The Steeple Times

Tag: Brexit

  • Bloomberg on Brexit

    Bloomberg on Brexit

    Billionaire and former Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg condemns Brexit as “the single stupidest thing any country has ever done” apart from America electing Donald Trump

     

    As Michael Bloomberg opened a vast new European headquarters in London on Tuesday, The Guardian revealed a series of comments he’d made two weeks ago about Brexit.

     

    In a speech to the HUBweek conference in Boston, Bloomberg condemned the election of Donald Trump but also suggested: “It is really hard to understand why a country [Britain] that was doing so well wanted to ruin it” by voting for Brexit.

     

    Separately, on a previous occasion, this wise man also pointed out: “[Britain] didn’t have an immigration problem and they didn’t need control of their borders. They have the English Channel – that gave them control of their borders.” We join those saluting him.

     

    Mr Bloomberg’s comments in Boston follow:

     

    We are opening a brand new European headquarters in London – two big, expensive buildings. Would I have done it if I knew they were going to drop out? I’ve had some thoughts that maybe I wouldn’t have, but we are there, we are going to be very happy.

     

    My former wife was a Brit, my daughters have British passports, so we love England – it’s the father of our country, I suppose. But what they are doing is not good and there is no easy way to get out of it because if they don’t pay a penalty, everyone else would drop out. So they can’t get as good of a deal as they had before.

     

    I did say that I thought [Brexit] was the single stupidest thing any country has ever done but then we Trumped it.

     

    One of the things that is hurting us both in the United States and in the UK is that we have employees, not a lot but some, who are starting to say: ‘I don’t want to work here – can we transfer to some place else? This country doesn’t like immigrants.’

     

    All this talk in Washington – words have consequences. Whether we change the immigration laws or not, there is general feeling around the world that America is no longer an open, welcoming place and a lot of people don’t want to go there, and the same thing is happening in the UK because of Brexit.

     

    It is really hard to understand why a country that was doing so well wanted to ruin it. It was not a smart thing to do and getting out of it is going to be very difficult and is going to be very painful. It will hurt industries. People are already taking space in other cities over there [Europe], us included.

     

  • Hero of the Hour – Sir Nicholas Soames

    Hero of the Hour – Sir Nicholas Soames

    Sir Winston Churchill’s grandson Sir Nicholas Soames takes to Twitter and brands Donald Trump “graceless, boorish and mainly wrong”

     

    Sir Nicholas Soames MP is a gentleman of stature. This Conservative politician stood opposed to Brexit and now, entering the modern age, he has begun to use his Twitter account to share the most sensible of opinions.

     

    Tweeting to his 29,000 followers on Saturday, Sir Nicholas used a hashtag to remark:

     

    #theawfulthingisthathesjustnotfittobePresidentgracelessboorishandmainlyWRONG

     

    Sir Winston Churchill’s grandson is entirely right. President Donald Trump is a disaster and a disgrace and if America had any sense, they’d do just one thing: #GetHimGone

     

    Hero of the Hour – Sir Winston Churchill’s grandson Sir Nicholas Soames takes to Twitter and brands Donald Trump “graceless, boorish and mainly wrong”

  • Moron of the Moment – Emma Dent Coad

    Moron of the Moment – Emma Dent Coad

    Hectoring horror and Labour MP for Kensington Emma Dent Coad’s remarks about the royal family simply illustrate her ineptitude for high office

     

    Prior to the election, Emma Dent Coad was just a Kensington and Chelsea councillor, but, due to the ineptitude of Lady ‘Call me Victoria’ Borwick – a Tory with more interest in ivory than representing the 69% of her constituents that chose to vote ‘remain’ in the Brexit referendum – this equally awful red head unexpectedly also became Labour’s Member of Parliament for Kensington earlier this year.

     

    Now, aside from bizarrely being lauded by the truly ghastly hypocrite Diane Abbott at Labour’s party conference in Brighton, this firebrand Commie has gotten herself into a lot of bother with a series of pugnacious remarks about the royal family.

