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For the latest news from Scotland see our ScotNews feed at:
https://electricscotland.com/scotnews.htm
Electric Scotland News
I'm disgusted at the deal drawn up for our Brexit withdrawal from the EU. I need to document all this because it is history in the making and needs to be followed as it's the most important time in the history of the UK. I will call the Prime Minister a traitor to the country. BUT she is not solely to blame. Both Labour and Conservative ran on a manifesto that promised to leave the EU, the Single Market, the Common Market and get us out from under the legal sway of the ECJ. This agreement has done none of that so both parties lied to the electorate and they need to be held to account for those lies.
At time of going to press with this newsletter some 7 cabinet members have resigned and the general consensus is this will get voted down in the Westminster parliament. My take is that this is probably the best deal we can get from the EU BUT that doesn't mean we should accept it.
-------
Last week I mentioned that NZ celebrated Remembrance Day on a different day from other Commonwealth countries. Well Barrie Leslie got in touch and told me the story of why this is...
Thought that I would advise you why New Zealand has Poppy Day on the ANZAC Day service and it happened because the ship that was bringing the poppies from France, is as I remember, 1921, because the ship took longer to reach New Zealand as it had stopped in Australia and arrived in New Zealand after Remembrance Day on 11th of November and the Returned Service Association decided that they could not wait a year to sell them so they started to sell them for ANZAC Day.
So there you have it and thanks to Barrie for letting us know as I for one was puzzled as to the reason for having a different day.
-------
Here is the video introduction to this newsletter...
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page where we list news from the past 1-2 weeks. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines. I might also add that in newspapers such as the Guardian, Scotsman, Courier, etc. you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish.
Dyson’s five-year legal battle reveals the crony capitalist corruption at the heart of the EU
My biggest beef with the European Union has always been the way it stifles consumer-friendly innovation in the interests of incumbent businesses and organisations. Today’s victory for Sir James Dyson at the European General Court lays bare an especially shocking example.
Read more at:
https://brexitcentral.com/dysons-fiv...tion-heart-eu/
UK economy grows at fastest rate since late 2016
The UK economy grew by 0.6% in the three months to September, with warm weather boosting consumer spending, the Office for National Statistics said.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46151172
Mountain Rescue deserves better from the First Minister
Every year, mountain rescue teams are responsible for saving countless lives on our hills. For the most part, this is a service staffed entirely by volunteers.
Read more at:
http://www.thinkscotland.org/todays-...ead_full=13720
Chinese robot news readers
Chinese news readers may have some new competition - artificially intelligent robot anchors that can mimic human facial expressions and mannerisms while reading out reports.
Read more at:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-ch...-idUKKCN1NE19S
Our future is global
And there are huge trade and investment opportunities for British business in Sierra Leone
Read more at:
https://brexitcentral.com/future-glo...-sierra-leone/
Could the UK out-grow the EU after Brexit?
Not only are the forecasts of collapse if we left the EU becoming more and more laughable with every quarter that passes. It now looks increasingly likely that we will actually out-perform the rest of Europe as we leave the EU - and that will surely change the debate.
Read more at:
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/1...-after-brexit/
We need to completely rethink the way we approach ageing
Most people know that life expectancy has risen. But few realise just how drastic that increase has been. And even fewer think through the economic and social consequences of that change. We’ve gained an extra 30-odd years of life since the introduction of the state pension, but barely started to reassess our approach to old age.
Read more at:
https://moneyweek.com/497792/we-need...proach-ageing/
Has Scotland changed in 20 years of devolution?
Gerry Hassan's Commentary
Read more at:
http://www.scottishreview.net/GerryHassan455a.html
No deal is better than this deal
When did our MPs come to fear the consequences of the UK setting its own laws?
Read more at:
https://capx.co/no-deal-is-better-than-this-deal/
If the Commons rejects it, here are three alternatives
As you read this, MPs at Westminster will be ploughing through the 500-page text negotiated by Britain and Brussels, and deciding whether or not it is something they can sign up to.
