Category: Politics
Trading the orchard for an apple
Department for International Trade (DIT) tweets are easy to distinguish from those of other government departments by their exuberant use of emojis. “Good to speak to my counterparts from across the EEA EFTA states about our live negotiations on a new trade deal,” tweeted junior trade minister Ranil Jayawardena after the meeting on February 25th. […]
Paddock politics: why racing gets a leg up
From the Cheltenham super-spreader festival, to the heroic hosting of vaccination centres, to fellow-jockeys Hancock and Harding overseeing Track and Trace, the connections between the worlds of horse racing and politics run deep. Let’s take a look at the runners and riders: Sport of Kings Horse racing is a hugely valuable industry with estimates putting […]
Forget ‘cancel culture’, Mr Jenrick. Cancelling elections is the real threat to democracy
The anarchist activist Emma Goldman is reputed to have said, “If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.” Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick must have been listening and has just decided that you can’t vote to change who runs Somerset County Council. On Thursday 6 May the electors of Somerset go to the polls to […]
Don’t fall for Sunak’s con – national debt is NOT like household debt
When Chancellor Rishi Sunak stands up to deliver his budget tomorrow, listen carefully for misuse of the household debt analogy. It will be used to convince people that cuts to services, to overseas aid, to councils etc are all signs of governmental prudence and trustworthiness. He will appeal to all those who, through accidents of […]
A freeport for Poole: Free trade or free ride?
Will Poole soon become a ‘freeport’? Yes, if Drew Mellor, Conservative leader of Bournemouth Christchurch Poole (BCP) Council, gets his way. As the Brexit transition period approached in December 2020, Drew Mellor announced plans for a joint bid to government from Bournemouth Airport and the Port of Poole. The bid also includes the Dorset’s local […]
The Oysterman: “We couldn’t prepare for government incompetence and negligence”
A number of people are suggesting myself and others in the shellfish industry have been lazy, stupid (or both) for not being ‘prepared’ for the carnage Brexit has caused on the shellfish export industry. If we predicted this, why weren’t we ready? Many small shellfish businesses don’t have the money needed to build a depuration […]
Gaslit nation
I decided to reissue this after seeing the advertorial being run by the government in Metro, presumably at the taxpayers’ expense. In this jolly reportage we are supposed to have our minds set at ease by the tales of businesses absolutely buzzing in the post-Brexit world, sailing through all the additional bureaucracy with no problems […]
The truth about the shellfish ‘ban’. Updated…again
Editor: Proof that George Eustice knew about the ban and has been lying… UPDATE: George Eustice was being deceptive on TV. I have read the Fisheries section of the TCA and undepurated shellfish export isn’t mentioned. This omission means the UK would abide by current EU regulations [for Third Countries] if it isn’t in Exit […]
Brace for denial
Introduction This is an article inspired by the BBC podcast How They Made Us Doubt Everything. It explores the techniques used by those wanting to delay or stop action on climate change, and the disproportionate impact these have had on public opinion. I am not a climate scientist but my work has been connected with […]
South Somerset swim against the tide as the Environment Agency bails on reporting serious incidents
Just 24 hours after Sir James Bevan, the chief executive of the Environment Agency, (EA) issued dire warnings about the impact of the climate crisis on lives and livelihoods, the very same agency drops pollution incident reporting. This relaxation in reporting seems at odds with Bevan’s passionate call to the government – and the public […]
Two nations divided by a common language
The quotation about “two nations divided by a common language” is variously attributed to Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, with Winston Churchill famously quoting it. For the moment, let us leave aside the assumption that the United Kingdom is only one nation, noting simply that one of the two possible originators was actually Irish. […]
Wild Beer and Brexit
Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. Indeed, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) which are defined as businesses with fewer than 250 employees, accounted for 60 per cent of all private sector jobs in the UK, a total of 16.6m. Make no mistake about it, SMEs are crucial to the UK’s economy and their […]
Frontman of Hayseed Dixie asks “What do my UK soundman and UK mandolin player gain from Brexit?”
