Brexit from a Gentleman Leaver

An Observation from an Englishman Gentleman

by David Lott

David Lott, retired commercial and RAF pilot, horseman, son of a Battle of Britain airman and at home  with his lovely wife in a country house whether in England or France, penned this note to me last month.  If one has been following the news, the United Kingdom 
is in political and economic turmoil attempting to agree on a strategy of leaving the European Union.  Yesterday a million persons marched in London demanding a second referendum, hoping that the U.K. would not leave the organization of 27 nations who share a borderless common market. 

Deeply conservative and patriotic, David, pictured right, is passionate that the U.K. should break away from the E.U. as do millions of  his fellow citizens.  Whether one agrees with him or not, it is important to understand his feelings as elected officials in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, all 'nations' within the United Kingdom, struggle with this profoundly divisive issue of separation. - GNH


Below, 23 March 2019, a million pro-E.U. citizens marched in London demanding a second referendum on whether to leave or stay.

"I am so sorry I have not been in touch for such a long time. No excuse really but just distracted by other things. We are in reasonable shape and expecting a grandson on Brexit day, or what we hope will turn out to be Brexit in more than name only. If that is the case he will be born into a free and independent country which will be a splendid satisfaction to us.

Never in my life have I seen so little gained in negotiations with the EU for so great an expense. Sadly, our nation has no Captain and therefore acts in a rudderless manner. Even our Parliament is traduced by a treacherous Speaker. Oh, how the 'Mother of Parliaments' is diminished.

The situation upon your side of the Atlantic is so very different. You have a very strong leader and the reputation of the United States is blossoming allowing your President to project power in the cause of peace in a manner not possible since the days of President Reagan. I thought President Trump's State of the Union speech was thoughtful balanced and above all clear in its messages. He really is delivering on his manifesto.

Nigel Farage, a leader of the Exit movement, is a personal friend of Mr. Lott.  This picture taken 23 March 2019 at a Pro-Brexit march. David once stood for Parliament representing the Independent Party.

To come back to Brexit we are hoping for the World Trade Organisation departure from the EU using Article 24 in the WTO's rule book. This states that provided both parties agree all normal trade arrangements can continue under the current system for a period of up to 10 years after Brexit during which time both parties would engage in talks to iron out a full agreement.

This allows the current free trade with the EU to continue gives certainty in the short to medium term for business, buries the Irish problem, allows us to carry out trade agreements with the rest of the world, deregulate and save £39 billion. Of course, while this is sensible fair and easy, Mrs. May will always take the difficult route of getting nothing for £9 billion, tying us to the EU indefinitely and make us a vassal state much like Vichy France in WW2! She is completely bonkers.

Emotions in England are running high as the new deadline for removing the U.K. from the E.U. draws near.  

On a different subject I wrote a short story highlighting in an amusing way my views on encouraging children from the age of six to question their gender which I regard as cruel, evil and unnecessary. The joy of childhood is its innocence. To shatter that is a crime.

I trust you are in the pink." - David Lott

David Lott Visits the USA and has Some Reflections

Musings on a trip to the USA and other Things

By David Lott, Englishman, Political Observer

My granddaughter has just started an 8-year course to become a veterinarian. She is a US citizen and has worked immensely hard for her place at Colorado State University at Fort Collins. Kathy and my visit there was a real eye opener - the campus is truly superb and the facilities outstanding including accommodation for the new intake.

David's wife Kathy and granddaughter Linda at Colorado State University

It was the first time I have visited a grand ‘child’ standing largely on her own two feet and if the quality of her and her classmates is anything to go by, then the USA has little to worry about. Linda has a mind of her own and an opinion upon many if not most of the major issues of our times.  She also has that rarest of things in today’s world; an open mind!

She works very hard indeed as she will not know for the best part of 4 years whether she will be accepted for the following 4 years at CSU to achieve her aim. She will get a degree after 4 years but to succeed she needs exceptional results to go on to become a vet. Especially at this university at Fort Collins, Colorado as it enjoys a reputation in her field second to none.

