Windsor Framework

Britain is an aggregate of 4 nations, about 300 years ago the kingdom of Scotland, England and Wales merged together; they said to themselves we all live on the island of Britain, why don't we have one kingdom for the whole island. We then became the United Kingdom of Britain, one state for one island. 100 years later the island of Ireland joined the union but recently Ireland broke off from the Union except all the Irish that wanted to remain British, the Pro-british unionist communities clumped together on the northeast side of Ireland. Ireland became a two state Island, UK northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. 

When I was a kid in the '90s I saw the Ira fighting to make the whole of Ireland separate from Britain. One Ireland that was independent of the kingdom. The loyalists and Ira were constantly fighting a paramilitary civil war. They were even detonating powerful bombs in Britain itself. 

During Brexit the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland had become the border between the UK and EU because the Republic of Ireland remained a part of the EU trading block. 

The problem is the EU member states don't want products and services from low income, low tax countries to enter the EU trading block without being charged a tariff to make the products less competitive with theirs. For example Britain could buy 12 tonnes of olives from Brazil and send them across the Northern Ireland border and undercut the prices of Spanish and Italian olives. The farmer's incomes in Brazil are less than in Spain and Italy. 

Apparently our government have negotiated a deal with the EU member states that allows Northern Ireland to have full access to UK and EU markets without tariffs and stipulations. They call it the Windsor Framework. Northern Ireland can sell their products and services to the Republic of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland can do the same with the UK. Northern Ireland has become a unique place on the continent. 

Let's see if it works. My local MP is the minister for northern Ireland and he is a Brexiteer, he approves of the new deal. It's a small world. 

Brexit Shambles

In my view, Brexit so far is a mess. The reason I think it is a mess is because we didn't have a clear direction. It took 3 and a half years just to decide what type of exit from the EU we will have. Parliament couldn't decide if we were going to make a clean break or a partial separation. They were treating it like a plunger on a detonator. They were worried pushing the plunger all the way down would blow up Britain. I guess this was never done before. It didn't help that people were taking the government to court when they first tried to make a clean break in the beginning. Being indecisive can be harmful I guess. 

Now we are left with a very basic trade deal. If a business wants to sell goods to the EU, they have to prove that all the parts of their product were made in the UK, otherwise they have to pay an import tariff. Sending goods in and out of the EU is quite slow.  The EU member states don't want us to bring products into the EU market that are from low inflation, low tax countries without paying an import tax. It would make their own products less competitive. 

Coffee Day

Jacob, My Son. 

You were born in Spring 2019, the theme at the time was the Brexit Deadlock. For 4 years after  Britain voted to leave the EU, Parliament couldn't decide how they will exit the European Union, some politicians wanted a clean break, others wanted us to stay in the common market, some politicians wanted us to cancel Brexit. Others wanted a trade deal before leaving. Every time 'Therasa May' got an exit deal from the EU, it was rejected in parliament. When you were born, she thought she wasn't making progress and quit soon after. 

In your first summer, Boris Johnson took over as Prime Minister (President) of the UK. He got a deal and fired all the MPs in his party that didn't accept it and appointed new Candidates that did accept it. Then he talked parliament into having a snap election in Christmas. In Christmas 2019 everyone in the country knew that all the Conservative candidates would accept the exit deal so the 'Conservative' Party won most of the seats in Parliament. In the start of 2020 there was a Corona virus outbreak in China, they called it Covid19. By Spring 2020 it had become a Pandemic infection. Despite the world being sick, Parliament signed the exit deal and the UK was no longer a part of the EU trading block. 

5 Strange Years

In 2016 a lot of strange things were happening, firstly many celebrities started dying; George Michael, David Bowie, David Guest and Prince to name a few. Then we had a referendum in the UK to choose if we leave the EU. The United Kingdom as a whole voted to leave. Later that year, Donald Trump was elected in America, he was also against trading blocks, political unions, and soft borders.  

I got Married in November 2016. 

For five years the UK couldn't decide how they will leave, some leaders wanted a second referendum. Others wanted to cancel Brexit, some wanted us to be part of the common market and leave the political union, some of them wanted a clean break with a follow up deal later. Parliament was pulling itself in different directions for 4 years. It got particularly bad in 2019, they were rejecting all the exit deals and amendments and no party had full control of the house of commons. The Conservatives were in a coalition with the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) to keep control of Parliament, a big compromise in my view. Then a New group of conservative leaders stepped up with a very clear agenda and gained a majority in parliament with a snap election in Christmas 2019. 

Then a Pandemic came along and caused chaos to the whole world. Supply chains were disrupted during that time and many people couldn't work or trade. Inflation and civil unrest became the norm during that time. Many people were killed by the virus itself. 

