The UK: Exercising a prerogative of protest at the prorogation of principle

This is trouble brewing

Amidst the other uncertainties that have occupied my time and space, it was a sense of powerlessness and numbness that caught me when I read that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom had asked the Queen to suspend Parliament. [Channel 4]

This could easily have been a constitutional crisis, but the decision was purely political, a gambler’s last stance at a poker table to get #Brexit over the line where the power of persuasion, the force of argument, the exchange of ideas and robust debate had failed to bring Parliament over to the intentions, agenda and programme of Her Majesty’s Government.

A brigandage in Downing Street

The Prorogation of Parliament is rarely used in a high stakes drama like this, almost never in living memory except for peers of the super-septuagenarian set. It is in this case an act of malevolent Machiavellian statecraft that would have far-reaching consequences for the way the traditions of our parliamentary democracy can be gamed in the interest of ideology over national interest.

The Queen by terms has the prerogative power but is bound to act on the advice of her government and the Privy Council. Whilst she might offer advice, the monarchy has the solemn duty to be above the fray that it cannot interfere even of she as a person and sovereign of our nation has had the great fortitude of inviting 14 Prime Ministers to form a government since she was enthroned in 1952. Sir Winston Churchill was her first.

A disorderly mess

Our distorted, rancorous, and disorderly exit from Europe has left many carcases in its wake, we are on our third Prime Minister and for over three years, not one side of the people’s representation in Parliament has been able to claim a decisive victory in the quest for either exiting or remaining in Europe.

An advisory referendum, poorly implemented, badly fought and corruptly won has hamstrung the country and sucked oxygen out of any viable activity in the UK, yet, the creed stands strong in the hurtling down this precipice in a display of everything redolent of English bloody-mindedness.

Europe is not the problem

I do not believe that Europe has ever been the problem, it is the people we have sent to Europe that has left us with a raw deal. Where other nations sent their best, we found the eccentric, the rabble-rousers and fringe politicians to negotiate on our behalf, the likes of Nigel Farage whose penchant for insult, rudeness and cringe-worthy soundbite would never have with the best ideas in the world be able to win a consensus or an agreement in any committee.

He, as a member of the fisheries committee only attended 1 of 42 sittings, and he had to audacity to board a fishing boat throwing dead fish in the Thames to make the point about seizing back control of our waters.

We, as an electorate have ourselves to blame the most, those who came out to vote won over by questionable arguments, those who allowed apathy to rob them of a say in how they are governed has led to a representation of gamblers. David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn, they all owe their rise to people gambling on their future or hoping their single vote can send a message, which is fine, but many messages can end up choosing the wrong representative and lead us down the road to an uncertain future as Brexit portends.

How Europe gives clout

Being in Europe still matters, the evidence of that is in how the Republic of Ireland with just 4.9 million against the almost 70 million of the UK has clout by reason of being backed by the heft of the EU-27, the UK stands alone looking in from the outside with an outsized view of her influence that was progressively lost after two World Wars.

All the trade deals we now want to negotiate after Brexit, we already have as part of the European Union, we are not going to get better deals than those that the EU has already won with hard bargaining, the numbers, the skill and the statesmanship. The UK in the hands of these peddlers of vacuous optimism who have the temerity to question our patriotism when we challenge their baseless assertions leaves one terrified of the future.

Not this cacophony of jesters

Yet, we are full of fight, the last has not been heard of this matter, for if at any time there was a leader of the calibre of Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee or Margaret Thatcher amongst this lot, there might have been a slight chance that they can pull off a successful Brexit, I doubt a hundred of them together can successfully manage a piss up in a brewery, they would likely piss away our future on the altar of privileges they have come to expect as their entitlement to rule without taking responsibility for any failings.

The Parliament is supposed to be sovereign. At this juncture, where the country faces a momentous decision as to our future, we have a Prime Minister who has no electoral mandate putting the mother of all Parliaments in the cooler to allow his government carry the country divided as it is through to a conclusion many of his cohort including himself have severally said to be anathema.

