Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

Whilst in China May declared that she wants to negotiate the best deal for Britain, without specifying what is best, for whom  and why. Thus neither her Cabinet, the EU, business, the public sector nor the person in the street has a clue what she wants. This is because the Tory party is split between two diametrically opposed positions. The closer it comes to having to decide, the wider the split becomes.

One sensible, pragmatic and public spirited section, probably the biggest in the Commons but smaller among the rump Tory membership in the country of mainly old men, is aiming for a light Brexit, which favours the economy, jobs and the kind of freedoms of travel, work, study, domicile and investment which we have over the years acquired through our membership of the EU. This would keep us in, or close to, the customs union and the single market. We would be excluded form the European Parliament and the decision making processes which make new rules and regulations with which we would have to comply. This is becoming known as Brexit Light.

The other group, which has no majority in either parliament or the country, want a clean break so we cut adrift from every institution and commercial connection which has become part of the fabric of our very existence and national social, commercial and political structure over the last close to fifty years. This includes any connection to the customs union or single market, free movement as well as vital institutions enabling drugs, aviation, nuclear materials and manufacturing. Not only would the EU become a collection of foreign countries but British citizens would be denied all sorts of freedoms they now enjoy and sovereignties they share. Moreover the 750 trading agreements with countries all across the globe in which we are now enrolled , we would exit and have to start again from scratch. The economic shock and social disruption would take at least a generation to resolve and it is unlikely that GB would ever recover its current position or economic prospects. This is known as Hard Brexit.

Neither of these choices is rational, when compared to continued full membership of the EU, which is why this Blog believes this is a crackpot project which must be abandoned. May’s insistence that she will get a deal on her terms is a fantasy. She claims credit for the agreement she achieved at the end of Phase One. In fact she finally, when faced with failure, agreed to the EU’s terms as offered at the beginning.

The Chief Inspector of Schools has rightly pointed up the fact that in our drive to show tolerance to all forms of religion we have allowed the setting up of educational programmes which teach extreme intolerance of many aspects of our culture and way of life.

This Blog has from the very beginning been opposed to setting up so called Faith Schools. In is an absolute rule of a tolerant, open and inclusive democracy that education, especially if it is publicly funded, remains secular and teaches social attitudes and behaviors as well as responsibilities and obligations, which are based upon established best practice and especially the law of the land.

There is no place at all for funding faith schools of whatever denomination with public money and there is no excuse for schools of whatever financial provenance which teach intolerance and social practices which are divisive and unacceptable. Church is for faith, school is for education. The two are not, repeat not, the same. You can believe in what you like. But you must behave according to the law.

The answer is Yes, with a proviso at the end of this post. Oddly Fire and Fury has helped Trump as much as it has enriched its author. Without getting into the argument of how much of the book is true and what is invention or misinformation, the disclosures about the shock in  Trump Tower at winning and the muddle and infighting in the early days in the White House in an administration without political experience and unversed in the structure and powers of the presidency, not only come as no surprise, but they actually explain a lot.

As for the stuff about Trump being like a child wanting instant gratification; that has been obvious to everybody for years. It is these very flaws in his persona and his project that make Trump attractive to a large swathe of US voters and underscore his greatest attraction; the outsider who does politics his own way. Even his Twitter account, which so many dislike, works for him, not because voters dislike what Trump says to them on a whim, but because he is the first president to say anything to them at all. First the people, second Washington. It is a very powerful brand.

The high poll ratings for his State of the Union address suggest that more people are beginning to come to terms with Trump’s odd ball ways and are beginning to see the opportunities these are opening up for America. His future and that of the Republicans will be determined by how big a slice of America benefits. But what is for sure is the fact that nothing about Trump shocks, because it is expected. So gaffes, disclosures, accusations and actions which would sink many leaders have no effect on Trump at all. He has become bullet proof. Even the Russia investigation is now swinging away from the White House and back into the FBI itself. So one year in, things for Trump look pretty good.

The one bullet which would blow the Trump presidency apart would be proof, not rumour, that sanctions had been broken to fund either Trump’s business or his campaign, with Russian money.