Northern Ireland: Deal Done? Job done? Is there a Trojan Horse?

Northern Ireland: Deal Done? Job done?

Listening to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, it became all too clear that the European Union will still pass legislation that will become law in Northern Ireland as long as the elected representatives of Northern Ireland do not explicitly reject it. 

This is quite unusual. It is like saying that French legislation will be implemented in the United Kingdom until the authorities in the United Kingdom explicitly and openly declare that such legislation is not valid in the United Kingdom.

From now on, authorities in Northern Ireland will have to be on their toes - and pretty busy - tryng to prevent European Legislation that they don't like from becoming Law in the United Kingdom. Reasonable or simply irrational? The only legislation that should be implemented is legislation passed in the United Kingdom and legislation passed in Northern Ireland following the rules of Devolution. But, no. This is not the case. A foreign authority will continue to pass legislation that will be Law unless it is explicitly rejected by the authorities in Northern Ireland.

Behind the set of presumed achievements, there is a Trojan Horse and this was not made clear in the House of Commons during the official statement made by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Time will tell what will happen to the said Deal in comming months.

Official inflation rate = 10.1% Utilities and communication providers raise prices by 14.4% Justified?

This is the Wild West. Certain operators are treating their customers as hostages. There is no justification whatsoever for such increases and in the end such abuses are going to create an unscapable inflation upwards spiral. But there is worse. Some shops have increased their prices fourfold. What used to cost £1 is now offered at £4. This is unsustainable and sooner than later abusers are going to cause their own demise with 'closing down' signs. This sort of public hysteria is extremely dangerous and the authorities have no answer for it.

People being thrown onto the streets because they cannot afford rental accommodation price rises of 20 per cent? How on earth is this being allowed to happen? Because this is becoming widespread you realize that we don't really have a government. This is a national emergency. There is no point in strikes and negotiations if landlords are going to abuse the system to the point that whatever is agreed during salary negotiations is automatically cancelled, superseded, by disreputable landlords. Will the authorities step in or will they sit on their hands and allow abusers to destroy the entire economy? 

Northern Ireland: without all sides agreeing there is no power sharing, without power sharing there is no Good Friday Agreement

Stark reality: unless all sides agree, Northern Ireland is moving towards Direct Rule and this would be the end of power sharing and of the Good Friday Agreement, and this wouls signal a return to the old days. 

 

European Union could re-start war in Northern Ireland: Rishi Sunak hanging from a thread

European Union is bent on destroying the United Kingdom, but the nearest chapters could be very bloody. Forcing Rishi Sunak to accept unacceptable terms, EU could trigger a new conflict in Northern Ireland that could spread and affect community relations motivating attacks against Asians if such deal is seen as the actual partition of the United Kingdom and there are precedents. Prime Minister Theresa May was very quickly given her marching orders and there were no other repercussions apart from the end of her political aspirations. In Rish Sunak's case the situation is a lot worse. If anger grows against an Asian Prime Minister classified as a traitor, things could become extremely ugly. This is one of the reasons why Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is being very cautious. He knows that Boris Johnson and Liz Truss are not the worst that could happen to him and his family and countless of other families across the United Kingdom.

Many politicians, including some in the European Union, have claimed that they want to protect the Good Friday Agreement and Peace in Northern Ireland, but paradoxically they are doing their worst to destroy the Good Friday Agreement and Peace in Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Assembly has been paralized not once, but several times forcing the Westminster Parliament to impose some kind of direct rule. If a deal means the end of power sharing then the Good Friday Agreement will be dead and violent confrontation will flare up with little to prevent it. Because of the ethnicity of the Prime Minister, there is the certain danger that things could spread like wildfire across the entire United Kingdom.

What happens in Northern Ireland is being closely followed by external operators, and especially at a time when NATO is bent on making things worse in Europe.

The state of British Army accommodation very much reflects the state of the British Armed Forces

 

The state of British Army accommodation very much reflects the state of the British Armed Forces: rundown.

According to statistics,. the amount of artillery used by the Ukrainian military until now is the equivalent of what Britain produces every year.

Britain spends more than the Russian Federation in terms of military budget, but British military capabilities are inferior not just when compared to the Russian Federation but with other Western countries i.e. Germany.

If Britain were compelled to fight an all-out war, Britain would run out of ammunition after merely three days.

This for starters. It seems that British recruitment crisis is not only due to lack of fitness of potential candidates. Of those who are actually enrolled, many want to leave because of not fit for purpose accommodation.

Having said all that, it looks and seems that those in charge either don't know how to implement the changes or are simply not interested in implementing the changes required.