We already have the best deal

A no-deal Brexit is the worst-case scenario with no upside to it as the pound languishes at about 25% below its value before the Referendum, businesses are closing or moving to Mainland Europe, EU citizens who have made their home in this country are none the wiser of their status post-Brexit and the retired Brits out on the Mediterranean coasts of Europe and further afield in the Canaries have to contend with unnecessary geriatric anxiety.

For those who want to leave and those who wish to remain, we have a greater issue at stake, the reckless abuse of and usurpation of power by the executive in silencing the elected representatives of the people with the revising chamber for the presumed will of the people, which first was advisory, which was superseded by a general election, which should have had the full-throated agitations of the Parliament and having not won the argument, the government should have conceded defeat or sought another mandate.

We will fight this

This is a travesty and I believe there will be civil unrest for the fact that if taking back control was not to give it back to the sovereign Parliament, but for the executive to arrogate those powers to itself, our democracy is at an impasse and we need to revisit the fault lines of the separation of powers and how the Parliament should by rights be able to hold the executive to scrutiny and sanction for every action they take in the name of the people.

Not perturbed by mountains

[]

A weight of waiting

I sit in the quandary of mind, far away a dear awaits the notice to act, together we wonder about the near and the far, unsure of what it might portend.

Yet, an agreement does persist that regardless of what we eventually learn, it would not stand in the way of what we have planned. In the waiting is some anxiety, it deigns to sap the reserves of hope and expectation.

We would not faint in the quest of what is happening between us, for the consideration is deep and the purpose is crystallising into something dreams are made of. Gems and treasure gain value in the labour expended, of time, of toil, of trial, of test, and of testament.

In that, there is assurance, that hurdles would be skipped, mountains will be scaled, obstacles will be overcome, difficulties will be solved, rivers will be swum, forded, boated or bridged and at the end will lay a prize that no one will be able to take away.

In our talk comes the comfort from turmoil and in our conversation is the calming of the nerves, we like iron sharpens iron, strengthen each other, supporting the waning to bring it to the thriving.

It is a little setback that gives way to great opportunities, in that, we are confident that love does conquer all.

Sexual Education and Parental Naivety

Unforgiveable parental naivety

This would naturally be a taboo topic, but thinking this afternoon, my mind wandered off to a distant past of my childhood where I concluded that by the age of 10, I knew a good deal about sex without having received any sex education, at least from a formal perspective.

This issue of parental naivety is still rife, the feeling that good sexual mores is acquired by some osmotic transference from a nondescript place. The way parents play with childhood innocence with the view of keeping their wards ignorant of the basics about sex can at best be criminal.

You have to wonder

For instance, the only time my sexual organs were examined by any parent was when I think I was 8, my father was checking if my balls had descended, I was however clueless about what he intended, it might well have been concerns about my development having been a pre-term baby.

Yet, unknown to either parent, I had already had my first sexual experience at 7 and was growing in the knowledge of it through those years. I remember going through a dictionary and looking up every word that began with sex-, which included sexagenarian, sextant, sexual and sexy. A form of titillation of the mind for my age.

Has any parent even wondered, what does my child at their age know about sex?

Enlightenment is protection

The truth is, my parents never discussed sex with me, the first time that subject came up was after our house-girl had been raped by our driver, the enquiry of who might have been responsible for her pregnancy asking if I was responsible. I was mortified, the thought just never crossed my mind, but the sad narrative here is that many parents get to talk about sex with their children the first time, usually after the consequences of bad, risky or unsafe sex have become impossible to ignore.

Just imagine if by the age of 5 I had been told, if anyone touched me in a funny place, I should scream and run to a responsible adult to report my ordeal. I doubt many parents broach that subject out of fear, ignorance, foreboding or hope that everything is fine, when things are not.

