Category Archives: Brexit

It feels like a lifetime since Theresa May and Gina Miller were called bloody difficult women during Britains brutal and laborious war over Brexit.

But the legal battle between the political opponents, and its lesson on accountability, are just as relevant today, according to the cast of a new play.

With whats happening in politics now, we realise the importance of championing protocol, said Jessica Turner, who plays May in Bloody Difficult Women, which opens at Riverside Studios in London on Thursday.

At the time, we as a nation werent necessarily aware that the triggering of article 50 [the UKs EU exit clause] could have been done through the royal prerogative or through parliament. Now we are much more aware of how important that stand was.

It was in 2016 that Miller, an anti-Brexit activist, decided to take the government to court over over its authority to implement Brexit without approval from parliament. She has said she was furious about people seeing themselves as above the law.

Amara Karan, who plays the Guyanese-British business owner, said she hoped what Miller stood for was something we can go back to Particularly now with this conversation over public standards and the government breaking its own laws. Miller, Karan added, looks less of a pedantic person now. Someone has to make sure the rule of law is followed, otherwise our whole society collapses.

The play captures an episode of the Brexit story through the unfolding drama between May and Miller. The writer, Tim Walker, a journalist who has previously worked with Miller, has called it a psychological human drama about idealism, obsession and delusion.

The themes it covers are as personal as they are political there is much of the sexist and sometimes racist abuse and threats faced by Miller during the court case, as well as Mays ongoing struggle for the support of her party and country.

Turner said it was a huge responsibility playing figures who are still very much in the public spotlight. Particularly when everyone has such a strong image of a character like May.

Karan remembers following the news story at the time, and wondering why Miller was taking on all of these causes. It seemed like a thankless job. But since then, shes learned what shes about, what her agenda is, where she grew up, the traumas she suffered and found that she could relate to her more.

Lots of women in public have suffered all kinds of abuse and particularly women of colour, she said. I was scared for her, to be honest. It felt like it was this woman against the world. The language was becoming very violent and racist around Brexit.

I was really excited and struck when she actually won the high court case, and then the supreme court case, and then successfully sued Boris Johnson [In September 2019, Miller successfully challenged Johnsons prorogation of parliament].

So what of the similarities between May and Miller? The play suggests they have more in common than meets the eye, including a stringent work ethic and a love of cricket.

I think what they have in common is being a woman in a mans world, Turner said. They had to fight their corners. Theyre both conviction politicians rather than career ones. Yes, May had ambitions, but she worked through the very basics of stuffing envelopes in her local party first.

In a demonstrative scene midway through the play, May and Miller address the audience. Miller says: When a man takes a stand on something, he is seen as a maverick. But a woman doing this is considered mean. May responds: Women are not allowed to complain. If we do, we are whiny and hysterical.

The actors said the play was very funny, but also a reflection of our times. The last scene even leaps in time and is set in present day. Accountability and the lack of it is very current, Turner said. So although its about something thats happened in the past, and you might say thats history, its actually very relevant now.

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New play to tell story of Brexits bloody difficult women - The Guardian

Twenty five months ago after years of rancorous public debate and political deadlock the UK left the EU. In this weeks poll were asking whether UK manufacturers and engineers are yet to see any of the promised red-tape busting, export boosting benefits.

When, back in 2016, the case was made for leaving the EU the UKs engineering community was, it seems, as divided as the rest of the country, with just over half of the 1400 respondents to our June 2016 poll on the topic telling us they would be voting to remain. Judging from the responses to our periodic return to the issue over the course of the past few years many of these divisions remain.

However, now that more than two years have elapsed since the UKs official exit from the worlds biggest trading block it seems sensible to ask the question again. Particularly given that some of those sectors most beguiled by the promises of the leave campaign (farming and fishing to name two) now face a potentially terminal export and labour shortage crisis directly linked to that fateful decision.

In this weeks poll were asking whether you believe Brexit has delivered any of the benefits promised by its cheerleaders, and specifically what it has meant for industry?

Perhaps you feel its still too early to tell? After all, for 12 of the past 24 months the UK remained a part of the single market and customs union. Perhaps the devastating economic impact of the pandemic makes it hard to gauge? Or maybe you have already discerned some clear uplifts or problems resulting from that June 2016 referendum vote. Either way, do let us know and help us build a picture of how UK engineering and manufacturing is feeling on the issue now that the dust is beginning to settle.

Please cast your vote, and as always feel free to expand on your response in the comments section below. All comments are moderated.

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This week's poll: have you seen any Brexit benefits? - The Engineer

Hate is not welcome in Scotland, apparently, at least according to a public information film released in 2018 by the Scottish government. We believe in acceptance, and its time you accept that continue the bright-eyed young people featured in the ad. Anyone who believes in this uplifting message might be puzzled if they pop into the City Art Centre in Edinburgh, where a new exhibition by artist Rachel Maclean seems to be very short on acceptance for Brexit and the awful Brits who voted for it.

