What next after Victory?

So, the Leavers won the contest, with a huge shock for the Political establishment both here and in Europe.

I was watching the proceedings last night until about 1am, so I got to see Gibraltar and the Newcastle results in real-time. I was a bit surprised that Gibraltar got a vote and thought the 38,000 votes they cast for remain might actually swing it, especially as the Newcastle result showed the smallest of margins for Remain.

Then the bombshell of the Sunderland vote struck home, wiping out the Remain lead in one single shell burst.

The looks on the commentator's faces was one I will remember for a while. The look of stunned shock, surprise and a quiet contemplation that the status quo was about to end. Jeremy Vine did his best to point out that Sunderland may be an aberration, that things were more likely to be as close as the Newcastle vote. But then a couple more results started to trickle in and the commentators took a breath as the swing went back to remain initially and then oh lordy, it went blue for Leave and mostly stayed there.

At that point, just after 1am I went to bed, hoping that Leave would carry the night and it did. I woke up with only 3 results to go and by that time it was clear that Leave had won.

A big two fingers up to unelected Eurocrats, a raspberry for our own political leaders who privately and quietly want to leave when not in the spotlight, but campaign for remain when pushed front and centre. To be honest neither party leader has covered themselves with glory during the referendum debate.

So, the fall out has already begun. David Cameron has resigned, when he didn't need to. He could have waited at least until after the weekend to reflect and then after a decent and considered pause, offer his resignation. Instead seemingly like a petulant child he has thrown his toys out of the pram and gone. Fair play to him, but it does look like he's done it with indecent haste.

But I respect the decision, he thinks he's not the man to negotiate our extraction from the EU. Hopefully the baton will pas on to someone with a more robust negotiating style and with a robust negotiating team.

Jeremy Corbyn has failed to fall on his sword, espousing that Labour is the party to take Britain forward after Brexit. Not sure how that works, but I'm sure in Jezza's brain the fact he chops and changes his stance on just about everything and talks a load of bollocks makes him a superstar political negotiator. His failure to resign has prompted a vote of no confidence. I've a feeling it has a good chance of working as even his most loyal supporters are growing weary of the immature bollocks he keeps spouting. Clean broom and all that, let's have a proper Eurosceptic in the labour top seat.

Earlier on I did wonder about UKIP. This would be an ideal time fro them to rebrand as the people's party and start to do the same for UK politics as they did for Europe. At least the voter will have an anti-establishment vote and without Europe UKIP will no longer be able to be called a one-trick pony. It will give the Leavers a local voice. There's a whole groundswell of feeling that the little guy is sticking it to the big guys to be tapped. We'll see, but I very much doubt that Nigel and his supporters will fade into the background.

So, the public have spoken, heads are rolling and hopefully we'll get the political realignment that actually puts us, the British voters first.

UKIP: Mission Complete, Where Now For Them?

Congratulations UK, you've shaken off the shackles of Brussels, you are now in charge of your destiny.

But what now for UKIP, whose sole purpose was to extricate ourselves from Brussels?

Well I predict that you've not seen the last of Nigel Farage. The thing is, there is a democratic deficit in Westminster, by which I mean not one of the leaders of the main parties gave voice to the will of the majority of the UK. Much is being said this morning that Jeremy Corbyn would be the best leader.... how exactly?

A man that talked against the EU on the back benches but then switched allegiances when in leadership.

I predict that UKIP will now rebrand as the UK Peoples Party and start to challenge the Westminster status Quo.

We'll see.

Vote Stealing Going on??

I've just had a message off a friend, she went to vote with her husband and whilst her husband was able to vote, she couldn't because someone (not her) had registered a postal vote on her behalf.

It would be interesting to hear from anyone else that has had a postal vote registered in their name when it wasn't them.

In cases like these I recommend contacting the local returning officer and lodging a complaint.

See if you can get details of the person registering that vote, especially if you can get the address the postal vote was registered at.

If you can get the postal vote from them (if it is still there and someone hasn't used your vote illegally) get it down to your local polling station as they can accept postal votes sealed in the envelope on the day as well, they just get counted separately.