Read more at:
https://www.conservativehome.com/the...e-options.html
The lesson from the Great War is that freedom is not free
The army won a bloody but necessary war in 1918, but our political leaders lost the peace
Read more at:
https://capx.co/the-lesson-from-the-...om-is-not-free
Theresa May wins support of cabinet for draft EU divorce deal
We now see what the Draft Withdrawal Agreement looks like on 14th Nov 2018 (pdf)
Read the agreement at:
https://electricscotland.com/indepen...greement_0.pdf
Making your own Christmas Cake
THIS IS the cake I have made for years and is fool proof as well as being the best tasting Christmas cake I make
Read more at:
http://www.thinkscotland.org/thinkcu...ead_full=13731
Electric Canadian
Canada and its Provinces
Added Volume XXII. The Pacific Province Part II. which you can read at:
https://electriccanadian.com/history/canadaprovinces.htm
The Engineering Journal
Added the volume for 1962.at: https://electriccanadian.com/transport/industrial/index.htm
Mining Review
Added the volume for 1920 at: https://electriccanadian.com/transport/mines/mining.htm
1783 - 1883 Foot-Prints or Incidents in Early History of New Brunswick
By J. W. Lawrence (1883) (pdf)
You can read this book at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/his...kearlydays.pdf
The Canadian Horticulturist
Published by the Fruit Growers Association of Ontario
Found volume 1 of this publication which you can read at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/tra...culturirst.htm
Education
Added a section where I'm providing 5 books on early reading for children and a teachers handbook for them.
You can read these at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/lifestyle/edundx.htm
Endowments of the Church of Scotland in Canada
Evidence of Mr. Douglas Brymner before the Senate Committee on Private Bills, In opposition to the Bills for transferring the said Endowments to the Presbyterian Church in Canada 24th and 26th April, 1882. (pdf)
An interesting legal case which you can read at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/Rel...doug00brym.pdf
Excursions in and about Newfoundland during the years 1839 and 1840
By J. B. Jukes, M. A., F. G. S., F. C. P. S.; of St. John's College in two volumes (1842).
You can read this at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/his...excursions.htm
Electric Scotland
Famous British War-Ships and their Commanders
By Walter Wood (1897) (pdf)
You can read this book at: https://electricscotland.com/history...shwarships.pdf
David Buchanan
Newspaper editor who we've added to our Significant Scots section.
You can read about him at: https://electricscotland.com/history...anan_david.htm
Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States
Edited by John Howard Brown in seven volumes (1900)
Here is one interesting biography of a Scot I hadn't heard about...
BRYMNER, Douglas, historical archivist, was born in Greenock, Scotland, in 1823, of a prominent family originally from Stirlingshire. His father, Alexander Brymner, was a man of fine literary attainments, and from him the son imbibed his strongly marked intellectual and artistic tastes. After a thorough Scotch education Mr. Brymner engaged in business, which he prosecuted successfully until compelled to retire in 1856 by failing health. In the following year he removed to Canada, settling in the eastern township, province of Quebec. His literary aptitude soon became known, and he entered journalism as editor of the Presbyterian, the official organ of the Church of Scotland in Canada. Here his clear and vigorous pen and straight-forward and independent attitude attracted wide attention. Shortly afterward he became associate editor of the Montreal Herald, and in 1871 he was elected president of the press association. In 1872, with the approval of men of all political parties, Mr. Brymner was appointed to the newly created office of dominion archivist. His extensive and varied knowledge, and his powers of research and organization peculiarly fitted him for this work, and under his management the Canadian archives have grown from literally nothing to one of the most valuable and orderly collections in America. His reports are models of accuracy and sound judgment, and that of 1881 (on general methods in archival work) was, on account of the value of its information, incorporated bodily in a following one of the public record-offices of England. A growing monument to Mr. Brymner's work is the constantly increasing acknowledgments of his service by investigators who avail themselves of his collection. Mr. Brymner's literary work was not confined to the archives. He was a frequent but generally anonymous contributor to Canadian and American periodicals, and his efforts have been widely read and appreciated. Among these contributions may be especially mentioned a number of translations of the "Odes of Horace" into Scotch verse.
You can read these volumes at: https://electricscotland.com/history/america/lamb.htm
Clan MacDuffee
Got in their Fall 2018 newsletter which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/familyt...ffee/index.htm
Lord Lawrence
By Rev. James J. Ellis (1891) (pdf). John, Lord Lawrence, was not only the saviour of India and a type of lofty statesmanship, but one of those men whose natures are essentially noble, and therefore, quite apart from his deeds, a study of his character will always be instructive to men.
