It’s only 16 more days until we’re officially Out and into the transition period. When one checks out the online papers for the last couple of days one has to conclude that the “Megxit News” are the only game in town, that the EU is already vanishing in the fog which cuts us off from the Continent. The MSM are unsurpassed when it comes to taking eyes off balls and finding another giant squirrel instead. 

This morning, the debate about Big Ben being ‘allowed’ to toll at 11pam on the 31st of January is what passes as ‘Brexit News’.  It can’t be done because it’s so expensive: £500,000 according to officials. Nigel Farage, writing in the DT about the foot-dragging of officials to permit the Leave Campaign to have a public party on the 31st of January before Parliament, asks:

“But perhaps the worst of the obstruction we face comes from the House of Commons Commission. This administrative body has claimed it will cost £500,000 for Big Ben, which is undergoing repair, to chime at the appointed hour. Really? It tolled on New Year’s Eve, on Remembrance Sunday and on Armistice Day. Did this cost £500,000 on each occasion? I would love to know the answer.” (paywalled link)

Wouldn’t we all, Nigel, wouldn’t we all! I suspect that this is some rearguard action to deny Nigel Farage even the semblance of a public celebration. There’s more. RemainCentral has an article on how churches and the bellrInger association – yes, there is such a thing, and why not! – :

“Campaigners and MPs want bells to peal on February 1 to mark “the first morning of our independence”. They also want Big Ben to chime at 11pm on January 31 to mark the moment of Brexit. “Just as we did to mark the Allies’ victory in Europe in 1945, we’re calling on patriots to ring the bell of their local church at 9am on Saturday, February 1, to celebrate Britain’s new-found independence,” Leave.EU, the campaign group, said.” (link, paywalled)

Ringing those bells is however up to the minister of each church, according to that report. As expected, the Establishment, Remain to the core, display their ‘credentials’:

“The Bishop of Buckingham, the Right Rev Alan Wilson, said: “Two thirds of the population never voted for Brexit in the first place. It’s deeply divisive to ring church bells for something like this. Churches are there for the whole community, not for a political faction to crow over people they have beaten.” (link, paywalled)

Good gawd – since when was Leave a ‘political faction’? Next he’ll say it’s all horribly populist … Has the good Bishop been AWOL since the GE? Wasn’t that result significant enough? Here’s another wishy-washy refusal:

“The Bishop of Burnley, the Right Rev Philip North, said: “The purpose of the church bell is to call people to worship and I regret any attempt to politicise this lovely tradition. I think we should be ringing bells on February 1, not to celebrate Brexit but to call people together to pray for our nation at this critical time: for unity, compassion and justice.” (link, paywalled)

Good Lord! Words simply fail me: Brexit, or so the Bishop seems to insinuate, is a time for us Leavers – who actually won this, in case you forgot – to beg Remainers for forgiveness, as if Lent is starting extra early just for Leavers! To round this up, here’s the final quote:

“In Swaffham, Norfolk, a councillor has called for church bells to ring, but the Rev Janet Allen, vicar at the church of St Peter & St Paul in the town, told the Eastern Daily Press: “Brexit has been such a divisive issue that it would be deeply inappropriate.” (link, paywalled)

Oh God, give me strength – and give those Church Remainers the wisdom to recognise that it’s their continuous moaning about Brexit being so divisive which keeps it thus. I repeat myself – have all those Bishops and ministers slept since the GE? And what, may I ask, about the good old English tradition of accepting defeat with good grace?

Meanwhile, the Express had two Brexit articles – they’re not paywalled so you can read for yourselves. One is a warning by Nigel Farage (link) about Verhofstadt going to have a go at a last-minute-spoke-in-the-Brexit-wheel at the Strasbourg plenary session on January 29th. The other is a brief clip of a Labour Peer attacking Brexiteers in the HoL debate (link). Well, she has to keep polishing her Labour Remain credentials …!

