To begin with, I’d like to acknowledge the passing of the great Mohammed Ali. While not a regular watcher of boxing (in fact I think that watching two people beat the crap out of each other is quite brutal entertainment), I can appreciate his athletic prowess, remarkable agility and an uncanny ability to shake off whatever blows life, or indeed another heavy weight, might throw at him. I think what I appreciate most however is his dexterity, verbal rather than physical. Whether it was his poetic prophesies about when his opponent would go down or just a general commentary on how good he was, Ali’s showmanship was truly original. I’ve heard other sportsmen mouthing off and it always strikes me as unnecessary and arrogant however Ali’s was delivered with such confidence and self-belief that you couldn’t help but agree with him.
I know it sounds horrible but probably the one good thing that came out of Mohammed Ali’s death (and more recently the senseless massacre in Orlando) is that for a few days at least, the current Tory leadership contest has been knocked off the front pages of the newspapers. Sorry, did I say Tory leadership contest? I meant the EU Referendum taking place in just over a week on whether the UK will remain within the European Union though, in my defence, it’s quite easy to mistake one for the other these days. If it’s not David Cameron prattling on about World War 3 or George Osborne predicting economic Armageddon at the merest mention of leaving the single market, it’s Boris Johnson claiming that the UK will have £350 million per week extra or Michael Gove assuring us that the borders will be secure once the UK no longer has to kowtow to its European overlords.
Meanwhile, the Labour party is trying to make as much political capital as possible by just keeping quiet about the whole thing. It’s only in the past few days that Jezza Corbyn has really started to pipe up about Labour’s unwavering support for remaining…or is it leaving…no, it’s remaining because the EU is all about worker’s rights and Jezza loves that sort of thing….but then again, historically he’s a Eurosceptic since it is The Establishment and certainly in the UK and Ireland, somewhere where you send failed career politicians to get a cushy wage and an even cushier pension at the expense of the common working man so maybe Jezza’s out but Labour is in. This conclusion is borne out by recent polls showing that roughly 50% of Labour voters haven’t a Scooby-doo which fecking way their party is voting. One thing they can be sure of though is that whatever happens, it’s the fault of Tory austerity cuts as that’s all that the Labour referendum press conferences seem to be about.
“Don’t vote out because then this Tory government will privatise the NHS faster than you can say Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership”
“They could do that anyway whether we’re in or not”
“They’re more likely to do it if we’re out because the sentient mop, Boris Johnson, will be in charge while the moderate Hameron will have been stabbed in the back and spit roasted. Farrage will be out spearheading a consortium to buy the thing as he’ll be out of a job. Be afraid! BE VERY AFRAID!!”
“But the next government could be a Labour government”
****DERANGED HYSTERICAL LAUGHTER****
My ire was raised to intolerable levels when I came home to find a leaflet purporting to be “Official Information about the Referendum on 23 June 2016” and titled “THE EUROPEAN UNION AND YOUR FAMILY: FACTS”. The first “Fact” is that “Britain’s official bill for EU membership is £19bn per year or £350m per week – the cost of a new hospital”. This is infuriating for several reasons, primary amongst which is that while the official bill is equivalent to £350m per week, the UK has a rebate worth approximately £75m per week which immediately, as in never leaves the fucking country, is subtracted from that sum so the figure itself is misleading. Once you take into account the amount of EU spending (that’s EU spending on regional aid, farm subsidies and research grants, etc.) the net contribution of the UK to the EU is more like £180m so about half the amount quoted. Considering the Leave campaign’s harping (justifiably I might add) about the excessively pessimistic economic figures for a Brexit clusterfuck being chucked out by George Osborne, it’s a bit rich.
I also take issue with the “cost of a new hospital” line since both BJ and Farage are both on the record for not wanting the NHS to be a universally available public service, rather that people should have to pay for them so they are not abused and that they would be valued more, in Boris’s case or that the public should all have health insurance as advocated by Farage (because it works so fucking well in the US, doesn’t it, Nigel) In my opinion, two major signs of a civilised society are free education for all and free healthcare for all. The clue is in the word “society”; my taxes fund the NHS and I am quite happy for my contribution to the NHS to far exceed any costs that I may impose upon it and indeed, I feel happy that should someone I may never know contract some terrible disease through no fault of their own, my money will help fund their treatment and they (and I) will never have to worry about being unable to pay.
The leaflet also pointed out that 5 new countries are in the queue to join the EU: Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey which represents 89 million people and that “when they join, they will have the same rights as other member states”. Again, this is all true but it’s there to provoke a xenophobic reaction about the potential for so many people to suddenly decide to come work in the UK. My issue is that Turkey, which represents 76 million people, has been in the queue since 1987 and still has fulfilled only one of the 35 odd criteria for joining the EU…oh, and the UK can veto their membership as well. Don’t get me wrong; British citizens are right to be concerned about unchecked immigration and its potential knock on effects on their public services but present the figures with some degree of a realistic context for crying out loud.
The whole fiasco hit a new level of farce when Nigel Farage decided to lead a flotilla of ships up the Thames to protest at EU fishing quotas destroying the livelihoods of honest hardworking fishermen…apart from the captain of the lead flotilla boat, Ernest Simpson, who, according to Greenpeace UK, was involved in a £63m scam to work around fishing quotas along with over a dozen other Scottish fishermen. Mr Simpsons and his son were fined £130,000 for their part in the fraud. Meanwhile, Sir Bob “Show me the fucking money” Geldof stages a Remain flotilla and starts yelling at Nigel Farage that he’s a fraud and “no fisherman’s friend”. This is apparently in reference to the Nigel being wholly absent as an MEP from EU meetings regarding fisheries and quotas where he could have influenced policy. Sir Bob then proceeded to blast out “I’m in with the In Crowd” while flipping the bird at Nigel as some of the Brexit fishing boats squirted the Remain dinghies with water (Bob was on a yacht). I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised…you’ll find all sorts of shite floating in the Thames.
Anyway, only one more week of this crap and I guess we’ll see what happens. I read an article last week which quoted the Clash and it is quite appropriate: should we stay or should we go now?