If somebody is to be blamed, politicians in Westminster are the ones to blame for lamentable events regarding migration

 

If somebody is to be blamed, politicians in Westminster are the ones to blame for lamentable events regarding migration

The Labour Party and others blamed 'Far Right Demonstrators'. Undoubtedly, peaceful demonstrations can be highjacked by violent individuals, but the fact remains that it was for starters a peaceful demonstration in which ordinary law abiding people tried to express their anger and their frustration when their local communities are flooded with total disregard for public views. Suddenly, local inhabitants see their towns and cities overrun and their economic prospects and peaceful coexistence ruined. They talk about it, but Westminster politicians don't seem interested. They hear that their local authorities are running out of money, cutting down services and having to increase taxes that come out of depleted pockets. They ask their local representatives and their national representatives to speak for them, to actually represent their views, and they are not just blatantly ignored. They are insulted. The vast majority of those taking part in the demonstrations were not Far Right Extremists. They were ordinary people who are suffering and have no voice because those they elect to represent them are not interested in representing their views.

Homelessness amongst the local inhabitants has not decreased. In fact, it has increased. Everywhere you see people sleeping rough. Many are struggling to keep a roof over their heads or living in accommodation that is not fit for purpose. On the other hand, they see thousands of illegal migrants crossing the Channel and being given what they - the ordinary people of Great Britain - are denied. Are there laws in Britain? Are there immigration policies in Britain? Those who have the obbligation of enforcing laws are willfully allowing violation of immigration laws.

National and local authorities have created a fertile environment for violence to occur.  

Politics can change at very short notice and so can geopolitics

Keir Starmer

What happened in the last 48 hours is the equivalent of a political earthquake. Two political figures - Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon have been sidelined or so is that the forces that put them out of the way want to believe.

Nicola Sturgeon was not so much important as the Scottish leader that moved to break down the United Kingdom. She has been the tool used by those in charge of the European Union to put hurdles across the way of the Conservative governmenty in Westminster. She has been the outspoken defender of the EU against the British government. Who will have the political caliber to replace her and will the replacement follow the orders of the European Union? This remains to be seen.

No one apart from Nicola Sturgeon has the profile to play such a role and the Alba Party led by Alex Salmond will surely capitalize on her departure, in spite of the fact that Alex Salmond has been one of those targetted as part of the anti-Russia campaign. 

Some say that the Labour Party in Scotland will benefit, but this remains to be seen. The Labour Party is considered to be a London Metropolitan Party, not a national party, not a defender of Scottish interests at all and whoever has hopes regarding independence will not support the Labour Party.

The command given to Keir Starmer was to erradicate the left of the Labour Party that has been traditionally supportive of Palestine and very critical of Israeli policies in the occupied territories. Keir Starmer might not be Jewish, but his wife is Jewish and daughter of a Rabbi and their children are raised as Jews. Starmer married Victoria Alexander in 2007. The couples's son and daughter are being brought up in the Jewish faith of their mother. Victoria worked as a solicitor and now work in the National Health Service in occupational health. Victoria is originally from Poland and Keir Starmer stated that 'on her father's side there are mitzvahs, synagoques - there's all the traditions'. And also, presumably, all the related geopolitical allegiances that come with it.

Therefore, you don't have to struggle to guess what his views in terms of geopolitics and regarding the State of Israel actually are and this is why just a few hours ago he declared that Jeremy Corbyn will be excluded from the Labour Party and not allowed to stand as a Candidate in Islington, a seat that Jeremy Corbyn has represented for a very long time.    

In recent elections, the Conservative Party won control of the so called Red Wall, turning traditional Labour seats into Conservative seats. I wonder how traditional Labour and in particular Labour areas that have a predominantly Islamic population will react. Keir Starmer is a Metropolitan Londoner. It will be hard to persuade non Londoners and especially Northerners and Middle England. In the north, Andy Burnham, despite his retiscence to declare his aspirations regarding the leadership, has the right age, the right amount of experience and the right profile and as Mayor of Manchester can claim that he is not a privileged Southeasterner when a sizeable number of voters claim that Westminster has forgotten the rest of the country. In this regard, Keir Starmer's allegiance to Israel, his total contempt for the cause of Palestine, his inability to define what a woman is (surely he knows what a woman is, but he is afraid of straight answers that could put him on a collision course with segments of his own political party). To gain some support he will have to stop being a lawyer and become a politician. He will have to show courage and take real risks.