Native Animals is a set of paintings and video installations which, according to the blurb are examining the various motivations behind Brexit and its repercussions. The images depict Leave supporters as grotesque hybrid monsters draped in Union Jack flags and revelling in anti-immigrant sentiments. One particularly hideous creation, a corpulent pock marked pig/orc combination has the slogan Hop off Home emblazoned on a sash worn over his Union Jack emblazoned jacket. Its not exactly subtle.

Rachel Macleans ideas about the motivation for Brexit are clear from the various tableaux: an attachment to reactionary, jingoistic, queasily nostalgic, and outmoded perceptions of a pastoral fantasy Britain, allied to a bloodthirsty xenophobia. Gullibility seems to be another suggested factor: one image shows a sort of grand Brexit rabble-rouser-in chief entrancing followers into a pagan dance of race hate.

Britishness for the artist seems to be synonymous with Englishness, though. One debauched scene, reminiscent of Hieronymus Bosch, shows a pub garden (The English Rose), where Cross of St. George sporting figures carouse drunkenly. Next to the pub is what looks like a peep show, presumably to emphasise their sleaziness. There is also a job centre to remind us of the dire economic consequences of Brexit. In the background the grey immigrant figures are shown trudging off to what may be an internment camp. Fake news can be seengraffitied on a tree trunk.

As for the repercussions of Brexit, depictions of bloodshot rabbits (immigrants) suggest that Britains exit from the EU could lead to murderous outcomes, with bloodthirsty Brexiteers hunting down their prey for sport. One image has a Native Animal (Brexiteer) holding up a bloodied trophy kill amidst a pile of others. Another shows the evil Brexit ghouls rejoicing over a dinghy littered with the corpses of migrants.

While the seen-it-all-before mash up of shlock horror, surrealism and whimsy reaffirms Paul Valerys observation that everything changes but the avant-garde, the student union level political judgements and generalisations are facile and boring. They are also lazy: a moment's research would have informed Maclean that more than amillion Scots, including many SNP supporters, voted for Brexit. Scotlands relatively low turnout in the 2016 poll further undermines the endlessly repeated myth that Scotland (to a man) voted to stay in the EU and had to be dragged out. And it wouldnt take much longer to seek out the research pointing out that control of immigration was trumped amongst Brexit supporters, by a desire for sovereignty.

The City Art Centre makes a big deal of inclusivity on its website. Its 'anti-racist pledge' informs us piously that:'We stand in solidarity with #BlackLivesMatter'. But why can't that toleration extend to voters who opted for a different choice in a binary referendum?

Native Animals is likely to provide a booster shot of resentment and division in a country not lacking in either.Hate isnt welcome in Scotland? Aye, well, when it comes to the Brexit referendum, it seems that those rules don't apply.

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Is this Scottish anti-Brexit exhibition really 'art'? - Spectator.co.uk

A pedestrian passes a sign that read Yes For Unity! placed by Sinn Fein in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Jan. 3, 2020. (Hollie Adams/Bloomberg)

One potent force is emerging from the torpid dispute over Northern Ireland between the U.K. and European Union, and the potential consequences could redraw the map more dramatically than Brexit.

Sinn Fein, whose ultimate goal is a united Ireland and the end of British rule, is leading the polls ahead of critical elections to Belfast's power-sharing assembly on May 5 after pro-U.K. unionist parties lost ground since the divorce from the EU. It puts Sinn Fein on course to take the post of first minister for the first time just as the party's popularity has also swelled in the Republic of Ireland because of discontent over the economy.

The seemingly inexorable rise of a group that was linked with the sectarian violence that blighted Northern Ireland for three decades threatens to upend the political order in ways that would reverberate worldwide.

A powerful Sinn Fein both north and south of the Irish border would reinforce the drive for reunification, even if there's little prospect right now of a referendum on the issue. In the Republic, an election isn't due for three years, but it will take a marked reversal to stop Sinn Fein gaining the mandate to play a major role in the government in Dublin for the first time since Ireland became an independent state a little over a century ago.

"The whole political landscape has shifted dramatically," said Diarmaid Ferriter, professor of modern history at University College Dublin. "Psychologically, symbolically and practically, this is about a change of guard and given the loaded history of Northern Ireland and the nature of the state, it's a very significant development."

The political sands have definitely shifted. Unionists loyal to the U.K. no longer have a clear majority. Brexit, which the biggest unionist party backed when Northern Ireland overall voted against it, has also further fueled the nationalist cause because of a growing negative view of the British government and dysfunction at the executive in Belfast.

Northern Ireland's government was effectively paralyzed this month when First Minister Paul Givan of the Democratic Unionist Party, or DUP, resigned in protest over the Northern Irish Protocol. That's the part of the Brexit divorce treaty that keeps the region in the European customs union and prescribes checks on goods coming in from the rest of the U.K.

Talks between the U.K. and EU at resolving their dispute over how it should all work have been at an impasse for months. Diplomats say they see little chance for any substantial progress until after May's election. Any outcome will also be closely watched in Washington. President Joe Biden, who is of Irish ancestry, has said stability in Northern Ireland can't be jeopardized by Brexit.