You can read about him at: https://electricscotland.com/history...rdlawrence.pdf
Patrick Joseph Healy
Founder of the House of Lyon & Healy, An Appreciation (1907) (pdf) THIS little book falls far short of what we should like to make it, but our beloved President carried modesty to such an extreme that he scrupulously avoided all occasions, all decorations, and all public honors. Moreover, he deprecated any appreciation of himself, and during his lifetime quietly defeated all efforts to give public utterance to the praise that was his just due. But even a very incomplete record of such a noble and useful life will serve two purposes: It will confer a benefit on him who reads it, and it will testify to the undying admiration with which we regard our beloved associate.
You can read about him at: https://www.electricscotland.com/his...osephhealy.pdf
Memorandum on Naval and Military Aviation
Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of His Majesty (1912) (pdf)
Read more at: https://electricscotland.com/history...IATION1912.pdf
The Proceedings in the case of The Earldom of Mar: 1867 - 1885
A Resume by E. B. Swinton (1889) (pdf)
You can read this at: https://www.electricscotland.com/his...sincaserum.pdf
Records of the Priory of the Isle of May
Edited by John Stuart, LL.D. (1868) (pdf)
You can read this at: https://electricscotland.com/history...rioryofmay.pdf
Beth's Newfangled Family Tree
Added the December 2018 section 2 which you can read at: https://electricscotland.com/bnft/index.htm
The Soul and Body of an Army
By General Sir Ian Hamilton, G.C.B. (1921) (pdf) which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...bodyofarmy.pdf
The Story
This is undoubtedly the story of the year which is why I'm making it the story for this week. As you know I've always been in favour of Brexit as I essentially believe we need to trade with the world as the EU is in decline as part of world trade and the Asian and other areas of the world are where all the growth is coming from. Within the EU we simply don't have control of our trading as we're so controlled by their legislation. All that said whatever your views this is by far the most significant times in our long history.
No deal is better than this deal
This is, by all accounts, a bad deal. So no deal it must be
Just as the fine print can make an apparently good deal into a bad one, it can also do the reverse. The Cabinet apparently has a few hours to read through 500 pages of fine print, without any outside scrutiny or analysis, before today’s cabinet meeting. The chances they will have the foggiest idea what implications May’s Brexit deal fine print has to be slim to none. But since, at the time of writing, UK commentators have not seen the fine print, there must be the tiny chance it changes everything.
However, let us assume it does not, and that the Brexit deal does indeed take the form the leaks suggest: Great Britain staying in a customs union and Northern Ireland staying in a customs union and Single Market unless and until the European Court decides some future agreement with the EU meets the EU’s requirements for the Irish border, the EU setting the UK’s social, environmental, competition and state aid policies without any UK influence, indefinitely, plus a few pages of waffle that commits to neither Chequers nor Canada+ as our future trade deal in exchange for the UK paying £40 billion.
Was this what Conservative MPs entered politics for? So they could gift Northern Ireland to the indefinite jurisdiction of a foreign power and have the rest of the United Kingdom’s social, environmental, economic, competition and state aid laws made for it in another land with our having no influence over the key laws that govern our everyday lives, until that power graciously decided it didn’t fancy doing so any more? When they are old and their great grandchildren ask: “So, when you were an MP, what was the most important thing you did?” do they want to say: “I voted to break up my country and make the remains subject to laws set by others”?
And Labour MPs, are you content to vote that, in a treaty — not a trade deal, but a core treaty with no mechanism for withdrawal or revocation — you will commit that the UK will surrender its control over state aid and competition policy to the European Union? Are your commitments to a new socialist agenda really so paper-thin, so much empty rhetoric, that you are willing to give them all up?
And for what? When did our government and our MPs become so cowardly that they feared the consequences of the UK setting its own laws, picking its own destiny and making its own new geopolitical partnerships in the world without some “deal” from the EU to help us more than they hated the prospect of surrendering the right of the British voters to pick the laws that govern them?