Such a level of determination needs feeding, and we had a couple of outstanding meals in the delightful town with up market and interesting shops and restaurants. It is a highly sophisticated place as is Denver our next port of call.

In Denver we were brought up to date by our erstwhile neighbours in France. They owned the Chateau at the end of a tree lined avenue at the other end of which stood our rather more modest abode. Although our politics are a little different (they definitely do not support President Trump) they are fair-minded and we covered a lot of common ground. We found Denver a hive of building activity; the city is an upcoming major centre with high tech moving in with a great deal of money.

On a relaxed 10-day journey from there to Houston, Texas we saw much, with glorious views and autumn colours, abounding in the Rockies.

In western New Mexico we were staggered by the sheer scale of fracking for oil and gas. A vast area of largely poor sage brush land is being developed, and it continued without a break for 70 miles either side of the road deep into the hinterland. It was truly humming with large RV and mobile home parks for temporary workers and what seemed like thousands of trucks and construction sites. The US has the space, the resources, and the will to make this work. To be independent of the Middle East in terms of energy production seems a laudable goal.

Houston some 5 weeks after hurricane was bewildering. It was immaculate! We did not see it all of course because of the size of this huge ultra-modern conurbation but we did see much of the western side including the city centre. Everything but everything was in perfect order. What a testament to the authorities and their preparedness for this event and the way the water levels were managed during the storm. Our local authorities England would have been out of their depth!

My son and his family live just outside the city. Their daughter was away in Fort Collins of course and the first to have flown the nest. He is in the oil business as a senior engineer with Mitsubishi. They own a house which probably cost the same as our modest house in West Sussex but it is large airy comfortable with a very grand staircase and would cost treble the price if it were in southern England. My daughter-in-law likes President Trump’s policies but not the man himself which seemed to be true of quite a few residents.

Throughout the trip I intentionally wore a cap with ‘Make Britain Great Again’, emblazoned on the front. It was a pleasant surprise that people loved it even in New York. It seems that citizens throughout the west love their customs, way of life, food cultures and history all of which give a country its identity wherever you are. Those with a globalist agenda cannot seem to grasp this basic urge.

By globalist I do not mean those wanting free trade alone but those with a different agenda that includes the deliberate imposition of mass immigration. Such dismantling of borders as outlined as an ultimate aim by Hillary Clinton and here in Europe by the leaders of the EU and enthusiastically endorsed by Angela Merkel have led already to increased crime, terrorism and unrest.

David's wife, Kathy, and son and daughter in law in every growing Houston, Texas!

That political parties labelled ‘extreme’ are on the rise comes as a result of the blindness of their leaders. Nor do I subscribe to the idea that the US has no identity because of a shortish history. Indeed, it was abundantly clear in New York that rich, poor and the in between mix wonderfully there. Whatever the race, they are all New Yorkers and American despite the mix. It is what makes the place so vibrant. But this is a triumph of assimilation not isolation within communities.

So from New York it was home on the magnificent Cunard ship Queen Mary 2. During a live performance on board in the middle of the Atlantic we were hit by a rogue wave in a relatively calm sea. The act was a single female singer accompanied by a pianist at a grand piano. As the wave hit the piano started to slide but the pianist bravely continued to play! The piano continued to slide, and the singer rushed to help the pianist desperately now pushing back against the weight of the piano whilst still half sitting on his stool. They were joined at last by a stage hand and as the ship righted the slide was controlled and stopped. Whereupon the pianist sat down, the singer returned to her microphone and together they picked up the song at exactly the point at which they were interrupted to the tumultuous cheers of the audience! Tres cool.

On the QM2 there are educational and current affairs talks and I was so pleased to hear a New York Times journalist give a series of talks on the state of US politics with particular reference to President Trump and Hillary Clinton. I expected him to excoriate Trump and praise Hillary, but he was scrupulously fair and honest about the two of them. Maybe some of the MSM are getting the message that ‘honesty is the best policy’!