Teach or they’ll be taught

The truth is if you do not take on the onerous responsibility to teach your child about sex, sex abuse and the way paedophiles gain sexual favours of unwittingly innocent children, your child would get their lessons from people, places and circumstances you have no control of and you not hear a pip about it for years because the abuser would have put in threats and dares that would prevent your child from running straight over to you.

In the end, you as a parent would ultimately responsible for the ignorance is bliss approach to the sexual education of your child, whilst the poor child is already recruited as a pleasure unit of the abuser, terrified into silence and damaged for life.

You have to decide how you manage this subject, what you cannot do is pretend it is not important, moralise about bad influences and then down the line threaten hell, hell and brimstone on the child has not done what should have been done long before you found yourself caring for a mental illness, treating an incurable sexually transmitted disease or holding an unexpected grandchild.

Thought Picnic: On growing into being at ease with everything

Understanding me

With time I have grown to understand that I am a child of privilege, the privilege of my place of birth, the privilege of my early education, the privilege of having parents who exuded professional confidence in the choice of career and the progression it took in their professional lives, the privilege of not needing to belong when there was the pressure to belong, the privilege of knowing, understanding and accepting who I am, the privilege of having horizons only limited by my ability to dream or imagine.

In having this privilege, it does not mean I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth, we were not a moneyed or rich class, but we had sufficiency and contentment, I saw in my parents a steady ambition without greed, a healthy bearing of self-respect, a commanding confidence in leadership, the ability to adapt to many situations and relate to people in different walks of life.

Fixing on the positive

It did not make my parents perfect, they had their numerous flaws, part of the privilege of my upbringing included appreciating value and discarding the dispensible; as a preacher once said, to have the sense of an old cow by eating the hay and leaving the baling wire.

Altogether, these examples have helped me adopt an outlook and mindset that allows me to thrive in many settings in which I have found myself. To accept the many privileges, I have without repudiation and guilt, recognising there are many not as fortunate as I have been and seeking ways to help others rise above the limitations imposed by the absence of privilege or opportunity to realise any of their potential.

Glad to help

Where I can, I provide means, hopefully, I can show some example, in some cases, I offer guidance and to some, I have been honoured with the opportunity to mentor. If I seek any reward, it is to see whoever I have engaged thrive and succeed, whether they better my achievements is usually up to their innate abilities and good fortune, I will celebrate and herald them, for it redounds to my joy.

In view of this, I am thinking of ways in which I have help people be first at ease with themselves and who they are without shame or self-deprecation, then be at ease with any place or situation they might find themselves to be able to express themselves clearly, with confidence, polish and assuredness.

Working on the foundations

Know that they can fit in, by merit, by ability and by achievement with every means to find opportunity, gain favour, have others see potential in them that can take them to new ground. Maybe there is a way to teach presence whilst understated, bearing, class and sophistication without putting on airs or having delusions of grandeur.

To find ways of being the best representative of yourself with simple adjustments and accoutrements, by so presenting the version of yourself without having to struggle to maintain the standards you have created for yourself in having principles, integrity and poise.

An identity crisis

In watching 'How to Break Into the Elite' on BBC Two last week, I realised how many having much academic achievement still found it difficult to access elite professional opportunities because whilst their qualifications might have taken to interviews, they rarely clinched the jobs due to other subjective elements of their person, personality, expression or conduct.

Their backgrounds, identity, schooling or absence of example of how to access these places then thrive in those environments appeared to dog their efforts and probably there is no finishing school that can properly inculcate the necessary mien and mores to give them a fighting chance. [BBC iPlayer]

Starting somewhere

The little touches matter, like the effortless knowledge of the basic social codes of appearance, language and comportment, these things appear to carry much significance in getting access, getting ahead and getting noticed. For some, it comes naturally, for others, they need to have a place where they observe, appreciate, learn and exercise how it opens doors of interest, engagement, recognition and help.

This is an area where I hope I can begin to give back in gratitude for the good fortune and privileges I have had.

