To cover posts relating to Brexit
An academic study examined whether joining the Common Market/European Union increased Britain’s economic growth. This post reviews the paper’s evidence and conclusions. This post presents a brief summary of part of a report by Cambridge economists – mainly Remainers – entitled, ‘How the Economics Profession Got It Wrong On Brexit’. They analyse the models and … More Did the EU Bring Us Growth?
It is too early to dissect the agreement made by (or imposed on) May’s Cabinet at Chequers last Friday but our initial impression was that it’s another case of a UK government managing decline. This morning (Monday) Jacob Rees-Mogg gave exactly the same judgement. He’ll vote against it in Parliament, so will some other Tory … More Cabinet Kerfuffle
As in many other technical subjects, the Brexit debate uses common words but with specialist meanings and this can be confusing for non-specialists. For example, most people think ‘gutter’ has to do with drainage but a printer thinks of it as the extra margin space that will stop the binding … More The Brexit Lexicon (Part 1)
ECU No, not the European Currency Unit (now the euro) but Ever Closer Union, still the main ambition of the EU bureaucrats and other supporters. The euro is under attack from Italy and if it succeeds in freeing itself then Greece, Spain and Portugal are likely to follow; the goal of Ever Closer Union cannot … More Quickies-2
Softly, Softly: The British people voted to leave the European Union. To argue as most Labour and rebel Tory MPs are doing that they didn’t vote to leave the Single Market and Customs Union is equivalent to saying they voted to leave the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Court of Justice so … More Quickies-1
Thus spake, Michel Barnier, the chief negotiator for the EU on Brexit, in a US news documentary*: https://youtu.be/3SP9mhof9Es These are his first words about Brexit in the 8-minute film – he revealed everything we need to know, and should have learnt by now, in that single sentence. He went on to say that all the … More Négociation sur le Brexit
Theresa May repeatedly guarantees that we’re leaving the Customs Union (CU) and Jeremy Corbyn concurs. That was also the promise in both parties’ 2017 election manifestos and so is a commitment made by 80% of MPs now in the House of Commons, if not necessarily their true wish. The apparent position now is that under … More Unusual Customs
Chief EU Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, is milking the Irish border issue, although ‘milking’ is scarcely the right word, ‘inflaming’ would be more appropriate. Lord Patten, one of the appeasers in the upper House, recently stated that a clean Brexit would result in a hard border in Ireland which was like carrying a can of … More Irish Troubles
Despite appointing leading Brexiteers to Cabinet positions responsible for managing the process of leaving the EU, the balance of power seems to lie with Remainers keen to keep things as close as possible to how they are now. Theresa May warned the Conservative Party Conference in 2002 that some voters saw them as the Nasty … More The New Appeasers?
Brussels has threatened to exclude the UK from the Galileo project, a rival/alternative to America’s GPS satellite navigation system. This shows just how small-minded and vindictive these people are, as if that wasn’t clear enough already. The UK has contributed 12% of the funding so far so if we can’t use it we should dock … More How Disobliging Can You Get?
This EU Won't Work 