We also had a geologist talking about the energy industry and he too captured his audience’s attention. The last of his lectures concerned climate change. Using data from eons ago to the present day, much of it from a geologist’s perspective, he debunked the idea that man is altering the climate. That the climate is changing he agreed but very gradually, naturally and independently from Man’s activities. The geological activity that results below and above the sea resulting in volcano and geothermal activity utterly dwarfs any small impact by man was just one of his compelling arguments.

And so back home to Blighty where the irrelevant pygmy politicians of the UK were still betraying our Brexit vote and arguing, speculating and pontificating on much but dealing with nothing. It seemed at the same point where it was before we left a month before. How deadly.

But we live in an old fashioned little town at the foot of the South Downs and the countryside is glorious. And at the age of 77 I start a new part time job in February for a few days a month as a volunteer guide at the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum. Tangmere is where my father was based in 1940 where he commanded a Hurricane squadron in 1940. It also houses a Harrier aircraft that I flew several times 40 years ago! It is all very apt.

Toodle Pip – David Lott, retired pilot and RAF officer and whose father was seriously wounded in the 1940 Battle of Britain

Dear Glenn

I paste an article below that may be of interest. It is written by Raheem Kassam with whom I have campaigned a little. It is food for thought. President Trump is gradually changing world politics more than any recent predecessor. I remain a keen supporter of this remarkable man. - David Lott of England, a founder of the United Kingdom Independent Party and retired RAF fighter pilot.

It may as well have been written before President Trump even uttered a single word in Warsaw earlier this week, the Economist‘s panicked, hysterical, and un-bylined reflection on his speech that placed matters of identity, culture, faith and sovereignty over democracy.

“In Warsaw, America’s president barely mentions democracy,” the article’s sub-headline shrieks. For a magazine so fervently opposed to the results of the Brexit referendum (direct democracy in action), you could easily hurl accusations of hypocrisy at the magazine’s editors.

Instead, we should be more wary of the ongoing fetishisation of the idea of one-man-one-vote as some kind of be all and end all of Western civilization.

Firstly, in the grand scheme of all things European — and derivative nations such as the United States, Canada, Australia, etc — democracy is a relatively new concept. The cynic may well drop in this overused Churchill quote. Or this one. Again, too easy.

It strikes me as more important that we look at what the Economist is trying to achieve by declaring:

When George W. Bush visited Poland for his first presidential visit, in 2001, he referred to democracy 13 times. When Barack Obama spoke in Warsaw in 2014, he mentioned democracy nine times. For Mr Trump, once sufficed.

The tone conveys hostility, not just towards those who do not believe the West is typified by more than the ballot box, but also to those who believe history matters, tradition matters, nation states matter, and identity matters.

A refusal to deify democracy runs deeply contrary to the objectives of globalism, which explains the Economist’s petulance.

For decades we have watched, almost stunned into inaction, as our children are forced to learn that patriotism is racist, and history is to be altered at the whim of the loudest, shrieking, protesters.

Mine isn’t an anti-democracy argument either. Merely I want to reflect upon how the President struck the right balance between democracy and philosophy/history in his Warsaw speech.

But The Economist wants to give a historical progressivism — a tool often leveraged, even if not adhered to, by globalists — an intellectual underpinning. But there is no intelligence in this mantra. Quite the opposite.

The notion of putting democracy on a higher pedestal than tradition is anti-intellectual.

Conservatives and reactionaries are, today, less likely to be motivated by fear and emotion and more interested in learning lessons from the past that the left would rather ignore or rewrite.

Many mistake the Economist for a pro-free market capitalist paper. Untrue.

It favours corporatism and cronyism. It isn’t left or right per se. But it does favour the modern political centre-left, more interested in “internationalism”, more in favour of the political establishment than the every man. Hence its risible backing of the pro-European Union Liberal Democrats at the British general election.

Curious, you might think then, that the magazine would side with the demos who elected President Donald J. Trump. Not so, either.