My keynote address to FEGO Class of 98

An Unexpected Invitation

I was invited to give a keynote address to the Federal Government College Odogbolu, Class of '98, on the general topics of alumni, networking, life and purpose. After a few light jokes about how I had been surreptitiously co-opted into the activity, I began my address.

This cohort of successful people are entering middle age; they are mid-career, raising families and will face challenges ahead. I suppose there was a view that I could share some of my life experiences to help them avoid a mid-life crisis and attend to healthy life choices.

It was an honour to meet the Class of '98, and I wish them Godspeed.

My Lead-in

FEGO Class of '98, you graduated in the Silver Jubilee year of your school's founding; quite auspicious.

My history with Odogbolu is somewhat long and interesting. In January 1976, we were living in Kaduna when my parents had the crazy idea of sending me to a secondary school close to where they were born, in Ijesha-Ijebu, so that I might be imbibed with Yoruba culture.

Baptist Academy, Mayflower School, Odogbolu Grammar School, Remo Secondary School (RSS); I cannot remember the school in Ibadan where I sat the common entrance examination. Did I have a life of privilege? I flew in from Kaduna, and there was someone to collect me and take care of me for the duration of my visit.

I do not know why I was not put forward for any of the unity schools, even though I realise there were opportunities for those. I suppose my primary school environment in Jos and Kaduna was a disadvantage to my becoming integrated into Nigeria. The schools were international, with a high percentage of Europeans, Chinese and Japanese, so I was not really growing into a Nigerian per se.

Odogbolu Grammar School and Remo Secondary School both offered me admission. I took the latter because the former's campus bordered on a graveyard; I had had the strangest things happen to me at ten, and that settled my decision.

Two years ago, my nephew was admitted to the Federal Government College Odogbolu (FEGO) at the age of nine. A year later, his brother, with whom he shares a birthday though they are two years apart, joined him. They are probably the youngest in their year group, just as I was in primary school and then in secondary school.

I find it strange that I am giving an address to an alumni association because, whilst I made a few friends at RSS, my memories of the five years I spent there are not ones I cherish that much. We had to be street smart, even as we stood out because of our accents. We were bedwetters; back then it was thought a weakness rather than something psychological. There was the occasional bully, and the use of collective punishment was rife. Thankfully, the core of individuality, inquisitiveness and fearlessness could not be beaten out of me.

Apart from on Facebook, I have no enduring friends from the RSS Class of '81. I met up with old schoolmates from my primary school after 41 years in 2016. I still have friends from Lacostech; from YabaTech, where no one believed I was 16 when I was admitted; and from the Federal Polytechnic Ilaro, where, on my first day, I met a junior from secondary school who was in his final year whilst I was starting afresh.

Have Your Purpose

Considering the good fortune and opportunities I had from birth through secondary school, the four years afterwards were sobering. I attended two polytechnics and ended up with nothing. My third attempt, born of travail and raw experience, widened my perspective on what I could achieve. I was no longer haunted by my past or fearful of the future. I simply determined that, by 35, I would be able to stand amongst my peers unashamed of what I had done with my life. I began to see good results already at 24.

Do Something Radical

In 2000, just after the Millennium bug issue, I was having trouble finding a new job. I was attending interviews and getting good reviews, but no offers. A mentor advised me to speak to an occupational psychotherapist, who concluded that I was suffering a mid-life crisis ten years early. His advice was to consider a career change, perhaps go back to school, or even emigrate to another country.

I took the hint and started looking for opportunities in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. Meanwhile, I got a job in the UK and, on a day off, flew out to the Netherlands for an interview. I got that job, and with it 13 years of life in Holland.

Have a plan, do things in the interim, but do not lose your focus and do not be distracted.

Embrace Youthful Aspirations

When I was about to buy an apartment in Amsterdam, the first thing I did was ask the estate agent to feel my hands. She said they were soft. Indeed, I retorted, I do not do DIY; I want a place I need not do anything to, and please complete the deal in six weeks. She did.

