The Economist (TE) remains as firmly anti-Brexit as ever. That makes it a balancing source of evidence for us, who remain as firmly pro-Brexit as ever. In last week’s edition TE has an article and a leader on the latest crisis in Greece. In short, Greece has to make €6.3bn bond repayments in July and … More Evidence of Fragility (Part 4)
Some economics forecasters have reversed their dire forecasts for post-Brexit Britain. We love economics. It’s a bit like driving a car at night without lights, peering at the road ahead, hoping that nothing unexpected emerges from a side road, all the time checking the mirrors to see whether anything behind looks familiar. There’s plenty of … More Car-crash Economics
Headline: This ‘will of the people’ talk must stop – we need a better democracy than that We know that most academics voted Remain in the referendum. Not, of course, because universities have access to considerable EU funds, but because membership of the EU is best for the UK, in their opinion. We read many … More Pontificating Professors
Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, issued a press release on 31 January which we should challenge. “The challenges currently facing the European Union are more dangerous than ever before …” Tusk outlines three areas of threat: first, external, from China, Russia, the Middle East and Africa, and the new US administration; second, anti-EU, … More United we stand, unified we fail
It’s possible that Theresa May has changed her mind about the EU, having voted remain in the referendum. It’s also possible that she is just dutifully implementing the decision that resulted from Parliament passing the buck to the electorate. There is a significant precedent for a change of mind, in the person of Margaret Thatcher. … More Changing Minds
The EU treaties describe the proper procedure for making laws; this procedure is regularly subverted in practice by the secretive ‘trilogue’ process. The EUobserver website has some information about the growing secrecy of EU law-making here. The organisation, largely supportive of the EU, describes itself as follows: “EUobserver is an independent online newspaper which values free … More Law-making in Secret
Britain has had some experience of Brexit-in-reverse. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America provides some thought-provoking comparisons. Both the contents and the crisp clarity of the language are inspirational and make the document interesting reading in the light of Brexit. Here are some extracts, beginning with the opening declaration: “When in … More A Declaration of Independence
EU leaders want any deal Britain reaches with the EU after Brexit not to be better than the deal it currently has within the Union. Exploring this idea will uncover much nonsense. Here are some “thought experiments” which, by their nature, ignore most practical issues concerning Brexit. We’ll take two broad approaches, one technical, the … More Better or Worse?
The Prime Minister’s speech on Tuesday 17th January contained a little for everyone, yet few seemed pleased. We have concluded that we should attempt our own interpretation of Mrs May’s words. We quote freely from the speech, so that readers can know what our interpretations are based on, and we add comments only where we … More The PM’s Brexit Speech
Dr. Richard North’s blog, EUReferendum.com, is always worth reading and, though often discouraging in its interpretation of Brexit events to come, he knows his stuff and is probably correct. It is sad that he has become so frustrated at what he regards as the ‘zombie’ attitudes and behaviours he meets from politicians, journalists and other … More North going South?
This EU Won't Work 