Today is D-Day.

Well, this morning on the way to work I went out and Voted.

Anyone that reads this blog will know the way I voted.

All I can say is fingers crossed for a good result today and maybe I'll be getting an early night so I can get up early in the morning and see the results first-hand.

I do think things will be close, so the results will probably go all the way to the wire. It will be interesting how close it is and if any recounts slow down the reporting process.

What a dilemma: do I stay up for the first batch of results to come in around midnight/1am or do I go to be before the first delcarations and watch the end of it.....

Whatever the outcome, the events of the next few days will be very interesting from a political point of view. I also know that I voted in good conscience the way I believe we should all vote, the way that will be good for the UK and ultimately the EU.

If it is as close as the polls say, then get out and vote, every one counts.

Parliament Jo Cox Debate misses the Real Point by a Country Mile.

Today Parliament was recalled to recognise the death of Jo Cox.

We saw scenes of Jo's sat in the Commons marked by two roses, and there was plenty of sycophantic hand-wringing at the loss of one of their own.

But the wearing of White Roses doesn't address the problem that caused Jo Cox's death.

Not the mealy-mouthed words of the Politicians espousing the reason for her death as hatred, a hate crime committed by someone on the far right. They miss the point by a mile, but that's typical of the Political class, thinking of things in purely political terms.

No, white roses don't address the fact that a person with clear mental health issues, was in the community unsupported.

Time and time again there have been attacks on the public by lone people with known mental health problems that are known to the authorities but nevertheless receive absolutely no support.

It has to stop.

Care in the community swapped secure institutions for a more human approach, with people transferring into the community. The idea that they would be supervised and supported as much as they were inside.

Instead, they were abandoned through ever increasing cuts to support. Of course the mentally ill have no concept of politics and are unlikely to mobilise and vote against such cuts, so they fall through the cracks as their support is withdrawn. They cannot mobilise the sort of representative lobbying that we see actually causes government to change direction.

The stories of right-wing affiliations decades ago are red herrings to distract from the fact that yet another nutter out in the community has murdered someone. He might have got involved with those links under the influence of someone else, but its clear the links aren't fresh. It's clear he was intelligent enough to make a gun from instructions, but had poor social skills. It's quite possible he is on the Autistc Spectrum.

I doubt Thomas Mair had any concept of of Jo Cox's political affiliations other that the venomous comments of "Them and us" from other people in the shops and the estate where he lived, the people at the bottom of the food chain, the people most affected by the influx of immigrants. The bile directed towards those immigrants by everyone around him and the snide comments of his peers at the scenes of his MP paying more attention to the plight of Syrian refugees rather than the people like him. That's more likely to have made him shout "Put British/Britons First" than anything related to the EU Referendum. Unless the local Labour party were making immigration THE issue locally and for that they have to answer.

I'm sure it made him angry, like the rest of us that he was disenfranchised, his representatives dismissing his needs. It wouldn't surprise me if he was coming under ever increasing pressure from the benefit system, being forced to do odd jobs around the estate like gardening to make ends meet.

To someone like that, it would appear entirely rational to lash out in a violent way at the people or person ignoring his plight.

The sad thing is that I understand and can sympathise with him. He won't be the last to lash out in such a way. Okay his lack of rationale may make him the first, but just how far do the rest of the underclass need to be pushed before even sane people start to think of doing the same thing.

So, those MPs wearing roses today need to think long and hard about their part in Jo Cox's death either directly or indirectly. Successive governments need to review their policy towards mental health support. The Left need to think about their high profile preference for promoting immigrants and immigration as a major issue. Jo Cox's beloved Labour party need to look at their referendum campaign and really need to start supporting the underclass more positively, instead of shrugging them off and leaving them to rot unsupported and unrepresented.

Tsunami of EU Shit put back until after Referendum.

Anyone with a brain will have noticed that the first half of this year has been very quiet on EU matters.

The mass of immigrants over in Calais are still causing masses of trouble for lorry drivers, there are still immigrants being found tucked in and around lorries coming into the UK, we've now got boatloads of immigrants coming across from France.