Even if the Withdrawal Agreement were not such an abomination, the fact that the Future Framework declaration is so thin and ambiguous should be grounds, alone, to reject the deal. Why are we paying £40 billion for five pages of waffle that does not even commit between a Chequers deal and a Canada+ free trade deal? Think, Labour MPs, of the schools and hospitals and public sector pay rises that could be paid for with that money? Do you want to go to your constituents and say to them: “You could have had a pay rise / your kids could have had a better schools / your grandma could have had that operation, but instead I preferred to give the EU £40 billion for nothing in return”?
If the reports are correct, and yet this deal nonetheless makes it through Cabinet, it can only pass the Commons if the SNP and large numbers of Labour MPs back it. There will be 60-80, perhaps even more Conservative MPs who vote against it. Theresa May will now surely face a no confidence motion. If she somehow survives that and then passes her deal through Parliament with Labour votes against the votes of up to a third of her MPs, that is surely the end of the Conservative Party. If Labour’s front bench votes against it, as they surely will, then if the government is saved by 100 Labour rebels, that will surely be the end of the Labour Party as well. British politics will be overturned, utterly and completely.
This path is madness. Everyone can see it, yet we hurtle on.
Reject this foul deal. Everyone must see that even if we were to accept it — to pay obeisance and kiss the EU’s ring — it could not last. As with Robert the Bruce, an intolerable surrender could only ultimately lead to our forswearing our oaths. In ten years’ time a Brexit 2.0 would finally free us, but at what cost in the interim? Do we really want to be debating nothing but Brexit for another ten years? Enough of this. Let us be gone and about our own business. We do not need a withdrawal agreement with the EU. It is our sovereign right to leave the EU and we do not need anyone’s permission to do so.
The EU offers only intolerable terms, so we should embrace the thing we can tolerate: no deal and the choosing of our own destiny. Of course that will mean change. Of course that will involve short-term transitional costs. Of course not everyone will like it and not everyone will benefit from it. But we will be true to ourselves, we will make our own laws and set our own path. We will not, for fear of what comes next, drive our political traditions and political parties laughing off the cliff to annihilation.
No deal was always better than a bad deal. This is, without doubt and by near-universal acclamation, a bad deal. So no deal it must be.
Andrew Lilico is an economist and political writer.
END.
And that's it for this week and hope you have a great weekend.
Alastair
https://electricscotland.com/scotnews.htm
Electric Scotland News
I'm disgusted at the deal drawn up for our Brexit withdrawal from the EU. I need to document all this because it is history in the making and needs to be followed as it's the most important time in the history of the UK. I will call the Prime Minister a traitor to the country. BUT she is not solely to blame. Both Labour and Conservative ran on a manifesto that promised to leave the EU, the Single Market, the Common Market and get us out from under the legal sway of the ECJ. This agreement has done none of that so both parties lied to the electorate and they need to be held to account for those lies.
At time of going to press with this newsletter some 7 cabinet members have resigned and the general consensus is this will get voted down in the Westminster parliament. My take is that this is probably the best deal we can get from the EU BUT that doesn't mean we should accept it.
-------
Last week I mentioned that NZ celebrated Remembrance Day on a different day from other Commonwealth countries. Well Barrie Leslie got in touch and told me the story of why this is...
Thought that I would advise you why New Zealand has Poppy Day on the ANZAC Day service and it happened because the ship that was bringing the poppies from France, is as I remember, 1921, because the ship took longer to reach New Zealand as it had stopped in Australia and arrived in New Zealand after Remembrance Day on 11th of November and the Returned Service Association decided that they could not wait a year to sell them so they started to sell them for ANZAC Day.
So there you have it and thanks to Barrie for letting us know as I for one was puzzled as to the reason for having a different day.
-------
Here is the video introduction to this newsletter...
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page where we list news from the past 1-2 weeks. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines. I might also add that in newspapers such as the Guardian, Scotsman, Courier, etc. you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish.
Dyson’s five-year legal battle reveals the crony capitalist corruption at the heart of the EU
My biggest beef with the European Union has always been the way it stifles consumer-friendly innovation in the interests of incumbent businesses and organisations. Today’s victory for Sir James Dyson at the European General Court lays bare an especially shocking example.
