Let our kingdom truly be united
AT THE end of every year it is both understandable and appropriate that you look back at the preceding 12 months, and each and every time it seems you are faced with a series of tumultuous events. This year, naturally, seems no different – and yet it is, and for hugely significant reasons.
Barring the biggest political turnaround in history, Britain will leave the European Union next year, indeed before the first quarter of the new year is even concluded. As a result of two-and-a-half years of nearcriminal incompetence and the sort of bargaining that would see a market trader or small business owner washed up in days, this nation enters the new year riven with self-doubt.
This must end – and it must end now. Few prime ministers have worked as diligently or with such determination and even self-sacrifice as Theresa May, so it grieves me to point out how supremely inadequate the negotiations have been.
It was never, ever going to be easy but neither did it need to be this tangled mess of misses of communication, direction and step. Somehow we went from the soaring oratory and vision of the sunny uplands of the Lancaster House speech to the bizarre, unworkable, clustershambles that was the Chequers accord.
No side emerges with any credit whatsoever. The Remainers have sought to challenge the verdict – which is, of course, their right – but have resorted to extraordinary, grubby tactics to strengthen their view and have chalked up more journeys than a Eurostar train driver seeking to endear themselves to the unblinking Eurocrats. Equally, figures such as Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson have turned into our equivalent of the mythological Greek figures of the Sirens, as they’ve tried to lure so many to be dashed on the rocks of their ill-considered, undeliverable Brexit dream.
Faced with such discord and uncertainty, it is hardly surprising that strident voices ring out urging us to cling to the safety blanket that is membership of the European Union. However, it is wholly misplaced. Put coarsely, I’d say you think we’ve got problems, just take a look at the EU.
Economically, it is a project that is, at best, stalled. Growth in the EU is the lowest it has been for decades and markedly behind every other major supposed global powerhouse such as the US, Asia or China. Unemployment, particularly among the young, spreads across the continent.
In Spain, youth unemployment is a fraction under 35 per cent and nearly 40 per cent of young people in Spain have never had a job. To Italy, and the picture is depressingly similar. Youth unemployment is 32.5 per cent, the national debt is virtually 2.5 billion (nearly one-and-a-half times Gross Domestic Product) and the economy as a whole is merely a fraction above where it was 20 years ago.
It is undeniably grim and we’ve not even mentioned Greece, where a populace toils knowing entire industries and trades have been wiped out for generations.
Meanwhile, in the UK, unemployment stands at a fantastically low 4.1 per cent (economists will tell you it is virtually impossible to drive it significantly lower), the lowest for 44 years, and we have chalked up economic growth annually since 2009.
Suddenly, the economic argument is pretty devalued, isn’t it? As for the political stability the EU is supposed to underscore, that rings equally hollow. Over the past few weeks the acclaimed darling of the global liberal elite, French President Emmanuel Macron, has seen his popularity rating slide to one lower than his despised predecessor, Francois Hollande.
If the Gatwick debacle was embarrassing, what is to be made of a nation that has been brought to a standstill for six weekends in a row (this will be the seventh if it occurs this week) by the undaunted “yellow vests” that bring not only cities and motorways to a standstill but small market towns too. These nationwide riots have seen 10 people lose their lives.
Meanwhile, in Germany a beleaguered Angela Merkel’s grasp on power shrinks by the day. Dodgy coalition deals crumble like pastry promises in Mary Poppins (“easy to make, easy to break”) and she is neutered of any political power.
Her country is riven with unrest caused by the disastrous “open door” immigration policy and crime in some areas has rocketed.
The once all-powerful German economy now packs all the power of a punch-drunk, elderly boxer clinging on for life and fighting only on memory. Little wonder the spine-chilling reality of the reemergence of the far-right in Germany continues.
PERHAPS most symbolically of all, though, there is Belgium. At the very heart of the European Union, Prime Minister Charles Michel resigned before Christmas, leaving the nation without a government and facing unemployment and immigration issues. It’s worth noting that this is the country that holds the record for what is believed to be the longest period in which a developed, fully independent country managed to soldier on without a government. It was 589 days and, somehow, they survived!
Other crucial issues such as growing intolerance towards migrants, racial intolerance and discrimination against homosexuals have not even been mentioned. Nor has the insidious rise of corruption and fraud. In Malta, a journalist investigating high-level corruption, including the sale of EU passports, was murdered last year.
The next 12 months have many, and some as yet unforeseen, challenges. They can and will be met not by looking backward at an increasingly dysfunctional “union” of disparate forces but rather by focusing on the benefits of a “United” Kingdom.
CHAMP OF THE YEAR
England cricket legend How can you pay tribute to the man who is the most capped player for England, has captained his side more than any other skipper, is the only English player to reach the dizzying total of 12,000 Test runs and has done all of the above with a sense of calm and purpose, and never been interested in maidens, unless it was to do with overs, or getting into brawls outside nightclubs? He’s the finest of his generation, has been knighted in the New Year’s honours list and on a personal note, I feel uniquely privileged to have seen him score his maiden Test century and his farewell knock too. We salute you.
HERO OF THE YEAR
All credit to former Conservative party worker
It took immeasurable strength to waive her right to anonymity as a victim of “Black Cab Rapist” John Warboys’ attacks but, in so doing, she helped reverse the ludicrous decision that would have seen “him freed.
SNOWFLAKE OF THE YEAR
In truth, the recipient should be given this in perpetuity. It goes to dreary, virtue-signalling, rent-a-cause campaigner for whining about a message posted on a Tube station that marked the date of one of the greatest examples of bravery displayed by the British Army, in its defence of Rorke’s Drift against hordes of Zulus.
CHUMP OF THE YEAR
In a ferociously contested section, it has to go to
the perpetually dejected father of Meghan, now the Duchess of Sussex. Most families endure rifts, you fool. They’re resolved with tact and diplomacy, not with tell-all interviews.
CRYBABY OF THE YEAR Sir Alastair Cook. Lily Allen Serena Williams.
Step forward tennis star
Upbraided for getting involved in illegal signalling with her coach, she later tried to portray this cheating as “fighting for women’s rights”. What a load of (tennis) balls.
Former PM who seems to have forgotten just how despised he was for leading an unjust war. Concerning Brexit, he pompously opines: “I need to get the European leaders to the next stage.” No you don’t, chum. You’ve more properties than Savills, so respect the way the people actually voted, count your cash and keep out of it.