Theo's Blog: Brexit – The Breakfast Cereal For You
EU Referendum barometer 26 05 2016
My Theo-EU-ometer remains unchanged this week as the EU Referendum debate trundles along and it seems that all it does is confuse the Great British Public even further, with more accusations from both sides and with only three weeks to go before the big day. It was never meant to be like this. We are being asked to vote on one of the most important issues of our generation and we seem to be getting less believable information every day. Surely both parties have a duty of care in relation to the information they throw out there.
Now we are constantly being told that this Referendum is more important than any general election, but as I speak to people in my day-to-day life the overriding message I’m receiving back from so many is that they Just Don’t Know. Thus, in some perverse logic they come to the conclusion that if they don’t know, they shouldn’t vote. This is so, so, so wrong. As many people as possible need to vote because this is one of the few times I do agree with both the Remain and Leave parties; this really is one of the most important votes of our generation and it shouldn’t be wasted. So yes, bash the politicians for not making things clear but as voters we too have to accept responsibility for making our mind up one way or another and casting our vote in the ballot box.
So what have we got this week to help us in making that decision and not wasting our vote? Well, we have the beginnings of the so-called debates, with David Cameron up today and Michael Gove tomorrow. Both on Sky News. But how is this different from any other interview that they have both given to the media? The answer is, not a lot. You will have a first class journalist with a limited studio audience asking them questions, which as always, they will be at liberty to answer or as in so many cases, duck by throwing out a bomb against the other side before moving on to ramble about the unrelated subject that their Great Aunt Mabel came from this neck of the woods and has an affinity, so they’re really one of us. Just for the avoidance of doubt, this is NOT a debate. What we need is an honest debate between the key principals of both sides to help the public make a decision as to who they believe most. If it’s good enough for a general election, then why is it not good enough for such a momentous Referendum? This really does frustrate me and calls into question the credibility of both the Remain and Leave campaigns and their leaders Cameron and Osbourne on one side and Gove and Johnson on the other. Why are they running so scared? It seems blatantly clear they do not have the courage of their convictions, so what chance has the man or woman in the street got of calling this right?
It would be remiss of me not to mention the televised and media opinions of various individuals last week, of which this Shopkeeper was one. Alan Sugar, the newly appointed business tsar, on the day of his appointment coincidentally came out with a strong ‘Stay In’ message both on television and in the press followed-up by a YouTube clip extolling the virtues of the unelected EU law makers.
Hot on its heels this was followed with a Remain PR -penned letter endorsed by some of the more junior Dragons from that TV show on BBC2, very firmly nailing their colours to the Stay In mast. I, on the other hand, managed to do what I have a habit of doing, and set the cat amongst the pigeons by pointing out the blindingly obvious and using some logic with an appearance on BBC Breakfast(YouTube clip), making the point that I’d like to stay in the EU but not on the terms negotiated and shackled to the insatiable drive to a United States of Europe (USE) and Federalism.
I am wishing the EU would go back to its original core values of a trading bloc and not that of an unelected law-maker who has the ability to make the law and enforce it irrespective of the will of the people and domestic constitution. So for that reason, I was Out so we could stay In. Let me just clarify that. If we believe everything the Remain campaign has been saying, that a vote to leave will cause destruction, war and economic disaster for both the UK and the EU then it’s just common sense that the Mandarins at the EU would not wish this to happen and would find a politically convenient way to pacify us and keep the UK close. Anything other than this would clearly give a lie to what we’ve been hearing from the Remain campaign. Now, before those ardent Remain campaigners start repeating to me statements made by Cameron and EU leaders that there will be no re-negotiation and in fact the meagre trinkets of concession we have been given will be withdrawn, I would just like to blow a raspberry because they would say that wouldn’t they, as somebody once famously said about the evidence from a politician…as it can’t possibly make any logical sense. Happy to hear from anybody that can give me a logical reason why they would.
We had further good news this week when we heard that Donald Trump, the Republican candidate-elect, is to visit the UK on 24th June, the day after the EU referendum vote to open his new luxury golf course development at Turnberry, who when it was pointed out to him that Brexit wasn’t actually a breakfast cereal said in his opinion “Oh yeah, I think they should leave” followed by a considered view that “I would say that they’re better off without it. But I want them to make their own decision”. Good to see he recognises our sovereignty and democracy, unlike the present President. Well done The Donald…could be hope for you yet! Sadly he did not say whether he thought we’d be better off with hot water or hot milk on our Brexit cereal. It looks like there’s a high chance he may be the next President of the United States of America, who are the protectors of the free world…we may just have a bigger problem lurking around the corner.
2 June 2016