citizen of nowhere

Voters in West Tyrone must consider whether their interests are best served by Sinn Fein’s policy of abstention or whether they might be better served by the SDLP who have shown themselves willing to take an active part in Westminster, particularly with Brexit on a knife-edge and every vote in the UK parliament being counted. Citizens of Northern Ireland, of every persuasion, need representatives at Westminster who will take action to stop a hard border. Lady Sylvia Hermon is doing outstanding work in opposing Brexit but she is a lone NI voice against Brexit, at present. She needs support from all shades of opinion to stop Brexit wrecking our future. Sinn Fein has been associated, since its foundation in 1905, with the policy of abstention from Westminster although this is frequently misunderstood. The policy promoted by Arthur Griffith, leader of the party in its early years, was that Irish representatives should transfer to an Irish parliament, ruling over Irish affairs, in Irelan...

Brexit winners ; Farage, JRM, Redwood & hedge fund disaster speculators. Well done Nigel, hope you enjoy your Euro pension. It’s gone up in value since the pound tanked, after the EU advisory referendum. More ups and downs on the financial markets suit Hedge Funds very well, but that’s bad news for the rest of us. Brexit losers ; everyone else. British workers, investors, professionals, academics. pensioners and business owners will be squeezed by the ill-effects of Brexit for years to come. Manufacturers, banks and professional services providers make investment decisions years ahead. Many are now diverting investment to Europe. That will hurt everyone in Britain & pensions linked to these investments will suffer. We have elections every few years so that people can decide who governs Britain, locally and at Westminster. When things change people have the right to think again, that’s democracy. The advisory EU referendum was obscured by lies and misdirection. Get all t...

I've been over to leaver-land recently, to find out what people are saying and thinking. There were some surprises. I believe the tone of debate is changing and there is much evidence of doubt as the grand promises of the Leave campaign are shown to be hollow. Here is a random selection of comments, typical of many I’ve seen, surnames redacted (Leave.EU 2018.04.16); Philip H: Two weeks ago i was angry that my truck driver wage was only 50 pence an hour more than 10 years ago because of a glut of European drivers. Last week i lost that contract because an agency full of European driver offered to do it for £1 an hour less. That why i voted Brexit. Pete A: Wages are going down due to migrant workers taking lower hourly rates of pay...... Mick S: Over supply of cheap labour means lower wages, and people like blair and Miller get richer. Jake S: Everyone said that immigration drives down wages. Roll on Brexit in full, not the watered down lefty version Dominic P: w...

There were tears and regrets among nationalists as Arlene Foster announced she’s preparing to pack up and leave ahead of the imminent arrival of a united Ireland. Mr G. Adams of West Belfast said he’d be “sorry to see Arlene go (not)”. Mrs Michelle O’Neill of Tyrone said, “what will we do without her? We’ll have nobody to hate now. We could try Nigel Dodds but it wouldn’t be the same. He’s too clean-cut and sensible. You just can’t work up as much anger about him. Arlene was outstandin’ with her squandering public money on heating chicken sheds, anti-Irish policy and hatred for the Good Friday Agreement. She’ll be sorely missed by all true Republicans.” There are regrets in Dublin too. There have been rumours Arlene is secretly infatuated with dashing southern leader, Leo Varadkar. Arlene has been making eyes at Leo, sending him flirtatious messages, but his response has been ice-cold. “I did all I could to be nice to him and what did I get? Nothing, not as much as a peck on the che...

Brexit was sold to the British public, partly, on the promise that the UK would take back control of its borders, trade policies, laws and immigration, with no side effects or cost whatsoever. This always looked highly suspect, not least because of open conflicts between ultra Free Trade campaigners like Daniel Hannan who want no immigration controls, and Farage & co who want draconian border restrictions. The Brexit contradictions are becoming increasingly obvious as the “easiest trade deal of all time” fails to materialise, the cost-free EU exit has vanished and other aspects of the Brexit case are unravelling. Ministers tried their utmost to prevent the public, and MPs, seeing internal government assessments of the impact of brexit, all negative. Now we have more evidence that all is not as promised for Brexit. A fine piece of investigative journalism in the Guardian/ Observer has uncovered a series of meetings between Brexit Trade Ministers and officials with the shadowy L...

Shock horror, Senor Portillo of the Brexit Broadcasting Censors, steam railways division, has been revealed as a closet Remainer. Senior BBC executives held an emergency meeting. “This is an intolerable situation. We can’t have someone with pro-EU views corrupting the airwaves and slipping in positive messages about Europe,” said Mr B. Rexit, the BBC’s head of balance and fairness. David Dimblebore has been asked to step in and present a series of illustrated readings from old railway timetables until a suitable, UKIP approved, successor to Senor Portaloo can be found. It’s rumoured there are many more “sleepers” in the Tory party waiting for the moment when they can spring out from behind a curtain and shout “Boooooo”, to scare Theresa Mayhem into flushing her chaotic Brexit down the toilet, where it belongs. Senor Portillo has long been suspected of harbouring Remainer tendencies. "He’s the son of a Spanish immigrant, for heaven’s sake, what more evidence do you need?"...