President Trump won because of the electoral college, a check on a more direct democracy, and one which the Economist has previously sought to undermine in its U.S.-election coverage. Heaven for fend we suggest a return to the Senate’s original role in not being a directly elected chamber either. That could really set their heads spinning.

It would be unfair however to state the paper misunderstands the idea of the tyranny of the majority. There have previously been printed warnings over referendums or ballot measures in the United States on their own pages. So what has changed since then, when in 2011, they published the following words:

…it is the “tyranny of the majority” that James Madison, a Founding Father, warned about. His reading of ancient history was that the direct democracy of Athens was erratic and short-lived, whereas republican Rome remained stable for much longer. He even worried about using the word “democracy” at all, lest citizens confuse its representative (ie, republican) form with its direct one. “Democracy never lasts long,” wrote John Adams, another Founding Father. Asked what government the federal constitution of 1787 had established, Benjamin Franklin responded: “A republic, if you can keep it.”

In a word: Trump.

In another word: populism.

Though JFK, Obama, and other centre-left politicians were swept into power on a populist wave, they represented the Wilsonian internationalism the Economist prefers. So they were okay. The same internationalism that loves democracy promotion abroad which led to the quagmire of the Iraq War: the reason we weren’t able to stablise Iraq post-invasion. Our newfound obsession with putting a tick in a box.

Again, no grasp or reflection of this from the Economist as it lambastes the President of the United States for focusing on political philosophy rather than fawning over a system of electing a government.

You couldn’t imagine editorialising such as: “The spectators, mainly conservative Catholics bused in from around the country and promised a free picnic at the defence ministry afterwards” under an Obama presidency. In fact, these are the same tactics the left uses at elections as well as for protests and marches all around the Western world.

Once more, hypocritically, the paper takes a dig at the recently democratically elected Polish government:

But the greatest reason for Poland’s government to be delighted with Mr Trump was what he did not mention: PiS’s undermining of democratic institutions to entrench its own power. The party has stuffed the civil service and the diplomatic corps with loyalists and has weakened the independence of the judiciary. It has transformed the national broadcaster into a mouthpiece of the state. Independent journalists face new restrictions. The European Commission has warned the government that its reforms pose “a systemic risk to the rule of law.”

Of course the (unelected, by the way) European Commission has said that. PiS has been steadfast in protecting Poland from the EU’s migration madness, as well as taking steps to reassert Polish sovereignty.

Never has the Economist mentioned how during the years the pro-establishment Civic Platform ruled, they too “stuffed the civil service and diplomatic corps with loyalists”. Their looting is one of the major reasons they lost to PiS in 2015.

The Economist wants to bash PiS and Trump; facts, philosophy, and even their own commitment to democracy be damned. If that means humiliating itself by performing anti-intellectual mid-air back flips in the process, it seems the editors are more than willing to do so.

Best wishes

Comments:

From a Pennsylvania art teacher - 

By the way, the David Lott piece on Poland, etc. was spot on.

Some Thoughts from England

David Lott is no stranger to these pages.  For several decades he has argued consistently that the United Kingdom should go it alone without membership in the European Union. Last year, the members of his party, the United Kingdom Independent Party, helped lead the charge for Brexit.  In this tome, David, a founding member of UKIP, a veteran of the Royal Air Force and a son of a Battle of Britain hero, reflects on why the current state of Western politics seems to be trending toward populism, or some would argue a return to democratic nationalism. - Glenn N. Holliman

Thoughts on Populism

by David Lott, Englishman

Since the beginning of civilisation there has been rebellion against civil and military governments. The populist uprising in our times is certainly not new and common throughout history. Each authority whether Empire, Nation or even Tribe come to live in fear, sometimes paranoia when a threat from within appears inside their horizon. There are such a remarkable variety of examples of rebellion that there is a danger in being selective as it can be the enemy of objectivity. I will try my best to be fair but brief in order to avoid boring you.