The couple I bought my home from were in their mid-70s. They had lived in Eindhoven for 25 years and could easily have lived out the rest of their days there, but they bought an apartment in Amsterdam off the plan and came to live there for almost four years. During that time, she became the chairman of the homeowners' association.

Then they decided that, because of their age, they needed a place where they could receive better care. They sold up in Amsterdam for a healthy profit and bought a riverside residential care apartment in Arnhem. I still wish I could make decisions like that, whatever age I am.

Then there is my uncle, who was and still is the playful adult in my life, someone I can talk to about anything. I can be utterly irreverent, yet always respectful. He was one of the foremost insurers in Nigeria, a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Insurers and an examiner for the council.

In the space of a few years, he lost his car a couple of times to armed robbers, so he decided to move to the UK, where he is now settled. He called me one day and said he wanted to go back to school to study petroleum engineering. I asked whether he was going for a master's programme; he said he was applying for a bachelor's degree.

Obviously, I thought him too distinguished for such a somewhat lowly pursuit, but he expressed such humility in his decision to take it on.

He was already 60. He tells me the course was one of the hardest he ever attended. He had failed so many examinations from adolescence into adulthood that my father, on returning from the UK, promised him £10 if he passed. That £10 debt is still a running joke in our conversations.

He stood out throughout the course, the older man, wise from a world of experience in C-suite jobs. Students and faculty alike were always seeking his viewpoint on many things. By graduation, he had been gravely ill and was recuperating, so the university arranged to collect him from hospital to attend the ceremony. When his name was called, along with the citations, he received a standing ovation.

Such a thing can never happen if you are not ready to embrace your youth and your youthful aspirations. Do something new; assess yourself against your aspirations rather than against others; believe in yourself even if no one else does; and never let your failures define you today or in your future.

Recently, on the radio, I heard Isabel Allende asked, "How do you fall in love at 76?" She answered, "Like 26, only with a little more urgency."

Identity Is a Construct

I have a keen sense of my identity: I am an Englishman of Nigerian heritage. I arrived at that idea of who I am when I lived in the Netherlands and had to answer the question of where I was originally from.

I was born in England, grew up in England and Nigeria, then lived in the Netherlands for almost 13 years. Why am I not Nigerian? I was like everyone else until my accent betrayed me. To so many, I was the child born abroad; I was not entirely accepted in Nigeria.

My mother tongue is English, but my mother's tongue is Yoruba. I am proud to say that, even as an Aje-butter, I speak Yoruba to a very good standard. My Hausa, however, needs some work; I was in the North only until 1977.

Identity is a construct of influences: many good, some bad, and a few you need to discard completely. Accept who you are, and do not let anyone question the legitimate version of you.

On an Uber ride last week, the driver told me about his extraordinarily brilliant nephew, who had excellent A-level results but could not make it through the Oxbridge interviews to gain admission. I knew what the problem was: much had gone into academic achievement but very little into identity and personality development. The poor chap was cowed by the environment.

Community is good, but you also need to interact with wider society and have a sense of confidence, completely different from arrogance; a healthy self-esteem, completely different from feeling an impostor; and the ability to express yourself clearly, completely different from being loud and vulgar.

When I returned to the UK from Nigeria in 1990, I already had a good sense of who I was. My blackness was always part of me; anyone who had an issue with it, that was their problem, not mine. I also had a good sense of history. So, when someone trying to be offensively racist said to me, "100 years ago I would have shot you," I was immediately able to respond, "200 years ago, I would have eaten you."

Be a sleeping dog, but be ready to bite when kicked; probably take the leg off, if you must.

Let the best influences of culture, of beliefs, of location, of friendships, of communication, of reading and of learning define who you are in personality, in expression, in empathy, in humanity and in the pursuit of happiness.