In terms of public image, he hasn't done extremely well. Kneeling down for the cameras was not his best moment. Emulating Boris Johnson by travelling to Kiev was not his best move either. His at best lukewarm support for the trade union movement did not dress him with flying colours either and it must be remarked that some critically important segments of the trade union movement no longer support the Labour Party. Will his charge against Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters win him many votes? Given the present political environment, the next General Election is for Keir Starmer to lose. Having said that, as we never expected Nicola Sturgeon to fall from power so ungratiously and so dramatically, it remains to be seen if Keir Starmer will be Labour leader in 2024. Will Jeremy Corbyn's supporters accept the invitation to leave the Labour Party? Will the Trade Unions that still support the Labour Party continue to support the Labour Party? What if the Labour Party is once again divided? Worse still, what if Labour voters as it has happened in recent times, decide to abstain?  

Jeremy Corbyn: No way back, says Starmer

 

Keir Starmer stated today what right now seems the obvious course of action: Jeremy Corbyn will not be allowed to stand as a Labour candidate. This is the statement today February 15th 2023.

What brought Jeremy Corbyn down was not Anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, but Jeremy Corby's stances on Palestine and the cause of the people of Palestine. 

Jeremy Corbyn was brought down because of issues that very much divide the people of Israel. Jeremy Corbyn was also targetted because of his geopolitical views and because his views on economics. No doubts about that. Now, it is up to those who genuinely support Jeremy Corbyn's views to remain or not to remain as Labour Party members and this is something Labour Party members and voters will have to consider looking forward to the 2024 Parliamentary Election. There is no guarantees either in terms of Keir Starmer being the Labour Party Prime Ministerial candidate in 2024. Keir Starmer was brought in to replace Jeremy Corbyn and now that Jeremy Corbyn is out, why should Keir Starmer remain as leader? This is a case that Keir Starmer will have to make himself and especially when he is at odds with the trade union movement that very much finances the Labour Party.

For a man that does not dare to publicly define what a woman is, things will not be easy as another leader who came up with unsavoury stances on sexuality came to realise. Nicola Sturgeon said that 'the issue regarding transgender and transexuality was not the issue that broke the camel's back.' Well, Nicola Sturgeon in on the way out and perhaps not just because of 'the issue that didn't break the came's back'. As Nicola Sturgeon recognized, Scotland is not a united country and the SNP is not a united party and remaining as SNP leader was not a viable proposition as she defined herself as a very divisive leader.

Having stated that she has campaigned from a very early age for Scottish Independence, she clearly stated that remaining as First Minister would only undermine the cause for independence as more and more people will turn against her because of issues that are not related to Scottish Independence. She clearly stated that the longer she stays as First Minister politics will turn to be more about personalities than about a proper debate.

Failings in terms of governance - the state of the Scottish NHS comes to mind - and controversial policies that are not supported by members of her own party - might have sealed her political fate.

And talking about fate, the Church of England is under assault. Militant Homosexuals are trying to force the Church of England to abandon Christian values in favour of political correctness and this is proving to be extremely corrosive. 

From media reports: 

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby has spoken of being "threatened with parliamentary action" in an attempt to "force same-sex marriage" into the Church of England.

He was speaking at the global Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Ghana.

It comes after reforms within the church allowing the blessing of same-sex couples in civil partnerships.

The change was made after a motion was passed by the General Synod, the church's legislative body, this month.

Its position on gay marriage will not change and same-sex couples will still be unable to marry in church.

The Telegraph reports Mr Welby met with MPs at the House of Commons last month, and pushed back on further changes to its status on same-sex marriage.

Speaking ahead of the changes, broadcaster Sandi Toksvig said a meeting in January with the archbishop, last month was "very disappointing".

Ms Toksvig is a high-profile campaigner on LGBT+ issues, and although not a member of the church, she told the BBC she spoke out because she felt the impact of the message being sent out by the bishops was having an impact far beyond the Church.

The changes in the church have been unpalatable to some conservatives, but also fall well short of what many progressives had wanted.

Giving the presidential address on Sunday, Mr Welby said "many" members of the General Synod have "dismissed" his concerns about recent reforms.

• Sandi Toksvig: I can't let the Church hurt LGBT people
• Church of England backs plans to bless gay couples

He told those at the meeting, held in the Ghanian capital Accra "rules about sexuality in the Church of England" have been tabled for discussion as a "result" of growing atheism in the UK.

The archbishop said in the global north, Christian values of "community and mutual responsibility" have been "almost eliminated" in favour of "individualism".

Undoubtedly, Britain is in a state of flux at every level and there is an abundance of examples showing that the United Kingdom is a very disunited Kingdom. It comes as no surprise that more and more people will be tempted to take matters into their own hands to defend what they believe in and this is certainly a recipe for more and more confrontation.