The reaction by rulers to rebellion is mostly authoritarian leading frequently to tyranny. Those in charge convince themselves they are behaving reasonably and their idea of the status quo is sound. They tell themselves the troubled protesters are either mad, simple or a deplorable destabilising threat, whilst fear courses through their veins and colours their response. Occasionally enlightened rulers perceive merit in their opponents’ arguments or perhaps they are simply pragmatic but in both cases upset and violence are avoided. More often than not the Authority has a mindset that cannot be changed which is, in the majority of cases, at the root of protest in the first place as rational argument simply cannot prevail.

Members of David's family take a spring walk amongst the English bluebells!

Protest comes in many forms with many perils. Some are led by the evil as in the rise of Adolph Hitler and his Nazis which was avoidable had not France determined to beggar Germany with its insistence upon unpayable reparations. A little magnanimity would have done wonders.

Other rebellions begin with the best of intentions led by the high minded against oppression or simply poor and/or corrupt government but these idealists are regularly thrust brutally aside by sly selfish and greedy conspirators lurking in their midst. The most recent example of a just rebellion being usurped by evil was that of the the Arab Spring which was traduced by religious fanatics. The desire for democracy was overwhelmed by carefully placed religious freaks from within. 

Unfortunately, political leaders in the West, since the outrageous tragedy of 9/11, have been painfully blind to the forces of evil that circumvented the Arab Spring’s desire for secular change. The financiers of religious extremism subsequently, in an act of madness, became our allies in the Middle East. As a result, we created a state of affairs that fuels hatred, violence, gruesome brutality and servitude that should have no place in the ‘enlightened’ West’s foreign policy, a policy which results in terrorism at home and death by drowning for the thousands in the Mediterranean seas.

Some revolutions simply exchange one set of tyrannical leaders for another as ideals become corrupted by power as in the communist revolutions in the 20^th century.

The perils of revolution were very much in the forefront of our minds of those of us who struggled for over 20 years to free ourselves from the tentacles of the European Union and break free to once more have the freedom to govern ourselves.  

Just because there have been examples of tragedy following the usurped intentions of various uprisings of populism in the last century it does not mean to say it always leads to disaster or regression, far from it. The US War of Independence followed a successful uprising against the arrogant and inflexible British leading to the creation of the greatest nation on earth. What a wonderful achievement, you wished to govern yourselves and you succeeded brilliantly.

Oliver Cromwell’s uprising led to civil war and victory over monarchical rule. His rule, though austere, allowed Britain to transition from a largely autocratic model of government to that of a democratic kind subsequently adopted throughout much of the world.  Many would argue that the outcome ended better than the bloody French revolution 150 years later. It certainly ended better than Wat Tyler’s peasants’ revolt in 1381 which so very nearly succeeded when his force occupied London. He was too easily appeased by a deceitful King and paid the ultimate price. Yet another example of the perils of rebellion.

Today’s rise in populism in the West is not happening because all is fine and dandy with the governing class.

The reasons are highly complex but in very general terms faith has been lost in the veracity of the ruling elite who seem to believe their corruption, their abuse of privacy and a telling air of superiority has not registered with much of the electorate. Many on the liberal left too often despise the merit within their own country’s culture and nationhood. The preservation of which seems unimportant to them. Much better that home culture is watered down with mass immigration, as immigrants can be used as voting fodder. Hillary Clinton to her credit was openly honest about watering down national characteristics in a drive towards global governance during her campaign for the presidency. Today’s President elect in France holds the same beliefs.

None but the most dyed in the wool supporter of the current rulers can say there is no reason to protest. My worry is that there are a huge number of such leopards that cannot change their spots who simplistically see the populist opposition as anything other than a deplorable threat to their power. Populism thrives does it not, when poor, deaf, arrogant, deceitful, corrupt and undemocratic politicians rule? And boy is it thriving.