The DUP's opposition to the protocol hasn't played well with the electorate. The party's share of first preference votes has slumped by a third from five years ago, according to a recent poll from the Institute of Irish Studies University of Liverpool and The Irish News. A January poll for LucidTalk and the Belfast Telegraph newspaper put Sinn Fein eight percentage points ahead.

That also puts Sinn Fein's candidate for first minister, deputy leader Michelle O'Neill, in pole position. She would head the local government in conjunction with a deputy of equal standing from a unionist party, yet having the title would be symbolic. It would be the first time a nationalist would have held the position since the Belfast assembly was born out of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that heralded an often precarious peace in Northern Ireland.

It's also a scenario that would have been inconceivable a generation ago for a party that was widely regarded as the political wing of the Irish Republican Army as recently as the 1990s, said Brian Hanley, assistant professor in 20th century history at Trinity College Dublin.

"The idea that they would one day not only be the majority representatives of the nationalist community but also close to the position of first minister would have been unthinkable," he said.

A census carried out last year may show the Catholic population, which has been traditionally more supportive of a united Ireland, is closing the gap on the Protestant majority from where the pro-U.K. side derives most of its support.

The popularity of Sinn Fein, meaning "We Ourselves" in Irish, has been growing in the Republic, too. Under leader Mary Lou McDonald, the party has been able to appeal to voters on socio-economic issues such as housing and inequality. A December poll put the party on 35%, with governing coalition parties Fianna Fail and Fine Gael lagging 15 points behind.

"The duopoly of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, which have essentially dominated Irish politics since the Civil War, has been broken," Hanley said.

Any prospect of a united Ireland is still a long way off, but a dominant Sinn Fein would shine the spotlight on how it could happen a little over a century since the island was partitioned with the south gaining independence and the north remaining under British rule.

Indeed, the breakup of the U.K. has been a theme of Brexit since the country held its referendum on EU membership in 2016. But much of the focus was on Scotland, whose pro-independence nationalist party runs the semi-autonomous administration in Edinburgh and has vowed to hold another vote on leaving the U.K. The government in London has refused to sanction one.

In Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement includes a mechanism for a vote on reunification if the U.K. government considers it would likely be passed. That's still not the case, but it's clear the nationalists have the momentum. A referendum would also need to be held south of the border.

Polls conducted in November and December in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland found voters expecting a united country in the next 10 years. A survey by Lord Ashcroft found that most respondents in Northern Ireland said they would choose to remain part of the U.K. if a poll were held today, though most also think there should be a vote.

"Those who have become nationalist in response to Brexit have become increasingly strongly of the view that a united Ireland would be a better arrangement to live in and they think that it's going to happen," said Katy Hayward, professor of political sociology at Queen's University Belfast.

Of course, a united Ireland is not a desire that is exclusive to Sinn Fein. Yet the party's increasing popularity is challenging its rivals to assert it more vociferously.

Having refused to work with Sinn Fein after they pulled in 25% of first preference votes in the 2020 election, Fianna Fail Prime Minister Micheal Martin hasn't ruled out forming a government with them in the future. Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar recently emphasized his belief in a united Ireland and the need to engage with voters in the north.

There's a sense of "why should Sinn Fein get to wrap the green flag around themselves?" Ferriter said. "The whole fallout from Brexit has flexed Irish nationalist muscles."

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Bloomberg's Peter Flanagan contributed to this report.

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Brexit supercharges the political push toward a united Ireland - Stars and Stripes

Michael Crick casts Farage as a vampiric figure, draining others to sustain dominance

This article is taken from the March 2022 issue of The Critic. To get the full magazine why not subscribe? Right now were offering five issue for just 10.

Nigel Farage, Michael Crick tells us at the end of this impressivebiography, is one of the great politicians of post-war Britain. He ranksalongside Thatcher, Blair, Salmond and Johnson for impact on ourcountry and its direction, Crick reckons, because without Farage thered have been no referendum and noBrexit. He may never have been elected to Parliament, but who cares? Hes historically important.

I largely agree. I also think Farages absence from Parliament at Westminster is a sign of how our political establishment remains unwilling to learn the lessons of that referendum and admit the people who were shut out of national conversation for too long. Glance at some of the people deemed worthy of ermine and tell me Farage shouldnt have been made a peer long ago. And if youre wondering, I voted Remain.

But I dont want political biography to confirm my prior views. I want it to tell me things I didnt know, and help me understand the subject and their times better. By that measure, Crick does a verygood job, especially on the detail, though he sometimes falls short when it comes to the big picture.

Having cast his subject in such grand terms, the ultimate prize for Crick here is not to tell us how Farage came to be so disruptive that is a broadly familiar story, after all but why. What caused him to do what he did, with such consequence?