Ben Wallace: To be or not to be?

For British Secretary of State for Defense Ben Wallace MP the issue is pretty clear: to be or not to be? British politicians have been claiming that after the USA, Britain is the second most powerful country in the world and one wonders on what such claims are based.

Spending less than 2 per cent of the budget on Defense, Britain is below the 2 per cent required by NATO and with less than 80,000 troops the country is behind Germany in terms of capable combattants. Even Margaret Thatcher that is now in history as the one Prime Minister that was at the helm in 1982 when Britain faced Argentina in the South Atlantic was about to mothball the navy right up to the point when the country had to embark in a naval campaign for which NATO resources had to be moved south and private ships had to be used to transport troops. Lucky for Britain that the Harrier jump jets were available and were the key for success as Britain had completely underestimated the amount of resources it needed for such endeavour.

Today, reality tells us that Britain is not fit for war. Britain was not fit for war in Iraq and Britain was not fit for war in Afghanistan. Even when it acted as second fiddle to the US, its failings were immediately apparent. When you send troops to a theatre of war in vehicles that are not fully armoured and were only meant for riot control, you know that something is extremely wrong. As soon as they drove over landmines, British soldiers were turned into mincemeat. Britain's capacity to move troops around was very limited as there were no enough air transport resources and British commanders had to use American aircraft to move around in a theatre of war. 

Talking about the present conflict in Eastern Europe, if you give away British military resources and you don't invest to replace or increase British resources you know, once again, that things are extremely wrong. The country could run out of ammunition in a week. Britain build two very expensive sea mammouths at a huge cost only to realize that they were not fit for purpose. One of the biggest embarrassments were massive ships that were not sea worthy.

It was Ben Wallace that had to counter statements made by Rishi Sunak regarding the deploymenty of British jets in Ukraine stating that sending jets would undermine British security because it would trigger retaliation against the British homeland. But I am sure that it was Ben Wallace's awareness of the present state of the British Armed Forces that pushed him to act without delay to reject the promises made by Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister. Who could be the right Prime Minister if Britain faces the prospect of a protracted European War? I am sure that many Conservatives are asking such question. An opportunistic Boris Johnson? Bureaucracts like Lizz Truss or Rishi Sunak? Lizz Truss herself support a 10 per cent reduction of the British Armed Forces while at the same time trying to sound threatening on the world stage.

Eleven billion Pound might sound like an impressive amount of money, but it is just money. You need to train human resources, you need time. You don't build reliable Armed Forces on the hoof. Politicians and Church leaders seem more interested in promoting homosexuality and social decadence than in promoting a Britain that is fit for purpose and capable of performing in a theatre of war. In a country in which supporting illegal migrants is more important that supporting Britons, you know in which direction the wind is blowing. When local populations rebel against invasion and are labelled 'Far Right extremists', you know that the political system is rotten to the core.

Rotten to the core by militant homosexuality, social decadence and the destruction of British identity, Britain is not fit for purpose.

World War: Imprudent Sunak and rational Wallace

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has shown once again that when it comes to geopolitics he is willing to talk regardless of the consequences. The announcement that he is willing to send jets and that everything is on the table was quickly countered by Defense Secretary Ben Wallace that stated that jets will not be sent because it would put Britain in danger of direct retaliation.

The stakes are high and cool heads are needed. Any imprudent action will put the whole of Europe in danger, not just Britain. Even, imprudence will put the whole world in danger as nuclear war would be catastrophic. We would say goodbye to whatever has been achieved since World War Two and before World War Two.

The Russian Federation was quick to respond and without perhaps this is what motivated Ben Wallace quick reaction. One can understand that Rishi Sunak is being undermined by Boris Johnson, motivated to make pompous declaration in public to counter Boris Johnson's actions. Boris Johnson is not the British Prime Minister nor the Defense Secretary nor the Foreign Secretary. Boris Johnson is saying what he could not really say if he was really in command and Rishi Sunak is trying and failing to score points to counter Boris Johnson's dangerous demagogy. Fortunately, Ben Wallace does not have to play such game.

As this happens in Britain, in Germany the idea of mandatory military services has been put forward and this has serious aspect to be taken into consideration. Since World War Two, generation after generation has been told that getting involved in wars is a bad idea. The size of German Armed Forces taking into account its population is negligeable, but changing the direction of travel is not as easy as it might be believed. Germans must be taught, once again, to love war and this poses obvious risks. 

