promised the People that the government would honour the result of the referendum even though legally they didn’t have to and didn’t really want to, so he resigned as Prime Minister. The next morning he stood outside No.10 and said “The Will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered”, his voice breaking. In the leadership contest that followed, one of the contestants Mrs Andrea Loathsome said she wanted to guide the country to the Sunlit Uplands but didn’t know where they were so nobody voted for her. Mrs May was the Home Secretary and came up with a brilliant three word slogan, ‘Brexit means Brexit’, which even the simplest could understand. The Tories liked her because even though she was a clergyman’s daughter and a devout Christian she had shown herself to be jolly tough by imposing an ‘Environment of Terror’ on immigrants who were swamping our little island and had to be sent back home, even though the UK was their home. Like Dave, Mrs May had wanted to remain in the EU but, like Saul on the road to Damascus, the scales fell from her eyes and she changed her mind and became committed to leaving the EU. Unlike Saul she did not change her name afterwards. And, with such a brilliant three word slogan, the Tories chose her as their leader.
3. Mrs May
So it was on 13th July 2016 that Mrs May, also called Theresa and daughter of the Rev Brasier and wife of a millionaire investment banker, became Prime Minister. She had been to Oxford University like Dave but was not a member of the Bullyboys Club, mainly because it was for men only. She stood outside No.10 and told the People “I follow in the footsteps of a great, modern Prime Minister” by which she meant Dave. Funnily enough she didn’t mention Brexit or setting Britain free of the unelected EU dictatorship but said she would “do everything we can to give you more control over your lives”, a clever reference to the three word slogan ‘Take Back Control’ that won the referendum for Leave. And she said “we’ll prioritise not the wealthy, but you” which was a strange thing for a Tory to say. Mrs May dutifully set about leaving the EU, to deliver the Will of the People, confident of success with her brilliant three word slogan.
Mrs May
But it would not be as easy as many thought, or had promised. Many promises had been made about Brexit which turned out to be impossible to fulfil and were unfulfilled. One of the difficulties was that nobody had left the EU before so nobody knew how to do it or what we should do instead. Mrs May thought it would make things easier if one person was responsible, so she created a special Cabinet post called the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU (SoSEEU) and gave the job to David Davis, who didn’t like being called Dave. He was a staunch Leaver and had said “there will be no downside to Brexit, only a considerable upside”, so everything would be fine. And everyone said it would be easy, like Michael Gove who said “the day after we vote to leave we hold all the cards and we can choose the path we want”, Boris Johnson with “there will continue to be free trade, and access to the single market”, John Redwood with “getting out of the EU can be quick and easy and Liam Fox saying “the free trade agreement that we will have to do with the European Union should be one of the easiest in human history”. Nigel Farage said “To me, Brexit is easy” which was easy for him to say because he didn’t have to get it done.
Mrs May kept saying ‘Brexit means Brexit’ but didn’t say what Brexit meant. Those who voted for Brexit knew exactly what it meant because they knew what they voted for, which was Brexit. Those who did know what Brexit meant had voted to Remain, but because they were traitors they were ignored or told to jump in the sea. Lots of people who were called experts warned that Brexit would mean lots of unwelcome consequences like increased costs, red tape and unemployment but they turned out to be traitors and were shouted down by the People who called it ‘Project Fear and said they were scaremongering. People who complained about Brexit were called ‘Remoaners’ or unpatriotic traitors who should move to the EU, even though they were already in the EU, at least for the time being. Mrs May got really tough and told Remoaners that they were Citizens of Nowhere, even though they had passports proving they were citizens, or subjects, of the UK. But the People had spoken and Dave had said the Will of the People had to be honoured even if it meant enduring a lot of hardship and suffering just like in WW2 when the People stood alone against the world. A lot of food including Little Gem lettuces and pasta was imported from EU countries. Because a lot of Leavers liked Little Gem lettuces they thought this should continue, so there should be an agreement with the EU about how that could happen. There was talk of agreements like the EU had with Norway, Switzerland, Canada or Australia but that wasn’t very helpful because those places were not the UK. Some thought the whole problem could be avoided by simply ‘walking away’ or ‘standing on our own two feet’ which didn’t go down well with people who only had one or no feet.
Even though the People voted to Leave and Dave promised the People that their Will would be delivered, some people were worried it still might not happen. Mr Farage’s filthy rich friend Mr Tice started a group known by the three word slogan ‘Leave Means Leave’. He was worried that Mrs May, who was a Remainer, might not really want to leave and needed to be reminded of the Will of the People. Mr Farage was also worried that the civil service, which had served Britain so well through centuries of Empire and two world wars, was traitorous and unpatriotic and working against the Will of the People to thwart Brexit and should be abolished. Mr Farage and his friends talked a lot about needing a ‘clean Brexit’ even though nobody knew what it meant, other than it was not a dirty Brexit which nobody knew the meaning of either.
They needn’t have worried because in September 2016 Mrs May went to visit Mr Donald Tusk of the EU to talk about a Withdrawal Agreement, as it was called. He was called Donald like Mr Trump in America so it was thought everything would be fine. But Mrs May and the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU David Davis found things were more difficult than expected and they didn’t hold all the cards. In October they were taken to court by Ms Miller, an unpatriotic traitorous lawyer and member of the metropolitan elite, who thought it was illegal for the government to do whatever they liked without letting parliament have a say. Millions of unpatriotic traitorous Remoaners supported Ms Miller and the High Court and the Supreme Court agreed with her. A lot of Leavers were upset about that, even though they wanted to leave the EU so their sovereign parliament could take back control and have more of a say in things.
Mrs May ignored unpatriotic Ms Miller and the traitorous Supreme Court and kept saying ‘Leave Means Leave’, which worked because on the 16th March 2017 the Queen allowed her to ‘trigger’ Article 50 which meant we would definitely leave the EU in two years’ time in 2019 although a lot of Leavers still thought we had already left in June 2016. It was also the 78th anniversary of Hitler annexing Czechoslovakia. The Secretary of State for Exiting the EU David Davis said he could now deliver the Will of the People and start negotiations with the EU to “step out into the world as a truly Global Britain” which sounded momentous and a bit frightening. On 29th March 2017 Mrs May wrote to Mr Tusk at the EU to ‘trigger’ Article 50, like firing a starting gun, and begin the two year period of formally leaving the EU, commonly known as ‘Brexit’.
