Gibraltar - Small Place, Big Message

Anachronistic Imperial Outpost - Gibraltar

I like history and I like quirkiness.  So I really like the quirky historical status of Gibraltar.  In my ideal world it would stay just as it is.  It came under British control as a result of the Treaty of Utrecht  - a few years after the UK was formed from the union of England and Scotland - at which point in time it was a highly valuable military asset.  It must have been something of a coup for the negotiators.  Eighteenth century Britain was not the power it was to become in the nineteenth. so securing this plum was good work.

Great Repeal Balloney

People let you know when they don't like regulations - Boston Tea Party

One of the symbolic regulations that the American colonists objected to was a tax  on tea.  This was used to good effect in the Boston Tea Party.  Symbols like this are important and go a long way to frame the narrative of historical events.  And so now the plucky Brits have thrown off their EU yoke one of the first things they are going to do is to repeal the most hated regulation with which the Brussels bureaucrats have been oppressing them.  We all know what that is don't we?

Labour Beginning To Make Sense On Europe

Norway option is a very soft form of Brexit

The whole point of the EU referendum was to restore order to the Tory Party.  Cameron would get out on the stump and follow up his surprise general election win with a barnstorming campaign uniting the country behind Europe.  As a two time winner he'd be able to flatten opposition in his own party and see off UKIP in marginal seats.  The swivel eyed would be shut up and would have nothing better to do than to go back to moaning about the EU, reminiscing about the empire and wife swapping parties.

€60 Billion EU Divorce Bill - It's Not About The Money Though

In a perfect democracy citizens would calmly look at the proposals for the EU divorce settlement and assess it in the light of the costs and benefits to the country as a whole and to their own personal finances and make a considered judgement.  Unfortunately most of us have no clue about what any of these figures mean apart from they all sound like very big numbers.

How The UK Has Misplayed Its Best Card

Well the nine months that we have waited before starting the Brexit process proper is now nearly up so it looks like the starting gun will be fired shortly.  I am still not entirely sure what the purpose of the delay was.  The cynical part of me wonders if the government, and Mrs May in particular, were simply hoping something would turn up to allow them to get out of the whole thing somehow.

The Brexit Bill - as in the one we are going to pay

The Brexit Bill has just started its progress through parliament with both the big parties backing it.  This means there will be plenty of human interest stories to come of MPs having to vote against the country's interests and their own opinions - or to vote against their party's instructions and quite often the views expressed by the people who elected them.

How Brexit Has Made Me Feel

I have learnt a lot from the whole Brexit business.  Most of it is positive.  I have discovered that I really like the United Kingdom and the way it works.  The House of Commons is a very good forum, and although I don't like the actual policy it is interesting just how well it is accommodating itself to implementing the expressed will of the people.