As for Guy Verhofstadt … what will that poor man do to get into the MSM once we’re Out! Here he is with another inane proposal which RemainCentral has of course greedily picked up:

“Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s chief negotiator, urged the prime minister to echo the promise of an open-ended “period of transition” given to the Sussexes to carve out their new roles. “Harry and Meghan just got a ‘transition’ to leave without a hard deadline from the Queen. This might be a good inspiration for her prime minister on Brexit too,” he said.” (link, paywalled)

Good Lord! Will the Remain inanities never end? This remark is hidden at the bottom of a Megxit report which normal Times readers normally don’t even look at. Even more significant is that RemainCentral has consigned a report of the latest Barnier threats right to the bottom of that same article. That’s how important Brexit and the EU are for RemainCentral:

“Mr Barnier also warned the government that the EU would use the withdrawal treaty to enforce residency rights for European citizens and urged the creation of an independent monitoring authority to hear complaints. “We won’t be accepting any half measures,” he said.” (link, paywalled)

‘Enforce’ how, M Barnier? Sending in the EU Army which of course doesn’t officially exist? And what about reciprocal rights for British ExPats in EU countries? Not worthy of a mention, M Barnier?

Meanwhile the HoL is debating the WAIB. For obvious reasons I was unable to follow the debates so am shamelessly quoting Jonathan Isaby of BrexitCentral who wrote in his email to subscribers:

“[Lord Dobbs] offered the following sage words towards the end of last night’s debate: “Some pretend that Brexit is a preordained disaster. They have been predicting disaster ever since the day of the referendum, yet we are here. This is a time not of disaster but of optimism and opportunity, and a time for democracy rather than just elites. Some people do not like to hear it. This unelected House of Lords may try to stuff its ears but the people will be heard… This is the people’s will; that is what makes Brexit a moral issue, a moral cause, as well as a political one. This Government have a duty to deliver it. It is going to happen and it is time for us to move on.”

Lord Dobbs is of course the author of the original TV series ‘House of Cards’. There was another contribution, by a LibDem ‘Lord’. Words simply fail me:

“Post-Brexit Britain will be “reminiscent” of Germany under the Nazis, a peer has said, as he claimed people are crying themselves to sleep over the UK’s exit from the EU. Lord Greaves used a debate on Boris Johnson’s Withdrawal Bill in the House of Lords to draw comparison between Britain after January 31 and Germany in the 1930s. “I am particularly concerned about what the Government is doing about prevention of discrimination in the transition period,” he said. […] He added: “Many, many people in this country…who are full of dismay, distress are crying at night when they go to sleep, they are crying in the morning when they wake up and all they get from the unfeeling, hard-headed Tories is moans.” (paywalled link)

Omigawd! Remainers are cry-babies – who knew! After he was called out, he did a sort-of back-pedalling retreat which is like ‘I didn’t really mean it but in fact I still mean it’, but first, here are two ‘noble Lords’ calling him out:

“Lord Grocott, a Labour peer, said the comparison with Nazi Germany had left him “reeling” and was “stretching the point just a bit”.  […] Baroness Williams of Trafford, a Home Office minister, said: “To compare January 31 to Nazi Germany, I think, is rather a step too far.” (paywalled link)

And now – savour his ‘clarification’ and ‘justification’! He is of course protected by the privilege of being a ‘noble Lord’ speaking in the HoL – peasants like us would surely have our collars felt had we made such comparison:

“I have not compared this country today with Nazi Germany and would not do so obviously, it would be ridiculous,” he said.”What I am saying is that some of the conditions which exist in this country are similar to conditions which existed in Germany between the wars, before the Nazis came to power and took over. You can think that’s right, you can think it’s wrong, but I believe that that is the case.” (paywalled link)

Thus spoke a ‘noble Lord’, someone to whom we peasants are supposed to look up, tugging our forelocks and doffing our caps! It seems to me that, once politicians are ennobled by other politicians, they feel that they are now even more entitled to look down on us plebs, pointing out to their fellow ‘noble Lords’ and the Establishment that yes, in fact we the people, the Sovereign, are revolting. I think a root-and-branch reform of the HoL cannot come soon enough!

While the ‘noble Lords’ are again debating today, trying to show us how ‘relevant’ they are, we’ll keep vigilant and hope that the death throes of the Remainers won’t be able to derail Brexit at the last minute.

 

KBO!

 

[Thank you for all your good wishes! I’m a bit better but not out of the woods by any means. After all, there are 200 cold viruses, so what chance have I got! And I can assure you that I was not in China over the weekend where there’s a new virus (here) making the rounds!]

 

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