What will happen now? I don't know. 

Christmas election

Here in the UK, we are going to have an early general election during Christmas. There seems to be a party for everything.

If you want a second referendum or a soft Brexit, you could vote for Labour. Also they want to renationalise a lot of the infrastructure that was sold off during the eighties and nineties, Railways, utilities and things like that.

If you want to cancel brexit then you could vote for the Liberal Democrats. They made it very clear they would revoke article 50 as soon as they were elected.

If you want a hard clean break brexit then you can vote for the Brexit party. They will leave first and negotiate later.

If you want a hard brexit preceded by a transition exit deal then you could vote conservative. They want to keep all the taxes low because they think the growth created would more than compensate for the loss in public revenue and add some on top.

The outcome of the vote would be very revealing. I wouldn't be surprised if the result was hung all around because the Brexit vote would be split between two parties and those that want a soft Brexit won't vote lib dem. Well, we will see.

Sing poop

Ahh, Sing pooop, sing poop, sing poop. Once again you are trying to block a deal with the EU. Have you forgotten what it means to wear that red tie?

Have you read the stipulations of the deal? Do you know it is just a temporary phase towards leaving because we need to leave in an orderly way? They won't give us a sweet deal because they would be compromising too much. Read the deal, and remember that it is just a phase, a step and the stairs to our destination.

Do you know that making us vote again is a slap in the face. You're basically telling us we didn't know what we were doing the first time. It is not the people's vote, it is the people's slap in the face.

Thomas cooked

I considered myself to be a doubting Thomas as I aged but there is no doubt now that Thomas Cook holiday company is gone.

I put some of the blame on the internet and some on poor investment decisions made by the company. The internet certainly played a big role in the destruction of the company.

Blockbuster video rental company went bankrupt because of internet video streaming. When you think about it, you can say that machines are already putting thousands of people out of work throughout the world. Machines create jobs but I think they destroy more jobs than they create. I see many politicians claiming the opposite but they are out of touch with the community. They are good at promoting themselves but fail help anyone.

There are still politicians in my country that don't even think there is a housing crisis. They have 10 houses and a magic bank account in a tax haven with 10 million in it so their privilege blinds them from seeing thousands of people living in their cars and families being buried in debt. I often wonder why they are getting elected? I think people should follow their local mp on Twitter and observe what they are saying. If there is a problem in your community then don't elect someone that doesn't even acknowledge the problem exists.

5 months old

Jacob my son is five months old today. He has changed a lot since he was born. He tries to put his feet in his mouth and dances in his baby chair when he hears music. He is the only baby I know of that dances before he can walk. He also makes flapping farty sounds with his mouth.
I sense he will be a very active boy as he ages.
He grows fast. Can't believe is already nearly six months old, were did all the time go?

I can say that at the time my son was five months old,  Mr Tight Fist published his memoirs, I am very curious about his book but don't want to download it now because I know it will talk about brexit and make me feel more afraid about the near future.

If my ancestors only knew what their island homeland was like in my time! I literally moved out of London, got married and had a family while they were arguing about how to implement brexit. And my son Jacob was born in the thick of it all at the dawn of the twenties decade.

Oh, and a gold toilet was stolen earlier this week. I think some rich people have more brass than sense. What is wrong with using a plastic toilet seat? Really!!

I couldn't make it up... They say the truth sets you free. The truth is more headache right now.

What April means to me

I will always remember April 2019 as Jacob's Spring because my son, Jacob was born in the middle of April and April is the middle of Spring.

April is the Month I became a father and I was given my own family, the best gift I have ever been given. I hope to be a good father for Jacob. My wife named our son, I gave him the middle name Curtis, an abbreviation of courteous, which means to be respectful.

My wife's sister and parents accompanied me and my wife while we were waiting for our son to be born. I enjoyed their company however I found it strange to not work for 5 weeks, plus the tension from waiting for Jacob got to my head and I think I looked stressed and angry. I hope they didn't get the wrong impression about me.  I really enjoyed their company and hope they will come again.

The weather in April was very cold and cloudy. Not what we normally get in the middle of spring.

There was a large terrorist attack in Sri Lanka, an Island next to India. I won't say anymore. Only that God won't reward anyone that destroys themselves and others.

Jullian Assange (Wiki leaks co-founder) was arrested inside the Equador embassy and the world was shown a picture of a black hole event horizon the way it actually looks. It looked the way I imagined it would look. It was a hole that is black.

The Brexit deadlock persisted throughout April. Britain may never leave the European Union. I sense that everyone on both sides of the continent are just fed up and want some progress to be made.

