Burying reality

On page 14 of the Sunday Times yesterday, a small exclusive piece ran stating that British PM Mrs. May had agreed that Britain would pay the EU £53 billion pounds as part of the financial settlement in a bid to break the impasse over the breakdown of talks between the two sides. Although this is yet to be officially confirmed, if true indicates a major climbdown by the Government, and would face a backlash from within her own party and the right leaning press, i.e. most of them, that she had caved in.

Of course, this is just the reality of the situation, £53 billion might seem a lot of money, but compared to the catastrophic loss of income, jobs and tax that a no deal Brexit would bring, this seems small change.

And it is that no deal Brexit that is the next subject, as DD admitted to a Lords Select Committee that a no deal Brexit was really off the cards, a bluff, that we could not afford to follow through. This was made to sound like a major revelation, but is a reaction to reality. This will not stop the fundamental Brexiteers like Johnson, Gove and Fox demanding that we just walk away and let the economy trade on WTO terms. This as explained in the last Brexit post is pure madness, but then like all fundamental beliefs, is not really anchored in reality, when the pure as driven snow Brexit cannot fail, it is too perfect.

Then there are the impact assessment reports, that Ministers and Civil Servants will have spent the last few days actually reading in order to assess how much they want to redact. Only the motion passed in the Commons last week is so binding that at least to the oversight committee no redaction will be allowed, and meaning that questions in future sessions with DD could have very pointed questions.

This week sees another round of talks between Britain and the EU, only it seems Britain wants only to talk about talks, which has angered the EU who are hoping that real progress could be made before Christmas after which the decision will be visited as to if sufficient progress has been made in the three key areas, or that that will now be ignored and just go onto some kind of emergency talks that will minimise the damage that a no deal would bring to the EU. Of course there is still no sign of agreement on citizen's rights and the Irish border, so those will roll on into next year at least.

Judging by the headlines in the weekend papers, you would imagine that Brexit was no issue at all, as the political classes tear themselves apart over current and historical sexual abuse allegations. No child abuse, but old fashioned misogyny and sexual harassment, which it seems the party whips(!) used to keep MPs and Lords in line with in ensuring they voted the way the party wanted, last you wife/partner were to find out. So, putting the party's interest above that of the victim, some of which had actually been raped.

May's deputy is suspected of having "extreme" porn on his computer in 20098, according to an ex-policeman who saw the files. Greene has denied this, but a shadow hangs over him, a Government whip has resigned and handed himself to the police over an accusation he flashed another male party member at a conference a decade ago. All meaning May cannot reshuffle her Cabinet, not knowing who the finger of suspicion will point to next, meaning she is more helpless than ever as to what she can do, in steering what is left of Government policy between the Brexiteers and Europhiles in her party, the demands of industry and the economy and the tax dodging owners of our brave and fearless press.

And then there is the release of the "Paradise Papers", which the press have chosen to focus on the Queen's and Bono's tax evasion, if they would like to look closer to home at the paper's owner's affairs it would get embarrassing. I mean, what is more unpatriotic, wanting to stay in the EU for the economic well being of the country and those that live and work here, or denying the Tax office of millions in unpaid tax hidden in the Cayman Islands?