Steady she goes

Angela Merkel will host talks with Francois Hollande and other EU leaders today. Credit BBC/AFP

Windy weather boys, stormy weather, boys

When the wind blows we're all together, boys

Blow ye winds westerly, blow ye winds, blow

Jolly sou'wester, boys, steady she goes.

- The Fish Of The Sea

Encouraging news this morning. "German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande have said they are in 'full agreement' on how to handle the fallout from the UK's decision to leave the European Union. Mr Hollande warned that 'separated, we run the risk of divisions, dissension and quarrels'."

Brexit is not about division, it is about government. Our friends in France, Germany and elsewhere in the EU have had similar doubts about the direction the EU is being propelled in by self-perpetuating bureaucrats. They are the problem. Merkel and Hollande know that too.

George Osborne has emerged with more credit than many of the Remainers following his speech designed to calm the markets this morning. It turns out that he had not been keeping his head down. On the contrary he had been doing what Cameron should have been doing, making contact and calming fears.

Steady she goes!

Can Dave be a true Brit?

In a personal appeal from the steps of No 10 for the "Remain" campaign before the historic EU Referendum vote, David Cameron told us, "Brits don't quit". The next time he appeared on the steps of No 10 he announced that he was doing just that, quitting!  How very un-British. Intentional or not his action looks like an act of vindictiveness to make Brexit voters suffer for ignoring his appeal regardless of the consequences for the UK.

A communications man through and through, this time the PM came unstuck. His luck ran out but the very time his communications skills are most needed for our country rather than party, he has thrown in the towel adding to the difficulties of the EU after his claimed allegiance to the European cause. Definitely not his finest hour.

Another sour grapes loser, political opportunist Nicola Sturgeon can't wait to take advantage of the situation to split the UK. This tedious self assured minnow deserves another resounding rebuff for putting party dogma before unity.

Following the PM's resignation sadly the UK’s EU Commissioner Jonathan Hill also quit. Now the Labour party is in disarray but the one person who should go, Jeremy Corbyn, seems determined to stay regardless of the consequences. As Hilary Benn said, "he is a good decent man but he is not a leader".

The Brussels bureaucrats led by the grossly overpaid Jean-Claude Juncker are in their element, exhibiting the very traits that have angered many across Europe. In contrast German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the European Union has "no need to be particularly nasty in any way" in the negotiations with Britain about its exit from the bloc so people need to keep their heads and not act irresponsibly.

Dave says that he wishes people to remember him for gay marriage. How sad but given his utter failure on the European question perhaps it is not surprising.

One Tory MP who did not vote for gay marriage is Andrea Leadsom. A prominent advocate for Brexit with a formidable financial sector background. I expect we shall be hearing a lot more about this former Economic Secretary to the Treasury.

Prophets of doom

Credit: BBC

"We're doomed, doomed" became the catch phrase of Private Fraser in Dad's Army, the TV comedy hit about the Home Guard defending Britain in our hour of need.

Fast forward to 2016, enter Anna Soubry  HM Government's Small Business Minister offering similar sentiments in the wake of the decision of the British people to govern their own affairs: "This is a dreadful day, on two fronts. A dreadful day for our economy and I think it’s also a dreadful day for our country." 

Andrew Neil rebuked her: "Is it wise to say it’s a dreadful day as a business minister? To talk it down?"

Earlier we had been treated to the spectacle of the weary looking Member for Leicester East, Keith Vaz, with a face having the appearance of a slapped plaice: "The EU referendum result is a "crushing decision" which will have catastrophic consequences for the UK and the EU". Always eager to offer his opinion whether invited or not Vaz added, "This is a crushing, crushing decision. It's a terrible day for Britain, and a terrible day for Europe with immense consequences. In 1,000 years I would never have believed the British people would have voted in this way and they have done so - I think emotionally rather than looking at the facts. It will be catastrophic". Clearly not a suitable candidate for any negotiating team.

I had retired early on Friday morning in the belief that Remain had secured the victory they so desperately wanted by whatever means. Amber Rudd MP was gloating over their presumed success. But one result was not as expected. Could this be a re-run of the General Election results? Yes it was. Rising early I switched on the TV to hear that Remain had lost. A horrified Amber Rudd was in retreat, probably regretting her personal attacks on Boris Johnson, possibly the next Tory leader.