Today people have woken up to the Globalist agenda that thwarts democracy through corrupt malleable politicians and waters down distinct and admirable civilised cultures. War has actually become a method of distracting people from the underlying agenda. Thanks to social media the people no longer buy the established line and the press is losing the battle of information. Social media has more factual credibility than mainstream media with the ordinary man and woman on the street. We now see government trying to influence the organs of the social media such that they deny freedom of speech. It is a sterile unimaginative approach that will be scorned.

In Europe the EU provides profoundly undemocratic, corrupt and incompetent government. Its only policy body, the European Commission, is not even elected. Its ability to take decisions requires 28 once sovereign countries of very different viewpoints and cultures on geopolitics to agree! If they do not comply, they can be, and sometimes are punished. It is no wonder this process leads to paralysis when negotiating trade agreements. And always Germany lurks behind the scene pulling their puppet strings. The EU will fail, the leaders may hold hands after a terrorist attack but any real solidarity is dissolving rapidly as the tide of independence swells.

I have mentioned corruption being rife. There are 30,000 lobbyists in Brussels entertaining officials in every field with flattery, nice lunches, holidays and finally juicy jobs when their time is up within the institutions. The situation in Washington is not dissimilar.

EU and German leaders are deaf to the cries of Greece, now governed in terrible austerity linked to an overvalued Euro that denies any escape from penury.Germany’s unilateral opening of EU borders, automatically supported by the EU directly leads to the cries of alarm from Hungary, the Czech Republic, Holland, Austria, Italy, France, Sweden and Poland on the subject of mass Islamic migration. The culture of these people is perfectly easily absorbed into our own when small numbers are involved. 

Spring in England can be chilly, but what would England be without lovable dogs and the early bluebells of the season.

But many within this tsunami bring a different legal system of Sharia and refuse to integrate which generates fear from north to south and east to west in Europe, especially in the case of female safety from molestation, grooming and rape. Many individual governments are refusing to dance to the German tune played dutifully by the EU’s orchestra.

Time is so ripe for rebellion that of course there are populist groups rising, as so many criteria for their existence are met and the only answer seems to be more faceless Globalism and more EU forced integration. Unless EU leaders take note opposition will grow and grow.

Interestingly in the UK the government of the day seems to have listened (but I am wary and only time will tell) to the voice of the people who, I am proud to say, have been provided with populist leadership that has prevailed in its intention to leave this failing institution of the EU. Let us all hope that populism has done its job in the UK. The people seem to think so at the moment. As I write this there has been an extraordinary protest at the England and Wales local elections in favour of a government determined upon its course to leave the EU.

The UK Independence Party, under the leadership of the charismatic Nigel Farage, of which I am a part, brought about our successful result in a referendum and the application by the UK Government to leave the EU. This was achieved completely from outside the Westminster arena. It was an extraordinary example of popular uprising and it looks at the moment that the General Election is turning into a second referendum upon our EU membership with those advocating to remain in the EU losing massively. Our Ukip vote has collapsed and gone to those with the task of implementing the departure from the EU; the Conservative party.

This is a real worry as we got where we did through honest toil and dedication spanning more than 20 years of superhuman effort sustained by conviction and iron determination. Prime Minister May will need the same qualities to see this through. She voted to Remain in the EU so it is only natural we suspect some backsliding as she is unlikely to have our conviction – how could she?

The Labour Party is collapsing and may split, the Liberal Democrats as a pro EU outfit will remain in limbo. The last Prime Minister the pro EU David Cameron was forced from office and all this achieved through populism led by the UK Independence Party. This was an immense and unprecedented victory for the people and an underpinning of democracy with huge political realignment bringing change to our country.

You see folks it can be done if you are determined enough, without bloodshed and within democratic parameters, but I can assure you it was very hard work!

