Peter Hill
ANYONE who views the Brexit deal as a triumph for Britain is looking through spectacles of the deepest rose tint. Nigel Farage is nearer the mark when he says it just steers us to the next humiliation. The political establishment does not want Brexit and never has. For them Brexit is a problem rather than an opportunity.
Britain is not negotiating a new deal with the EU. We are agreeing the terms of our surrender. Everything adds up to an end game where we pay vast reparations and do exactly what the bosses in Brussels and Strasbourg tell us to do. Our leaders have capitulated in every clause.
We are even letting the tiny Republic of Ireland push us around. To preserve an open border between North and South we will apparently have to follow EU rules for ever. But the republic depends far more on trade with Britain than anywhere else and should be put in its place.
We have an £80billion-a-year deficit with the EU on top of our membership fee. It’s simple. The Prime Minister should say: “We’re happy to let you continue selling all your stuff to us but we want to deal with the big world outside too. We will pay what we genuinely owe for pensions and previous commitments but no more. Take it or leave it. q BLUE PLANET II has been a marvellous TV series but I don’t think I can manage another minute of Sir David Attenborough. He is like a born-again bishop going on and on about how the human race is full of sin and will be punished by fire, flood and tempest, probably a few plagues as well. I really could do with a break from environmental propaganda. q I AGREE with the Pope, however, that the Lord’s Prayer needs amending. Despite repeating it thousands of times it had never occurred to me that the line, “Lead us not into temptation,” must be a mistake. As the Pope says (and after all he is infallible) it is Satan not God who is responsible for temptation so we should be praying to God to help us not to give in to it.
And there is a bonus. I have always blamed myself for the times I’ve been bad but now I know it’s not me – it’s the Devil on my back. q I HAD to collect some shoes from a specialist repairer, which necessitated a trip to the centre of London on Saturday. Emerging from the Underground into Oxford Street I met a solid river of humanity. It was impossible to navigate – I was just carried along until I could dive into a side street.
On the way home I decided to avoid that station and instead went to Green Park, which I thought might be more civilised. Big mistake, it was heaving. It was a struggle even to get into the station. Hundreds of shoppers were cramming down the steps and squeezing slowly towards the ticket barriers. Thankfully everyone was patient and well behaved. Now I know how ants feel.
We’ve been led to believe that internet shopping has taken over from the high street. Not this Christmas it ain’t. q WHY does winter always come as a surprise to our transport authorities? A smattering of snow and the entire country is reduced to chaos: rail, air, sea and road traffic all affected. The daftest excuse was on the M40 where the lack of cars was blamed for hold-ups. The gritting lorries had been out but they rely on traffic to spread the salt and too many drivers had irresponsibly heeded warnings not to venture out.
Airports never have enough de-icing equipment so again travellers had to endure long waits. The British are obsessed about the weather but we must be the worst country in the world at dealing with it. q AFTER a lifetime in newspapers it takes a lot to shock me but a report that relatives are having to padlock wreaths to graves knocked me sick. Over the past two years 130 wreaths have been stolen from the village cemetery at Bidford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, mainly by thieves who sell them on, it’s believed. No doubt such thefts happen all over the country. Sadly there are no depths to which some of our fellow humans will not stoop. q IT’S neither necessary nor desirable that children should be asked whether they are happy with the gender they are brought up in. The NHS in Lancashire is sending out forms to 10-year-olds asking: “Do you feel the same inside as the gender you were born with?”
Many children will start worrying even if, as in nearly every case, they have never had any doubts.
The NHS is paying undue deference to a small but noisy group determined to inflict right-on gender politics on the entire nation. As if we aren’t being made to swallow enough PC propaganda about racism and inclusivity. q STUDENTS could save £25,000 if a new plan for two-year degree courses is adopted by universities. It’s claimed that the same amount of teaching would be delivered as for the present three-year courses so students would not lose out. Which only shows that higher educators must be spending a lot of time chillaxing at the moment. q AN “energetic and optimistic” beep will soon sound when you pay with a Visa card. Experts have spent a year choosing a “signature sound” that also signals “speed and convenience”. Oh, and a “unique” vibration. Not sure if my heart is up to this much excitement.