On retiring I had planned to write a piece expressing relief that Remain had won, not that I had changed my views, but out of sympathy for the many young people who wanted to remain. After all, it is their future. But having listened to their reasons such as wanting to travel freely around Europe in a friendly, multicultural society, it became obvious that many are deluded. Multiculturalism has not worked. Make-belief is no substitute for the facts.

Remain lost many voters because of ludicrous, scaremongering claims. Sadly these are being perpetuated by ungracious losers, the Business Minister among them, with claims of, we told you the markets would 'collapse' apparently oblivious to the need to restore confidence.

I shall be profoundly sorry if I made the wrong decision in the interests of my children and grandchildren but the last thing we need is "I told you so". The decision has been made. We are not doomed. We have an opportunity. We must grasp it and make it work.

Stability

David Cameron delivers a statement on the steps of Downing Street
 CREDIT: Telegraph/DAN KITWOOD/GETTY IMAGES

Desperate Dave makes another appeal from the steps of No 10: "Brits don't quit", he says. An odd claim having surrendered so much to Brussels. He also says that we should vote for our children's future. I agree. Brexit is a vote for their future. To regain our sovereignty before we are swamped by irreversible changes brought about by people who can not tell the difference between race and ideology.

UKIP could prove to be the nail in the coffin for Brexit because of a re-hashed Conservative Party poster campaign which Remain have cynically turned to their advantage following the sad killing of Jo Cox MP. Stephen Kinnock's reference to the tragedy in his Common's tribute when he said that Jo Cox would be "disgusted" was in particularly poor taste when his family has done remarkably well out of their European connections after failing so badly in British politics. Persuading people to vote out of emotion rather than facts is a regrettable act of desperation which is to be deplored.

Win or lose I would expect David Cameron to stay on as Prime Minister. Despite what many troublemakers have suggested to grab a catchy headline, the best person to negotiate exit if electors vote that way is he who caused the problem in the first place. Conversely it should be up to him to salve the wounds he has caused. Stability is the order of the day, not more upheaval.

In my view, the person who got us into this mess should sort it out whether we are IN or OUT. So win or lose, over to you Dave.

If you haven't yet made up your mind check out Full Fact, the UK's independent fact checking charity, while there is still time.

Postscript [22.06.2016]

I am indebted to a Spectator commentator for this clip "The message that comes out is fear, fear, fear". Brilliant.

Demonising

The great and the good (in their own eyes), the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, prominent among them, have taken to the moral high ground to condemn Brexit for demonising immigrants. In fact they are demonising Brexit voters for taking a reasoned look at the problem and the dangers for our children and grandchildren of uncontrolled immigration.

Some more facts. Brexit is FOR immigration but in a orderly, controlled manner. In stark contrast to the Prime  Minister whose failure to answer a direct question admits his own failures, when asked if he thought there should be an upper limit on immigration the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn frankly replied, ‘I don’t think you can have one while you have free movement of labour’.

Dr Morgan complains about the "language of fear" in apparent ignorance of the reality of what has been happening in the world while he has been promoting same sex marriage. If we remain in the EU our UK borders will be open to around half a million immigrants already waiting in Europe to qualify for Europen citizenship with many more to come.

According to leaked estimates from the German authorities, each person granted asylum is likely to be followed by between four and eight family members. Meanwhile Christians are assaulted by Muslims in refugee camps because they are Christians. Some have been thrown overboard by Muslim immigrants to drown before they reach the camps.

Many immigrants are young, unaccompanied males unaccustomed to the freedom of women in the West to dress as they please. This has been taken as an invitation to molest and even rape them while the authorities cover up many of the stories to avoid spreading alarm. A son of immigrants, Lawyer Nazir Afzal is so worried about the situation that he has expressed his concern that the influx of young, male migrants risks tipping the whole balance of European society.

Branded an extremist and banned from the UK for exposing the truth about Islamic ideology, the lead video shows Robert Spencer explaining that while there are moderate Muslims, there is no moderate Islam.

In another video 'moderate' Muslims all agreed that "the punishment described in the Quran and the Sunnah whether it is death, whether it is stoning for adultery, whatever it is, if it is from Allah and his Messenger, that is the best punishment ever possible for humankind and that is what we should apply in the world". These Muslims do not regard themselves as "radical extremists" and none of them liked "extreme Islam".

The irony in this situation is that while the Archbishop of Wales condemns people for demonising immigrants he is closing their eyes to the dangers we face. His latest pet theme is the furtherance of LGBT causes but the biggest threat to gays is Islam. What is more, Dr Morgan claims to stand up for minorities while he ignores minorities in his own church who oppose his secular notion of religion. He can't have it both ways.