Some say that in reality Mrs. May is the new Ukip Leader! However, there is much water to still flow under the bridge and our Party will continue ready to surge forward again should this Conservative government fail to deliver. Unlike Wat Tyler we have learned the lessons of not being too easily appeased. - David Lott

The European Union is Self Serving

David Lott, retired Royal Air Force and commercial airline pilot and a founder of the United Kingdom Independent Party, is no stranger to these posts.  He has devoted more than a quarter century to securing Britain's independence from the European Union.  His feelings of nationhood are shared by many in the U.K. and other political parties in Europe.  As the E.U. represents over 500 million persons and a sizable portion of the world's economy, it is important for Americans and others around the globe to understand the feelings and forces at work during our time. - GNH

EU Self Serving

by David Lott

Here in Europe, away from the thrill of a US return towards regime change in Syria to complete the hat trick of nations scalped to hang from its belt, we across the Atlantic are facing a European Union at loggerheads with its own people.

The flags of the member nations of a federated Europe

By this I mean the interests of the EU Administration itself are put ahead of the interests of the people, which has become the norm in ‘democratic’ governments throughout the West. The EU though has a better excuse to be so self serving than most as it has no claim to be Democratic whatsoever.

The EU through its 5 presidents: Rotating President, President of the Council of Ministers, President of the Commission, President of the European Central Bank and President of the EU Parliament have outlined their requirements before trade negotiations can commence for the UK’s departure from the EU.

They are:

1.      A bill for 52 Billion Euros for the UK to pay up front

2.      No representation of the UK on the Council of Ministers for ALL meetings

3.      Forbid the UK to discuss free trade with any other country in the world during the Article 50 process

4.      Allow Spain to have a veto over the whole departure deal unless they are satisfied with the position of Gibraltar with respect to Spain.

5.      To declare that we shall not reduce our corporate taxes or remove anti- competitive EU regulation in order to have a commercial advantage over the EU

Four of these conditions are completely unacceptable and all are an insult to us as a nation which should force us, as a free nation to walk away and accept there will be no deal.

Let me address points 1 and 2 first as they belong together for the purposes of argument.

No official has provided any basis whatsoever for this huge charge of 52 billion euros. There has been no breakdown and no explanation, it is a figure plucked from the air. The UK during its 44 year membership has paid a net 200 billion Euros to the EU, we therefore have a stake in all the buildings and pension funds of the EU; the two Parliament buildings, one in Strasbourg (used one week per month) the other in Brussels (used the rest of the month), the enormous Berlayment Building, the Ministry of the Regions building, the European Central Bank Building in Frankfurt and many minor buildings. Surely they should pay the UK investment off, or at the very least allow the UK to charge rent for the buildings and interest on our stake in the massive pension funds.

 The nations that compose the 28 member Union

As we are not being allowed to have any say in the Council of Ministers at all on any subject we must look at our current payments which will amount to a net amount of a little more than 30 Billion Euros by the time we leave in March 2019. If we are to have no say then surely it is a case of no pay. The same premise which led directly to your War of Independence in the USA. Whilst there may be a case for us to continue to pay into some small projects in which we shall continue to partake in the future, the fact is that a 52 Billion Euros bill to leave is preposterous.

As to item 3 that we should not discuss future trade deals until we leave is just nonsense and I am pleased to see that our government is simply ignoring this pompous edict.

Item 4 is a red line and nothing to do with our leaving the EU and everything to do with Spain’s long running efforts to oust the British from Gibraltar. We protect our own as we did with the Falklands and the Gibraltarians voted in the last referendum by 98% to remain British so we will not and cannot betray them. If the EU insists upon this demand then, as a free nation, we must simply walk away from the negotiations and adopt World Trade Organisation rules and continue trading with the EU on the same basis as most other countries in the world such as the USA.

And item 5 would bind us to EU rules and compliance with the dictates of the European Court of Justice, in other words we would remain in the EU with no ultimate say on taxation and self regulation. Certainly not reflecting our referendum result.

These conditions are not an opening gambit, these EU ‘Presidents’ know they are completely unacceptable and would be rejected out of hand. But worse is the fact that by losing the ability to trade freely with the UK EU businesses will suffer and millions probably will be thrown out of work. We can live without French cheese or wine along with Belgian chocolate of even German cars. We can use markets elsewhere in the world and enjoy lower prices but it will not come to this because popular opinion has to be taken into account at the French, German and Italian elections.