But the way the media handle the reporting of these issues is very low key. But the problem isn't. We have hundreds of miles of coastline and as a sailor I know how easy it is for a lone boat to arrive at a small harbour and drop off a couple of dozen illegal immigrants. There are no regular patrols along the coastline and no regular checks. Those boats that have been discovered have been found because they got into trouble. One boat in the middle of Portsmouth harbour: a heavily Policed naval base. So currently it's only the idiots and the unfortunate that are detected entering the country. How many are smarter and successful?


There is also a raft of EU enquiries and committees that have deferred their reports until after the referendum. You can only conclude that whet they have to say and their recommendations will be enough to affect the outcome of the referendum if they were released before the vote.

So far there is a report on an security, which points towards an EU army. How that actually works will be interesting. Does it mean the EU has a level of control over the various armed services in the EU? Or do they basically take over all control and the various armed forces are subsumed into a single entity with Westminster removed from control. Also what happens to our nukes?

The EU are also unhappy that there are goods being sold in the UK they aren't skimming some tax from. There are few goods the UK doesn't charge VAT on. Historically these are goods that we consider essentials and it would be immoral to charge tax on. Kids clothes, essential foods, books, medicines and the like. The EU don't care about the morality, they want their VAT and after the referendum there will be a push to change and charge at least the lowest rate (5%) on all goods, including essentials.

Immigration will be another topic, with a push for the UK to accept a further quota of immigrants, to take the pressure of France, Germany and Austria.

We currently have a new class of warship on the books, the type 26 and a slightly less potent derivative as a cheaper option. With Portsmouth closing as a ship manufacturing facility, there will be even more pressure for these ships to be tendered and made in non-UK shipyards. Got to keep the yards in Germany and Holland going, sod our shipyard workers in Scotland.

The Turkish issue looms large as well. Despite protests to the contrary, the papers have details of documents that show that as part of the deal to take Syrian immigrants back, there will be a more open door to Turkish immigration. Something that benefits Germany and their already substantial cheap Turkish labour,  but some thing that will affect the UK as well. I suppose there is a slight upside to this, as more Kebab shops will appear on the high street. Late night drunken revellers rejoice!

Another is the security link between us and America will be further eroded. For decades, France and Germany have watched our close relationship with the American security services with jealousy and increasing venom. There have been a number of moves to either get us to share information that was supplied to us by the US (so the US stop supplying their most confidential information) or to force us to cut ties with the US altogether. There is yet another move deferred until after the referendum.

How that increases our security if we stay in, I have no idea, but cutting ourselves off from THE most highly resourced security and intelligence gathering operation in the world seems to me to actually worsen our security.

There is also a decision due by the European Courts regarding our "Snoopers Charter" laws. Again deferred, but it's assumed to side against the UK government and basically tie one hand behind their back when it comes to detecting, tracking and apprehending terrorists. Better security inside the EU? I don't think so!

There have been no calls from the EU commission for their ever-increasing pot of money from us... yet. But that's another thing that is... you guessed it : deferred until after the referendum.

In all there are at least a dozen reports, decisions and rulings that have been deferred until July so as not to affect the outcome of the UK referendum.

Now if the EU was as benign as it purports to be, surely those reports, decisions and rulings would be so beneficial to our way of life as EU citizens releasing them wouldn't affect the outcome of the referendum.

But, the fact they are being deferred leads me to think they won't be benign and beneficial at all.

If you vote remain, you only have yourself to blame when this avalanche of EU legislation drops on you. It's no good trying to get Cameron to change things (like the remain camp keep trying to get us believe we can against 26 other countries), the decisions, reports and rulings are already there, they've just been deferred.

Without any other reason, this wall of distraction and misinformation should be a huge incentive to vote leave. How can it be any other way? Why would you vote for an organisation that attempts to distract and deceive? It's not like Westminster, where you can vote the lying shits out. No, these are unelected lying, deceitful toads.The only way you can divest yourselves from them is Vote Leave.