     

    Speaking at a fringe event, Dent Coad – whose Twitter handle contains numerous references to followers as “comrades” – told the assembled audience of anti-monarchists:

     

    “[Prince] Harry can’t actually fly a helicopter. He tried to pass the helicopter exam about four times and he couldn’t get through it at all so he always goes for the co-pilot. So he just sits there going ‘vroom ‘vroom.”

     

    “Harry and William are not very bright. Just let them drift away, be playboys or whatever… Their MP thinks the system is ridiculous. We should not be funding them.”

     

    Turning to the Duchess of Cambridge, she remarked:

     

    “It is disgusting [that she bought jumpers that cost £150 each]… That’s a food bill for a family of four. That’s absolutely outrageous.”

     

    Of the Duke of Edinburgh, Dent Coad went further:

     

    “The Queen might want to step back when her (cough, cough) soulmate is gone. He’s been mucking about and [been] quite unfaithful for quite a few years.”

     

    Of press coverage on the royals, this ranting Labour loudmouth suggested:

     

    “[The BBC produce] sickeningly gratuitous coverage of anything royal. [They are] very heavily directed by right-wing politics and the monarchy. It is a piece of the whole propaganda machine.”

     

    Though plainly Dent Coad thinks herself very funny, the nation did not and on Twitter, Rupert Myers, a political correspondent for GQ and The Telegraph, termed the remarks “absolutely vile stuff.” Another user, @Ferruzzicati, added: “My god you are one opportunistic, virtue signalling ingrate. A disgrace to your office. Resign woman” whilst Ned Donovan of the Daily Mail rightly concluded: “[You] are an incredibly unpleasant and spiteful person.”

     

    They are all right: Emma Dent Coad – a woman who previously sat on the TMO in charge of Grenfell Tower (and now wishes we’d all forget that) – should simply crawl back under the stone from whence she came. She is ridiculous, rude and would best rod off.

     

  • Bugger All Bernard

    Bugger All Bernard

    Naturist politician Bernard Jenkin MP shows himself to be the ‘Buggerallmoney’ of the Brexit generation

     

    “When Brexit happens there will be lots more money for everyone” crowed Bernard Jenkin on Monday morning’s All Out Politics with Adam Boulton on Sky News.

     

    “The UK’s best known naturist” and Tory politician continued: “We’ll have far more influence” before adding: “I’m all for Parliament voting for what we do with huge amounts of money.” Dismissing criticism of his hapless leader Theresa ‘Wheat Field Wazzock’ May, Jenkin also brushed off the Gina Miller Article 50 decision as “a big surprise” and simply suggested: “Many times legal advice is lacking.”

     

    Whether Jenkin and his cohorts end up “getting piles” (of cash) if Brexit does indeed happen remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure: He’s certainly forcing once Great Britain towards ‘Buggerallmoney’ instead.

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXuRvthgn4U

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP4xuPbZ4Ic

  • Hero of the Hour – David Cornwell

    Hero of the Hour – David Cornwell

    Novelist David Cornwell (AKA John le Carré) speaks sense on the elite, Brexit and Donald Trump

     

    David Cornwell – better known as the novelist John le Carré – gave a rare interview in yesterday’s The Sunday Times. In it, he spoke candidly and revealed his beliefs that Brexit is something he “despises” and that Donald Trump “is such a horse’s arse.”

     

    In the interview Cornwell told the paper’s Bryan Appleyard:

     

    “Surely the definition of a decent society is: one, how it chooses its elite; and, two, how it looks after its losers. Now we choose our elite horribly badly and, as long as private education commands the scene, don’t talk to me about levelling the playing field — the social contract is bust in this country.”

     

    “We’re getting people who start their political careers at university and go in as special assistants to MPs, like those ridiculous people who were advising May [Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill]. We are run by the wrong elite.”

     

    “I understand why people who are socially deprived, with the safety net taken away from them and treated as second-class citizens, have every right to vote for some other dream. I understand that, and I understand it needs a desperate remedy, and fast, but Brexit isn’t the answer.”

     

    Of Trump, he added:

     

    “The Russian-Ukrainian money trail is the one that, combined with collusion in Russian electoral tampering, will, with luck, nail him.”