We can not properly protect ourselves and our children unless our Sovereignty is restored.

Brexit: Facts Not Fear

A video by Toby Young Associate Editor of The Spectator.

Fear strengthens the resolve of the British people so listening to endless dire warnings against leaving the EU from the Prime Minister, Uncle Tom Cobley and all, it is not surprising that there is panic in the 'Remain' camp as Brexit voters show increasing determination not to be browbeaten into submission by guesswork.

The threat by George Osborne of a mini budget as a Brexit punishment has caused even more problems for the Remainers with 57 of his own colleagues threatening to rebel and rising.

The Remain side's concentration on the economy is understandable because the forecasts are based on what has been fed in whereas Brexit voters prefer facts to fear.

Toby Young explains how the British people were deceived in 1975 when we were give a guarantee that no law could be imposed upon us without the consent of our elected representatives. We now slavishly legislate based on laws thought up by unelected European bureaucrats.

Sovereignty and immigration are foremost in the minds of Brexit voters in wanting UK independence restored so that we can vote out our law makers if they make a mess of things.

Toby's video explains how we will be even worse off if we remain after David Cameron's failed negotiations. As for immigration most of us simply have to look around us to see the effects of mass uncontrolled immigration. It can only get worse if we remain.

The lesson from Orlando and Magnanville, confront the Islamic ideology

Within a few days of the Orlando massacre the world has had to come to terms with an awkward reality.

Questions were asked immediately after the mass killings in the Orlando gay club and many made up their minds on the basis of incomplete evidence. Was the shooting a terrorist attack? Was it a hate crime against the LGBT community? Many opted for the latter before it was revealed that the perpetrator was himself gay and had been a regular visitor to the club. So what had Islam to do with the tragedy? That is the question that those in authority refuse to address.

After Orlando there was Magnanville. Two loners with a common cause. The link? Islam. Both killers thought they were doing the work of Allah. So why the reticence? Is it fear, stupidity or apathy?

The man who killed a French police couple at their home near Paris was acting on an order from so-called Islamic State (IS) to "kill infidels". The Orlando killer pledged allegiance to the Islamic State which then claimed responsibility. Does it matter one iota to the slain whether the IS claim was true? The father of the Orlando killer illustrated Islam's attitude to gays when he broadcast a statement that it was for God to punish homosexuals, presumably ignorant of the fact that his son was gay.

Claims and counter claims abounded. In New Zealand their Prime Minister John Key was taken to task because he would not "admit the Orlando attack was a homophobic hate crime". At home gay columnist Owen Jones walked out of a TV debate for a similar reason. His assertion that LGBT people will prevail over Islam is little short of farcical. Of course there are gay Muslims but the penalty for homosexuality in Islam is DEATH.

Continuing their LGBT guilt trip, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York issued a joint statement calling for solidarity with LGBTI people after the attack in Orlando while the Church in Wales offered a prayer composed by the liberal Dean of Southwark.

Only last month the Archbishop of Canterbury told believers not to talk about their faith unless they are asked but clearly there are exceptions. Meanwhile Muslims continue their acts of violence taking authority from the Quran.

One of the most reasoned analysis I have heard so far came from the Rev Peter Ould on Anglican Unscripted in 'Politically Correct Suicide' when he spoke [@7.50] of "not being willing to critically engage with different paradigms, with different philosophies. This unwillingness to say your belief is wrong."

One of the interviewees after the Orlando attack trotted out the usual "Islam is a religion of peace" when clearly it is not based on all the evidence to the contrary. Adding credence to Islamic ideology through silence is not the answer, it must be challenged. A gay Muslim film maker admitted that the Orlando shooting "shows that Islam is 'No Religion of Peace'. Tolerant Muslim leaders say tentacles of Wahhabism have made the claim of peace a joke".

A prominent gay journalist Milo Yiannopoulos wrote in Breitbart: "Remember, the shooter in Orlando was working at G4S and said he wanted to kill all black people. He didn’t get fired. Why? Because he’s Muslim. One was scared. Do they want a world in which Muslims get to do and say whatever they want and these tragedies become common place?" Shades of Rotherham, Rochdale, etc, etc.

If others can see it why can't our spiritual and political leaders? The majority of Muslims are peace loving but their ideology is not. We owe it to them to share the Good News.