4. Brexit Means Brexit
Still nobody could agree what Brexit meant even though Mrs May kept saying ‘Brexit Means Brexit’. The leader of the Tory party in Wales confused matters by starting a conference speech with “Brexit means Breakfast”. Mrs May’s personal advisers advised her personally that if she said it often enough, people would understand. As it happened, they didn’t and everything got much too difficult so Mrs May decided to call another General Election on 8th June 2017.to show everyone who’s boss. She thought that she would win decisively and have a ‘clear mandate’ to take Brexit forward without impediment. Mrs May thought of another brilliant three word slogan ‘Strong And Stable’ and won the election but ended up with less MPs in the House of Commons so was less strong and stable than before. To overcome this deficit, and Tories were good dealing with deficits, she had the brilliant idea of bribing the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland with billions of pounds to spend as they wished so their MPs would support her in parliament.
With the Democratic Unionist Party behind her, in July 2017 Mrs May prepared ‘Withdrawal Bill’ for everyone to agree and say how we would leave the EU, even though many thought we had left. She started talks with the EU which went on and on and on through August and September and October and November with things called ‘rounds’. In November the Defence Minister Lord Howe told the EU that, although the UK was leaving the EU, it was not leaving Europe; that was reassuring because it would not be geologically or geographically possible, not in the foreseeable future at least. And Foreign Secretary Mr Johnson wrote a letter saying that Brexit will strengthen ties between Ireland and the UK which was a surprise because while we were in the EU ties were stronger than they had ever been. But Mr Johnson was sometimes forgetful and never one for detail. He was Foreign Secretary and really was a bit foreign because he was born in America and had a Turkish great grandfather and Russian ancestors. More ‘rounds’ started again in February 2018 and carried on until June 2018 when Mrs May got everyone to agree to her Withdrawal Bill. But in December she had three defeats in the Commons and the unpatriotic and traitorous judiciary found her government to be in contempt of parliament which was not a good thing but she didn’t care. On and on she went, like the Charge of the Light Brigade, into the valley of death, beset on all sides by Meaningful votes, Indicative votes, Points of Order votes, Plan B Brexit votes and even the threat of a second referendum. Not only was it all very difficult, it was all very complicated, even though the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU David Davis had said it would take no time all, but Mr Cummings once said that David Davis was “thick as mince, lazy as a toad, and vain as Narcissus”. There was also talk about ‘Deal Or No Deal’ which, unusually, was a four word slogan and often confused with a popular TV programme.
The Long March
The UK was supposed to leave the European Union on 29th March 2019, so Mr Farage and his filthy rich friend Mr Tice’s Leave Means Leave movement organised a March of the People in March setting off from the Brexit stronghold of Sunderland in the north east of England to arrive in Parliament Square, London on 29th March when Brexit was due to occur but it didn’t happen, because everything was getting extremely difficult with the ‘rounds’. Mr Farage’s plucky band of two dozen brave hearts and a dog had wasted their time. After a vote in parliament on 14th March, Mrs May was told to go to Brussels and ask for an extension to the deadline for leaving until the end of June. After more talks, Mrs May unveiled a new Agreement on 21st May. Two days later, even though the UK was leaving the EU, there were European Parliament elections to send UK MEPs to the European Parliament, because we were still in the EU. Mr Farage’s wholly owned subsidiary the Brexit Party won most votes, even though the Brexit Party wanted to leave the EU and abolish it. The new deadline at the end of June came and went and things for Mrs May were more weak and shaky than strong and stable and so in July she had enough and resigned. The clergyman’s daughter had done her best but it was not sufficient and she left in tears just like Mrs Thatcher. Dave didn’t cry when he left, he just turned round, hummed a little tune and bought a shepherd’s hut in which he could write his memoirs.
No ifs or buts
The Tories wasted no time in choosing a new leader, the former Foreign Secretary Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson known as Boris, who became Prime Minister on 24th July 2019. As one of the junta that won the referendum for Leave, he was the obvious choice as the leader to honour the Will of the People and deliver Brexit. He stood outside No.10 and said he was going to fulfil the repeated promises of parliament to the People and leave the EU on October 31st, “no ifs or buts”. To show who was boss, he was going to negotiate a new Withdrawal Agreement even though Mrs May had already got one agreed. In no uncertain terms he said he would not rule out the possibility of a ‘No Deal’ Brexit even though that might rule in the strong possibility of more ‘ifs and buts.’ Summoning his best impersonation of Winston Churchill, he said he would “develop the blight-resistant crops that will feed the world and promote the welfare of animals that has always been so close to the hearts of the British people”. He employed his friend from the referendum campaign Mr Cummings as his personal special personal adviser to instil discipline in his government by means of subterfuge and bullying. Mr Cummings thought up an even better three word slogan ‘Get Brexit Done’ which nobody could argue with, and Boris quickly came up with another Withdrawal Agreement which was remarkably like the one that Mrs May had done and that he had voted for, but much better in ways that were hard to comprehend.
5. Get Brexit Done
Mr Johnson was experienced in personal affairs as well as public affairs. After his wife of 25 years could stand it no longer, she left him and Mr Johnson took on a new girlfriend called Carrie, and moved in to her flat because he was homeless. The police were called to a disturbance after neighbours heard smashing and shouting from the flat where Mr Johnson and Carrie were living. Then Carrie and the rescue dog Dilyn moved in to No.10 to be Mr Johnson’s official Fiancée and an even more personal adviser than Mr Cummings, who had worked with her in the referendum campaign and called her ‘Princess Nut Nut’ because of her nutty liberal views.
Even with his new three word slogan and Mr Cummings manipulating the minds of the People with his algorithms on social media, things were getting difficult again. In October 2019, Boris’ new Withdrawal Agreement was defeated several times in parliament which meant we could not leave the EU so he asked the EU for more time and they agreed another Brexit extension to 31st January 2020. Mr Johnson was so fed up he thought he would have another general election which he would win decisively and have a ‘clear mandate’ to do as he wished, just like Mrs May did. The electorate obviously enjoyed having general elections and on 12th December 2019 he did indeed win decisively with a majority of 80 seats, allowing him free rein to do as he wished. The Labour Party in Opposition was still nominally led by Mr Jeremy Corbyn who, despite being a man of the People, was not as popular with the People as Mr Johnson, who was not really a man of the People at all.
Mr Cummings
Mr Johnson, lovingly known by an adoring populace as Boris, was Prime Minister again. He stood outside No.10 and told the People he really would ‘Get Brexit Done’ by 31st January 2020 and, in no uncertain terms, was “going to unite and level up – unite and level up” which he obviously repeated for emphasis so that there could be no doubts. This time he recruited Cabinet members not for their skills or experience, but for their willingness to sign a sacred pledge to ‘Get Brexit Done’, which would be monitored by Mr Cummings. Faced with this heroic, unwavering determination to ‘Get Brexit Done’, the Withdrawal Agreement previously defeated was approved by parliament on 23rd January 2020 showing just how powerful three word slogans can be.