Read more at:
https://brexitcentral.com/dysons-fiv...tion-heart-eu/
UK economy grows at fastest rate since late 2016
The UK economy grew by 0.6% in the three months to September, with warm weather boosting consumer spending, the Office for National Statistics said.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46151172
Mountain Rescue deserves better from the First Minister
Every year, mountain rescue teams are responsible for saving countless lives on our hills. For the most part, this is a service staffed entirely by volunteers.
Read more at:
http://www.thinkscotland.org/todays-...ead_full=13720
Chinese robot news readers
Chinese news readers may have some new competition - artificially intelligent robot anchors that can mimic human facial expressions and mannerisms while reading out reports.
Read more at:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-ch...-idUKKCN1NE19S
Our future is global
And there are huge trade and investment opportunities for British business in Sierra Leone
Read more at:
https://brexitcentral.com/future-glo...-sierra-leone/
Could the UK out-grow the EU after Brexit?
Not only are the forecasts of collapse if we left the EU becoming more and more laughable with every quarter that passes. It now looks increasingly likely that we will actually out-perform the rest of Europe as we leave the EU - and that will surely change the debate.
Read more at:
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/1...-after-brexit/
We need to completely rethink the way we approach ageing
Most people know that life expectancy has risen. But few realise just how drastic that increase has been. And even fewer think through the economic and social consequences of that change. We’ve gained an extra 30-odd years of life since the introduction of the state pension, but barely started to reassess our approach to old age.
Read more at:
https://moneyweek.com/497792/we-need...proach-ageing/
Has Scotland changed in 20 years of devolution?
Gerry Hassan's Commentary
Read more at:
http://www.scottishreview.net/GerryHassan455a.html
No deal is better than this deal
When did our MPs come to fear the consequences of the UK setting its own laws?
Read more at:
https://capx.co/no-deal-is-better-than-this-deal/
If the Commons rejects it, here are three alternatives
As you read this, MPs at Westminster will be ploughing through the 500-page text negotiated by Britain and Brussels, and deciding whether or not it is something they can sign up to.
Read more at:
https://www.conservativehome.com/the...e-options.html
The lesson from the Great War is that freedom is not free
The army won a bloody but necessary war in 1918, but our political leaders lost the peace
Read more at:
https://capx.co/the-lesson-from-the-...om-is-not-free
Theresa May wins support of cabinet for draft EU divorce deal
We now see what the Draft Withdrawal Agreement looks like on 14th Nov 2018 (pdf)
Read the agreement at:
https://electricscotland.com/indepen...greement_0.pdf
Making your own Christmas Cake
THIS IS the cake I have made for years and is fool proof as well as being the best tasting Christmas cake I make
Read more at:
http://www.thinkscotland.org/thinkcu...ead_full=13731
Electric Canadian
Canada and its Provinces
Added Volume XXII. The Pacific Province Part II. which you can read at:
https://electriccanadian.com/history/canadaprovinces.htm
The Engineering Journal
Added the volume for 1962.at: https://electriccanadian.com/transport/industrial/index.htm
Mining Review
Added the volume for 1920 at: https://electriccanadian.com/transport/mines/mining.htm
1783 - 1883 Foot-Prints or Incidents in Early History of New Brunswick
By J. W. Lawrence (1883) (pdf)
You can read this book at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/his...kearlydays.pdf
The Canadian Horticulturist
Published by the Fruit Growers Association of Ontario
Found volume 1 of this publication which you can read at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/tra...culturirst.htm
Education
Added a section where I'm providing 5 books on early reading for children and a teachers handbook for them.
You can read these at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/lifestyle/edundx.htm
Endowments of the Church of Scotland in Canada
Evidence of Mr. Douglas Brymner before the Senate Committee on Private Bills, In opposition to the Bills for transferring the said Endowments to the Presbyterian Church in Canada 24th and 26th April, 1882. (pdf)
An interesting legal case which you can read at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/Rel...doug00brym.pdf
Excursions in and about Newfoundland during the years 1839 and 1840
By J. B. Jukes, M. A., F. G. S., F. C. P. S.; of St. John's College in two volumes (1842).
You can read this at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/his...excursions.htm
Electric Scotland
Famous British War-Ships and their Commanders
By Walter Wood (1897) (pdf)
You can read this book at: https://electricscotland.com/history...shwarships.pdf
David Buchanan
Newspaper editor who we've added to our Significant Scots section.
