When the lights go out

It seemed somewhat more than ironic as I stopped off for my morning coffee today that the background music playing in the little coffee shop I frequent happened bizarrely to be Vera Lynn singing ‘When the Lights Go on Again.”

A song of the past inspiring hope and thoughts of a better future for a generation under dire threat from extremist fanatics almost 80 years ago it’s hard to believe that Britain is the same place that Vera Lynn sang about then.

Half the population of England, having suffered years of withering policies of austerity inflicted on them by their governments, stirred up by increasingly far right-wing politicians, unchallenged by the media, into fearing and blaming immigrants for their plight, mistrusting foreigners and somehow being convinced by exaggeration that the European Union has control and influence over the sovereign affairs of its member nations, does makes it seem a bit like 80 years ago. But this time the lights are going out only in Britain, heralding a self-inflicted era of unhealthy, inward looking sinister English nationalism.

Somehow or other, how it happened will be the lifetime research of a future historian, the patriotism and pride in defeating far-right extremism of Britain’s past has been spun on its head by the likes of Farage, UKIP, and their like, and has found a fertile breeding ground.

The robotic speech-by-rote Prime Minister put in place by those with the real power, to stabilise the ship, and absorb the political flak of withdrawing from the largest free trading club that exists anywhere, has been removed and replaced by a posh chancer, a dreamer of no substance, a power craver, explicitly there to appeal to that same fertile breeding ground which the far-right have cultivated.

Britain’s choice to leave the EU and the dire consequences of doing so are now being portrayed as the EU’s fault. The blame for what is to come has been transferred from those who are actually at fault to those who refuse to compromise on protecting their membership, a privilege that Britain is about to give up.

Boris Johnson and his team have have no magic bullet policies to solve the divorce from the EU in a way which satisfies his government and the elite ‘wealth creators’, which is, to have all of the benefits of being a member of the EU without also having the responsibilities of being a member, that’s the simple version, the reality. It’s all a front.

Johnson’s cabal have two strategies, transfer blame and gamble.

‘We’re straining every sinew to get a good deal’ say his acolytes, before going back to the gin and the Test at Lords.

‘We’re preparing for a no-deal but we don’t expect one’ they say, with no plan on how to achieve a deal or real expectation of it happening.

‘The EU must remove the Irish backstop and come to the table’ they say, knowing full well that the European Union can only function on its fundamental ability to protect its members, and knowing that any impact on the current freedoms of movement at the Irish border is a breach of the Good Friday Agreement, with potential catastrophic consequences for the peace on the island of Ireland.

The intention is to create a tension, and misdirect voter anger towards Europe, and away from the real creators of the chaos and mayhem.

We can only hope that somehow better minds prevail, that the many millions of ordinary hardworking folk of England, just like ourselves, stuck in this nightmare, can win out again a minority who are manipulating their country for personal gain and wicked ideology.

Scotland is going another way. Taking another path. Internationalist, looking outwards, welcoming, progressive, inclusive, a maturing confident social democracy. Ashcroft’s recent poll supports what we have known for a while.

In the 21st century the democratic rights of a sovereign country cannot be denied for long. There is much work still to be done but independence is coming. Our lights may dim, but soon will burn bright.

(Hi folks, a personal plea again. If you are a regular reader of the blog on Facebook would you mind clicking on the blog site itisintruthnotforglory.wordpress.com and click on ‘follow’ from there. The reason being that every time I post on Facebook indy groups I seem to attract a 24 hr to 72 hr ban. The truth is hurting somebody somewhere.

Sincere thanks to the many who have recently started following via the blog site instead of through Facebook. By all means though please continue to post the blog on Facebook yourself if you wish to do so.)