Here’s something I would sincerely like to know from anybody who thinks today that Brexit was a good idea: what did my UK soundman and UK mandolin player gain from Brexit? I want somebody to tell me, because I keep hearing about “Global Britain” and “all the new opportunities”!!! I don’t want to argue. I’m […]
“Democracy breaks up from the inside”
Officer sacked for celebrating the sins of father Wednesday 19 March 2014, The Times “Spain’s military has dismissed a senior officer for celebrating the anniversary of an attempted coup by his father in 1981 which threatened to destroy the country’s young democracy and turn it back into a dictatorship.” This report in The Times in […]
50 days on: Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal
Saturday 20 February was the 50th day since Boris Johnson’s Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) came into effect. Anyone expecting it to settle all questions, or even most of the details, of how we will do business with the EU from now on will be mightily disappointed. The proverbial expression of something being ‘as full […]
Flag of convenience
“A poke in the eye! That’s what you’ll get, so I’ll take your sticks away before you hurt one another!” Imagine a little 6-year-old boy, so excited at holding his very own flag for the first time. As we lined up in the school yard ready to troop off to the venue at which hundreds […]
Trucking hell – how the Brexit deal put the brakes on European touring
The export of live music, which earns the UK billions and is the only source of income for countless musicians, support crew and suppliers, has been stopped in its tracks – and not only by Covid-19. Visas take months. UK trucks are not permitted to drive between gigs. Customs documentation is needed in volumes not […]
HELP! Ensure EU/EEA family and friends gain settled status
Nobody wants to see a repeat of the distressing Windrush scandal. British citizens of West Indian origin were deported because they had no paperwork to prove their entitlement to stay, the Home Office having destroyed it between 2010 and 2013. Yet, this is what we risk if people with citizenship of any EU or EEA […]
“Government acted unlawfully” The Good Law Project wins PPE procurement case. UPDATE
Update from the Editor: Today Matt Hancock attempted to wriggle out of any responsibility for his law-breaking failure to comply with transparency policy. Instead , he has shoveled the blame onto civil servants and claimed that the reason they failed to comply with the law was that they were busy saving lives. He implied that […]
The truth behind Government’s healthcare ‘reforms’
Have you heard about the new health and social care ‘reforms’? The reforms which are restructuring the administration of care across the country, and which claim to overturn the worst aspects of those set up by Andrew Lansley in 2012? Are you glad to hear that these new structures, known as Integrated Care Systems, or […]
Out-Foxing the Reclaim Party’s ‘war on woke’
West Country Voices has previously reported on the government’s culture war against perceived left-wing or liberal bias in the arts, cultural heritage and higher education sectors. In October 2020, Virginia Button outlined government pressure on arts institutions and museums to toe the line on their involvement in contested reassessments of British colonial history, at the […]
Failed Test and Trace £22 billion, successful Mars landing £1.9bn. Where did all our money go?
STOP PRESSS: £37 billion set aside for Test and Trace £37 BILLION! In the last 24 hours the Good Law Project has won an historic judgement against the government on the PPE procurement scandal and Perseverance‘s rover has begun the search for microbial life on Mars. It seems entirely reasonable to be having a bit […]
Bypassing scrutiny and accountability – is THAT taking back control? We have to update…AGAIN.
This government’s evident resistance to undergoing any process of scrutiny is now taking the country into very dangerous territory. This country allegedly operates a parliamentary democracy, with our elected representatives scrutinising, debating and voting on new laws and changes to existing legislation, holding the executive to account, including checking and approving spending and taxation. UPDATE: […]
After the Handforth melt down, Honiton Town Council says “Hold my beer…”
If you thought Handforth Council was bad, let me introduce you to Honiton. In the last three years, two successive town clerks and 17 councillors have resigned. Two council employees were more or less driven out of their jobs. £75,000 was wasted on staffing issues, and employment tribunals are pending. A barrage of complaints was […]
Shapps attempts to bypass the law but Guston villagers are having none of it! (There’s a Devon connection…)
What is it with these Conservative ministers and compliance with the law? They seem to think they can ride roughshod over them and when anyone attempts to call them out they just stonewall, obfuscate or bully. Grant Shapps has been in the news for overriding official advice that a number of road schemes, including the […]
Censuring students while censoring history
You could hardly make it up. At the same time as government plans to appoint a ‘free speech tsar’ to stop students cancelling controversial speakers it also intends to summon heritage groups to be told by a minister what they can and cannot say about British history. It’s ludicrous but at the same time deeply […]
Steve Baker: from St Austell to Austrian School
A leading figure in the so-called Covid Recovery Group, Baker is a disaster capitalist with an impressive string of disasters to his name. In recent months, a group of hard-right, ‘lockdown-sceptic’ Conservative MPs has been lobbying vigorously for an early exit to lockdown. And one of the loudest voices in the so-called ‘Covid Recovery Group’ […]
Brexit and Cheddar
What are the impacts of Brexit on the local businesses in the West Country? What changes have they had to make in this last month? Are their businesses better or worse off? In earlier articles, we have talked to companies involved in transport and natural beauty products. Now, we find out about one of the […]