     

    Cornwell is spot on all scores and we salute him.

     

    ‘A Legacy of Spies’ by John le Carré is out on Thursday (Viking, £20). Pre-order from Amazon for £9.50 by clicking here.

     

  • Stopping Brexit

    Stopping Brexit

    Matthew Steeples suggests Labour’s partial U-turn on Brexit is a positive start; they must now go further and oppose it entirely

     

    Whilst Keir Starmer’s decision to announce Labour will support Britain remaining in a customs union with the EU and within the single market during a “time-limited transitional period between our exit from the EU and the new lasting relationship we build with our European partners” in The Observer yesterday is to be saluted, he does not go far enough.

     

    Brexit has left Britain on a knife-edge. Sterling is considerably weakened, jobs in agriculture and banking are already disappearing and businesses, such as occurred with Southern Salads in Kent, are beginning to go into administration. Theresa May’s “Brexit means Brexit” and her ridiculous “red, white and blue Brexit” now seem the ultimate follies and this morning’s comment by Peter Oborne in the Daily Mail is indicative that the lunatics are still in charge of the asylum.

     

    In a moaning rant that he titles a “spectacular betrayal of Labour voters” and aside from spouting the usual rhetoric, Oborne does rightly suggest that Jeremy Corbyn is not a natural supporter of the EU. The Labour leader, after all, voted against British membership in 1975, opposed the single market subsequently and also did little in the 2016 referendum campaign to positively support ‘remain’. Consequently, one is left wondering if he actually truly supports what Keir Starmer yesterday proposed.

     

    The Leader of the Opposition’s aim, of course, is power and alongside his recent transformation from a badly dressed joker to someone who actually made headway – thanks in the main to Theresa May’s incompetence and decision to call an utterly unnecessary election – Corbyn has realised that the 48% are a constituency worthy of pursuing. He must now, himself, come out and be honest with us and we urge him to do what is best for Britain: It is time for Labour campaign to stop Brexit.

     

    Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.

     

  • Picture of the Week – The Lack of Appeal of ‘The Half Biscuit’

    Picture of the Week – The Lack of Appeal of ‘The Half Biscuit’

    Facebook group mocks racist online abuser Viscount St Davids as he returns to the clink

     

    On Friday, the dimwitted ‘half biscuit’ 4th Viscount St Davids – also known as amongst other things Rhodri Philipps and Baron Strange of Knockin – was returned to jail after attempting and then dropping an appeal against a sentence for malicious communications.

     

    Thrice bankrupt Philipps, whose sentence of 12 weeks could have been extended if his appeal had failed, was rightly slapped with increased costs by Deborah Taylor, the recorder of Westminster sitting at Southwark Crown Court, and later mocked on Facebook by the group ‘Pants to Brexit’. We share their image here and suggest it summary of what decent people everywhere think of the views of this reprehensible bigoted scumbag criminal.

     

  • Axing Anti-Social Media

    Axing Anti-Social Media

    Matthew Steeples suggests the director of public prosecutions is right to seek “uplifted” sentences for online abusers but argues she does not go far enough

     

    I have been targeted by online trolls for years. As a writer, I accept I am ‘fair game’ for criticism but when that tips over into the kind of vicious abuse I get from unhinged keyboard warriors, it moves into a realm that is unacceptable.

     

    On a personal level, my recent involvement in the case of the Viscount St Davids – a convicted online hate criminal and all round dimwit returning to court this week to again face the repercussions of offering a reward on Facebook to anyone prepared to run over the anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller – not only resulted in negative articles by such oddities as the one-time male escort and Big Brother 11 contestant Benjamin Duncan on the blog of the anti-gay, pro-repatriation of immigrant Traditional Britain website, but also in threatening messages online and a physical attack upon my person. Such abuse has not only taken up considerable amounts of my time and distressed me, it has also caused considerable nuisance to friends and business acquaintances. Now, to her credit, the director of public prosecutions, Alison Saunders, has finally also come to the conclusion that “online abusers must be dealt with harshly” and thankfully it looks as if the laws relating to such will be toughened up.

