If you want to know why Brexit happened read the press release from the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights I have just republished. That is the only explanation needed.
If you want to know why Brexit will fail realise that it was motivated and driven by the same people that promoted the abuse of human rights in the UK.
And if you want to know why I am so confident it will fail, read what the Rapporteur has to say on Brexit's almost certain impact on poverty, whatever deal we get.
Note too what Byline Investigations noted:
The [Rapporteur] said he has found that “there's a real awareness of economic, social and cultural rights” in Scotland, but this is not the case in England.
“[Scotland's] First Minister spoke to me about them at great length with a real understanding of what was involved,” he said. “There is a commitment to move towards sustained action... and you've got a society in which social rights really matter and people know what you're talking about.
“Down in the rest of the country, in England, it is not all that far from what I encounter in my own country, Australia, and that is a ‘for God's sake, don't talk about human rights, it's not going to help'.
Which is the fundamental cultural difference that will make Scotland and Northern Ireland want to leave the UK. We are not a single country, if we ever were. Neoliberalism has torn us asunder. This is the legacy of Thatcher.
And for England it will get worse. Those driving Brexit want it that way.
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Cymru/Wales? Why no mention? Are you already resigned to our further incorporation as a ‘Region ‘ of England?
No – but it was not highlighted
You may be right. What I am sure is that you never have anything positive to say about England.. you are always negative. You cite neoliberalism but that is the same across Europe, the US and most of the West. In addition the emerging economies are following suit… it makes me wonder whether you are a just a serial moaner. I note you are deeply unhappy also with the Labour Party inspire of a big swing to the left in recent years.. like I say a serial moaner exuding negative energy.
You should meet me
I am anything but!
As usual Wales has been ignored in this. Not a mention or do we come under England as so often happens.
I fear that by and large that is the case
And I am well aware that is not true
The Statement has several paragraphs about Wales, eg: “Wales faces the highest relative poverty rate in the United Kingdom, with almost one in four people living in relative income poverty.” More here: https://ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?LangID=E&NewsID=23881
Gina,
Immediately post-devolution, Scotland was in a similar position to Wales until SNP developed a strong enough case to persuade (mainly) Labour voters that their interests would be better served by voting for SNP. They were able to do that partly by having more positive, voter-orientated policies and partly by highlighting the demonstrable failures of Labour when it was the governing party.
Plaid Cymru has to work on a similar strategy for Wales if it’s going to woo voters away from Labour. It took SNP 9 years to get there, so it’s a medium-to-long term process and probably longer than 9 years given Labour’s 27 to 6 seats lead in the current Assembly. It’s also slightly worrying that, of the parties failing to win a seat, the largest was the Abolish The Welsh Assembly Party.
Another factor hampering Wales is that, unlike Scotland, it doesn’t have its own legal system. Having its own separate legal system hasn’t prevented Westminster from attempting to overrule a Scottish Parliament ruling relating to seizure of devolved powers to Westminster post-Brexit. However the Scottish Government took its case to court and won, and we’re currently awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court on the UK Gov’t’s appeal. If the Court again finds in favour of Scotland, we could see the ultimate irony of the UK Government taking the case to the ECJ.
And to underscore the extent of the difficulties, Scotland, which is a country in its own right within the Union, constitutes a third of the land area of the UK and is home to most of the offshore resources does not warrant a single mention in Mrs May’s ‘deal’.
People of England – you have a problem!
Phil McGlass says:
“People of England — you have a problem!”
Yep, It’s called English exceptionalism. It’s not universal, but there’s a lot of it about and Brexit brings it to the fore.
Brexiters want their cake and the ha’penny. A lot of people in Ireland, Scotland and Wales too, would probably be very happy to go along with the Little Englanders’ desire for English independence.
We should perhaps take steps to rescind Article 50 and start again having first sorted-out our internal differences within the UK.
I don’t see how Theresa May, or anyone else for that matter, can imagine we will go forward together without any consensus.
“the Little Englanders’ desire for English independence.”
What a headline to savour: ‘England Declares Independence from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland’
Ah1, Well…..
Indeed….
For societies that are dominated by corporate unaccountable billionaires, why should they bother about (to them) trivial matters such as poverty, inequality, climate change, human right s……? The arrogance and ignorance of the UK government’s response in rejecting completely the findings of the UN rapporteur’s survey on extreme poverty and human rights abuse makes one ashamed to be a British citizen. You are right to point out that empathy can be lacking in some people. For others there may even by a feeling of empathy exhaustion, so desperate are the problems inflicted on society for so many years and getting worse. They have to block or dull their sensitivities for psychological survival. For others who have hope and optimism do realise there is a mountain to climb but keep faith, however forlorn. that sanity and goodwill will eventually return to our green and pleasant land.