Your Health Is Wealth

Ten years ago, what appeared to be athlete's foot had become painful and was beginning to weep. At the back of my mind, I thought it was serious, but I was willing it away. A residual element of my religious upbringing was interfering with my reasoning; thoughts about faith, miracles and so on.

Then I decided to visit my GP. She took one look at the sole of my foot and said, "This looks serious, I need to refer you." The first referral, two days later, led to another four days after that, because of the intervening weekend.

The professor came to examine me and said, "You cannot go home; we have a bed for you upstairs." That is how my treatment for cancer started. I did not realise how serious it was until the eighth day in hospital, when the professor came round to tell me: "We can treat this, but it depends on how your body takes the treatment. If it can, you'll be fine; otherwise, you probably have five weeks." Five weeks!

I spent 18 days in hospital and then five months of gruelling chemotherapy. Sometimes I could not keep my food down for days.

Because of cancer, I lost everything: status, wealth, my home of ten and a half years, prospects. But I did not lose hope, and definitely not the will to live.

Part of my life education had been the ability to let go of things, not to let things have a hold on me. Because of that, I have been able to go on to new things, do new things, think new things, achieve new things and prosper in life, despite the old things of the past; because they pass, and in the process you are given a better story. In learning to let go, I realised that an open hand is one that is ready to receive.

Consider your health; go for scheduled and regular check-ups. I have a better idea of my health situation than my medical notes can provide. I have been fortunate to be treated as an intelligent patient, even though, with hindsight, I have been foolish.

One identity construct that has helped me get the best outcomes for my health and treatment was telling two professors of medicine, "It is my body first, before it is your guinea pig." They listened and backed down from the intrusive and uncomfortable course they had planned.

Key Points

These are some of the key points from my address.

·       Do not be afraid of failure; be afraid of never trying.

o   I have failed at many things; the lessons have become part of my world of experience.

o   I say do it, rather than regret not doing it at all.

·       An opportunity once lost can be regained after a temporary setback.

o   I have had many setbacks, but never entirely lost opportunities.

·       Accept your vulnerabilities; they are part of your humanity.

o   I needed therapy, and when I went for it, it helped me and enriched the therapist too.

·       Embrace change and be prepared for it in every area of your life, because if you hate change, you will hate irrelevance even more.

o   I have not survived 31 years in IT by being stagnant; I have had to adapt and improve continually. I have been a self-employed contractor since 1995.

·       Learn to rest, learn to play, find time for yourself and do new things.

o   And suddenly I found this liking for classical music; travel calms me down; I love quirky things.

·       The greatest thing you can pass down is example: an example of contentment, which is not the lack of ambition; an example of resilience, so that you never fold in adversity; an example of empathy, walking a long, hard mile in another's shoes before you dare assume you know better.

o   I will probably not inherit much from my parents, but these are things that have stood the test of time.

·       Everyone has a story; you can tell yours too.

o   In the ordinariness of our lives, when you begin to count your blessings, you realise how extraordinary your life has been.

In Closing

In speaking to this alumni gathering, it is 21 years since you left FEGO. I hope it is more than the mere fact that you attended school together that has brought you here. I hope there is a friendliness that goes beyond acquaintance; a love deeper than mere concern; an engagement that ensures no one of you falls to the ground; a brotherliness and sisterliness that means each of you has another to whom you can turn for advice, direction and even admonition.

Yes, you can gather to laugh and play, but there must also be times when you speak the truth frankly and without equivocation. We all need some tough talk alongside the support to see it through. We cannot afford to be ashamed amongst true friends.

FEGO Class of 1998, I commend you: live well, live strong, live long and live happily.

Thank you.

A Gemini Notebook AI Podcast on this blog

Boris Johnson: I do not believe this Moses can part the #Brexit Red Sea

The man – Boris Johnson

By the force of sheer ambition and ingrained public-school entitlement, Boris Johnson is on the cusp of becoming the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. He must be congratulated for this achievement, but it is at an inauspicious time.