You can read about him at: https://electricscotland.com/history...anan_david.htm
Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States
Edited by John Howard Brown in seven volumes (1900)
Here is one interesting biography of a Scot I hadn't heard about...
BRYMNER, Douglas, historical archivist, was born in Greenock, Scotland, in 1823, of a prominent family originally from Stirlingshire. His father, Alexander Brymner, was a man of fine literary attainments, and from him the son imbibed his strongly marked intellectual and artistic tastes. After a thorough Scotch education Mr. Brymner engaged in business, which he prosecuted successfully until compelled to retire in 1856 by failing health. In the following year he removed to Canada, settling in the eastern township, province of Quebec. His literary aptitude soon became known, and he entered journalism as editor of the Presbyterian, the official organ of the Church of Scotland in Canada. Here his clear and vigorous pen and straight-forward and independent attitude attracted wide attention. Shortly afterward he became associate editor of the Montreal Herald, and in 1871 he was elected president of the press association. In 1872, with the approval of men of all political parties, Mr. Brymner was appointed to the newly created office of dominion archivist. His extensive and varied knowledge, and his powers of research and organization peculiarly fitted him for this work, and under his management the Canadian archives have grown from literally nothing to one of the most valuable and orderly collections in America. His reports are models of accuracy and sound judgment, and that of 1881 (on general methods in archival work) was, on account of the value of its information, incorporated bodily in a following one of the public record-offices of England. A growing monument to Mr. Brymner's work is the constantly increasing acknowledgments of his service by investigators who avail themselves of his collection. Mr. Brymner's literary work was not confined to the archives. He was a frequent but generally anonymous contributor to Canadian and American periodicals, and his efforts have been widely read and appreciated. Among these contributions may be especially mentioned a number of translations of the "Odes of Horace" into Scotch verse.
You can read these volumes at: https://electricscotland.com/history/america/lamb.htm
Clan MacDuffee
Got in their Fall 2018 newsletter which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/familyt...ffee/index.htm
Lord Lawrence
By Rev. James J. Ellis (1891) (pdf). John, Lord Lawrence, was not only the saviour of India and a type of lofty statesmanship, but one of those men whose natures are essentially noble, and therefore, quite apart from his deeds, a study of his character will always be instructive to men.
You can read about him at: https://electricscotland.com/history...rdlawrence.pdf
Patrick Joseph Healy
Founder of the House of Lyon & Healy, An Appreciation (1907) (pdf) THIS little book falls far short of what we should like to make it, but our beloved President carried modesty to such an extreme that he scrupulously avoided all occasions, all decorations, and all public honors. Moreover, he deprecated any appreciation of himself, and during his lifetime quietly defeated all efforts to give public utterance to the praise that was his just due. But even a very incomplete record of such a noble and useful life will serve two purposes: It will confer a benefit on him who reads it, and it will testify to the undying admiration with which we regard our beloved associate.
You can read about him at: https://www.electricscotland.com/his...osephhealy.pdf
Memorandum on Naval and Military Aviation
Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of His Majesty (1912) (pdf)
Read more at: https://electricscotland.com/history...IATION1912.pdf
The Proceedings in the case of The Earldom of Mar: 1867 - 1885
A Resume by E. B. Swinton (1889) (pdf)
You can read this at: https://www.electricscotland.com/his...sincaserum.pdf
Records of the Priory of the Isle of May
Edited by John Stuart, LL.D. (1868) (pdf)
You can read this at: https://electricscotland.com/history...rioryofmay.pdf
Beth's Newfangled Family Tree
Added the December 2018 section 2 which you can read at: https://electricscotland.com/bnft/index.htm
The Soul and Body of an Army
By General Sir Ian Hamilton, G.C.B. (1921) (pdf) which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...bodyofarmy.pdf
The Story
This is undoubtedly the story of the year which is why I'm making it the story for this week. As you know I've always been in favour of Brexit as I essentially believe we need to trade with the world as the EU is in decline as part of world trade and the Asian and other areas of the world are where all the growth is coming from. Within the EU we simply don't have control of our trading as we're so controlled by their legislation. All that said whatever your views this is by far the most significant times in our long history.