In 1950, an Irishman wrote the following about the English.
‘”[T]he poor beggars never got their own way from the few that ruled them. Too easy-going, too forbearing, too easily led, they stood–not withstood–the worst caste governments since Adam was a boy. But they did manfully stand up to two wars the seeds of which their rulers sowed–and now the bawbee has become their lord and master.”’
And, since medieval times, the ‘caste’ has only twice rebelled against its monarch – both during the seventeenth century. The first rebellion brought Oliver Cromwell (not exactly a democrat, was he?) – the second, our present dynasty.
Today, “the bawbie” – or lack of it – is still the caste’s method of people control. The poor English thought that they live in a democracy, and showed their resentment in the Brexit vote – or did they? Weren’t they again controlled by the ‘caste’ promising the earth, and delivering a slap in the face with a wet fish?
England should have rebelled back in the early nineteenth century, but was controlled in exactly the same way. But still they believe in the ‘caste’ and its promises.
‘The English are so nice,’ said DH Lawrence – the irony profound. They aren’t nice – they’re servile.
Do you think they could ever be roused? Or will the next rebellion come from the ‘caste’ once more? – feathering their own nests, in time-honoured fashion!
A perfect description of the English, the only problem is they are unwilling to admit their gullibility.
Speaking as an Englishman, this is about as accurate as it gets, and is well reflected in the fact that we found a similar caste system in India so easy to live with.
I used to get hung up about being English as I never felt that I fitted in.
Later in my mid twenties I looked into my family’s background and it turned out that the paternal name heralded from Scotland. It is a bastardised version of a Scottish name it turns out. There is also some Norse in their too somewhere as well as the Irish from my Mum’s side.
I have to say that knowing that I have some sort of ethnic background ( I am a red head – or should I say that I was – and Scotland I believe has the highest number of red heads living in it in the world) has been a great comfort to me over the years. It is something that you can withdraw into and feel safe and resist herd behaviour.
Having said that, as I have got older I am more likely to look up the food chain to the top of our society in England in order to locate the source of our ills.
The English are capable of being a decent lot. The trouble as I see it is that we live in a land of myths that are rammed down our throats on a daily basis. It is a never ending merry go round of our ‘finest hour’ or remembering the war before it (not to mention the Tudors).
Those wars are the lenses that we are made to look through at the world around us. Every event, every foreigner (including the Scots and Welsh), every slight, every treaty is seen through those lenses and therefore takes on a hostile aspect that must be defended against or resisted.
If we could only be allowed to take those lenses off. There is a wonderful country and great people hiding behind them. And the tragedy is that being made to live in a pre- war like state of fear, the English cannot see that their tormentors are actually within their midst. It is a land dominated by cuckoos in the nest. Namely the establishment and its cronies and cling -ons who have more money and power than ever before.
If we accept that the English are made to live in fear by continuously reliving a painful past then we must realise that they are dominated by emotion and not reason.
I have just begun to read Hugo Young’s ‘The Blessed Plot’ (1998) in order to understand how we got here and in the first three pages you can see something that he identified then at work now as we try to turn our backs on a reasonably successful treaty framework with our nearest neighbours.
So, yes – there you have the English , scared, constantly on watch for the next world war, fearful of strangers and ready to overreact to anything. Moulded to be defensive and belligerent.
Poor buggers I say. By all means sound off about them but let’s not abandon them eh?
Telling that Alston is Australian and drew parallels between his home country, the UK and the US, perhaps the 3 most extreme cases of 21st Century ‘Anglo Saxon’ culture at its worst.
I’ve always seen the European project if we can call it that, as tending to mitigate those worst elements. The core European countries and the Scandinavians have been much less inclined to neoliberal excess, and part of that is very much about their culture and values. Breaking with them will see us lose some of those restraints. That might even be to their advantage – but certainly not to the nations that currently make up the UK.
Exactly, Robin. This is one of the primary reasons why the extreme right/libertarian Tories and their supporters (particularly in the media – and note all of them are wealthy) never ceased their crusade against the EU and why we are where we are today. The fact that the UK has, through its membership of the EU, often been able to force/persuade the EU to adopt more neoliberal policies than would otherwise be the choice of many other EU countries counts for nothing because none are extreme enough – all still have elements of the dreaded ‘social democratic’ – for these ideologues. Add to that the perpetual fear of many of our politicians and citizens of a certain age of ‘occupation by foreigners’ (i.e. Germany) that Fintan O’Toole wrote about in the Long Read in The Guardian last week and you have the perfect storm.
