Brexit is supposed to happen on Friday. How will we know that it’s happened? Will church bells ring? Will there be fireworks?
It’s been 3½ years since we voted for it, and I still don’t believe we’ll get it. Or if we get it, nothing will really change at all.
The British political class never wanted Brexit, and so they’re probably not going to have it. We’ll most likely continue to be a satellite state of the EU, implementing every new regulation dreamt up in Brussels, exactly as if we were still a member state.
Does Boris really want Brexit? He’s certainly made a big show of it. But ultimately he’s a fully paid up member of the British political class, which is part of the European political class.. A few days ago I came across a line that summarised what was likely to happen:
…the Prime Minister and his multicultural team can be counted on to pursue a policy of Globalism in One Country.
The European political class are all globalists. They regard the nation state as obsolete, and as passé as smoking. They’re concerned with important global problems like Global Warming.
But, as Mongolia and North Korea have closed their borders with China, the new coronavirus epidemic is perhaps showing one reason why borders and nation states matter: it helps to have a compartmentalised world in which the free movement of viruses and bacteria can be checked. If one goes down, the rest can hope to survive. And the more independent that states are, the more likely that they will survive. A fully globalised world would be one in which there’s be rapid free movement of viruses and bacteria everywhere.
It’s a point that Steve Turley was making in the video below:
As he says: “Borderless societies are vulnerable societies. We secure our borders for the same reason we lock our doors at night.”
That said, after seeing video of supermarkets in Wuhan filled with food, and learning that Beijing was as deserted as Wuhan during the Sars epidemic, I’m no longer as pessimistic about it all as I was yesterday. It seems to me quite likely that the spread of the new coronavirus outside China is quite likely to be as contained as the Ebola epidemic was (and still is) contained in Africa.
Of course, I might change my mind again. But at the moment I fell quite optimistic that this latest health scare will prove to be as much a dud as all the rest have been.
Frank Davis 
I don’t know Frank. I think the CVirus is worse than anyone is letting out. I think Brext will happen, Perhaps you just slept well last night and woke up feeling chipper?
I do remember reading a few days ago that Article 13 of the EU new copyright regulations will not be implemented in the UK. So that’s something positive we’ll gain from Brexit from the start. Boris and his cronies may have a globalist mindset, but at least outside the EU we have a chance of preserving what’s left of our culture and traditions.
I didn’t know that, thank you.
Here’s why the UK is (finally) dumping Article 13 for good
28 January 2020
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/uk-article-13-copyright-brexit
I do remember reading a few days ago that Article 13 of the EU new copyright regulations will not be implemented in the UK.
I was under the impression Article 13 was going to be scrapped after a few countries opposed it.
Nevertheless, Youtube has imposed changes with respect to copyright.
Having stumbled across the Watts case in late 1918 I followed it until sentencing.
To my surprise the feed about new videos and channels did not cease. Quite the contrary. There are plenty of hobby detectives (I didn’t know that crime was such a big subject) who could not stop hypothesising as their number of views and subscribers also increased their income. At some point in 2019 some sort of ?competitive “war” started and youtube creators threatening/actually reporting each other with copyright violations.
It’s a mine field as it is now, article 13 will make it worse.
Boris and his cronies may have a globalist mindset, but at least outside the EU we have a chance of preserving what’s left of our culture and traditions.
I am sorry, I can’t see how not implementing article 13 preserves “what is left of British culture and traditions”. Amending the smoking ban most certainly would revive what little is left of the much loved pub culture. This isn’t going to happen.
I wasn’t talking about rejecting Article 13 preserving our culture, just using that as an example of how Brexit has already been positive. And if you’re so myopically focused on the smoking ban that ‘pub culture’ is the only sort of culture you can think of, I’m not surprised you don’t understand what I mean.
Thank you for your reply.
if you’re so myopically focused on the smoking ban that ‘pub culture’ is the only sort of culture you can think of
Smoking bans don’t just apply to pub culture. They apply to all culture. They apply to cinemas, theatres, dance halls, meeting rooms, churches, TV and radio studios, and much else beside. And therefore they have divisive effects in all culture. It would be myopic not to see this.
But, as Mongolia and North Korea have closed their borders with China, the new coronavirus epidemic is perhaps showing one reason why borders and nation states matter: it helps to have a compartmentalised world in which the free movement of viruses and bacteria can be checked. If one goes down, the rest can hope to survive. And the more independent that states are, the more likely that they will survive.
Providing travel will cease completely from the onset of the epidemic. That is utopia. However, the good thing about nation states and borders is a greater pool of information available to the public via the internet or the different media, providing you speak the language.
Today I checked the German media as there are 4 cases now in Germany. The government statement published was: “We fully expected to see cases”. The media had no problem to report about the one case transmitted by an apparently asymptomatic individual and the public appears to happily go about their business normally. (None of my relatives/friends there has as yet contacted me for checking if this, that and the other could be right, either).
A fully globalised world would be one in which there’s be rapid free movement of viruses and bacteria everywhere.
Quite frankly, the rapid free movement of micro-organisms is not what I worry about. I worry about a centralised government and it’s information control.
‘Magic lungs’…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51279355
From the article (emphasis mine):
Sadly, it’s just more than Antismoking fearmongering propaganda. Our immune systems are always working to eliminate rogue cells … until they can’t; whether you smoke or not.
I can see that Joe L. The fact the ‘scientist; describes the healing “magical” says more about the state of the science than anything else to me.
This was obviously so urgent that the BBC HAD to publish it on 29.01.2020 and with that shows the anti-smokers’ priorities. They are now so sure of getting a free run that they just can’t wait for the actual Brexit day?
To the occasional hard-core Brexiteer commenting here (you did need the smokers, remember?) please elaborate on this:
Links to these here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51279355
Swindon firm gives non-smokers extra holiday
Smoking ban: Austria’s cafe society calls time on cigarettes
Pledge to end smoking in England by 2030
Disregard the link to Austria’s total smoking ban forced on it’s people on 01.11.2019. It is anti-smoker rhetoric and we remember the same used here back in 2007.
The ‘pledge to end smoking in England by 2030’ article was published on 23.07.19 when it was clear Brexit was coming. We ARE exchanging the Devil for Beelzebub.
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I must admit I am angered by the anti-smokers abusing the ongoing coronavirus epidemic to sneak in THEIR AGENDA when the BBC’s coverage of the ongoing is still somewhat questionable.
At this point in time some sort of “expert” conjured up a death rate of about 1%. This, I’m afraid is nonsense. The truth is that the current death rate is still 2.2% but this means very little as we need to take into account the incubation period. In short, we will get the actual death rate AFTER the end of the epidemic. (Also, the recovery rate is below the death rate.)
(Apologies, Frank for my extensive commenting)