Boris sent his emissaries to Brussels again and at last managed to agree the Agreement with the EU and the UK left the EU on the 31st January 2020, declared as another Independence Day after the previous Independence Days declared by Mr Farage in June 2016 and 29th March 2019. At 11pm on 31st January 2020 which was midnight in Brussels but the same day and month, the UK left the EU again and entered an eleven month ‘Transition Period’ to allow an ‘orderly withdrawal’. But for the ordinary People life carried on very much as before which confused them because they had been told everything would be different with their new found freedom from the shackles of the unelected EU dictatorship. One reason for the Transition Period, apart from ensuring an orderly withdrawal, was to allow time for Boris to negotiate a Trade Agreement, known as a ‘Deal’, because that is what he said he would do, even though he had said ‘No Deal’ would be better than a ‘Deal’, which is why he told the EU that if they didn’t agree a ‘Deal’ he would just walk away with a ‘No Deal’ and go to what were called ‘WTO Terms’ which were worse than a ‘Deal’. And everybody said the EU needed a ‘Deal’ more than we did, so it would be very easy.
So Boris sent his emissaries to Brussels again to negotiate a Deal. He was happy with Carrie and Dilyn the rescue dog in No.10, and thought everything was going his way and life looked bright. But no sooner had the Transition Period started in March 2020 than the nation was afflicted by a global pandemic caused by a nasty Chinese virus called Covid-19. Mr Farage’s and Boris’ friend Mr Trump, not only US President but an expert virologist, had scientifically established that China was the source of the new virus. Boris had spoken much about going global, but not with a global pandemic, and now had to Get Covid Done as well as Get Brexit Done. Luckily Boris still had Mr Cummings to help him by thinking up more three word slogans like ‘Space, Trace, Face’ or ‘Safe, Control, Place’ which would resonate with the People.
Dilyn, Carrie, Wilfred and Boris go camping
Boris and Carrie must have been very happy together because in April 2020 Carrie had a baby called Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson, presumably Johnson because Boris was the father. The unelected EU dictatorship was as usual being very difficult but after many ups and downs and threatening headlines in the Daily Express a ‘Deal’ was agreed with seconds to spare on Christmas Eve 2020, so Brexit could start on New Year’s Day 2021. Mr Johnson said that the Deal allowed the UK to Take Back Control, thereby making another three word slogan reality. Mr Farage’s filthy rich multi-millionaire friend and chair of his Brexit Party Mr Richard Tice still wanted a clean Brexit but said the Deal was satisfactory even though he had earlier said it wasn’t.
Now I can catch more fish
One of the really difficult things was agreeing who could catch fish in the North Sea, so Boris, always one for a jolly jape, humorously wore a fish patterned tie when he signed the Agreement. He then announced to a grateful nation that British fishermen would now be able to catch more fish and that the people of the UK would have to eat prodigious amounts of fish. This news came too late for the People who had already bought turkeys for Christmas. The Queen broadcast her Christmas Day Message as usual and acknowledged the “difficult and unpredictable times” of the past year and said “there is hope in the new dawn,” echoing the words of Lord Farage four years earlier who said “Dare to dream that the dawn is breaking”, sounding like a song by Vera Lynn. At 11pm on New Year’s Eve 31st December 2020 the Transition Period ended, the United Kingdom left the EU single market and customs union, EU law ceased to apply and the UK was well and truly standing on its own two feet and ready to go global.
To be continued: 6. Brexitannia
Posted inEU, UK|TaggedBrexit, EU|Comments Off on BREXIT AND BREXITANNIA
In 2010 the Tory Party made a commitment to making “the use of the Royal Prerogative subject to greater democratic control so that Parliament is properly involved in all big national decision…
It is only a week since the EU referendum. It seems like a year. Some poor deluded people think that’s it, we’re out. In fact it’s only just beginning and we have years of wrangling ahead of us. We may never leave the EU. Why 52% voted for Leave is discussed at length. Of course politicians have to be careful what they say so as not to offend the many loyal constituents who voted for Leave. It would be awkward to suggest any of them voted because of xenophobia, or bigotry, or ignorance. Righteous UKIP supporters have complained of being called racists, even as their leaders promoted horror stories of millions of Eastern Europeans, Turks and even Syrians swarming over our little island if we don’t take back control. UKIP supporters posted on facebook with jolly little slogans like “Piss off, we’re full”, harking back to the good old days when landladies freely put up signs saying ‘No Dogs, No blacks, No Irish’. An article in the Telegraph as recently as March 2015, before the General Election, concluded: “Well, here you go. Ukip’s leader believes racial discrimination in the workplace should be legalised. Not just discrimination on the grounds of nationality, but on the grounds of colour and race. ‘No dogs. No blacks. No Irish.’ That Ukip policy in full.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/nigel-farage/11467713/No-dogs.-No-blacks.-No-Irish-is-now-Ukip-policy.html
So why did people vote for Leave? We can’t look into the minds of 17 million people. But before the referendum I made probably too many forays into the darkness that is social media and engaged with Brexit people. It was interesting but confusing. I was so perplexed by what I was reading that I made some notes one day in February, a good three months before the voting. I had a most enjoyable conversation on Facebook with a group of Leave.EU / Brexit people. Enjoyable because it did not descend as it so often did to personal abuse. In my conversations with Brexit people I had been told I was ‘a traitor to my country’, ‘should go back to Broadmoor’ and worse.
One facebook ‘conversation’ started with a post from a young woman who worked in financial services and was excited by a Daily Express ‘poll’ that found 92% wanted to leave the EU. This was February, remember. It was an online poll of Express website readers and, even though she agreed they would be brexit biased, she still claimed it was “a huge result”. The role of the press in the referendum has been questioned and there’s no doubt ‘news’ like this has had an influence. The role of politicians also needs to be questioned. She was impressed by “a classic quote” from the classical Tory James Rees-Mogg who said: “It shows the Prime Minister’s deal is failing to butter parsnips.” Such a clever comment and the quaint, old-fashioned language that captures the mind of the great British public but adds absolutely nothing of any substance to the debate. Some might say that was the essence of the Leave campaign. At the time Cameron thought his ‘deal’ would solve everything but already brexit people were turning against him, even though it was he who had given them the referendum.
A man called something like Disney Dingleberry-Sloe quickly replied. He wanted to leave the EU, thought that we would vote to do so, but thought “there will be no panic or tanks or burning of buildings”. That was good to know. He thought that life goes on quite happily for countries outside of the EU and the same will be true of us. How he was so certain he didn’t say. He thought that the UK leaving will be the end of the EU because it’s the UK that has kept it going all these years! There you have the brexit idea that ‘they need us more than we need them’. This idea was reinforced by the brexiter notion that the UK is a self-contained ‘little island’ – always ‘little’ and always ‘full’ – but which can bravely stand on its own two feet. Many brexit people think that the Second World War was won entirely by Great Britain ‘standing alone’ against who else but those Germans.