Start with Farage the man. Like many veryfamous politicians, Farages character is both very familiar and unknown. Most people think they have asense of the man, all cheery bombast in a covert coat.In fact, Crick proves theres a lot more to him thanthat, even if we only catch glimpses of the man behind the performance. That man can be sullen andwithdrawn. He can be sensitive to criticism, especially when it relates to racism. He gets nervous beforespeeches. Hes capable of great kindness: he re-employs a young gambling-addicted former aide whoserved time in the US for serious financial crimes. He writes tenderly to his lover on their parting.

Farage had a habit of putting his shagees on the public payroll

Or rather, one of his lovers, for there are many. Too many for even the fastidious Crick to name them all, for being married with children is clearly no bridle on Farages appetites. Perhaps one reason Farage was sosuccessful in screwing the British political establishment was that hed had so much practice.

Some of Farages friends have protested that his personal life is subject to much more scrutiny than any other senior politician. After all, what business is it of ours if he keeps a string of mistresses? He never claimed to be a saint and has never preached about the sanctity of marriage, and being a serial shagger has no obvious bearing on anyones views on British sovereignty.

Except that, as Crick delicately demonstrates,Farage had a habit of putting his shagees on the public payroll via his role in the European Parliament: atone point, his biographer suggests that at least three of Farages women were so employed. And this from a man who became an MEP on a promise not to benefit from the Parliaments lavish system of allowances.

If Farage the lover is a bit less than admirable, hes still a titan of virtue compared to Farage the political operator. Crick, a forensically tenacious reporter, is at his best when he dissects, in merciless detail, the long, long line of colleagues and comrades Farage used and discarded on his long march into the history books. The roll call of people who believed that Farage was a friend and ally and on their side, right until the moment his knife slipped between their ribs, is too long to repeat in full here.

Crick lovingly chronicles the serial betrayals, though. No minor UKIP office-bearer let down and cast aside is too obscure for this history, which casts Farage as an almost vampiric figure, draining the life from others to sustain his decades of dominance over UKIP and its successor, the Brexit Party.

Here, in no particular order, are just some of thoseleft feeling aggrieved by the great mans infidelity, political dishonesty and unlimited self-interest:

Beyond euroscepticism of varying shades, these people have little in common, but all appear to havemade the same mistake: trusting a man of pathological disloyalty to behave faithfully towards them.

Why? Its often said that politics is a cynical businessbut thats not true: most people in politics are believers, or want to be, which is why theyll swallow itwhole when someone touched with charisma promises that this time will be different. Bigger parties doit better than Farage and UKIP ever did, because they werent one-man bands. Richard Tice, the currentleader of Reform UK the Brexit Partys current incarnation must experience some interesting emotions when he hears Farage insist that he has no interest in ever taking that leadership for himself.

Maybe Farage was happier when Britain was still in the union

In Cricks account, all this scheming and betraying ensures that Farage can use UKIP largely as his own personal vehicle, a way for him to thrust himself into the limelight whenever possible and display his undoubted talents as a debater and wit. But again, the question is: why? Farage the political operator is captured here, but Farages political thinking proves much more elusive. What are Nigel Faragespolitics? Even after more than 500 pages of Cricks methodical investigations, the answer is not wholly clear. He has no apparent interest in policies his UKIP had manifestos but he didnt read them and the last philosophy he read appears to have been JS Mills On Liberty as a teenager. The best guess is that hes a golf-club Tory from his own imagined version of the 1950s, his brass-buttoned blazer impregnated with the faint aroma of brimstone.

In 1982, Enoch Powell gave a speech at Dulwich College in south London. In the audience was the 18-year-old Nigel Farage, who immediately adoptedPowell as a lifelong hero. Fourteen years before, Powells Rivers of Blood speech had seen him cast out ofpolitics. Idolising him appears entirely consistent with Farages views as a schoolboy. This account shows the young Farage being at least sympathetic to racist and far-Right positions, in addition to stories of the boy using unabashedly racist language.

Thats striking context for what comes later. Crickdetails how in 1997, Farage went for lunch with Mark Deavin, a BNP activist, and then met Tony Lecomber, a convicted racist thug. These werent people normal, displaced Tories tended to somehow meet.

Farage has always strongly refuted any allegationsof racism or bigotry. Crick, who assembles considerable evidence to challenge that position, largely giveshim the benefit of the doubt, though not all readers will be so generous. Farages admirers will be more inclined to accept his argument that he did more than anyone to drive the overtly racist BNP out of British politics.

What all can agree on is that national identity and immigration are central to Farages own politics,perhaps even more important to him than the European issue. This is where Farages views are almoststunningly unclear. We know he never liked the EEC, EC then EU. But what did he want to do about that? He was a very late convert to the idea of a referendumon membership he had to be bounced into supporting it on live TV instead holding the fancifulPowellite notion that a majority in Parliament could be persuaded to end that membership.

Before and after the 2016 vote, he appeared to favour a Norwegian form of soft Brexit. During the morass of the Theresa May years, he even came close toconceding the case for a second referendum. Sad as he would have been to be at the centre of another campaign, still less to lose it (or rather, see the Tories lose it) and stay in the warm embrace of the European Parliament.