Boris Johnson has both a record and form, his history is littered with gaffes and buffoonery, the tack of playing the court jester whilst executing the dastardly, he does not have the best references from many of those he worked for, but we are where we are now.

I was distressed but not full of despair when it was announced that he had been elected the leader of the Tory Party, the position was his to lose, for he does offer some sort of star power and to those easily distracted, you could be fooled for how Machiavellian he could be.

We need more than hope

Listening to his victory speech yesterday, I could notice no hint of sincerity in what he said apart from fulfilling the righteousness of seemingly saying the right things. We are as a country and conglomerate of nations facing crossroads of what future is ahead of us, we all, knowing how this country has stagnated since the Brexit vote of June 2016.

We all need a dose of optimism, but it cannot be realised by ignoring the stark realities this all portends. I would be the first to tell you that when I finally accepted I had cancer, just under 10 years ago, I knew I would survive it, but I still had to face the reality ahead of me, I didn’t even know that treatment I would get would work.

It was 5 gruelling months of chemotherapy, 4 types of pain medication, enough to quieten the pain, yet with that little bit of pain that proved I was still alive. Optimism and hope alone was not enough, as my consultant said to me if I did not respond well to the treatment, I had just 5 weeks to live.

What kind of Moses is he?

For all the optimism and hope that Boris Johnson suggests we need to get Brexit realised, there are some tough obstacles ahead about negotiating deals and assuring a future for this country and its people. We cannot just proceed on jingoism, bluster, rhetoric and gallons of intoxicating hope towards the sunlit uplands that are figments of an inebriated and overactive vivid imagination, there are jobs at risk, lives in the balance, futures in turmoil and other unintended consequences.

Leadership in the case of Brexit would be like us being brought like the Israelites of old to The Red Sea, the question is if indeed, the one who has brought thus far is the Moses with the rod to part the Red Sea or a charlatan about to drown the nation having convinced us we can swim like dolphins to the other side.

“The UK is at its most combustible. And now it’s led by a man who plays with matches.” Aditya Chakrabortty in the Guardian today. [Guardian]

We will continue to oppose Brexit

I earnestly believe Brexit is not the right path for the UK at this time. Nations use the heft of bloc, trading, political, military and economic to exact deals and this has been the case for decades already. A good example is us calling on Europe to help police the Gulf shipping when the US apparently refused to help us out. Ireland has the heft of the EU-27 behind it and so commands much more clout in the EU negotiations than the UK can alone.

I will put my support behind parties that support revoking Article 50, we would not be a silent minority in terms of where our nation is going. We belong here and we patriotic, and if patriotism needs to be redefined, it is the love of the fatherland, it does not automatically include the love of the government, their agenda or policies, we all need to be persuaded and convinced and if we are not, we are no less citizens and have no less a say in how we are governed.

In the end, I can only wish Boris Johnson a successful premiership, he will be opposed for as long as we can muster the support to do so if we believe he is taking us for a ride. There is a time to know when a course leads to perdition and someone should take that decision to turn back from ruin.

Just for the asking

We have been put to the test,
At the drawbridges of Fortress West,
Where a gatekeeper says lest,
The invited returns not to their nest,
They cannot, for now, be a guest,
For reasons that we must contest,
And quite vehemently protest,
Though our means are modest,
Our aims are completely honest,
Once more we find we must wrest,
To show our very best,
Against policies that do suggest,
We can’t be better than the rest,
On this, we are really pressed,
As it must well be stressed,
That what was then professed,
And would like to be redressed
At the point that it’s again addressed,
Is the leave granted to the quest,
To enter freely unsuppressed,
To be trusted wholly as possessed,
Of good character duly manifest,
To act as agreed and expressed,
And depart without arrest,
When due as one did truly attest,
We stand the readiest,
To leave you all impressed,
It is just a simple request,
A visit as if you haven’t guessed.