By Bev Haigh-Jones
Snippets – UK politics including Reform UK Ltd
This month, the subject on everyone’s lips is will there, or won’t there, be a Labour leadership challenge. I’m ignoring this, however, since apart from the fact that the media cover it at every bulletin, Ann has done a great piece on it in her “While we were sleeping” feature.
So, we’ll move on to other things, the first of those being the change in attitude to Brexit and the EU. I’ll begin with Simon Nixon in Euroactiv who believes that we’re at the end of the Brexit taboo and that Rejoin has become respectable. This attitude has been reinforced by Labour List who call for rejoining the EU to be a manifesto pledge, and even ITV’s Robert Peston suggests that now is the time to talk about EU membership. Not everyone feels the same, of course, and John Crace in The Guardian provides an amusing report on the meeting of the Davids – Brexiters all!
Moving on to other subjects, I have long thought that the Labour Party fall far short when it comes to communicating their achievements. Whether they are mostly to blame, or whether it’s our media, is debatable, but one of our own MPs, Perran Moon of Camborne & Redruth, has tried to address the problem to some extent with this statement. One person who is getting media coverage, though, is ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair (and I think we should count our blessings that he is an “ex”), who believes that the state pension should be abolished, as it’s increasingly unaffordable. And finally, before moving on to Reform UK, the issue of chlorinated chicken from the US has raised its head again, as detailed in The Guardian letters.
Now on to Reform UK, which always seems to claim the largest section.
Peter Stefanovic kicks us off with a review of some immigration facts and claims by Nigel Farage, both on past figures and future promises. More controversy surrounds Farage over his financial affairs with the £5m donation, and now we hear of £1m donations to both him and Boris Johnson as well. Richard Tice is also under the spotlight for two separate tax allegations, which makes their response to the Angela Rayner error somewhat hypocritical.
More generally among Reform members, Hope not Hate produced a comprehensive document before the May elections, with sixty reasons not to vote Reform. It seems that people should have perhaps taken notice, given that, since the elections, it appears that they have lost more than twenty councillors, including one in Cornwall who isn’t mentioned in the article, but who gave some interesting reasons for defecting.
The new Reform leader in Wales, who hasn’t left the party, appears to have some interesting views on the Farage plans for the NHS. He seems to accept that privatisation would be the goal, but claims that he would get a different deal for Wales!
To finish this section I bring you some interesting perspectives relating to Reform UK and the far-right movement in the UK. Firstly, we have a Shakespearian dialogue, delivered by Sir Ian McKellen, which seems very relevant today. Then there’s a rather amusing development around the recent “Unite the Kingdom” rally in London, which was arranged by Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, otherwise known as Tommy Robinson. Given that the main focus of the rally and march was to protest against immigration, it seems rather a sweet twist that a charity managed to use the event as a fundraiser for refugees! Finally, we all bemoan the state of our mainstream media – the fact that there seems to be no impartiality – and also that events that matter to many of us are completely ignored. This has not been missed by Private Eye, as shown in this amusing article by Dee Nial.
Snippets – Brexit, Europe and the EU
There has been some mixed messaging recently from the potential Labour leadership contenders, but that doesn’t seem to be the case from everyone.
A recent report from Best for Britain asks “Is it time to talk about EU membership?”, Polly Toynbee in The Guardian suggests that “Some things are blindingly obvious: the ‘reset’ with Europe is vital”, and Gen Sec Mike Clancy of the Prospect trade union has called on Labour to put rejoining the EU in its next manifesto. None of these are particularly surprising you might think, but when the civil servant who headed up the Department for Exiting the European Union says that the UK should rejoin, surely it’s time to take notice!
On a different tack, Cornwall for Europe held our “Rejoin Ramble” along the South West Coast Path from Marazion to Mousehole, with Peter and Clare from National Rejoin March. As well as a pre-event article, Cornish Stuff did a lovely follow-up piece after the walk took place. What’s interesting, though, is that the comments on the online article were almost exclusively abusive – odd given that our walk took more than twice as long as it should have because so many people stopped us to chat and support along the way. Many of the commentators claimed that Cornwall doesn’t want any part of the EU, or even the rest of the UK, so they might be interested to read this about Mebyon Kernow and the European Free Alliance. Also, despite claims by the naysayers that the EU is falling apart, there are currently at least twelve countries in some stage of negotiation to join the block, including Canada! Montenegro is already well on its way.
Snippets – Trump and the US
The events in the US have been usurped in our media coverage recently by our own political upheaval, but there are a few things of note that you may have missed.
Firstly, DJT is still using threats rather than diplomacy or negotiation in an attempt to get what he wants. A few weeks ago his mind was set on acquiring mineral rights in Zambia and the statement was that if the agreement was not made, the US would stop health funding immediately, including for the provision of AIDS medication which is crucial for 1.3 million Zambians.
Then there was Hegseth. Addressing the monthly worship service at the Pentagon in April, he read what he claimed was a prayer based on Ezekiel 25:17 – it was actually part of the script of the film Pulp Fiction and was written by Quentin Tarantino! Fortunately, however, Democrats are beginning an attempt to fight back against the current administration.
King Charles got a friendlier reception for his speech to Congress during his recent visit, and he really appeared to be enjoying himself, as did many of the audience.
Snippets – the environment
We all know that the Iran war has had a huge impact on global prices, particularly in the fossil fuel sector. The big winners, of course, are the fossil fuel giants who have been raking in $30 million every hour in additional profit. There is a slight silver lining, though. As reported by the United Nations, the oil and gas crisis is “inadvertently supercharging the global renewables boom,” a fact reiterated by The Guardian. The crisis also seems to have galvanised more countries to be enthusiastic about the transition away from fossil fuels.
On a more local level, Imerys have just opened up Dubbers nature restoration area with an additional three kilometres of extra footpaths in an area already teeming with wildlife. Also, people power has come to the fore recently with the victory of a Green Party motion to stop Cornwall Council from resuming the use of glyphosate weed killer, and six local towns have joined forces to declare a vote of no confidence in South West Water, and to call for it to be brought back into public ownership.
Although there seems to be a great deal of positivity related to the environment recently, there are also negatives. According to a new report, no new sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) have been designated by Natural England since 2023. Worse still, as many as twelve out of fourteen areas on the waiting list have had planning applications approved nearby.
And last, but not least, National Emergency Briefing have released a film relating to the climate and nature crisis, and this is being shown at venues across the UK. There is likely to be at least one in your area and you can search dates and locations on this map.