Good to have you back on here Ivan
Ever since the Welsh six thousand routed sixteen thousand Englishmen at Bosworth, paradoxically freeing England from French Plantagenet yoke, the payback from the resultant union of Wales and England is political submergence of little Wales. Perhaps we would have been better off under a French majority.
They would have been further away
And their regional policy is better
Further away, and probably kicking against any other dominance from outside their country. And, being further from the centre, could keep their resistance under the radar for longer. Yes, it’s a pity Napoleon didn’t win the Battle of Waterloo!
“Ever since the Welsh six thousand routed sixteen thousand Englishmen at Bosworth.”
Henry’s forces consisted of between 6,000 and 8,000, between 500 and 2,000 of whom were Welsh. Up to 5,000 were mercenaries provided by the King of France. The Yorkist Army, was between 8,000 and 12,000, including Northumberland’s forces of 4,000 who never engaged in the battle.
The third faction, the Stanleys were 6,000 and eventually joined with Henry, swaying the battle.
To sum up, Henry had around 12,000 fighting for him, only a few of whom were Welsh, Richard around 8,000. So much for the Great Welsh Rout.
@John Price
You make the mistake of allowing facts to spoil a good story.
You’ll never make much of a living as a troubadour 🙂
I do enjoy these bits of history. Even since investigating why there were so many Staffords in Ireland, especially Wexford. Its a longer story, but learning that of course it was the Normans who colonised Ireland, not the English who did not exist as a nation. Good for winding up the Breton part of the family. Except that of course the Normans were Vikings so we should really blame the Danish! And the Normans were aided in their invasion of Ireland by … the Welsh.
Apologies for any historical errors – its a bit 1066 and all that-ish. Bottom line is that blaming the ancestors is probably not very helpful in solving todays problems
Agree with that last point
No-one likes the deal. That’s the idea. Since no-one wants a no deal Brexit either, it’s obvious we’re being herded towards May’s drop dead surprising, out of nowhere, brand spanking new third option: ““When you strip away the detail, the choice before us is clear, this deal … Or leave with no deal, or no Brexit at all.”” Suddenly not leaving at all is back on the table. I gather too the EU actually wrote May’s deal, reinforcing my opinion they don’t want Bannon getting ready to goosestep all over the EU from his swivel-eyed base in the remains of the UK and the best way to avoid that is to keep the UK in the EU, on our present terms or the even worse options they’ve crafted into the fine print of ‘May’s’ deal. It’s all over bar the shouting.
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/11/the-top-40-horrors-lurking-in-the-small-print-of-theresa-mays-brexit-deal/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
A very revealing doc re brexit.mro.
Though pretty much what you’d expect from the Spectator given its position
Welcome to the world of being a modest sized country dealing with a very large trading block. Do we think it would be any better dealing with Trump’s USA? Or China? Or India even. No, the UK has demoted itself to a second rank player, scrabbling for any deal it can find. And that after demonstrating its own incompetence, internal divisions and untrustworthiness.
Everyone is going to ask for more inward migration to the UK as a condition of a trade deal….
We’re going to need more inward migration as a matter of course because when we try to rebuild we’ll be doing so with skills we’ve lost. We’ll need to bring in outsiders. Unless, of course, we adopt new tech, say in housebuilding with hemp-based 3d printed modules, in which case we could turn necessity into innovation and become world leaders. In so doing we could overturn the absurd existing system, the one which has rewarded Jeff Fairburn of Persimmon fortunes for apparently sitting on resources instead of building on them, to the general detriment. The potential is there.
The NHS is predicted to have 300,000 + vacancies by 2030
Totally agree with just about everything Robin Stafford say. He right about Welsh mercenaries supporting the Norman invasion of Ireland. Those will be the descendants, I guess, of the Irish who successfully invaded West & North Wales a few centuries before?
The Spectator’s 40 gripes makes me wonder what was the point of over two years of ‘negotiations’ and how the government can claim this current offering is a ‘deal’, in any respect.
The Brexit faction gets nothing of any consequence and we all lose the advantages of membership.
Well done, team Team May. What amazing negotiation skills. What acumen. What a waste of time and temper.
What a load of shite. 🙁
Thank you, Richard, for alerting us to these vital aspects of the UN rapporteur’s report. Your line “This is the legacy of Thatcher” sums it all up.
I base all my assessments of our current predicament in the fact that it is reducible to the end of the Thatcherite dispensation. The subjugation then abandonment of the economy in whole regions of the country, all sacrificed to serve the interests of the financial sector, finally brings the vultures home to roost.
Until the broken, biased politics of this country rediscovers its moral purpose, which means working for all it’s people, then we are sunk. Our current state of deep inequality is fundamentally immoral.
