EU referendum

[Methersgate]

I have not posted here on this.

Unlike many men of my age I am and always have been strongly pro-European integration. I have something to say to the Brexit people.

I don't mean the people who were scared into voting Leave by the lies - some now admitted to be lies - spread by Farage and his racist filth. I mean the hard core; the people who did the scaring and who are now saying "we won - move on"...

I was a child of the late British Empire. The Empire did not mean pink bits on the map at school, for me: it meant cricket played on coir matting wickets, Land Rovers, District Officers, The Times Air Mail Edition, " Lilliburlero" on the BBC World Service, local policemen in smart uniforms who were utterly incorruptible, railway trains that were clean and ran on time, if slowly, and playing with local children in the street, wherever we were.

Of course I feel nostalgic for that. I even worked as an adult in colonial Hong Kong and there was much for Britain to be proud of there.

But it came to an end. We spent the Sixties in economic melt down as the nation that "had lost an Empire and failed to find a role". Then Ted Heath took us into the EEC, and we became what we have been for the past forty three years, a sucessful European country.

I campaigned for Britain to be in Europe as soon as I was old enough to vote and I have done so for forty five years. I canvassed for Dick Taverne at Lincoln when he was deselected by his local Labour Party for being pro- Europe - he fought a by election as an independent and won. I organised speeches for Roy Jenkins when he was in the political wilderness. I resigned from the Labour Party and helped found the SDP over Europe. Some of my best friends are German and Dutch and Danish.

Fifty two per cent of those who voted have just smashed that. My 21 year old half Filipino son could not vote; he was at sea and there was no way that he could sign and return the proxy vote form. But like most of his age group, he is quietly, politely, very angry indeed at having his future wrecked by a bunch of pig ignorant old farts like you.

And don't ask me what I really think of you.

"Move on" you say...

I prefer Churchill:

"Never give up on something that you can't go a day without thinking about.”

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”

And above all:

"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

You, the people who voted to Leave, are the enemy.

You , and the people who think like you, as opposed to those who were merely misguided and who are coming to regret their votes, are the people set on destroying my country and my children's country and on turning it into a place where mean spirited selfishness is the only thing that actuates people.

You are the real enemy of Britain and it is just as necessary to defeat you now as it was necessary to defeat Hitler seventy five years ago.

You think you have won? On the contrary, this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. It may be the end of the beginning.

 

 

Edited June 27, 2016 by Methersgate

[Jake]

7 hours ago, Methersgate said:

I have not posted here on this.

Unlike many men of my age I am and always have been strongly pro-European integration.

I have something to say to the Brexit people.

You think you have won? On the contrary, this is not the end. 

Thank you for your personal insights about this whole affair.  Your emotional but strong bullet points were right on the money.  I've read that many Brexits are regretting their decision.  Couldn't they see the ramifications of uncertainty and instability where international news and economics talking heads are calling it a meltdown of near global proportion.

I hope the rich, the elite and the powerful get their chit together one of these days -- and I'm talking about States. I believe USA is no longer united as we go down that same slippery slope.  

Anybody want to go to Mars with me?

Edited June 27, 2016 by Jake
spel chek

[Methersgate]

Thank you, Jake.

I picked up my 21 year old son from the airport yesterday. He had paid off his ship at Gibraltar and is due to fly to Napier next week to join his next vessel. In the car were his 14 year old brother and their seven year old stepbrother. The topic of conversation between the older two on the long drive home was, "which country to emigrate to". Alex is going to take a good look at New Zealand. Charles who dreams of becoming a doctor thinks that Canada sounds nice. The little one was just happy to be with his brothers.

I think that had better be my last word on this subject.

Edited June 27, 2016 by Methersgate

[Dave Hounddriver]

28 minutes ago, Methersgate said:

Ted Heath took us into the EEC, and we became what we have been for the past forty three years, a sucessful European country.

I previously posted a foreign exchange chart, showing that the British Pound steadily lost value against the US Dollar during the last 50 years.  You can google charts of the old French Franc and German Deutchmark for that same period and when I did so I came to the conclusion that England was being played by the French and Germans so they could get ahead at England's expense.

This is not relying on lies or truths, it is looking at 50 years of financial results.  This EU has not been successful in terms of Britain's hard currency. I understand the nostalgia but I fail to see why Britain had less trouble letting go of a successful empire than they are having letting go of a sinking ship named EU. 

[Methersgate]

2 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

I previously posted a foreign exchange chart, showing that the British Pound steadily lost value against the US Dollar during the last 50 years.  You can google charts of the old French Franc and German Deutchmark for that same period and when I did so I came to the conclusion that England was being played by the French and Germans so they could get ahead at England's expense.

This is not relying on lies or truths, it is looking at 50 years of financial results.  This EU has not been successful in terms of Britain's hard currency. I understand the nostalgia but I fail to see why Britain had less trouble letting go of a successful empire than they are having letting go of a sinking ship named EU. 

I don't draw that conclusion. Exchange rates are not a zero sum game. For the Deutsche mark and the Franc to rise, it is not necessary for Sterling to fall. 

I remember the dreadful state of British industry in my youth and the rubbish products that we tried to fob off on people. That, I think, is why the Pound fell slowly but inexorably.

[robert k]

It is said that when you are reduced to comparing those you oppose to Hitler, you are done. You have nothing left and you are reduced to name calling.

[Kuya John]

3 hours ago, Methersgate said:

I prefer Churchill:

"Never give up on something that you can't go a day without thinking about.”

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”

And above all:

"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

You, the people who voted to Leave, are the enemy.

 

 

Meth's I agree with you to a point.

Just a pity that David Cameron was not able to read the above extract of your comment's before resigning.

Say's a lot for the stiff upper lip of the Old Etonians

[Methersgate]

21 hours ago, Kuya John said:

Meth's I agree with you to a point.

Just a pity that David Cameron was not able to read the above extract of your comment's before resigning.

Say's a lot for the stiff upper lip of the Old Etonians

Some people say that David Cameron has been really really clever. By resigning without triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, he has in effect forced his successor to either do so or back down. And whoever triggers Article 50 will be the one blamed for the consequences.

I am not clever enough to be able to tell if Cameron has been gutless or has nobly sacrificed his career in the interest of keeping Britain in the EU.   

Edited June 28, 2016 by Methersgate

[Kuya John]

5 hours ago, Methersgate said:

Some people say that David Cameron has been really really clever. By resigning without triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, he has in effect forced his successor to either do so or back down. And whoever triggers Article 50 will be the one blamed for the consequences.

I am not clever enough to be able to tell if Cameron has been gutless or has nobly sacrificed his career in the interest of keeping Britain in the EU.   

Now there's a thought Meth's

Edited June 28, 2016 by Kuya John
Deserves a triple thumps up

[Gerald Glatt]

Wow, you guys....lighten up...do you have any idea how much less our next Rolls will be in the State?