The Good
 
Let’s start with a bit of good!
 
Some will recall my blog on the language used in ‘A Star Is Born’, where I said I felt it should have a higher census rating because of its strong language, and language which was not part of the original film. So, I’m delighted to see this week that parents are calling for a tougher approach to censorship and higher ratings.
 
And what’s more, is that when people are searching online for things to do, crochet has soared in popularity! Enquiries are up by as much as 78%! With is recently being Blue Monday, maybe this is part of seeking serenity and inner calmness. Power to the crochet needles!
 
You can hear my interview on mental health on talkRADIO here, and Men’s Radio Station here. I’ve also discussed it on Faversham Natters here.
 
Also, what a great campaign the Daily Mail has launched on The Great British Spring Clean. I’m all for it and let’s all join in, we don’t want the prize as it should be about pride. I wrote in a previous blog about the cost of council workers clearing rubbish from motorway slip roads and dual carriageways. Money that would have been better spent on doctors, nurses, teachers, firefighters, police officers, kit for the military… and more!
 
The Bad
 
So much bad to choose from!
 
You’ll have read my comments about Macron meddling in British politics before. My insiders tell me that France is the main problem on agreeing a Brexit deal that makes sense to all sides. The country whose aid we have twice come to in the defence of freedom and democracy. But when the British public have been given the freedom to decide their fate democratically, Macron tries to stop it happening. I suggest he sorts out his internal problems before meddling with us. Here’s a piece of advice from a serial SME owner of over forty years, “you won’t solve problems by getting the hard-working SMEs to pay more tax!”
 
But this week’s sickening bad as to be the Novichok board game. Just how low can society sink? If I saw it in any shop I’d boycott that shop forever.
 
The Mad
 
And as for mad… single women over 30 in China are getting 8 days dating leave each year in addition to their normal holiday to find a partner!
 
And what about the 84-year-old Republican State Representative in the Arizona House of Representatives, who has suggested that an online porn tax should be used to pay for the wall between Mexico and the US?! Actually, maybe that isn’t mad...

I voted ‘remain’, although in truth I want out of what the Common Market we joined has become and want no part of federalism. In my view, the current EU model is doomed and in 2016 I gave it no more than 25 years before it imploded. Britain needed to be there when that happened to be a major force in shaping mark two… but now, upon leaving the EU, that is not the case.

But how is the world viewing us now? The ‘Mother of Parliaments’ and model of democracy - just take a look at this article.

But let’s step back a moment and calmly consider what is happening. For whatever reason Parliament decided to have a referendum. Anyone on any bus, in any supermarket queue or in any pub knew it was going to be close. One side was always going to run a more effective campaign than the other. That happens, as it did with the General Election in 2017. But having decided to hold a referendum, Parliament, all MPs and the Government, had forsaken their right to decide the policy. Of course, there are legitimate arguments about what form Brexit takes, but those seeking to stop it are bang out of order! We are a democracy, we have to accept the result of the ballot box. In failing to do so risks the very fabric on which our civilisation is founded.

But now we face another twist on how we got here. Frankly, I have always thought what Donald Tusk is now saying was probably what happened, and I do agree it was daft to even contemplate a referendum. It was a brazen political manoeuvre, like the one Harold Wilson made in the 1970s. But Wilson was a seriously adroit politician. He was in control and won, both by keeping the unions on his side and staying in Europe. This is different. Cameron does not have Wilson’s political skills or instinct.

There are, as far as I can see, only two possible explanations to Donald Tusk’s comments and neither are palatable. He might be telling truth, but what does that mean? It means he has broken what he himself described as ‘a confidence’. He is President of the European Council – an office of trust. And yet, at a crucial time, he chooses to break a major confidence. To break it any time is unforgivable and demeans his office, but why now? He is meddling in the affairs of this country and trying to influence them for what he thinks is for the good of the EU. Now, whilst his role is to protect and do his best for the EU, that isn’t possible, especially if no-one trusts you and why would anyone ever trust him again if what he now says is true?

Of course, he may not be telling the truth. The story is being denied, but then as they say on the street, “it would be, wouldn’t it”.

So, we are left to choose between the holder of the office of President of the European Council lying for political advantage, or breaking a confidence for political advantage. Neither sits easy. How can he ever be trusted again, let alone trusted with confidential sensitive information? I can’t help but wonder what the Queen thinks of it all. She has probably been privy to more sensitive and confidential information that anyone else alive, and it has remained confidential.

Frankly, if anyone was looking for another reason to leave the EU, Tusk has just provided it. When you cannot trust your allies and partners it’s time to move on.

And then we have the spectacle of Blair peddling his way around Europe undermining both the British people and Parliament with a whispering campaign using British Embassies. Not to make too fine a point, but it undermines democracy in itself. I have asked the question before, “just who does he think he is?” Andrew Neil challenged him in a recent interview about him undermining Britain abroad. I have never found his softly spoken, “now let me put it this way” approach convincing, but my, how it failed in that interview.

It was Blue Monday last week and one of the possible signs of having a mental health problem is having strange thoughts, which translated into street slang means being delusional! I will not be alive in 100 years time to see how history judges 1990 to 2030, but I doubt Blair or Cameron will fare well. Tusk will probably not even rate a mention.

The United Kingdom is currently in a unique position. We have always differed between politics of left and right, sometimes decisively, sometimes narrowly, but done so accepting democracy and the view of the ballot box. We are now divided narrowly, not on those traditional lines but as leavers and remainers. How can anyone successfully lead the country to where it has said it wants to go when the wreckers who asked us the question are doing everything in their power, and indeed beyond their power, to deny the people their democratic decision.

What Brexit should actually be is a fair debate, but both Parliament and the EU are undemocratically trying to stop that. My fear is not what will happen economically because of the British people’s decision on whether it turns out to be right or wrong, good or bad, but the damage done to the trust between the people and Parliament, and between world leaders. We know there are world leaders you cannot trust, we knew that in 1938 when Neville Chamberlain waived his piece of paper and said, “peace in our time.” Wasn’t one of the goals of the EU (the political EU as opposed to the trading Common Market) supposed to be trust between member states?

As I began this blog… it’s all going to implode. Tragic.

Last weekend I was kindly invited to the London studios of talkRADIO, the nationwide station covering all the important news and views of the day.

​I went live on air to the UK on 'The Steph and Dom' show, where I spoke about something that desperately needs more addressing in this country; mental health.

To coincide with Blue Monday on the 21st, I spoke about how employers can monitor and support those who may be suffering with poor mental health in the workplace.

You can listen to the full interview below... enjoy!