- entry 2016/07/10

Brexit

• Some of the politicians are claiming that they have a mandate to press ahead with Brexit. They have no such thing, the referendum was purely advisory.
• The effective governance has fallen flat on its ass. Corbyn is presiding over the ruins of what is left of the Labour party. Cameron fell upon his sword immediately. The two cheerleaders of the Brexit campaign lasted about as long as a virgin in a coven, and now the leadership race (unelected by the public, I should add) is basically like choosing between Valdemort and Satan.
• The economic and business forecasts for the UK keep getting worse - the pound, already having crashed through the floor faster than a melting down reactor core, is now officially more volatile that Bitcoin. I never would have thought I'd hear that said about a Western currency.
• National Front sympathies are taking a beating across Europe. A far righter is likely to be elected in charge of Austria. He's stated there will be no intention of withdrawing from the EU. Denmark, the most likely place to next have a referendum, now suddenly doesn't want to even think about such things. These people, in these countries, just look at the mess that was the former Great Britain, and they realise that that'll be them if they choose to follow.
• Brexit sympathisers quote time and again the "democratic will of the people". There was no such thing. It was not even a fairly held election, unless you count numerous postal vote application forms received after the vote, and the loss of unknown numbers of overseas postal votes to be "fair". The whole thing was based upon a pile of lies. Frankly, the "democratic will of the people" is some nice sounding bullshit to gloss over glaring issues in the entire referendum process. But, hey, some higher power wants Britain out, so it will go ahead regardless.

Which brings us to an interesting point. If the "democratic will of the people" is to be respected, then why isn't it being? I am talking more specifically about Scotland. Now, people pretty much expected Scotland to vote to remain. They knew the cities were pro-EU and the SNP are pro-EU. They expected the fishing areas to vote out, you know, fishing quotas and such.
But that isn't what happened.
Scotland voted in. Or more specifically, every single part of Scotland, without exception, voted to remain a part of the EU. Unlike Northern Ireland, which was mostly for the EU, there was not one single Leave result in Scotland. Not the mainland, not the highlands, not the fishing villages, not the islands, not anywhere.

So why are so many people lumping Scotland in with England and saying they'll have to leave the EU? It's the bloody clear bloody obvious something like 20% difference (unlike the very close national result) that the Scottish do not want to leave the EU. Why isn't their democratic will being respected?

A little refresher for overseas people. The United Kingdom is comprised of four "countries":

• England - home of many millions of gullible sheep, Express, and Daily Mail readers. Given the conflicts through history (Romans, Normans, Vikings, etc) I would predict that there are few actual true native citizens in the country, except native in the modern-times sense. You know, like Americans, but with a few more generations.
• Wales - home of actual sheep. While it likes to think of itself as a country, is isn't really. It was a Principality which was than incorporated into England. It has, in recent times, gained a semi-devolved governance as it has always retained an independent culture, language, and tradition. Wales received a lot of investment from the EU, and - Cardiff aside - mostly voted to leave. A decision a lot of people seem to regret now that they realise what they're about to lose.
• Northern Ireland - basically "that bit the English stole from the Irish" that led to decades of "troubles". Also a devolved governance (Stormont), whoever is next in the seat of power in the UK is going to have to tread mighty carefully around the Ireland issue as not to make a mess with the border and the peace. We don't need to go back to the seventies and eighties, thank you. There have been calls from the north (which largely voted to remain) for a reunification of Ireland. As a child of the seventies and eighties, this blows my mind.
• And now Scotland. A proper separate country with a technically different currency, different legal system, and devolved governance that is partially maintained at Holyrood (though as with the rest, Westminster is in overall control). How Scotland became to be joined to England is a bit of messy history, but like Wales they never lost their culture or traditions.

It is interesting that there are numerous figures and paper columnists who are saying basically "stuff it Scotland, you had a referendum in 2014 where you chose to remain a part of the UK, so why aren't you agreeing to this?". The answer is so simple it is difficult to imagine why it even needs to be asked. Scotland has not changed. The situation of the UK has, greatly. To the point where it is painfully clear that England (Westminster) and Scotland now see things quite differently. So the situation as it was in 2014 is no longer valid. It's like saying "you agreed to purchase that parcel of land, why don't you want it after a nuclear accident happened on it?". What was, and what is, are not the same.

I don't know quite how Nicola Sturgeon plans to extricate Scotland from the mess, nor how she intends to sell it to the voters in such a way that they will choose. As usual, Spain is being obstructive because they just can't get their head around Scotland being an actual separate country (so doesn't quite compare to the Catalonia issue). As usual, business leaders are now begging the Scots not to leave, making all sorts of dumb claims like "Scottish independence is the last thing the UK needs now". To that I'm inclined to reply "Tough $#!+". Really, would they prefer Scotland to be flushed down the bog with the xenophobic English because "oooh, it might cause problems". You don't think Brexit isn't already causing global repercussions? Let's see the will of the people being properly respected in that case. Scotland remains a part of the EU. It's what they voted for. How dare they get screwed because their population is smaller than England.

Pocketbook Basic 2 (e-reader)

Here's a look at the device in action. It was recorded on a windy day, so you'll probably want to turn on the subtitles:

And, of course, it wouldn't be Rick's b.log if we didn't do this too. It's worth watching just to check out the FlashROM:

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Bernard, 12th July 2016, 15:58

Is that not a very pregnant pussy cat?

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