Another brexit reason for leaving, that we’re in a mess but it’s all the EU’s fault, was more curious. One contributor pointed out: “We don’t need a share of Euro problems when we have enough of our own”. Trying to explain that our problems are largely of our own making made no difference to the belief that leaving the EU would ‘sort everything out’. Close the gate, lock the door, draw the curtains and everything will be fine. One brexit person thoughtfully added that “We may well prosper”, suggesting he had some doubts about leaving. He happily avoided the fact that we have already prospered over the last 40 years. Again, for those who hadn’t prospered as well as others, the blame was nothing to do with our governments, it was all the EU. In essence they seem to be saying that everything’s gone wrong since we joined the EU so if we leave we’ll manage quite nicely on our own and everything will be fine. One brexiter said: “I just think we are a nation struggling to stay afloat” citing the debt mountain, NHS struggling, roads, food, blah, blah. I pointed out that all of these domestic problems have nothing to do with membership of the EU and are completely within our government’s control. No answer.
One brexiter thought that we would vote Leave because “when the British public are taken for a ride, as they have been by British politics over the last 40 years since the so called common market, they will become like donkeys and resist. Pushing us towards the EU will just make the masses vote NO”. Looking at his profile, these were the words of an apparently well-educated, intelligent and seemingly prosperous middle aged man in middle England. He seemed not to know if it was British politics or the EU that was the problem. British public taken for a ride? Pushing us towards the EU? We’re already in it, we don’t need to be pushed. The public will become like donkeys and resist? The problems laid at the EU’s door are so often of our own making but brexit people ignore this and blame the EU. There’s no logic but worse, there’s a denial of any responsibility, just slightly stroppy moaning and wingeing like a spoilt child who’s been cosseted for too long, who just starts not liking things and demanding something else on a whim. Like Andy Pipkin in the aptly named ‘Little Britain’ TV show, asking for things without even looking at what he’s asking for: “I don’t like it – Want that one”. After the referendum quite a few Leave voters have admitted they voted ‘on a whim’.
Then there was the belief that we are totally dominated and dictated to by the EU and by Germany in particular, if not Angela Merkel. This was sometimes accompanied by mutterings of Nazi Germany. You’d think we were still fighting WW2. To read some comments you’d think people are prisoners in their own homes which of course are also controlled by ‘EU laws’, viz: toasters, hair driers, bananas. One brexiter said that no one had yet given him a single reason why we should continue to submit to “EU domination” and that “we (the UK) are fully capable of making our own laws that best suit our people (everyone living here) and our land (all of it, The Falkland, Gibraltar etc)”. Gibraltar of course was notable for voting 97% to Remain, and the Falklands weren’t allowed to vote.
Another said that the EU is “a massive unelected bureaucratic dictatorship”. At this point I wondered how much brexit people really know about the EU. I wondered how seemingly reasonable and aware people could say: “Norway and Switzerland continue to trade with Europe. But their people get a say in how their country is governed. What laws are made.” Unlike the UK, where we have absolutely no say in how our country is governed?
Mention of the Falklands and Gibraltar as part of ‘our land’ suggest that part of the brexit psyche still dreams of Britain and its Empire. The feeling of loss seems to have endured and fed into a loss of identity. One brexiter wrote that “there is nothing wrong with wanting to take your country back and recover your identity. This is not jingoistic, this is simply placing more value on your country than our politicians seem to”. I looked at his facebook profile and saw he is born and bred British but lives in the Philippines where he owns a company that provides ‘a powerful data management system designed specifically for Realtors’. Nothing wrong with that but how much does he value his country? Probably in US dollars per square foot.
Oh, and then there was the cost of it all! This was the biggest success of the Leave campaign, sustaining the big lie about the cost of the EU, painted on its battlebus. One brexiter wrote “If we weren’t sending £55m a day to the EU let alone all the other things we are fired [sic] to provide and pay out for other things then we may be able to pay for the NHS, roads, education, etc!” Yes, Farage’s fabled £55m a day or £20bn a year. I pointed out it’s nearer £30m or £11bn a year. To put it into context I told him the UK Tax Gap (tax that should have been collected but wasn’t) was about £119bn a year, including £18bn alone of debts written off by HMRC. But it didn’t matter as much as ‘them’ wasting ‘our’ money. That’s one of the most pervasive brexiter ideas, that it’s ‘us’ and ‘them’. It’s ‘us’ and the EU, not accepting that we are in the EU. I tried to convince one proud English woman that she was British and European but she wasn’t having it. She conceded some of her family’s ancestors were Huguenots but they didn’t count because it was before the 1600s.
Brexiters are never racist and one kind gent who didn’t like foreign immigrants assured me he’s not jingoistic. For many of the brexit people the immigrants were the cause of all our ills and of course it’s the EU that allows them in. One said: “2008 all over again is not good for anybody.” Those Eastern Europeans; no good for anybody. There was nothing like immigration for unleashing a steady dribble of immigrant horror stories. In one facebook conversation a brexiter told me of: “many British youngsters that tell me that they cannot compete with European workers living 20 to a building, or in cars.” This stretched my credulity. I’m sure there are some plucky Brits who could beat that, but twenty people in one car is impressive. I was told that some of these European workers even live “in the woods (yes I can give you photographic evidence of what two Eastern Europeans built in an area of outstanding natural beauty beside my house – to live in. Until one of my neighbours found it and destroyed it.” Such nice British neighbours. And the reason that British people can’t do this is because “British people have British costs.” Yes, really, that’s what this brexiter said! “A British family of 4 with a mortgage in a small house will spend around 1000-1500 a month minimum to just live”, so that clearly explains why it’s wrong for ‘Europeans’ to live 20 to a house. Because they’re not playing fair. Bloody foreigners. Our Brexiter continued with this: “I recently helped a friend inspect a property he was concerned had more than the person on the AST living in it. He had every reason to be worried. We turned up at 10pm, the 2 bed house had 15 people in. All quite chilled, all very sensible people in garden chairs and all quite comfy…lots of mattresses…however, I took from that that their accommodation costs must have been about 25 GBP a week each. I do not know many young British workers that would live like that, it’s just not in our DNA … each to their own but it’s not apples with apples. They can and will work for very low wages and make it work.” He wasn’t worried that 15 people were sharing a house, only that they weren’t paying enough. It’s not unscrupulous British employers paying less than the minimum wage that are to blame, it’s the EU.