Divided Britain and Kingdom

The year 2018 is coming to an end and my island of Great Britain is very divided with odd pairings. From the summer of 2016 the British people divided themselves into three groups. Brexiteers, Remainers and Abstainers. Brexiteers wanted the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. Remainers wanted to stay in the European Union and Abstainers weren't sure or refused to vote.

The divide spanned across the British Island and spilled out to the edge of the Kingdom in northern Ireland and Gibraltar.

There was odd pairings and aliances  throughout the UK. London and Scotland wanted to remain. The rest of England and Wales wanted to leave. Northern Ireland wanted to remain and so did Gibraltar. Ultimately, leaving EU was the final verdict.

I have seen business leaders and politicians that were far from friends working together to achieve their goals. Rival politicians came together and was working as a team. Tony Blair and John Major were working together for the Remain Campaign, they were political rivals in the previous decades. It is a bit like Superman, Batman and Skeletor forming a group. I saw Tim Martin and Robert Dyson on the leave group. A pub chain owner and a vacuum cleaner manufacturer. People I would never see working together were drawn together by this strange situation.

Now the divide is about how we leave and the whether the Kingdom will be intact or if Great Britain will remain Great or be split in half across Hadrian's wall. My Island is filled with uncertainty. I can only hope that we work together and make the final decision work for us. Even a paralyzed man needs both his arms to push the wheels in the same direction, otherwise his wheelchair would just spin around and he would have no hope of getting anywhere.

When the Queen did her speech on Christmas, it made a lot of sense to me. We need to be united in the United Kingdom and the sons of Britain need to respect their brothers and sisters.

I can only hope for the best outcome.

Irish back stock

The UK prime minister, Theresa May has made a British exit (Brexit) deal with the EU but the house of commons don't like the deal. The main reason they don't like the deal is because Northern island would be treated like a separate country from the UK. They would have checks made on their products before they enter the British Island.

Let me explain the problem the EU faces. Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are two separate countries. When the UK splits away from the EU, the Republic of Ireland will remain in the EU and Northern Ireland will remain part of the UK. If goods are free to move from UK to the republic of Ireland without paying a tariff then the UK could do a trade deal with a country outside the EU and send goods that are not taxed into the rest of the EU through the republic of Ireland. For example, we could remove the tariff on Oranges from Dominica and then send them to the republic of Ireland and then the Republic of Ireland could send the oranges to Germany. This would mean that Oranges are entering the EU without being taxed.

The Irish in the North and South wanted to keep a soft border because people own assets and trade on both sides of the border. I think the best way out of this is to leave without a deal and pay the tariffs, I recall that the deal involved a £39 billion exit fee. Use the exit fee to reimburse businesses that are taxed for their exports. Isn't that a more straight forward way to solve the problem.

My son is due to be born and like his father is spending his time as a fetus in a country that is consumed by chaos and uncertainty. For me it was the Falklands war, for him it is Brexit.

What November Means to me

November 2018 was about discovery and a huge deal. It was in November 2018 that I discovered that my unborn child was a boy and at the same time I discovered that NASA had landed a probe on the planet Mars called inSight with the intention of peering inside the planet, good luck to them.

I would be happy if my child was a boy or a girl.
It is a boy and we are thinking about possible names to give the child when he is born.

November is also about the Brexit exit deal that was prepared by our prime Minister, Therasa May and leaders of the other European Union member states. I sense that many politicians intend to reject the deal because they think it is a bad deal. They will soon vote on implementation of the deal.

There was wide spread rioting in France because Macron increased fuel tax. This event reminds me of the time I learned of Margret Fatcher's poll tax. If people live a privileged life then they may forget the ordinary people struggle to live in this world. They can increase a tax without thinking about the poorer people.

Irish bottleneck

When I voted to leave the EU in 2016, I thought that leaving would be straightforward. I thought we were halfway out already, we never took the currency and we are not in the Schengen zone. I thought it was an opportunity to close our biggest tax loophole because I knew that some of the countries in the EU were tax havens yet they share a common market with us.

I didn't realize that the EU was acting as a proxy union between North and South Ireland and allowing movement of goods and people between the two states. The problem is on both sides because if we import goods into the UK from outside the EU then the Irish border could become a back door to cheat the tariffs and bring goods into the EU, none of the EU countries would accept that. The other problem is that North and South Ireland want to keep a soft border. I don't know how this problem could be solved without investing large amounts of money. 

The only thing I can think of is to add rebate zone where goods are taxed and the tax is reimbursed straight away and special ID cards are given to North Ireland citizens that would allow them to enter the rest of the UK and also ID cards that would let the Republic of Island citizens only enter North Ireland without a visa.This would cost a lot of money because many staff would be needed and the system itself would cost a lot of money.

The other option would be to let North Ireland have a referendum on if they should stay in the UK. I can't think of other solutions. 