Longstanding leavers and hard Brexiteers, in other words, could be forgiven for considering Farage very definitely not One of Us. Maybe he was happier when Britain was still in the union, since that gave him a clear role and never-ending attention; Farage has certainly enjoyed less prominence since we left, no matter how much he insists hes loving his new life as a broadcaster.

On domestic issues, Farage has some Thatcherite leanings of his own, perhaps to his political detriment. Farages occasional criticism of the NHS sometimes cost him an audience with voters in what wenow call the Red Wall. This leads to an intriguing What If question: could Farage have been even more electorally successful in the early 2010s if hed addedthe anti-austerity cause to his populism? Could Faragist euroscepticism combined with populist economics have caused even more disruption by themiddle of the last decade, and finally built a party instead of a vehicle?

If Farage is a poor general, how did he win big battles?

It seems quite likely that thought never even occurred to Farage, who emerges from this book as ahopeless political strategist. His various attempts to become an MP all fail, because he consistently picks the wrong places to fight, sometimes diverting UKIP resources away from places where the party has a real chance. Under a better leader, UKIP would have won the 2014 Heywood and Middleton by-election over Labour and begun a real march into Laboursrotting heartlands. But Farage was myopically focused on Clacton where his soon-to-be enemyCarswell would win his own by-election at a canter.

Here you may ask, if Farage is such a poor general, how on earth did he win such big battles? How did a man who operates at such a small scale and no one does petty and vindictive quite like him come to have such a large effect? This is where Crick is open to criticism, because his history of Farage is far too light on the wider political context that made it possible for his subject to become that historical figure.

Immigration is a prime example. Tony Blairs decision in 2004 to allow Eastern EU nationals free entryto the UK (and the refusal of France and Germany todo likewise) is a fundamental part of the Brexit history. It sent immigration shooting up the electorateslist of concerns, could be discussed in non-racially freighted terms, and finally made EU membership tangible and visible to many.

Hitherto, sceptics had talked about abstractions such as sovereignty and procedure: Britain was never going to leave the EU over weights and measures. But EU migration transformed the European issue, a bolt of lightning that Farage rode all the way.

Yet this pivotal part of the Brexit story and of Farages story gets remarkably little attention fromCrick, who is sometimes too busy re-fighting old battles from his time as a Channel Four sleuth to describethe wider political landscape. His book could easily lose a hundred pages of the minutiae of dubious UKIP organisation and funding theres an entire chapter on a Kent call centre that is largely pointless, however much Farage might have sweated about it at the time to make room for proper coverage of what the rest of the political world was doing as Farage rose.

Thats especially true of the Conservatives, whowhen it comes to Farage provided another illustration of Robert Conquests Second Law: the behaviourof an organisation can best be predicted by assuming it to be controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies.

Farages steady rise to national prominence over the first 15 years of this century came as the Conservatives repeatedly made his case for him, then insisted they would not act on that case. William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard all told voters that EU membership was bad for their country and theyd been denied a say on that. Thencame David Cameron, whose handling of the European question was so adroit that the Conservativemessage could eventually be captured by my friend Alex Massies lethal summary: UKIP are right. Dont vote for them.

Cameron became Conservative leader in 2005 with the support of many Tory sceptics, claiming to buy his promise to pull the partys MEPs out of the federalist European Peoples Party grouping. Not for the first time, David Davis wasnt cute enough in a race to deliver eurosceptic desires, failing to make this pledge in his losing leadership campaign.

Farage emerges from yet another night of boozing to get back on the stump

Dave then made a cast-iron guarantee to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, which he promptly abandoned shortly before becoming PM. His hithertoinvincible ratings against Gordon Brown never recovered from that, Tory anti-Europeans sourly noted.And his diminished poll standing ended with the hung 2010 general election result that, though it didntseem like this to many at the time, put him at the mercy of his own backbenchers, whose righteous furywas greatly added to by the number of frontbench spots they lost out on to Lib Dem ministerial cuckoos.

This stuff was catnip to Farage and his kippers, who for several years referred to Dave as Cast Iron. Yet oddly, none of this is set out in Cricks book, eventhough it makes copious room for intricate discussions of UKIPs relations with other groups and parties in the European Parliament. The result is sometimes like reading an account of a yachtsman makinga great solo voyage that tells you all about the boats rigging and navigation but never mentions the sea or the wind. Farage may have caught the breeze and used it to take him where he wanted to go, but many others made the weather.

His entanglement with Donald Trump is a similar case. Buried in Cricks narrative is confirmation that this was largely something that happened to Farage, not something he made happen the Donald,watching Britain and Europe from afar, saw an opportunity to use Farage, so reached out and drew himinto Trumpworld. There is something almost Zeliglike about this account of Farage reshaping himself toadopt Trumps agenda, the self-proclaimed classical liberal embracing protectionism like a buxom intern unwise enough to fall for his charms.