That was just a few hours on facebook, back in February. What saddened me then, and still does, is that our once great and outward looking Britain has turned in on itself like a frightened child. European is what we are, geographically, culturally and socially. We should be playing our part in Europe and not cutting ourselves off from it. We are constantly reminded that ‘the British people have spoken’ but we’ll see
2,000 acres of beautiful open land near Ebbw Vale will be transformed into the £500m Circus of Wales to host all kinds of international acts. The project will include a massive circus ring, off-road driving facilities, a hostel and a complex leisure complex.
Work on the Circus of Wales will start before Christmas if someone on the local council says OK.
Lewis Jones Lloyd, Head of the Head of the Valleys Company said: “We envisage our construction partners O’Hara Groundworks being on site very soon.” He added: “The Circus of Wales will be more successful than even I can imagine.”
Lloyd Jones Lewis, Circus of Wales CEO, said: “Sustainability is at the forefront of everything we do not only now but for our children and their children’s children. Future proofing is a given.”
Lewis Lloyd Jones, Head of Sustainable People Development, said the scheme had reached a “huge milestone”, adding “this means we are now a major step closer to delivering a sustainable and vibrant future for the people of the Valleys, their children and their children’s children”.
As part of the deal, the Head of the Valleys Company has committed to a total of £200m for the community to spend as they wish and £100m a year to help local people to continue their traditional workless lifestyles. The company has agreed in principle with Natural Resources Wales to enhance biodiversity including facilities for travelling people, fly tipping and a wild pony population.
The first phase of the Circus of Wales will be the construction of a state of the art circus ring designed to host international events and a centre for circus-related industries such as horse trading, drug smuggling and people trafficking.
Professor Garage Rhys of the Welsh Automaton Forum, commented: “Inward investment, Ford, Jaguar, entrepreneurship, 1970s, price to pay, enterprise zones, hit the ground running, economic hotspots, good multiplying effects, WDA, those were the days, Brynglas tunnels, better links to motorways, GDP, value added, multipliers, when I was a boy…” He added: “I could go on…”
A fund of £100m will be given to the community to fund artworks for the Circus of Wales. Viarde Stärcke, of Creative Urban Rendition, explained: “I welcome the opportunity to engage local people in mucking around with recycled waste to create community based legacy artworks that will kickstart a vibrant and sustainable people focussed environment for people”.
Welsh composer Karl Jenkin is writing a symphony for the Circus for Wales inspired by a 19th century bardic ballad ‘Y Clowniau Cymru’. The world premiere will be performed at Ebbw Vale’s Beaufort Theatre & Ballroom. Mr Jenkin said: “I am a musical tourist. Like the Circus of Wales, I take my influences from around the world and put them together.”
Baron Elis Elis Thomas, revered Welsh nationalist and cultural critic, commented: “I have spoken of nationalism growing out of the bowels of Welsh social democracy, and now I see it bursting from the loins of a circus ring.” He added: “Anything that benefits my beloved Wales is welcome; it is unfortunate that this project does not.”
Cultural historian Professor Dai Word-Smith, Raymond Chandler Chair of Research into Literature and Language, speaking from the bar of Pontypridd Rugby Club, countered with: “God spare me! We need poets!” An old man outside shouted: “Bastards!”
Ardent Welsh Nationalist Leader Reeanne Wood pleaded: “I’m Valleys through and through I’m telling you, I was born in the Rhondda and still live in the street where I grew up and still buy my sweets from the corner shop where my mother and her mother before her bought theirs. The Valleys is where I live and if that Adams thinks he can clear away our lovely old terraces he’s got another thing coming, the thought of it, no matter how far-fetched it may be, fills me with revulsion. The time for inertia as far as the Valleys are concerned is over. Will the people decide now we are not prepared to tolerate this neglect any longer? It’s time to take a stand and fight for our children’s future and their children’s children’s…….”
Janet Street Porter: she met Ian at the Architectural Association (AA) School of Architecture while she was there from 1966 – 1969. She was plain Janet Bull then and not quite as famous as she is now. But she was well known and you couldn’t miss her with those long legs and loud larf!
John Peel: It was 15 Dec 1967 at the AA all-night Carnival at the Roundhouse in Camden Town, London – when the Roundhouse was still a ruin. Second Year students organised this annual event and Ian had been chosen to be ‘Carnival King’ of the organising committee. We had hired an up and coming DJ to do stuff between the main acts. Some time in the early hours, Ian retired to the gallery with his girlfriend to gaze at the throbbing masses below (over 2,000 people). They were sitting on the edge of the Roundhouse gallery when they were joined by the young Mr Peel, who shared their grapes and two bottles of Martini and conversed about how the night was going. He had just joined BBC’s new Radio 1 to co-present Top Gear.
Enoch Powell MP: He was the Conservative politician famous for his ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech. He met Ian around 1970/71 on a bus going along Oxford Street, London. Ian was working with architects down Regent Street. He hopped (as you did then) onto a 73 bus and sat down on one of the ‘bench’ seats at the back, next to a dapper old gent wearing pin stripe suit and bowler hat, with a leather briefcase on his lap. It was Enoch Powell, who obviously knew Ian had sat next to him. He said nothing, so when Ian was getting off at Tottenham Court Road he bade Mr Powell ‘Good Afternoon’.
Barbara Dickson: The Scottish singer (still going strong) was a friend of one of Ian’s friends. We used to eat sometimes at a Greek Restaurant off Holloway Road. Barbara lived nearby and also dined there, which is how she met Ian. It must have been around 1977, just after her top ten ‘Answer Me’ in 1976.
Andy Warhol: In July 1978 Ian was working on alterations to the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London with architects Levitt Bernstein, and got invited along to the private viewing of the Andy Warhol ‘Athletes’ Exhibition. There was Andy, large as ‘life’, standing in front of Ian. As he didn’t say anything, Ian ventured a cheery ‘hello’. Andy was lost for words and didn’t reply. He looked white and vacant.
Christopher Reeve (aka Superman): it was 1977/78 while Reeve was living in London for the filming of Superman at Pinewood Studios. Ian was working at Levitt Bernstein architects in Camden Town. When we felt like something a bit more special for lunch than lovely Stella’s Café on Parkway, we’d stroll down to this smart new wine bar on Delancey Street. Who should be on the next table but Chris Reeve and who must have been his lady friend at that time, Gae Exton. Let’s hope so. Anyway, that’s when Christopher met Ian.
Celia Birtwell: Celia had married another famous Sixties fashion designer, Ossie Clark, in 1969. Ian went to a party given by a fellow architect around 1987. Celia was there. Maybe because she’d heard Ian was going to be there. Maybe not. Ian remembers talking to her about home furnishing. As it happened, in 1984 she had set up a shop on Westbourne Park Road selling furnishing fabrics.
