Since Brexit the UK is a headless chicken…
Politically headless, economically egg-bound, diseased with
financial parasites, the media flapping uselessly. Willy foxes – rich men with
an eye for a quick profit – sneak in and grab what they can in the panic and
disarray.
Sentient caring folk feel like we’re disappearing down the
rabbit hole. The horses have all bolted but stable doors are still being
slammed. We are well and truly in the manure. Many important matters will now not get the attention they need as we are mired in the slurry of Brexit. (Alright – no more farm analogies).
Our new, unelected Prime Minister’s early headline
statement was that she's hot for Trident and would be happy to press the
button. But then recent UK Prime Ministers do say things just for effect. In
2014 Cameron said the UK would help rescue the 219 kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls.
Then he promptly dropped us into an EU referendum making Britain pretty much
irrelevant on the global stage for the foreseeable future. Nothing significant
has been done to rescue the Nigerian school girls.
Of our racist head of foreign affairs, Boris Johnson, a
little less has been heard. That can only be a good thing. Although with the PM
on holiday Boris is officially in charge this week and there is news of him bickering
with Liam Fox, Minister for Brexit. They are sharing a mansion/office and scrapping over who gets ownership of the excuses for
Britain’s international economic downturn.
Democratic balance? The Labour party, the official
opposition, is embroiled in legal action like quarrelling siblings insisting
that mummy tell them what to do. Two off-the-peg white blokes, Jeremy Corbyn
and Owen Smith, are skirmishing for position at the top of the Labour party as
it implodes under them.
Up here in Scotland we are still dazed and confused
following Brexit. Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in Europe. Not only
that but many here were persuaded to vote against independence in September
2014 as the ONLY way Scotland could stay in Europe. So, as you can imagine, voters
feel royally conned.
Apart from the thousands whose pensions were ‘legally
stolen’ by Sir Philip Green (see blog. 185 Does
Sir Philip Green kick disabled orphan kittens in his spare time?), many
other people are learning that pensions and a secure old age are a thing of the
past. The stores looted by Philip Green are now closed with 11,000 job losses
and the empty stores mar highstreets up and down Britain like brutally pulled
teeth.
Free higher education was taken from young people a
few years ago – by the very generation that benefited from it. So – debt and stress when
you are young poverty when you are old for many.
Just this week Accident and Emergency wards of some UK
hospitals were under threat of closure or having their hours cut and
non-essential operations suspended.
As for the environment – that is way down the list of
anyone’s priorities. At Druridge Bay, in the face of huge opposition from
environmentalists, (see blog 188 Pursuit
of Profit is a Terminal Illness) Northumberland councillors recently gave planning
permission to Banks Mining. Banks Mining will now opencast mine this important wildlife
and natural beauty landscape. There were the usual bribes of jobs for the area. It
is a bribe that always sways local politicians but rarely pays off for local
people.
Meanwhile bribery of a different sort was proposed in NW
England. The PM suggested that householders in the proposed fracking location be
given cash to reduce opposition. Next they will be offering people £50 for
their children’s kidneys.
The UK really has no industry. The remaining steel processing
was undermined by government incompetence and intrigue. Despite the belly
aching of, then Secretary of State for Business, Sajid Javid regarding Tata steel in Wales,
it was Britain’s veto of EU protection against Chinese over-production that
struck a fatal blow.
London’s strength as a financial centre (and a
great place to launder money) used to be flaunted. Now financial institutions are,
none too subtly, leaving this locust-devastated field (!).
So, yes, in post Brexit we-didn’t-have-a-plan Britain,
headless chicken syndrome is all around. Pundits on the radio swing wildly from
absolute denial to ignorant misplaced optimism but down here on the ground, the
earth is shifting, breaking up and retreating just like the failing Jakobshavn
glacier.
It’s a mess of political feathers, social gore and
financial giblets…
But it’s not all doom and gloom.
Chief Executives of very large companies continue to award
themselves huge pay rises with an ever increasing gap between those who
actually do the work and those who sit on company boards. So they're happy.
The folk we pay to look after our interests and monitor the
corporate world – like the Ombudsman services – have nice secure jobs. They do
little to actually hold anyone to account (in my personal experience) but it
creates a nice veneer.
The banks have gone back to their old ways and even taken
the opportunity of the post-Brexit muddle to close branches and cut more jobs
to increase profits. Lloyds – bailed out
by the tax payer just a few years ago – has just done this. Bankers must be
happy as pigs in shit again. (sorry – I said no more farm references)
Privatised infrastructure services such as railways also continue to mop up enormous public subsidy from the tax payer (more than when
they were nationally owned) Then they pay out huge dividends to their shareholders
while train services are an overpriced mess. Ditto the energy companies, water
companies and BT with its truly appalling customer service record. All
fantastic news for shareholders sitting back and mopping up dividends.
The Chilcot report on the illegal invasion of Iraq was a
damp squib. After all those years and all those millions of pounds – literally
nothing has happened. So war criminals can sleep easy.
And – it occasionally stops raining…
*
for further fun reading check out blog 12. Armageddon will not be televised.