So did Farage make history just by being in the right place at the right time? Theres certainly anelement of that here. But theres something else, rooted in what may just be Farages most important trait,one much under-rated in politics: stamina. Time after time in this tale, Farage emerges from yet anothernight of boozing to get back on the stump, back on camera. Year after year, he keeps on keeping on. He endures. Aaron Sorkin wrote that decisions are made by those who show up, and Farage always shows up, whatever the weather.

No doubt the man himself, excessively fascinated by wartime generations who fought real battles for freedom, would prefer a Churchillian phrase. Keepbuggering on, Churchill wrote. That is just what Nigel Farage has done, never minding where he got to,as long as it wasnt him who was buggered.

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The riddle of Brexit's ruthless survivor | James Kirkup - The Critic

While Johnson has said he wants to cut 1bn of old EU red tape, the target is dwarfed by the pile of regulation the country added in recent years. Jones case is one such example.

Victoria Hewson at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) says accepting CE-marked products would show Britain is serious about supporting businesses and customers: The UK has an opportunity to lead the world with a radical trade policy of recognising regulations, without requiring reciprocity, starting with the EU.

A BEIS spokesman said: Having our own regulatory regime gives us the opportunity to make our product regulations work in the best interests of UK consumers and businesses.

Labelling is just one item on a mountain of regulation and quantifying that proves difficult.

The cost it creates for the UK economy could be as much as 220bn, according to 2020 research by the IEA. Its estimate is extrapolated from an official gauge from 2005 that puts the burden at around 10pc to 12pc of GDP and does not account for the benefits of rules, indicating how difficult it is to measure accurately.

There are clearly opportunities to get chopping. Last year, the Prime Minister appointed former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith to chair the Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform in drawing up a plan to trim regulations. Think tanks have produced reams of rules which could usefully be cut.

The City could be freed from overly stringent MiFID II rules that hurt analyst research; Solvency II laws that hold back investment by forcing insurers to hold huge sums of money on balance sheets; and ineffective banker bonus caps.

In tech, the long reach of GDPR data rules could be pruned. Pharma regulations can be scaled back as the UK strives to become a global life sciences hub. More climate friendly and nutritious food could be grown by relaxing EU constraints on gene editing and boosting innovation, by revamping the Novel Foods Act to help start-ups, such as those for meatless products.

Yet despite the opportunity and intermittent enthusiasm, those backing reforms say progress has been exasperatingly slow.

The Government has done absolutely sweet FA since we delivered the report to them [in June 2021], says Sir Iain, lamenting that Lord Frost was given too little authority to make progress when in Government.

They should have been getting on with it, and they still have not done a single element of deregulation since I produced the report.

His attempt is by no means the first.

Tony Blair introduced a Better Regulation Task Force in 1997, the Small Business Service in 2000 and the Better Regulation Commission in 2006, which declared it was time to turn the tide on red tape.

Excerpt from:

Brexit opportunities: the burdensome red tape that Britain can begin cutting - Telegraph.co.uk

Fears have continued to mount in recent days that Russia is planning to invade its neighbour Ukraine. Between 169,000 and 190,000 Russian troops have been assembled near the border with Ukraine in both Russia and Belarus, according to the US government. The military build-up has prompted warnings by western leaders of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, something Moscow has repeatedly denied.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that US President Joe Biden had told western leaders of intelligence that suggested Russia would invade from the East, and also try to encircle the Ukrainian capital Kiev.

He told the BBC: Im afraid to say that the plan we are seeing is for something that could be really the biggest war in Europe since 1945, just in terms of sheer scale.

Mr Biden has agreed in principle to hold a summit on the Ukraine crisis with Russian President Vladimir Putin, although Moscow has said there are no concrete plans for a meeting.

Although relations between western nations and Russia are at a seriously low point, this is not the first time Moscow has been accused of acting in a threatening way.

Russias former ambassador to the UK Alexander Yakovenko previously boasted that Russia had crushed the British after the public voted to leave the EU in 2016.

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The threatening comments are quoted in journalist Luke Hardings book, Shadow State: Murder, Mayhem, and Russia's Remaking of the West, published in 2020.

Speaking to a fellow diplomat, Mr Yakovenko reportedly said: We have crushed the British to the ground.

They are on their knees, and they will not rise for a very long time.

Mr Yakovenko left London under a cloud in 2019 after the Mail on Sunday revealed he may have worked as a Soviet spy.

The diplomat still has a key role in Moscow as President of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mr Yakovenkos comments about crushing Britain have been linked to alleged Russian interference in the June 2016 referendum on EU membership in which the UK voted to leave the 27-member bloc.

A report from 2020 by Parliaments intelligence and security committee could not provide a definitive answer to whether Russia had meddled in the Brexit vote through tactics such as spreading disinformation online.

The report did, however, find that the Government had not seen or sought evidence of successful interference in UK democratic processes and had not attempted to do so.