Margaret Thatcher: Ian was working at London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC). Mrs Thatcher had become Prime Minister in 1983 and on 13 April 1984 she made a formal visit. Walking round the LDDC office in the Fred Olsen building (arch. Norman Foster) on Millwall Dock, she came up to Ian’s desk and asked: “And what do you do?” Ian can’t (or doesn’t want to) remember what he said in reply.
Jermaine Jackson: Jermaine being former member of The Jackson 5 and brother of Michael Jackson. He’d just finished as runner-up in Celebrity Big Brother. It was late Sunday night on 4 Feb 2007 at Leigh Delamere Services on the westbound M4 Motorway. We stopped for a toilet break and Ian went off to the Gents. It was quiet but there were some dark suited heavies with ear-pieces standing around. Ian went to wash his hands in one of the large circular stainless steel ‘basins’ that are peculiar to Leigh Delamere. On the other side of the bowl, washing his hands, was Jermaine in his ‘Big Brother’ greatcoat buttoned up to the neck but no shades! Jermaine looked pleased to be meeting Ian but was so surprised he was lost for words.‘Good evening Mr Jackson, and all the very best to you’, said Ian.
I attended this ground breaking event recently; here’s an account by organiser Manon Topp:
#supperclubwafflesession and ‘That Thing That’s Hiding Over By There’
Posted on May 30, 2014
By: Manon Topp, Founder, Director and Life President of Leading Leadership Leads Cymru
On Friday night we held our latest #supperclubwafflesession as part of the National Natter initiative with the Commissioner for Sustainable Living Scenarios on behalf of @WhatWeWantIsWales. Great people, great food, great wine, a few gassy beers and great conversation. That’s what #supperclubwafflesession is all about and that’s exactly what we had on Friday night. Fabulous!
The Commissioner for Sustainable Living Scenarios gave a really helpful introduction and set the scene ahead of us tucking into our starter of hand potted smoked mackerel and fennel shavings on brown bread (from a locally sourced artisan baker) toasted over a renewable Welsh woodburning grill, or Perl Wen glazed parsnip and sun blushed tomato tart accompanied by a lovely Château Guirauton Sauvignon Blanc, clean and bright, with a pale lemon colour, gently aromatic, notes of lemon zest, elderflower and peaches. Superb!
Our tables discussed each of the three main conversation questions relating to the Welsh Government’s draft goals underpinning the foundations for building the structure of ‘Wales What We Want’ and the Future Living Scenarios Bill. It wasn’t easy, particularly in view of the glorious food in front of us! Ardderchog!
Over the starter we discussed: Goals? What Goals? No, it wasn’t about Cardiff Bluebirds, as someone humorously suggested! Funny! Then we discussed: Do we need a Goal keeper? over a main course of organically bred Rump of Welsh Lamb with minted Pembroke new potatoes and Bro Morgannwg runner beans washed down with a delightful Château Angludet Cabernet Sauvignon with its aromas of sweet bright fruit jumping out of the glass and silky velvety red berry notes; or a fish course of responsibly sourced Teifi Sewin pan fried in Penclawdd cockle butter with sauté potatoes, hand foraged renewable wild samphire and another bottle of Château Guirauton. Marvellous!
The last question: How many Goals? was pondered over a gorgeous organic Welsh Dairy Chocolate tart with Welsh Vanilla ice cream or Panacotta with poached Fairtrade peaches, all eased down by the honeyed sweetness of a Château Doisy-Védrines Sauvignon Blanc & Sémillon. Divine!
After dessert, co-facilitator Julian Callender effortlessly eased us into pulling our conversations together with the help of an extraordinary Château Suduiraut Sémillon Blanc which was utter liquid decadence! Honestly, it felt naughty quaffing this magnificent wine. Heady aromas of white peach, passion fruit, pineapple and mango all interwoven with clotted cream. Somebody bring me a spoon! Bendigedig!
Then, over an ethically produced Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Arabica coffee and locally hand crafted after dinner mints, Julian (thank goodness he was there!) collated our key thoughts for feedback into the larger ‘National Natter’ debate. I will upload these in a separate blog post, but one important thing which emerged from our supper conversation I would like to raise here: ‘That Thing That’s Hiding Over By There’. Challenging!
In our discussions we were overwhelmingly committed to seeking out stories of Welsh successes to engage pride, develop belief and aspirations in a Wales that is not just the land of our fathers, grandfathers or mothers but the land of our grandchildren, a nation responding to our rugby heritage and engendering a narrative of pride, belief, real unity and warm feelings of inclusiveness. We all really wanted to see a Wales where everyone is united and happy and has comfy sofas and likes a cwtch and is engaged with hearts and minds in shared pride, belief and aspirations that really can build success and a sustainable living scenarios for now and evermore. Exciting!
But I thought, what is ‘That Thing That’s Hiding Over By There’? This would be a great place to start thinking about helping us to really create the real Wales What We Want. We are a land full of things hiding over by there: things we don’t like, that we can’t discuss or resolve, conflicts and jealousies that we allow to flourish under the surface but never name or acknowledge, incomprehensible public sector jargon or management speak and lots of other stuff. Extraordinary!
For me our most important ‘Thing That’s Hiding Over By There’ is the cultural-societal mindset that says in order to change the way we manage change we must look for things to fix and find someone to blame for what’s wrong instead of celebrating what is successful and then doing more of it. It dawned on me after finishing the last bottle of Château Doisy-Védrines that the way forward is to adopt a Reductive Inquiry method, a really simply change management tool, working out what works successfully, working out how it works and then working on doing more of what works. It is a working thought process that is about engaging everyone to work in a structured working conversation with clear purpose then continues to work as a shared way of working. Nice!
But the very real issue we face in approaching ‘That Thing That’s Hiding Over By There’ is that we must challenge and change our deep-rooted assumptions from the ones that are currently and strongly in place and which drive our behaviours to look for problems and to try and fix them then examine, make visible through conversation and debate our current assumptions and collectively, individually, culturally and societally agree and change our beliefs. Without this conversation the best kind of change cannot happen and we will fall back into problem solving mode and blaming other people for making mistakes and being nasty to each other in our usual way. Let’s get rid of ‘That Thing That’s Hiding Over By There’ and build the ‘Wales What We Want’ for our grandchildren, pets, wildlife, flowers and other people. Godidog!
A huge thank you to everyone who took part and also to @CharliesFastFoodCardiff. Fabulous!
I wrote this on St David’s Day 2014 after watching the BBC 1 Question Time TV programme the week before which was broadcast from Newport, South Wales. During this programme I felt some uneasiness towards the distinctly negative attitude of many of the audience towards issues such as immigration (stop it), NHS Wales (useless) and the Welsh Government (get rid of it). Distinctly negative to me, that is. What’s going on, I wondered; this didn’t seem like an audience of the Welsh people who, I’ve always thought, are more caring and sharing than the average Brit.