Yes that word ‘popular’ arises again. If the politicians just look after their own interests’ then populism will kick them where it hurts.

Ukip Members of the European Parliament will be travelling around the EU nations over the next 18 months talking to small and medium sized businesses that stand to lose so much if the UK is deliberately alienated, or perhaps punished is a better word. They will find out just how little their masters in Brussels care about them and their families. A conclusion already drawn from the influx of migrants, the strain they are on services, the rise in terrorism, crime and rape in particular which they have to endure. They are abjured to hold hands in solidarity but political Islam laughs at them for such weakness.

In addition the southern nations are bleeding to death under a mountain of debt that is never repayable. They made mistakes for sure but they no longer have the ability with their own currency to inflate their way out of debt. Germany on the other hand thrives from the low value of the Euro.

The EU is reeling from rebellion within their ranks and if they punish the UK then these power lusting fools will pay the price and we shall perhaps all become free again within Europe but not within the EU. Sadly under these circumstances it will not be an orderly transition.

If EU politicians were to grow up, listen and then gradually loosen the strings such that it become a Common Market, which is what we thought we voted for in the first place, then their future as well as that of the UK could emerge peacefully and successfully. Right now though they are going hell for leather for more power and integration. We, in Britain, are taking to our own lifeboat because it is very necessary.  - David Lott, United Kingdom

David Lott on another Disputed Election in American History

David Lott offers a contrary view than many readers of this blog have about the election of the now President Trump.  David has paid his dues as a Royal Air Force pilot and a commercial aviator. He has exposed himself to public candidacy for the House of Commons as an early member of the anti-European Union United Kingdom Independent Party.  He is the quintessential English gentleman, a person of firm opinions but always expressed politely.  The following was written several days ago before the presidential inauguration here in the United States. - GNH

Below, not an Englishman's garden, but Steph's
garden in South Australia, a summer's outing in
her bird bath.  It is becoming a tradition to add
a scenic photograph from our readers to this blog.

The Presidential Election of 1876 by David Lott

We were subjected yesterday to wall to wall media attacks upon the President elect and this evening the same is being dealt out to Theresa May. The level of reporting has sunk to a level of unsubstantiated accusation that I have never before seen. I hope mobs do not burn down the White House or attack those who voted for Trump or perhaps in the UK those of us who simply want the same freedom as you enjoy in the USA.

Perhaps the little historical snapshot below will help a provide a sense of perspective. 

Rutherford B. Hayes, Republican vs Samuel Tilden, Democrat

This week’s inauguration is somewhat less controversial than that of President Hayes in the late 1800s.

It seems the Democrats fixed the votes in three southern states and did a little gerrymandering in Oregon. Louisiana, South Carolina and Florida were deemed to have flagrantly rigged the vote in favour of their candidate Tilden. After a commission was appointed from both Congressional houses it was eventually agreed that 20 disputed electoral votes should be handed the Hayes on the eve of inauguration day making him President despite losing the popular vote.

The price paid by the Republicans was to remove all federal troops from the three southern states and allowing the Democrats to dominate.

These Southern Democrats rapidly removed the franchise from black voters. These poor black Americans, people without the protection from federal troops, became subjected to a ballooning Ku Klux Klan leading to hundreds if not thousands of them being lynched.

Perhaps that election deserved an hysterical press reaction.

Surely this election does not merit the strange, divisive disrespectful harrying of the President elect. The outgoing President stokes the fire in addition, surely he should realise that he undermines the Office he holds.

I am sure that for some the change that is coming in the UK and the US is worrying but for many it is a change that is long overdue. Cannot you all wait a little to see how it pans out and then if you thoroughly disapprove complain and change things at the next election? All this protest, abuse, insult and promise of mayhem before the man even takes office or before the arrival of an independent Britain demonstrates an enormous lack of tolerance in both our nations.

Good luck! - David Lott writing from England

Comments?