Mr Harding came to his own conclusions about Russian interference in western affairs in Shadow State, which he discussed on The Guardians Today in Focus podcast in 2020.

He said: I think clearly that as a minimum the Russians carried out a kind of extensive espionage operation in support of Brexit.

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The journalist said this was comparable or on the same scale as the alleged operation to help elect Donald Trump as US President in 2016.

He added: These are twin operations: Brexit, Trump, Trump Brexit, often involving the same spies, the same trolls.

There was a huge Russian troll campaign in support of Brexit run out of St Petersburg.

The big picture is that Putin is not an evil supervillain sitting on a leather chair, flashing little red buttons on a console and making things happen all over the world.

He is a classic KGB opportunist who sniffs out weakness and division in western societies and trying to exploit that to his own advantage and for Russian sovereign purposes.

The point about the Trump vote and the Brexit vote is that they were both incredibly close.

Shadow State: Murder, Mayhem, and Russia's Remaking of the West was written by Luke Harding and published by Guardian Faber Publishing in 2020. It is available here.

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'We have crushed the British to the ground!' Russian ambassador's words after Brexit vote - Daily Express

A panoramic window in JonathanWarburtons office frames the skyline of Bolton. Once upon a time, you would have been able to see more than 100 cotton mills,Warburtontold me. Theres just the one left in the foreground now only its not a cotton mill any more, its a Safestore.

Its as much a symbol of the evolution of the Lancashire town that has been home to theWarburtons bakery since the 1870s asWarburtons itself is. The bakery was established less than 100 yards from whereWarburtons office is now. EllenWarburtons first batch, in 1876, consisted of four loaves of bread and six cakes, which sold out in under an hour. Today, the company produces more than two million loaves, bagels, crumpets and bread rolls a day across its 11 bakeries.

The thought of EllenWarburtonin her little bakery elicits a cosy image of the Lancashire of Fred Dibnah, where buildings are called things like Back o th Bank House (the address ofWarburtonss HQ) and everyone starts their day with a bacon butty. The company has taken advantage of that: Bolton plays almost as much of a starring role inWarburtonss mythology as its bread. In its star-studded TV ads, which have featured Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, George Clooney and the Muppets all co-starringWarburtonhimself the town is usually namechecked. Both De Niro and Stallone flew to Lancashire to appear in their ads (although De Niro stayed over the border in Yorkshire). Its been a good town for us, saidWarburton.

Warburtontook the reins of the company in 1991, the fifth generation Warburton to do so. He is chairman, but runs the brand alongside his cousins Ross and Brett, who are both executive directors. Plans are being developed to hand the company to the sixth generation, althoughWarburtonsaid no decisions have been made yet. They must prove themselves first, hehas said before. Between the children of Jonathan, Ross and Brett there are at least seven in the running. But SuccessionandWarburtons there is no resemblance, he insisted.

Warburtongave the impression of a no-nonsense captain of industry with a soft Lancashire twang, who felt such a sense of responsibility to show leadership during the pandemic that he drove into work from his home in Cumbria at least once a week. Im happy [for it] to go in print, that I came in to read the paper, he said. Ive got a blue Range Rover and its got easily recognisable number plates on it, so everybody knew I was here I thought it was important.

He has a strong sense of stewardship towards his employees we felt massively responsible for people within the organisation being asked to go to work in such uncertain times and, as such, has taken Covid precautions seriously (I had to watch a two-and-a-half-minute video on it before I was allowed into the building). ButWarburton himself didnt like the governments approach to persuading people to follow the rules. I think it went too far. There was a lack of trust in the good old British to do the right thing people have been hugely fearful, unnecessarily.

He hasnt always been so critical of politicians: in 2010, the companymadea 25,000 donation to the Conservative Party. Is he happy with Boris Johnsons performance?Warburtonsighed. There has been a massive amount of hypocrisy and finger-pointing on partygate, he said. We were all guilty to a lesser degree. And while Putin has 127,000 troops on the side of Ukraine, and were still buggering about he trailed off. I just think its mad. So he has faith in Johnson? I didnt say that.

He has gone on the record to back Brexit,tellingCampaignmagazine in November 2016 that Brexit is a very good thing to have happened. Today he is more circumspect. What concerned me about Brexit was our inability to change unelected bureaucrats, he said. We should have been four-square with Germany and then I would have been very happy. But the problem is, we were half in, half out. And funnily enough, got treated accordingly.

There is a conspicuous call for HGV drivers on theWarburtons website. With that in mind, is he happy with how Brexit has gone so far? I think its impossible to answer the question because of Covid, he said. The French had driver problems, the Germans had driver problems, the Scandinavians had driver problems.

If you came back here in two years time and were through Covid and were still in the same problem, then you know what my answer would be. But without Covid, you cant comment. The HGV problem is a Covid problem, not a driver problem.

He was more at ease discussing the driver crisis than politics. It was bloody awful in the summer, it was even more awful in the autumn, and its slightly less awful now but its still challenging.