Which got me thinking about this nation that I have such fondness for, and sympathy with, and asking myself if ‘my’ Wales is an illusion? Before I go any further, I’ll deal with the first of many confusions; is Wales a country or a nation? I opt for the generally accepted view that a country is an independent, self-governing political entity. Examples of such entities that are not countries being, most notably, the constituent parts of the United Kingdom. According to the internationally accepted legal definition of the League of Nations in 1937, reaffirmed by the United Nations in 1945, a resident of a ‘country’ is subject to the independent exercise of legal jurisdiction. People in Wales cannot claim to have that. A ‘nation’, on the other hand, is generally taken to describe a group of people who share a common history, language or culture. You could say it’s debatable whether or not Wales, England, Scotland or Northern Ireland fit that description today. But if they’re not countries, they must be nations. Unhelpfully, the constituent ‘nations’ of the UK are referred to as ‘countries’ on the UK government’s website.
Never mind for now; Wales has been my home for the last twenty one years; a third of my life and by that measure is my home ‘nation’. My parents were from Hampshire and Yorkshire, so were English (if Yorkshire folk accept themselves as English). I was born and spent a large part of my early years abroad so have no particular affiliation to England or, for that matter, no particular affinity to the idea of being British. I have a British or should I say ‘United Kingdom’ passport but I could have had, by virtue of birth, a Malaysian passport. Wales is home and it’s where my heart is.
Which is why I was a little upset by the Question Time audience. I like to think that Wales is different to the rest of Britain and particularly to its neighbour, England. I tell myself that, yes, this is Wales! Like most Welsh people, I get that special feeling of coming home when I pass the Croeso sign on the motorway. This is a different country, it is not England; it has its own distinct identity. It has its own language, too, which may not be too evident in spoken form but is clearly in evidence in place names, road signs, magazines and books. If anyone asks me where I’m from or what I am, my answer is Wales and Welsh. This is especially entertaining when answering anyone abroad or Americans who, if they have heard of Wales at all, know it as Wales, England.
That’s fine, but what exactly is ‘Wales’ and what does it mean to be ‘Welsh’? St David – Dewi Sant – is the patron saint of Wales. Dewi is reckoned to have died in the year 589 AD, but most of what is known about him for certain is an account of his life written by Rhigyfarch some five hundred years later towards the end of the 11th century. St David has been celebrated for centuries as the patron saint of Wales although the day of his birth only became a national festival during the18th century. Only recently have more organised, public events taken place on St Davids Day. Are these a sign of a growing national sentiment or a growing nostalgic sentimentality? When I arrived in Wales twenty odd years ago, St David’s Day was celebrated mainly by school kids dressing up in a faux ‘national’ costume for the girls or something like a miner’s costume or a Welsh rugby jersey for the boys. This is as near to a ‘national’ costume as you’ll get and signifies the uncertainty revolving around what is Wales and what it is to be Welsh.
The idea of a national costume developed in the early 19th century mainly thanks to Lady Llanover, the wife of an ironmaster in Gwent, who encouraged it at home and at eisteddfodau (another early 19th century idea). The idea was gratefully taken up by artists and photographers who produced thousands of prints and postcards for the rising tourist trade. You can still buy these in any reputable souvenir shop, not that you see anyone wearing the garb during normal working hours. Lady Llanover was not concerned with a costume for Welsh men so they do not have a national dress, hence the uncertainty for boys of what to wear on St Davids Day. Adding to the confusion, attempts have been made in recent years to revive a ‘traditional’ Welsh kilt and tartan which has never in fact existed.
I used to take my kids to the St Fagans Folk Museum and was always delighted by the picture of Welsh social history that it presented. But how genuine was the picture? On reflection, it was more picturesque than the dark and difficult reality of Welsh life through the ages. In my work I’ve been lucky enough to travel around and see most parts of Wales, and spend many lovely holidays in Wales. There is no doubt Wales has wonderful landscapes, glorious coastlines, nice places to visit and friendly people. All the ‘Visit Wales’ advertisements are true: “Our great mountain ranges, lush valleys and ancient castles were some of the reasons why Wales was voted Rough Guides’ Best Place in the World to Visit 2014”. But there are not so lush valleys, still recovering from the collapse of coal mining and heavy industry in the 1980s, and those ancient castles are a reminder of the English King Edward I’s subjugation of Wales. As much as I want to believe in the rose-tinted view of Wales, it’s not the whole picture and it’s not the reality.
The confusion and uncertainty around Welsh identity has its roots in the past. It was only after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 4th century AD that a Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons. Even the name is a confusion. There is the ‘official’ English name Wales and the Welsh name Cymru, each having a different origin and meaning. ‘Wales’ comes from a Germanic word used to refer to all Celts across Europe. The Old English speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the word Waelisc for the Celtic Britons in particular and Wēalas for their lands: Welsh and Wales. They were not restricted to the modern Wales and refer to other places that the Anglo-Saxons associated with the Celtic Britons, such as Cornwall. Across Europe it crops up in names such as Wallonia and Wallachia and people such as the Vlachs of Romania and Moldova, or the Walloons of Belgium: Walsch in Dutch. So the ‘official’ name Wales derives from English while the Welsh name ‘Cymru’ and its people ‘Cymry’ derives from the language of its original inhabitants: the ancient Brythonic word ‘combrogi’ for ‘fellow-countrymen’. But this didn’t originally apply only to Wales, either. Apparently the ‘Welsh’ and other Brythonic-speaking people of northern England and southern Scotland used ‘Cymry’ to describe themselves, which is where Cumbria comes from.
Any emergent Welsh identity was halted when Llywelyn ap Gruffydd’s death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of England’s conquest of Wales. In the early 15th century Owain Glyndŵr restored some semblance of independence in what would become modern Wales. One hundred years later, after part-Welsh Henry VII became King of England, Wales was annexed and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542. The intention was to create a single state and a single jurisdiction. Wales never really re-established itself as a nation until the late 19th century, with Cymru Fydd (Young Wales) established in 1886 to promote the objectives of the Liberal Party in Wales and campaign for Welsh ‘home rule’. Welsh Liberalism, the growth of socialism and the Labour Party and Plaid Cymru in the early 20th century continued to develop Welsh national identity.
