By Bev Haigh-Jones
Snippets – UK politics
Sir Keir Starmer has attracted a lot of criticism from some quarters over his response to the US request for military support in the Iran war. However, it was interesting to see this report in The Guardian which suggests that UK Security Adviser, Jonathan Powell, had felt that a deal was possible before the war started.
Moving on inevitably to Reform, and beginning close to home in Cornwall, the former Leader of Reform on Cornwall Council, Rob Parsonage, who resigned from Reform to become Deputy Leader of the newly formed Cornish Independant Non-aligned Group, has jumped ship again and has now become a Tory, much to the disgust of the previous Conservative councillor for the area. Meanwhile, Reform’s leader, Nigel Farage, has yet again been in the US describing how he’s prepared “to consider any alternative” to our current NHS. The party has also stated their plans, assuming that they ever get into power, to create a US-style ICE agency, to deport 288,000 people a year on five planes a week, to create capacity for detaining 24,000 migrants, and to remove Indefinite Leave to Remain even for those who are here legally. Quite where all these detainees would be housed, or where the planes would actually take people, and at what cost, isn’t entirely clear!
It may be that Reform’s star is not in the upward trajectory that they hope, however. Even the Daily Express, normally one of the media cheerleaders for the far right, acknowledges that many traditional Labour voters would be prepared to vote for the Greens or the Liberal Democrats, in order to stop Reform UK. A theory that seems to have been borne out by the recent Gorton and Denton by-election result.
Snippets – Brexit, Europe and the EU
Many people, and not just leave voters, but also remainers and people who would like to reverse Brexit, will often tell us that “the EU won’t have us back!” We always try to counter this, but it’s good to have some additional help to reinforce this belief and that has come recently from both the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, who said, “I would like to definitely have the UK on board again”, and from Finland’s President, Alexander Stubb, who said “I think Brexit was a colossal mistake.” He wasn’t too complimentary about those responsible, either! It’s also helpful that London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has openly called for Labour to pledge to rejoin the EU.
In the latest from the European Commission, the speech by Ursula von der Leyen regarding current plans makes interesting reading, and shows that they are reacting rapidly to current world events.
Now for something that you might wish to support – the EU-UK Forum – Cultural and Media Relations. Their aim is “to improve the cultural and media relations between the European Union and the United Kingdom with a bottom-up approach”, and to this end they are campaigning for the UK to join the EU’s Creative Europe Programme. The link to their petition can be found on their site.
Finally, not strictly Europe, but very relevant. A very brave Russian teacher, Pavel Talankin, spent two years documenting the government indoctrination programme which was being undertaken in his school. The film has won a Bafta and is tipped for an Oscar, but has left him in exile and the powers that be in Russia are denying the very existence of the film and the filmmaker.
