Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

This would not be undemocratic. The whole difference between autocracy or dictatorship and democracy is that in democracy you have the right to change your mind. In general and local elections throughout the democratic world, the process of a re-vote is mandatory every few years, as it is in the UK.

The 2017 Brexit referendum was unique for several reasons. The facts behind the offer were more or less unknown and both sides used campaign techniques which were misleading. People were led to believe the project was simple, when in fact it is so complicated nobody seems to be able to get a grip of it. Leave constantly pedaled misleading data to show how much more money would pile into services if we left and immigration would be drastically cut. Moreover the overall message was everybody would be better off. The truth is now clear, whatever side you are on. A soft Brexit will leave us worse off for years if not forever, a hard Brexit much worse off and a crash Brexit so much worse off that it will amount to an economic crisis.

In the campaign the Remainers exaggerated the immediate consequences of voting to leave, but the Leave campaigns talked up the gains if we did. Finally, on something so fundamental to the future of the rising generation, a huge majority of whom voted to remain, there should have been at least a 60% threshold to leave. And there was not. So the country is split apart.

It is very much in order to talk of a second vote and very democratic to do so. If Labour decides to adopt support for the second referendum at its party conference it will put into the mainstream what the majority of its own members and, according to the polls, the country wants.  When the beleaguered May, isolated in Downing Street from just about everybody, cries that she is carrying out ‘the will of the people‘ it is not unreasonable to demand that she finds out what that actually is.

Three dissertations on the way forward for Labour and which predicted the Labour surge in 2017, offered on FREE DOWNLOAD to help activists master complex issues and make them simple to explain on the doorstep. GET YOUR FREE COPIES NOW! CLICK HERE

While the Tory party has argued itself into an impossible position, with almost open warfare over Brexit and the PM digging in behind Chequers, rejected by the EU and certain of defeat in the Commons, Labour gathers for perhaps its most important conference for over 70 years. For the country is without a functioning government in the true sense, and is faced with uncertainty, incompetence and a river of internal inquiries and reviews. Labour must show itself ready to cast aside its own squabbles and prepare for government. No just an ordinary government but one which may well come to office in a moment of national crisis.

It must this coming week stick to all its ambitions to nationalise  the railways and public utilities, invest in infrastructure, housing and the modernisation of services and communications. Labour must reboot the economy into a new model which works for the many rather than the few. If it does that it will get the opportunity to shape our national history for the better. Above all it must not  get bogged down in Brexit. People have lives to lead and they are fed up with it. For most people it is not the only worry in their lives and for many it hardly counts.

Readers asked the author ‘What inspired you to write this new series?’

Tor Raven replied.

‘First I read nearly a hundred modern thrillers, all on Kindle, in the crime genre, written often by female authors. A few were American, the rest were British, Scandinavian and Icelandic. I learned the kind of thing go getters like to read, very different in style to the traditional stuff I had been writing. I spent time talking to young people, absorbing how they use and speak English, which has evolved significantly since social media burst upon us. I saw that a lot of fiction is read on phones while multi-tasking, or on tablets if more relaxed. It is rare to see a book on a plane or train now. But for those who prefer, in addition to the e-book, Zara also comes in full size paperback with easy read print.

The pressures in our modern society cry out for a strong heroine who knows her mind and thrives on challenge. Zara will not let you down. As for the choice of name? It is international and once you say Zara Vine twice it sticks in your head and you never forget it. Finally, to introduce her to you, I selected the darkest subject matter that troubles everybody and is shaking all public institutions, especially the church, to the core.

Now read Book One! You will be gripped from the start and I think you will like Zara Vine. This is the first in a series, so there is lots more Zara to come.’

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