Brexit and racism

I have had two interesting discussions this week on social media about Brexit and racism.

On one, after being insulted for my views on Brexit, I was told that all remoaners like me called those who decided to Vote Leave racist (an issue that was hinted at one the other, but by someone else).  I would like to point out a few things on this.  I have friends and colleagues who decided to vote leave, and I do not consider them racist for doing so.  While I consider them to be misguided, that was because of the lies that they had been sold as well as well as the failure of people like myself to counter the Social Media campaign part funded by Russia.

However, I do stand by my view that almost all racists would have decided to Vote Leave in the EU referendum.

I do not think that being against too much immigration makes someone racist.  The question arises as to what too much immigration is.  In the past, the Rivers Of Blood speech occurred due to immigration from the Caribbean and Asia, in the 2010 general election a big issue was immigration from Eastern Europe, and in the EU referendum, the issues that seemed to swing it were fears of millions of refugees coming to the UK as well as a Muslim invasion from Turkey.  It is all too easy to prey on such fears, and doing so has won votes and support.  But when people have been shown the benefits of immigration, most of the time, they become less hostile.  And in addition to this, many forget how our great nation is built on immigration, a big example of this being our Royal Family.  For those who doubt this, just Google Phil the Greek.  And there is the latest addition of course, from the USA, though it appears that some are less forgiving of her because of her skin colour.

A big fear is that immigrants are coming here to simultaneously steal our benefits and our jobs at the same time.  Where I work, I have only come across one immigrant family that appeared to be milking the benefit system, almost all the others that I have seen are here to work.

Which brings me onto benefits (I will return to working afterwards).  At a party this summer, the topic of Brexit and immigration came up.  During this discussion, the person who said that British workers are lazy later said that immigrants come here as the benefits system here is the best in Europe.  Ignoring how that in Germany and Sweden have a better system which was the reason that so many refugees from Syria opted to seek sanctuary there.  And he has ignored how thanks to the improvements in the benefit system, homelessness has increased along with in work poverty.

But when it comes to working here, yes, some UK workers are lazy.  Most are not where I work, we have two immigrants, everyone else being born in the UK and everyone works hard.  Every nation has slackers, and they tend not to leave the nations that they are from.  There are lazy Poles, lazy Brits, lazy Australians etc.  Those who make a choice to come here to work want to work and in general have a good work ethic.  We can get immigrants to leave, it will not be good.  And many of those who are against immigration forget that.

Yes, we can force British born workers to work, but I would rather work with someone who wants to work, rather than someone who is forced to do so ‘or else.’  

My letter to my MP to ask him not to prorogue Parliament

Dear Mr W Quince MP,

I am a constituent who has e-mailed you in the past, and whom, despite you blocking me on Twitter, you have been kind enough to write back to me in the past. 

I contact you to call for you to argue that the voice of parliament is heard and not silenced by suspending it for five weeks.  

If you do back this undemocratic suspension of five weeks, I would be grateful if you could cite the occasions that you would back a repeat in the future, including any such actions by a Labour PM, such as Jeremy Corbyn, if he was elected.  If you back suspension now, but would not do so under a Corbyn government, the reasons why would be most appreciated. 

I am aware that this has happened in the past, such as in 1997 to avoid a debate on the cash for questions scandal, as well as in 1948 by a Labour government to prevent one house from blocking a bill.

I suspect that you will be even more busy that usual in the next few weeks and I hope that you get the support that is needed to cope with the stress that the increased work load will bring.

Yours Truly...

The end of the Bank Holiday weekend

The family have recovered. Mostly. In fact the children are ruffling my hair as I type. However my wife is not 100% and her elbow is giving her jip.

And the holiday continues, but not for long.  And as preparation for my son, we went out cycling. It was the first bike trip for my daughter since her bicycle accident last year.  And while my son has managed to avoid a lot of cycling this holiday, as he intends to cycle to his new school, there was no escape from it.  Ideally, I would have liked him to have cycled throughout the holiday, but sadly he has not.  My intention is to ensure that he cycles is a safe manner, and has the energy to get to his school and back.

On our last trip, he was cycling slowly.  And on the one before that, we was so slow, I thought it was deliberate.  But now I realise just how unfit he is.  So we have a week and a bit to get him better, or he will be walking to and from school.

Sideshow Bob and Arsenal

First of all, the kids have been in Scotland with their mother who had taken them to visit David.  They got back, my wife being knackered having driven down from Edinburgh.  Needless to say, I am very happy to see them having missed them these past few days.

On the downside though is the performance of Arsenal.  I should really say it was the defensive performance, though the use of a diamond formation in midfield gave Liverpool space on the pitch to exploit, which they did.  Going forwards, we were dangerous and Pepe has shown himself to be a good signing.  But I have argued that our problem last season was in defence.  We managed to get Sideshow Bob from Chelski, but his two mistakes in the game cost us, one being a penal, they other letting Liverpool to score.

On the bright side, ManUre lost!

Home at last!

Our holiday is over.

And our flight was delayed.  Things could have been worse, but as you can see, the delay to our flight was a lot longer than we expected.

I think that the staff who had to deal with this were great.  We got vouchers for food and drink, but it was exhausting.  My son got the most sleep on the chairs in the airport lounge, my wife coming second.  My daughter and I stayed up until the flight arrived, not a Jet2.com plane, but one from Titan airlines.