No deal is better than this deal
This is, by all accounts, a bad deal. So no deal it must be
Just as the fine print can make an apparently good deal into a bad one, it can also do the reverse. The Cabinet apparently has a few hours to read through 500 pages of fine print, without any outside scrutiny or analysis, before today’s cabinet meeting. The chances they will have the foggiest idea what implications May’s Brexit deal fine print has to be slim to none. But since, at the time of writing, UK commentators have not seen the fine print, there must be the tiny chance it changes everything.
However, let us assume it does not, and that the Brexit deal does indeed take the form the leaks suggest: Great Britain staying in a customs union and Northern Ireland staying in a customs union and Single Market unless and until the European Court decides some future agreement with the EU meets the EU’s requirements for the Irish border, the EU setting the UK’s social, environmental, competition and state aid policies without any UK influence, indefinitely, plus a few pages of waffle that commits to neither Chequers nor Canada+ as our future trade deal in exchange for the UK paying £40 billion.
Was this what Conservative MPs entered politics for? So they could gift Northern Ireland to the indefinite jurisdiction of a foreign power and have the rest of the United Kingdom’s social, environmental, economic, competition and state aid laws made for it in another land with our having no influence over the key laws that govern our everyday lives, until that power graciously decided it didn’t fancy doing so any more? When they are old and their great grandchildren ask: “So, when you were an MP, what was the most important thing you did?” do they want to say: “I voted to break up my country and make the remains subject to laws set by others”?
And Labour MPs, are you content to vote that, in a treaty — not a trade deal, but a core treaty with no mechanism for withdrawal or revocation — you will commit that the UK will surrender its control over state aid and competition policy to the European Union? Are your commitments to a new socialist agenda really so paper-thin, so much empty rhetoric, that you are willing to give them all up?
And for what? When did our government and our MPs become so cowardly that they feared the consequences of the UK setting its own laws, picking its own destiny and making its own new geopolitical partnerships in the world without some “deal” from the EU to help us more than they hated the prospect of surrendering the right of the British voters to pick the laws that govern them?
Even if the Withdrawal Agreement were not such an abomination, the fact that the Future Framework declaration is so thin and ambiguous should be grounds, alone, to reject the deal. Why are we paying £40 billion for five pages of waffle that does not even commit between a Chequers deal and a Canada+ free trade deal? Think, Labour MPs, of the schools and hospitals and public sector pay rises that could be paid for with that money? Do you want to go to your constituents and say to them: “You could have had a pay rise / your kids could have had a better schools / your grandma could have had that operation, but instead I preferred to give the EU £40 billion for nothing in return”?
If the reports are correct, and yet this deal nonetheless makes it through Cabinet, it can only pass the Commons if the SNP and large numbers of Labour MPs back it. There will be 60-80, perhaps even more Conservative MPs who vote against it. Theresa May will now surely face a no confidence motion. If she somehow survives that and then passes her deal through Parliament with Labour votes against the votes of up to a third of her MPs, that is surely the end of the Conservative Party. If Labour’s front bench votes against it, as they surely will, then if the government is saved by 100 Labour rebels, that will surely be the end of the Labour Party as well. British politics will be overturned, utterly and completely.
This path is madness. Everyone can see it, yet we hurtle on.
Reject this foul deal. Everyone must see that even if we were to accept it — to pay obeisance and kiss the EU’s ring — it could not last. As with Robert the Bruce, an intolerable surrender could only ultimately lead to our forswearing our oaths. In ten years’ time a Brexit 2.0 would finally free us, but at what cost in the interim? Do we really want to be debating nothing but Brexit for another ten years? Enough of this. Let us be gone and about our own business. We do not need a withdrawal agreement with the EU. It is our sovereign right to leave the EU and we do not need anyone’s permission to do so.
The EU offers only intolerable terms, so we should embrace the thing we can tolerate: no deal and the choosing of our own destiny. Of course that will mean change. Of course that will involve short-term transitional costs. Of course not everyone will like it and not everyone will benefit from it. But we will be true to ourselves, we will make our own laws and set our own path. We will not, for fear of what comes next, drive our political traditions and political parties laughing off the cliff to annihilation.
No deal was always better than a bad deal. This is, without doubt and by near-universal acclamation, a bad deal. So no deal it must be.
Andrew Lilico is an economist and political writer.
END.
And that's it for this week and hope you have a great weekend.
Alastair
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