Can you afford a trip into the Kirklees area?

James O’Flynn Poverty tends to be measured relative to the country of residence. Having a house with windows, doors, electricity, running water might be considered wealthy in South Sudan, but we don’t live in South Sudan. We live in the 6th richest country on earth. People talking about relative poverty, yes, it’s relative to the domestic norm, not the whole world. Christopher Hampton, playwright, Eddie Van Halen, rock guitarist, Anita Baker, singer, Ellen DeGeneres, actress/television host, Jazzie B, musician Andrew Ridgeley, singer Jose Mourinho, football manager Sara Rue, actress, FOR the first time ever I find myself agreeing with Trevor Woolley with regard to our council and its war on the electorate.

Instead of serving our needs, they are dreaming up a raft of things we can be fined for to balance the books.

I appreciate the fact that the government is starving areas outside the M25 of funds.

But let’s see ... speed cameras, traffic wardens, bus lanes, the litter police.

All of these things make a trip within Kirklees a bit of a gamble.

Can you afford it? into the false narrative, as though one side’s gain is another side’s loss. And that widespread belief is what makes the EU’s weakening position relevant to negotiations, because the British are pushing for trade while the EU is against it.

The inconsistencies are total confusion. One minute the French president says “Britain will secure a bespoke trade deal after Brexit” and the next EU sources have warned of political opposition from France.

The EU says Britain can’t have close trade ties without accepting freedom of movement. That’s precisely the issue which is causing enormous trouble in Europe as it is.

The people of Europe do not blame the UK for wanting to get out, they just begrudge the UK having the opportunity to be a success. Hence the desire to punish the UK. Jealousy.

The EU is a protectionist bloc, not a pro-trade one. It has extraordinarily high barriers of trade which the British want to escape.

The EU is trying to prevent the UK from making trade deals with countries. The British people want to be part of the world, not just part of the EU at AFRIN, whose population is predominantly Kurdish, is one of the most stable and secure regions in Syria.

With very little international help Afrin has taken in refugees from other parts of Syria so that its population has doubled to 400,000.

The enclave is now surrounded by enemies including Al Quaida affiliates, Turkishsupported jihadi groups and the forces of the Turkish state itself.

Turkish president Erdogan has threatened to attack the Kurdish YPG ( People’s Protection Units) which the West has been supporting to fight Daesh.

Turkey accuses the YPG of being “terrorists” despite the YPG’s policy of not attacking civilians and of setting up nonsectarian local democratic governing councils in each of the towns it has liberated from Daesh.

It has made repeated statements that it has no interest in attacking Turkey and has, in fact, never done so. It only wishes to function as a defence force for Syrian Kurds and other ethnicities living in the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (DFNS), also known as Rojava, of which Afrin is a part.

Turkey has now massed an enormous military force on the Afrin border and President Erdogan has threatened to attack the Kurdish-controlled area to annihilate the YPG, putting thousands of civilians and refugees at risk.

Such an attack against the peaceful citizens of Afrin is a blatant act of aggression against a peaceful and democratic society and the latest episode in the Turkish state’s genocidal vendetta against the Kurds.

The Kurdish people have endured the loss of thousands of young men and women who joined the YPG and YPJ women’s force to rid the world of Daesh.

The UK and the international community have a moral obligation to stand by the Kurdish people now.

The UK government must take a lead in international efforts to guarantee Afrin’s survival and prevent further Turkish aggression from both within Syria and across the Syrian border.