Then we move on to other subjects: flying to Hollywood to appear in the Muppets ad (I had a trailer! I went to it twice: once to take a photograph of my name on the door and once to change my shirt); De Niro (he said, call me Bob); and his favouriteWarburtons products (white toastie, crumpet, sliced artisan loaf).

There is a sense thatWarburtondoes a bit of everything ads, logistics, running the joint. But what does he consider himself? If you ask me what do I do, I tell you Im a baker, he said. Right. When did he last make a loaf of bread? He sucked in his cheeks. Really good question.

[See also: The new dotcom crash: collapsing ad markets threaten disaster for Big Tech]

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Bagels, Brexit and Bob De Niro: Jonathan Warburton on the business of bread - The New Statesman

//= do_shortcode('[in-content-square]')?> Picture on the right by Richard Szwejkowski (CC BY-SA 2.0).

A majority of Leave voters in Wales believe that Brexit should not be used to remove powers from the Senedd, according to findings from researchers at Cardiff Universitys Wales Governance Centre.

Writing in aBritish Politics after Brexit report for the UK in a Changing Europe initiative, the academics used Welsh Election Study (WES) data to show that 52% of Leave voters rejected the suggestion that the UK Government is right to remove powers from the Senedd if it is necessary to maximise Brexit benefits.

There was also opposition to using Brexit to undermine devolution among 88% of Remain voters, and 71% of the Welsh electorate as a whole.

The data confirm that the Leave vote in Wales in the 2016 referendum was not fundamentally linked to scepticism over devolution, according to the authors Richard Wyn Jones, Jac Larner and Daniel Wincott.

This finding that voting Leave and devo-scepticism are not interlinked was replicated at last years Senedd elections, where anti-devolution parties collapsed without generating an equal-sized increase in vote share for the Conservatives, they said.

Previous WES findings demonstrated that Welsh Labour succeeded in holding on to a larger than anticipated share of its own Leave voters.

Misjudged

Richard Wyn Jones commented: Data collected by the 2021 Welsh Election Study shows that a substantial majority of the Welsh electorate reject any undermining of devolved powers in the name of Brexit. This view is shared even by a majority of Welsh Leave voters.

This raises far-reaching questions for the Welsh Conservatives as they adopt an increasingly devo-sceptic stance. While such a stance may well be popular with their own activist base and core support, it is in danger of alienating them further from floating voters as well as majority opinion in Wales.

Noting that the election proved a disappointment for Conservatives, Jac M. Larner, Richard Wyn Jones, and Daniel Wincots chapter in British Politics after Brexit suggests that Conservatives may have misjudged the constitutional attitudes of their target voters.

Nonetheless, the Conservatives remain committed to the view that devolved competences must be reduced to deliver on their wider agenda. They also assume that, if forced to choose between devolution and a union rebuilt in the Brexiters own image, the Welsh electorate will inevitably settle for the latter.

Equally plausible is that by forcing this choice, an even larger section of the electorate will conclude that it is time to give up on the union.

This in turn would force Welsh Labour to push for even more far-reaching autonomy or risk leaving a flank open for Plaid Cymru to exploit. Doubtless, the Conservatives would enjoy the resulting discomfort but viewed through the lens of statecraft this appears to represent a substantial and totally unnecessary gamble.

The study also notes that more powers for Wales is by far the most popular constitutional preference in Wales.

Despite the increased focus on both independence and abolition, and perhaps uniquely among the constituent countries of the UK, Wales has firmlyembraced what in the nineteenth century was known as home rule, it says.

Broadly speaking, its citizens like devolution and want more of it, while eschewing outright separation (see Figure 1). It is a position which Welsh Labour underits popular leader Mark Drakeford encapsulates nicely.

The challenge for Labour is that it is unclear if its position will remain sustainable in future.

For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.

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Majority of Leave voters don't think Brexit should be used to remove Wales' devolved powers - Nation.Cymru

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Much has been written about the effects of the pandemic on so many aspects of the creative industries. While some were lucky enough to be able to pivot or remain industrious through the past couple of years, we all know actors whove retrained as electricians, comedians doing shifts as truck drivers, and designers with food delivery sidelines.

However, we also know that people left their jobs in unprecedented numbers, the highest since 2009, and that the level of open vacancies is the highest on record. So what does it all mean for the future of the industry?

GRASS IS GREENER

This so-called great resignation has been seen across the board, though especially in the creative industries. The WeTransfer Ideas Report, released in November 2021, surveyed more than 10,000 creatives globally and found that 45% of global creatives were thinking of changing their jobs in the next six months.

Laurent Simon is executive creative director at ad agency YMLY&R, managing a large creative department. He says hes certainly seen a great deal of movement as a result of the pandemic. There are definitely signs of people moving around and people being interested in seeing whether the grass is greener, and this is the case for freelance and permanent roles, he says. This movement, he says, seems to be inter-agency, but hes also seen an increase in applicants whove been working in-house at brands.

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Covid, Brexit and the great resignation - Creative Review