Ironically, Henry VII’s green and white banner with a red dragon became the national flag of Wales in 1959. This sets Wales apart from the other countries of the UK who adopted their various patron saints’ flags which, of course, are incorporated into the Union Flag or Union Jack. In 1999 Wales was granted its own devolved government, a National Assembly for Wales, but with limited powers. Even then it was not clear what this body and its executive was going to be called in every day language. I remember the early variants of Prime Minister or First Minister; Welsh Assembly, Welsh Assembly Government or Welsh Government; Assembly or Senedd? Your elected representative in the Senedd (Senate) is not a Senator or even a Seneddwr, but an Assembly Member. All of these uncertainties are not only signs of an evolving nation, but symptomatic of continuing confusion about what Wales is, its status, position and relationship with the UK, not to mention with the ever present Lloegr over the border. Lloegr being the modern Welsh word for England, although originally it referred only to a part of Britain south of a line extending from the Humber Estuary to the Severn Estuary, and excluding Devon and Cornwall.
The Scottish Independence debate is interesting as far as Wales is concerned. In all the discussions and blogs the argument revolves around Scotland and the UK but, more often, Scotland and England. Wales is never mentioned, let alone Northern Ireland. The Scots have at least managed to establish recognition that Scotland exists as a social and political entity. Geography helps but history has played a part. The Kingdom of England after 1284 included Wales until 1707 when a political union with the Kingdom of Scotland created the Kingdom of Great Britain which, in turn, was united with the Kingdom of Ireland to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. Some would argue that Scotland never lost its independence through the Act of Union. It certainly kept its own identity, legal system and church but Wales continued as an appendage to England. Wales, despite acquiring its emblems of nationhood in recent years – a flag, an anthem, a capital city, a government – still hasn’t been able to define itself as Scotland has. Geography plays a part; Wales’ border with England is larger (257km) than Scotland’s (117km) and adjoins a more densely populated part of England.
If we’re honest, Wales’ identity has been threatened over centuries by a history of defeat, annexation and exploitation. Its identity changed with immigration during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Wales’ modern day population has grown from immigrants and incomers who came to service the industrialisation of Wales over the last 250 years. The Welsh population grew from 0.6 million in 1801 to 2.0 million in 1901, while the population of Scotland increased from 1.6 million to 4.5 million. During the 20th century, from 1901 to 2001, the Welsh population increased by 44 per cent whereas the Scottish population grew by only 13 per cent. By contrast Northern Ireland’s population has remained almost constant over 200 years.
The reason for the increase was the increase in industrial employment, bringing in large numbers of non-Welsh people. In 1811, the majority of Welsh inhabitants were dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. But by 1851, two thirds of the families of Wales were supported by activities other than agriculture, Wales being the world’s second industrial nation after England. Unfortunately the industries that attracted these people were concerned with commodities – coal, copper, iron, steel – rather than consumer goods and many parts of Wales are still struggling with their demise in the late 20th century.
What of the future? I happen to believe that Wales, like Scotland, would be better off as an independent country in Europe. Failing that, I’d be happy with a greater degree of autonomy within the UK, going back to the Cymru Fydd idea of ‘home rule’. But that would first require wholesale restructuring of the UK’s constitution and governance which I can’t see the London-centric, Anglocentric government in Whitehall achieving very soon. It can’t even achieve abolition of the unelected House of Lords and don’t mention the Barnett formula. People in Wales will no doubt resist the idea, along the lines of ‘we can’t afford to’, ‘we’d be worse off, ‘we can’t support ourselves’ and so on. The recent BBC Cymru Wales St David’s Day poll found that more than a third of people would like to see the Welsh Assembly gain more powers, but only 5% want to see an independent Wales (although, curiously, that rose to 7% in the event of an independent Scotland).
This lack of self-confidence, prompted by centuries of dependency, needs to be shrugged off if Wales is going to progress as a nation. The point of independence is that it gets rid of dependency. Without going into all the economic and political ramifications, consider that in terms of population Wales is equivalent to successful sovereign states like Lithuania, Slovenia or Latvia and a lot bigger than states like Estonia, Cyprus or Luxemburg. In terms of GDP/capita, Wales at around $26,000 is on a par with the Czech Republic or Portugal and a lot higher than some Baltic states or even Russia. Not to mention Iceland which has a population the same as Cardiff’s and a GDP/capita higher than the UK’s.
I raise the question of Scottish independence because, if Scotland leaves the UK, where does that leave Wales? As things stand, whatever the response to the Silk Commission, it will leave Wales as an even smaller part of what’s left and overshadowed even more by its neighbour. The argument for Scottish independence, broadly, is that Scotland can do even better if it is not tied down by the so-called ‘UK partnership of equals’
Unionists like to think that the UK is a partnership of equals. Wales has a population of just over 3 million and a total land area of 20,800 sq.km. England has a population of over 53,000,000 and a land area of 130,400 sq.km. Nothing equal there. Even with greater devolution the notion cannot be supported. But we could become a truly equal partner through independence: addressing the Union’s democratic deficiencies and making sure that we vote for the governments we want in Wales. We would have the powers we need to meet Wales’ economic and social aspirations. Then we could play a part in a renewed, stronger, more positive partnership within the British Isles.
Which brings me back to the Question Time audience in Newport last week. The fears and negativity which they exhibited didn’t seem very ‘Welsh’ to me; they seemed ‘English’ with their concerns about being flooded by immigrants (forget climate change), foreigners and complete distrust of government or institutions like the NHS. The Wales that I believe exists is better than that, and should be able to see the world differently. My worry is that, even if Wales is given greater ‘powers’, it will not give the very thing that gives any nation its real power – its national identity.
St David died at the end of the sixth century and became recognised as the national patron saint a few hundred years later, during the Welsh resistance to the Normans. The tenth century poem ‘Armes Prydain’ prophesied that the Welsh people will unite and join an alliance of fellow-Celts to repel the Anglo-Saxons under the banner of Saint David: A lluman glân Dewi a ddyrchafant (And they will raise the pure banner of Dewi). Maybe the time has come to join that alliance, but maybe we’ve got the wrong flag?
The Coal Exchange in Cardiff Bay, once the hub of the coal and shipping industries in South Wales, shut without notice last June 2013 for safety reasons.
The 127-year-old venue could be converted into business and residential use. Owners Macob Exchange, Julian Hodge Bank and Cardiff council will hold talks to discuss the idea.
The council is hoping to work with the owners and bank to secure the building’s future.
The Grade ll-listed site has been used for live music and other events over the last two decades and since the hall reopened again in 2009.
Russell Goodway, cabinet member for finance and economic development, said: “The previous attempt by the owner to regenerate the building was hit by the property crash.
“But we are now hopeful that a scheme can be delivered that will save this historical landmark and recover the costs incurred to date by the council, without the need for any further financial investment by the council.”
Let’s hope that plans for the Coal Exchange will be made public. This iconic building is too important for its future to be decided behind closed doors.
Bella Cambria 