     

    In an article, published in this morning’s The Guardian, Saunders argues “the criminal justice system are ready to listen” with regard to calls for stronger sentences for online abusers. She references “new guidance” and a need for “stiffer ‘uplifted’ sentences” but what she ignores is that the Communications Act 2003, under which the likes of the aforementioned errant peer was prosecuted, does not have any understanding of Facebook (which came into existence one year after the creation of that law in 2004) and Twitter (launched 2006).

     

    Saunders’ acceptance that “an increasing proportion of hate crime is now perpetrated” online is a definite start and her acceptance that they should be treated “just as seriously as those experienced face to face” is certainly positive. Hitting “report abuse” on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, however, gets no one anywhere. It is in fact our government that must go further and introduce stronger regulation that actually holds social media providers themselves to account for the content they allow to be published on their sites.

     

  • Tossed in Tonbridge

    Tossed in Tonbridge

    Kentish salad company Southern Salads tosses 260 jobs to the wolves after going into administration because of Brexit

     

    Illustrations of the likely negative impact of Britain’s decision to leave the UK are coming from far and wide and though Nigel Farage may be crowing over an alleged £60 million film deal – though unsurprisingly no particular studio has actually announced such ‘news’ as ‘truth’ – companies are relocating staff abroad and even closing altogether. Even hardline Brexiteers are being heard to remark: “There’s going to be a heavy price to pay for the complacency… Britain is f***ed” and asking: “What the hell have we done?”

     

    Aside from Bloomberg revealing “London could lose 10,000 banking jobs and 20,000 roles in financial services” to such cities as Dublin, Frankfurt and Paris in an article last month, a more localised illustration of the impact of Theresa May’s appallingly bad handling of this issue was provided yesterday in the form of news that a Tonbridge, Kent based firm, Southern Salads, had gone into administration due to “unprecedented pressure on cash flow in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit vote.”

     

    Southern Salads, a 30-year old, family run firm which employed 260 people and whose motto was “share the passion”, ceased trading Wednesday and of why it failed, joint administrator Ian Vickers of FRP Advisory told KentLive:

     

    “The sudden decline in sterling was not foreseen by the company, leaving the business grappling with an immediate fall of between 10% and 20% in its purchasing power for overseas-grown salads required for the winter and early spring UK market, which in turn put a severe strain on cash-flow.”

     

    “With insufficient protection from its currency hedging arrangements, pressure increased on cash-flow as the business traded through to this spring.”

     

    “The company was unsuccessful in negotiating any significant changes to its pricing terms with its suppliers in mainland Europe, while also being unable to pass on its cost increases to supermarkets and its other customers.”

     

    “The company relies on European suppliers for fresh vegetables and fruit from the Netherlands and Poland in the north to France, Italy and Spain in the south.”

     

    It’d be fascinating to know what Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and Theresa May thinks about that.

     

  • Hero of the Hour – Anna Soubry MP

    Anna Soubry speaks for Britain and speaks complete sense; Theresa May should take note

     

    Anna Soubry MP is a rare thing: A politician of conviction and one whose sensible nature is completely clear. Not guided, unlike her grasping colleagues by personal and party politicial ambitions, but instead by a belief in what she thinks is right for the country, here is a lady of logic and stature.

     

    In an article in today’s Mail on Sunday, Ms Soubry states: “My country must come before my party” and adds: “We must face up to the Brexit reality: It is fantasy to think we are going to get a good deal from the EU based on country negotiating strategy. People will soon see how they have been conned by the Brexiteers. All options must go back on the table.”

     

    She adds: “Brexit is a self-inflicted wound; the people of this country hold the knife and they don’t have to use it if they don’t want to. The people, not the hardline Brexiteers, are in charge.”

     

    Ms Soubry is entirely right. Instead of wandering through the Alps for three works, Mrs May should be at work at this crucial time. She should be seeking the best deal for our country and she be putting a stop to the recklessness of ‘Hard Brexit’. It is time this hapless Prime Minister woke up and smelled the coffee.