But we are at home now.  A lot later than expected, and while the journey was stressful, it was nothing compared to our first day of our holiday.  It was sad that we missed the first and last day of it at our hotel, and it would have been even better with those two extra nights, but that was not meant to be.

Day six in Rhodes

Our final day and I type this in the airport waiting for our delayed Jet2.com flight.

The day has been a nice one otherwise.  We all swam in the pool, I went for two walks and basically it has been a nice and relaxing day.

A shame things are not going well now, but it appears that we will be flying out at 0230 rather than 2300(ish).  So we will be home soon.

Day five in Rhodes

Our last full day here.

We fly tomorrow.  Originally we were meant to leave on Saturday, but due to the issues with getting to the airport using the ferry, it would be impossible to get our flight unless we left today, and stayed overnight in Turkey.

Anyway, we spent it relaxing by and in the pool. Before lunch, some hotel staff came up to say that there was to be some entertainment.  My daughter was not too keen but my son decided to give it a try.

It involved shooting coloured water at one of the entertainment staff after being divided into teams, beach volleyball sung sheets (the team would have to work together to catch the ball using the sheet as well as how it) dancing, and also an obstacle course.  He was great, as was the flashmob dance his team had practiced in the evening.  We went to the disco, and initially I was not allowed to dance by him, which was painful as while I cannot dance, I love to try.  But he relented (after missing some classics) and while on the dance floor his flashmob dance came up.  He was brilliant and I am so proud of him, as is his sister who watched.

Day four in Rhodes

Another relaxing day again.  Today I went for a walk to the nearest village, found the one Pokéstop there and an abandoned concrete castle which looked like it had been built to hold jousts.

The kids and I had fun in the pool and I later tried to sort out what has happened with our holiday.

Basically, between our arrival airport and our hotel is a sea.  To cross it, we need a ferry.  When we landed on Sunday, even if we had headed to one of the ports that send ferries to Rhodes instantly, we would not have got there in time to get the last ferry.  To make things even more fun, on our last day, there is no way to get a ferry to Turkey so that we can make it to the airport to catch our plane.  This would mean either getting another flight, or staying overnight in Turkey on Friday.

We had discussed the issue of car hire with Expedia on Sunday night along with the issue of travel and had been promised a call back after 48 hours.  That deadline passed yesterday.  When I rang today, I was promised that I would be rung in 48 hours.  Needless to say I have little faith in this and my wife has now booked tickets to get home flying from Rhodes.

I know what has happened.  A software glitch has resulted in us having this issue.  I hope for other passengers that this is sorted out.  As well as for us.

Day three of our holiday in Rhodes

Just relaxing by the pool today.

Played in the pool with the children, walked in the complex with my son (which was when this photo was taken) and had a great dinner by the beach.

Day two of our holiday in Rhodes

We have finally arrived at the hotel. It is fantastic.  We have a pool in front of our room which the children love.  The down side is that we arrived after 1600, having left home at 0900 yesterday.

Our trip here was eventful. We missed one ferry and had to travel to another.  And when we got to Rhodes, it was chaos at the taxi rank, there being a free for all.  But the hotel arranged for a cab for us.  And we are here, relaxing.

Day one of our holiday in Rhodes

We are in Turkey.

Still.

Our plane flew into Turkey, which was fine as when we have travelled before, we have learned that rental cars can be taken across international borders and that you have to pay extra.  We had booked with Expedia and expected to pay extra at the airport for this.  We were not allowed to. And there was no way we were going to be able to get from the airport to the ferry terminal in time to get to Rhodes.

So we are staying  in an airport at the hotel and are due to travel to Rhodes tomorrow. And work out how we are to make the return trip.

It has been a nice weekend.  I was at work for too many hours yesterday, but got home to mow the lawn and go for a nice walk with my son.  Later we all were meant to watch A Simple Favor, but my son decided to call it a night.  But that meant that my wife, daughter and me watched it.  And I have to say, I liked the film.  It was a bit predictable, but it was a story well told, though I think that the end was incongruous compared to the rest of the film.

Today, I have been for a walk with him and have spent a lot of my free time watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer with my daughter.  It has brought back memories of when I watched it before, and it is good to watch the twists and turns of the plot with her.

The difference between now and then was that I always wanted to listen to the music but never got the chance, and now I get to listen to the songs that are played.

Of course we can trust Boris to keep his promises. Ask his two previous wives.

Of course we can trust our new Prime Minister.  

He kept his promises of fidelity to his two previous wives didn’t he?

Okay, that is a bit mean, after all, it is not that he has a history of lying, making up quotes, or stabbing colleagues in he back to take he heat away from him when he has put himself, and more importantly, others in a worse situation.  But to be fair with Priti Patel, he has rewarded her after his Machiavellian display of his survival instincts when he threw her under the bus to get away with yet another one of his gaffes.

In a world where journalists and freedom of the press is under attack in the USA, we obviously would not need to worry about the same here.

But being serious, he has been voted in as a Conservative mayor in London, twice. The first time can be seen as a rejection of Tony Blair, but the second time was when anti-Tory sentiment was higher.  He is very good at soundbites.  And his views on Brexit may result in the Conservatives not being damaged by the Brexit party too much when it comes to the next General Election.  I trust him to deliver on Brexit.  I hope I am wrong, but I think that the Brexit he delivers will be a nightmare.