Category: Uncategorized

Well, it looks like another hurdle has passed in this journey called Brexit.  There are others yet to be jumped before we can actually say that Article 50 has actually been triggered.  But to be honest I don’t know whether this is going to be a good thing or a bad thing – I do know that I’m being told various things but still not being informed.

For example there is lots being said about a hard or soft Brexit.  This seems to me be mainly concerned with access to the single market and the principle thing bothering people seeming to be free movement.  The things bothering business seems to my simplistic mind to be passporting money; tarrifs and access to cheap (seasonal?) labour.  Simplified of course.

Personally I’m not bothered about the hit to the banks.  Yes, our treasury does get an awful lot of tax from them but they have caused me and society as a whole more than enough grief.  They have taken enough of my money and despite all the crashes to date, and fines for malpractice they are still trading and continue to pay out to invisible people and other investing corporations.  I’m not really bothered about the plight of international businesses – they have the money to pay legal experts who can put their assets in the best possible places to avoid paying tax whilst keeping wages at a minimum for the few staff that they employ.  What I am bothered about is what this means to me and more importantly my family.

The approach of politicians to Brexit of trying to drive peoples opinion one way or another through fear and threats, or playing on heart strings continues.  The engagement and proper informing of everyday people hasn’t even started yet.  Does anyone even know what it means or means to them?  Do politicians actually know or even care, beyond their own jobs and families?

I am aware that I am very lucky to live in this country that I was born into, as were my family.  I have a measure of surety and security.  I personally don’t think that it’s right that those who are from other countries and who have lived here legally for years have now to face that uncertainty – but I am also aware that this isn’t solely down to our politicians. They are also being used as pawns by their own politicians in their birth countries parliaments and the wider EU.  Does the EU actually represent the countries which it is made up of, or the peoples in those countries?  I can’t help but think of poor forgotten Greece.

I think it comes down to trust.  I don’t trust politicians to behave in an honest and representative way anymore.  They don’t seem to trust each other, either locally or internationally.  In an environment of mistrust, no-one wins and I truly believe that nothing meaningful and good can be expected as a result of this current climate unless and until something changes and people actually start to trust again.  So sad,

Well, I’m glad that we have politicians to help us through these trying times, because obviously I don’t know all the particulars and wouldn’t understand them anyway.  What I do know is that if I had started a project, without an understanding of what the objectives/deliverables were, and without a risk register and a plan then I wouldn’t have a job for long.  I mean, how can any group of people supposedly with a common goal put together a strategy without at least an outline understanding of those objectives and what the implications were?  How could the pro’s and con’s of the situation be given over in simple terms if they weren’t even explored by those supposedly in the know?

It would seem at the end of the day that the politicians still haven’t learned anything.  The unthinkable happened (albeit by a slim margin) and advisory or not a majority of those voting said they weren’t happy with the current situation.  And instead of listening to the ‘common people’ and asking properly what the concern’s were and the priority of those concerns, the results are being taken as supporting the politicians petty aims and they continue to guess and twist those results again to further their own political agenda’s.  There are none of them better than the other, whatever party or region.  I haven’t seen any of them take a step back and hold a series of local workshops or whatever they want to call them to to actually ASK.  And the EU is acting just like FIFA did when it’s leaders were caught with their hands in the till.

Come on . . . think about and act on behalf of the people of the country for a change.  Please.

So we are now into 2016 . . . yippee!

The political parties are still fighting within themselves about their ghosts . . . Europe for the Conservatives and Trident for Labour.  Lib Dems?  Well, who cares really.  They sold their soul to the devli and it’s still trying to find it’s way as one of the living dead.  The greens, well even with the best intentions people can only afford to be altruistic and ‘do the right thing’ when they have the money.

So, as it’s a new year, let’s start with a Ney Year’s wish.  That the politicians remember that they were voted in to serve, not dictate and that they take the time to reflect on what’s right for the people and not be driven by self interest or doctrine.

Well, there is less than a month to go and instead of concentrating on what’s good, as usual the politicians are focusing on slagging each other off!

Of course if they were willing to tell us what they were going to put us through then we would have something to compare.