The genie is now out of the bottle. The German Constitution now allows German troops to be deployed anywhere outside NATO and German politicians are actively supporting the renaissance of German military traditions that led to World War Two. The Fourth Reich is on the way. 

Members of Parliament under stress: Stress as the rule

We read headlines about Members of Parliament i.e. Ministers that fail to keep their tax affairs in order, sexual misconduct, harassment, vacations abroad when they should be delivering on their promises, et cetera, and we tend to treat Members of Parliament as a class apart. There are in theory 650 Members of Parliament, although in fact elected Sinn Fein MPs fail to attend the House of Commons because of their stances on Ireland and Northern Ireland. Some are very wealthy because of their own professional and business careers outside Parliament and others simply have to make do with what they get from salaries, privileges ande exemptions.

For those who represent London constituencies or nearby constituenties, life should not be that bad or any different from many other jobs in the capital city. For others who represent constituencies far away from London, life is constant travel to and from their constituencies and London. In recent times, given even of public notoriety, on top of the workload comes a series of reasons to be stressed. We are not far from another General Election. This means the fears of not being re-elected and of the consequences of not being re-elected. After very public tragedies, there is also the fear of being harassed, attacked or killed.

For whatever reason, apart from the obvious political reasons, your life could be on public display and this includes unwanted attention or attention for all the wrong reasons. This is something that is bound to have an impact on you personally and on the lives of all those close to you and especially on members of your own close family.

Once you stand for public office, you are a marked man or a marked woman. Whatever you said or didn't say, whatever you did or didn't do will be on record for all to see and you will be constantly reminded about it. So, yes, there is a lot of stress involved and especially if you are trying to do what you are supposed to be doing. You might lose your job not because of being doing a bad job, but simply because of public perception, because of what something else has done or is believed to have done.

Would you like stand for Member of Parliament? Well, although in some cases there is no shortage of candidates, in certain constituencies local associations struggle to find suitable candidates. Some are genuinely afraid of facing the stigma of being associated with a given political party. Family relationships will change. Friends might no longer be friend. Working prospects might change. You could become unemployable. If you are single or looking for a relationship, you will no longer be yourself. You will be so and so of a certain political party. People who have never met you will talk about you, write about you, invent things about you and some will despise you merely because you are associated with a given political party.

So, yes, being a Member of Parliament or being identified with a given political party can be a certain source of stress for all  kinds of reasons.

UK Elections: What for?

Who has real power? Elected representatives? the mass media? the trade unions?

When an MP, for whatever reason, falls from grace, what happens to democracy? Since the last General Election, and since other elections, we have seen Prime Ministers, Cabinet Ministers and other elected representatives exposed as either incompetent, corrupt or both. We can say as justification that those elected are as fallible and as vulnerable as anybody else, but we cannot avoid the consequences. Because they are constantly in the public domain and being talked about, their failings lead to lack of trust not just in them, but also lead to lack of trust in the democratic process.

This afternoon, a Police officer told me about his feeling about how the system to deal with mental health patients is not working and about how he encounters the same kind of situation on a daily basis. He said that having taken a mental health patient to an Accident and Emergency Department, the said patient usually ended up staying in the Accident and Emergency Department for more than 24 hours under police custody because he or she was not admitted into proper dedicated wards inside the hospital. He also told me about how patients are being discharged without proper treatment only to relapse to get involved being involved in life-threatening events. Departments meant to deal with mental health patients are over-capacity and tend to discharge patients before it is safe to do so. 

Now, this is a mental health issue, but it is also a political issue. One government after another, of all political colours, have failed to address the issue of what is done with mental health patients. We are dealing with mental health patients born and bred in the United Kingdom and we are dealing with people who arrive in the UK with mental health issues. We care more about dogs and cats than we care about people. We have more safeguards concerning dogs and cats, than we have safeguards concerning people. The recent Covid Pandemic is a perfect example. How long it took to close borders to present the spread of the disease? Were borders closed at all? On a daily basis we are admitting people who come into the country illegally and there are no safeguards regarding public health.

Even trust in Police forces is falling due to well-known incidents and this has been made worse by the fact that those in charge of Police forces have publicly stated that they don't have the tools to get rid of 'bad apples'. We know that there are individuals in uniform that are a certain liability when it comes to public safety and we accept it as fait accompli. We are supposed to elect representatives that will deal with these matters. So many failures tell you that democracy is not working. So much mismanagement and so many failures happen for a reason. Changing one political party for another will do nothing to change the core reasons that lead to such mismanagement and failures.There is something fundamentally wrong regarding the system itself.