Three new firsts

This week has been a first for me on many levels. Yesterday is the first time in my life that I live streamed on facebook. I did it because I have a half a token for a large prize and felt a need to inform everyone that we can split the money if they have the other half.

It is also the first time that I connected a blutooth keyboard with touch pad to my phone. When you use the touch pad with a phone, a cursor appears on the screen. At the same time I also mirrored my phone screen on the TV using chrome cast. My phone was very much like  a computer and at one point I forgot that I was using a phone. In fact my phone is more powerful than my first desktop computer anyway so it is nice to use it as a computer. I am typing this blog entry right now with the blue tooth keyboard on my phone. I am hoping I would make less grammar and spelling mistakes as a result. Let's see what happens. One advantage of using a touch pad with a phone is being able to control where the cursor goes. My finger is bigger then the lines and words on the screen so it is very hard to control where the cursor goes, but with a touch pad it is very easy.

Earlier in the week the French republic elected their president. For the first time in my life I felt angry about an election result of another country. I see the French people as my brothers and wanted them to be liberated from the EU because I feel that the EU is bad for everyone. I believe that Emmanuel Macron won the election because they are not convinced that Marine La Pen has reformed her party into a center right one. They still think the French national Front is a far right party. In my opinion, Macron is an EU and multinational banking puppet. He looks like an outsider but he isn't. I would compare him to Tony Blair and say they are very similar. I wish all the best to my french brothers, the older generations on both sides of the north sea have a different view to me and don't like their neighbours but to me and the young French, we are brothers.

Scotland and Us

I sense that the Scottish people want to break away from the UK to rejoin the European Union. To be honest, I would be disappointed if they did because it means they are choosing the EU over the UK. The UK is older than the EU and functions better. I will accept their decision and try not to take it personally.

I am proud of the UK and feel that it will out last the EU because they are trying to turn into a federation and the countries don't fit together. They will probably blame the UK exit for the end of the EU but the truth is it was a doomed project.

We did a lot for the Scots , we bailed out RBS and put all gov projects their to increase their employment. If they want to turn their backs on that then I won't hold it against them.

I think that the Scots leaving the UK is bad for them because we buy most there goods and we share their currency.

Disappointment

Today I was filled with disappointment because I saw high level people that were trying to stop brexit. Brexit is British exit from the European union. They think we can't prosper outside the EU. They also think that we need access to the common market. 

If we stay in Europe or Leave I don't mind because I think highly of my country and think it will prosper, what ever happens. The issue I have is the way many people of the UK judge their own country. I believe that the Biggest problem this county has is it's self image.  There are millions of people across the UK that think we are weak. They think way are not strong enough to stand on our own. I hope they move to France, they can prepare their Hindsight speeches. 

In my opinion, the biggest threat to the UK is not Leaving the EU, or the huge Dept we have collected. The biggest threat to our well being is our own minds. If you think you and your country are weak then you are right. Vision is everything. If the Japanese looked down on themselves in the 1940s when their land was in ruins then they would not have become one of the worlds greatest economies in the decades that followed.  

I want to shout out loud. We are strong, we are strong! as loud possible. I feel fire in my belly because have vision for the UK. I know we can prosper no matter what happens. We can do anything unless we don't believe.

Brexit insults, oh please.

Brexit has become a well known term around the world. Unfortunately Brexit voters are associated with stupidity and hatred. The truth is that we are not stupid. We all had rational reasons to vote to leave the European union. I had a bunch of reasons.


Firstly I felt that international trade deals with the EU was a compromise best fit arrangement for all the member states and suited no one perfectly. I felt that trade deals would be better if each country made their own deals.

Secondly we would often sanction trade with unpopular countries as a block and that is likely to lead to world war 3. Hitler came to power in a bankrupt Germany if I remember correctly.

Thirdly I didn't like the EU interfering in our Legal system and overturning court judgements because some of the criminals are a hazard to our safety and it is none their business.

Fourthly I don't like the Euro currency and think it will cause the European central bank to collapse and devalue, that in turn will lead Economic refugees flooding into the UK in their millions causing the cost of property to rise too high. Good for rich and bad for ordinary people.

Finally I feel that every county in the Euro zone is better off outside the EU political and trade union. Some countries are being depopulated others are over populated, both situations are grim. Depopulation leads to losses in tax revenues and less resources. Overpopulation leads to unbalanced inflation and low wages.

Please tell me now if you think I am a bigot or stupid hater. Please do. I am tired of hearing this nonsense and I am tired of people aggressively trying overturn a democratic vote, If we stay in the EU then the UK is a dictatorship and should not take the moral high ground with other dictatorships around the world and  our future is a grim one.