And your work is a valuable example of the sort of needed thinking I am trying to point to.
Thanks
I can tell you that in Scotland although they have no choice to go along with Universal Credit, they also have a shadow system in operation which employs people (fancy that!) to look at each case rather than using passive I.T. to enable people to access benefits.
The Scottish approach has been very successful and warmly received by service users.
John Seddon at Vanguard Consulting has written at length about this issue of using I.T. to access services in both private and public sectors. His basic premise is that people’s circumstances are too varied for an automatic system built on average information data sets to cope with.
I.T. cannot deal with variety and therefore people using it end up having to make phone calls and visit offices which the UC ‘digital only’ system was meant to remove. Seddon calls this working around dumb I.T. ‘failure demand’. And he’s dead right. His views also tally with Prof Paul Spicker (welfare guru) as Spicker says that using means testing and making it so complicated means that benefits ( I prefer the term ‘social security’) do not really end up being delivered where they are needed Every year, benefits are under claimed. Every year (see ‘How Social Security Works’ by Prof Spicker)!
All I.T. can really do is what we see it do on the internet – it pushes stuff at you and you react. The I.T. does not. It just dumbly shoves stuff at you based on where you have been on the internet.
I’d recommend anyone reading any of Seddon’s books but the latest is a case study based book called ‘Responsibility and Public Services’ actually written by Richard Davis ( founding member of Vanguard Consulting) and it shows what can be done (Triarchy Press, 2016, ISBN 978 1 909470 63 5).
BTW- John Seddon himself is hated and feared in Whitehall. They really do not like him. So rest assured that like a certain Mr Murphy on the question of tax, Seddon is onto something in public services because you can tell how rattled they get when he gets involved.
(My previous post only had “G” as name – fat finger syndrome)
Good to see this highlighted on here, because it’s a direct result of blinkered economic policies. The UK Gov is, of course, critical of the Report. But according to Alston ““What I found in my discussions with ministers, is basically a state of denial. The ministers with whom I met have told me that things are going well, that they don’t see any big problems, and they are happy with the way in which their policies are playing out.” (from The National – https://www.thenational.scot/news/17230155.true-toll-of-unnecessary-tory-austerity-laid-bare-in-un-report/)
Tories will continue to ignore the issue because of one metric – the amount of people apparently going into work (even if that can be believed). It is just a quantitative measure with nothing qualitative added to it which is why they do not see in-work poverty for example.
Remember – the Tories are Neo-liberals who over-simplify everything in order that the theory fits reality.
‘And now the weather: it’ll get colder in EnglandandWales while the sun will return to Scotland and Northern Ireland’.
Wales always almost organically stuck to England.
Yet in many parts of Wales there is a reasonable political and social awareness.
I only lived in England for 3 years but, comparing similar daily life situations, I saw very little expressed interest in politics or social issues, apart from the value of houses and transport issues, mind you, that was in the Thatcher era.
I could tell people were worried about discussing politics in case someone got offended. For me, coming from a culture where confrontation was the norm, it felt very polite…and a little boring, but restful.
During the Scottish referendum, I was struck by the political knowledge and the awareness of issues on display by the general population, of all ages. They must be doing something right in those schools, or at home.
There is no political education in schools in either England or Wales, so the slightly greater awareness in Wales must come from family and Welsh society at large, a tradition of : it’s ok to mention a bit of politics, even in ‘polite society’, and believe it or not, it’s even ok to disagree and have a bit of political banter.
The First Minister, a Remainer who has been toeing the Labour line, is about to be replaced by a very capable and intelligent Corbyn supporting Remainer…awkward.
Plaid, in coalition with Labour for now, are stirring and gaining momentum with their active campaign for a PeoplesVote. Their likely future Party Leader is an independentist, also a strong and capable politician.
How the two will cooperate in future will be interesting to see.
But England should not expect any support for their Brexit.
Even though Wales voted Leave, the tide has turned strongly in favour of Remain in all but a few counties in Wales (one of them is Pembrokeshire, aka Little England).
Most people here have realised that their problems come from Tory austerity, that all these subsidies and grants will be going, leaving them at the mercy of Westminster’s good will and a flawed Barnet Formula.
So maybe not next year, but if Brexit goes ahead and more factories close or leave, the Union might well lose another member in a few years.
That might be a delayed, but possible, Thatcher legacy.
Even the poverty-stricken Valleys may wake up from their induced coma.
Those believers in the role of empathy in life should take heart. In the United States mid-term elections voter analysis showed that it was female voters who decided that a man who’s avowed aim was to “Make America Great Again” was actually not so great himself!
Agreed