Ron's Ramblings

BREXIT I have sadly come to the conclusion that, as a nation, we may have come to the wrong decision in voting to leave the EU. I am partly responsible in as much as I voted to leave, I was driven to vote leave because of my concern over the housing crisis in this country and the net immigration figures. For a good number of years we have had roughly 250,000 additions to our population due to immigration, this corresponds to a need for a town the size of Newcastle every year. Admittedly not all of this migration has been from the EU but the fact that EU migration was outside of our control and that I could see no end to the drift from eastern Europe to the west drove me to vote leave. Nevertheless I think now that suffering this level of immigration from Europe may be a price worth paying to stay with the EU. I believe that a significant number of those who voted to leave were working class who wanted to hit out at the established political order. The extreme right of the conservative party have latched on to the ‘democratic vote’ and see it as a green light to move British politics to the right and to free themselves from the shackles, as they saw it, of the Liberal and Socialist rules of the EU. They are so convinced that this is the best route for Britain, they don’t care that we will have to leave the single market and they are happy to go for a hard Brexit if they can’t get agreement, but it is becoming clear that the cost to our economy could be significant and we could all be the losers, most particularly those working class that voted leave. I am even more worried over the impact that leaving is likely to have on the United Kingdom, we know that the Scots are not happy, they may vote to stay in the UK but it is by no means certain. An even greater problem will exist in Northern Ireland because of the border with the south, it is a border that must remain open and yet to do so seems impractical. With all this going on the Welsh are also stirring, ey believe that they have benefitted from membership of the EU and are beginning to make noises about Welsh independence. Although it may not be feasible for Wales to be an independent state there will be considerable discontent and we can’t avoid a situation where the Scots the Welsh and the Northern Irish will all be resentful and feel that their future has been determined by the English and, to make matters worse, by the English right wing. If remaining in the EU will keep them on board more happily, if it will help to ensure that our economy continues to flourish and if it will put some constraints on the conservative right wing, then maybe the problem with EU immigration is a price worth paying. I think it is quite possible that, as the consequences of leaving become more apparent, if the referendum were to be re-run the leave result would be overturned. There is no chance that the ‘right’ will let it happen however.

SYRIA The conflict goes on and it is a shame on all humanity. Russia is determined that it shall retain Syria within its sphere of influence. The actions of the West, especially Britain and the US are more to do with the anti-Russia views of politicians than it is do with the desire to remove a tyrannical government. So the two super powers continue to fight a proxy war and thousands of innocent people are dying as a consequence. Is there anything more pathetic than Boris Johnson and Tim Fallon threatening Russia? We cannot be sure who was responsible for the gas attack. What are the British and US governments hoping to achieve in Syria? The removal of Assad? What good would that do? The removal of Russia’s influence in Syria? Not a hope! It really would be good if the Bris and US would tell us what their plans are for the future of Syria and how they are going to implement them.

THE MOTHER OF ALL BOMBS The RAF dropped a few Grand Slam bombs towards the end of the second world war. The Grand Slam was a bomb designed by Barnes Wallis, it weighed 22000lb, and was used against heavily protected submarine pens and similar. It was sometimes known as the earthquake bomb. How much bigger is the MOAB? Incidentally the Grand Slam was dropped from a suitably modified Lancaster. Ron Watts