Category Archives: Op-eds

Andrew Lomas

Cllr Andrew Lomas writes…Why I’ve left Labour and joined the Liberal Democrats

By Andrew Lomas | Sun 9th October 2016 - 11:37 pm

Andrew LomasFollowing the referendum, Britain has to find a new place for itself in the world. Extricating the UK from the European Union on terms that don’t crash the economy is going to be an astonishingly difficult task that neither the Conservatives nor the Labour Party seem to be willing or able to face up to.

On the right, the Conservatives appear to be indulging in post-Brexit nostalgia, an imaginary time when the British Lion merely had to roar to make other nations meekly fall into line. However, Brexiteers can bellow “BUT THEY NEED US MORE THAN WE NEED THEM” as often as they like: the statement does not become any more rooted in reality for the repetition (as both France and Germany are beginning to make clear). On top of this is the noxious language unleashed at last week’s Tory conference about foreigners and the implied threat to fight a culture war against those who want a Britain that is open, tolerant, and engaged with the world. Still, at least we have an effective opposition, right?

Well no. Labour have decided that what really matters, at a time of increasing illiberalism and anti-foreigner rhetoric, are endless debates about the constitution of its internal governing bodies, a(nother) fight about nuclear weapons, and mandatory reselection of MPs. More damningly, amidst the silence on Brexit, it is hard to escape the feeling that the party leadership are ultimately happy to embrace the opportunity to rehash a Bennite version of autarky that Brexit offers. 

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Richard Warren

Lib Dems: The Co-operatives Party

By Richard Warren | Sun 9th October 2016 - 10:58 am

Theresa May’s plan to introduce worker directors onto company boards is a start, but she still has a long way to go to catch up with liberal thinking:  Jo Grimond advocated worker-owned firms more than 50 years ago, and she hasn’t reached that point yet.

But the Lib Dems need to be more consistent and outspoken in support for worker-owned firms and other types of co-operatives, too. Over the decades, we’ve had the occasional burst of enthusiasm, such as when Nick Clegg called for the creation of a “John Lewis economy” in 2012, but it doesn’t appear to be integrated into our policy-making as it is over at the Co-operative Party. It ought to be for the following three reasons:

First, by supporting co-operatives we can create a coherent, credible, principled centre-left alternative to Corbynite state socialism that might help us find common ground with some Labour and Co-operative Party supporters. Significantly, the Co-operative Party is increasingly keen to distinguish itself from Labour now, and shares some of our views on key issues. As Labour MP and chairman of the Co-operative Party, Gareth Thomas, says, the co-operative movement is pro-business and pro-EU; so are we. 

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Do the Liberal Democrats know where Shenzhen is? And why it matters

By Alex Church | Sun 9th October 2016 - 8:59 am

Have you seen Gary Johnson forgetting ‘what’ Aleppo is? If not I’d recommend it. His baffled expression is hilarious.

But when you have finished chuckling, may I ask you a question? Where is Shenzhen?

My guess is most of you are now stumped. I only know because I once had to catch a train from Shenzhen station. Which is embarrassing because by one definition it is the 8th largest city in the world. It is adjacent to but several times the size of Hong Kong. Which, remarkably, is no longer among the twenty largest Chinese cities. And China is an enormous country in an enormous region:

Credit: Redditor valeriepieris

Credit: Redditor valeriepieris

Despite this the last Liberal Democrat manifesto includes more references to Israel – which has 0.001% of the world’s population – than to all the countries in the Asia-Pacific combined. And they are only mentioned in the context of advocating EU membership. There are (or have been) groups declaring themselves to be “the Liberal Democrat Friends…” There are the Chinese Liberal Democrats but they exist “to promote closer links between the Party and the Chinese and South East Asian community in the UK.” of Israel, Palestine, Kashmir, India and Turkey but not of China, Indonesia or Vietnam. Basically, if a Lib Dem says they care about foreign policy that usually means they are interested in Europe or the parts of the Islamic world somewhat adjacent to it. 

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Chris Key

The double-speak of the Prime Minister and her Cabinet

By Chris Key | Sat 8th October 2016 - 1:15 pm

It is a common dictum that politicians should be judged by their actions not by their words. Well it would appear that on many fronts the government could be rightly accused of double-speak after this week’s Conservative Party Conference.

Theresa May was Home Secretary for six years.  During that time she deported almost 50,000 students with dubious legality and yet still failed to meet her own unrealistic targets. She also oversaw a big reduction in the number of immigration officers at ports and airports. However rather than accepting targets will never be met and giving the Home Office the staff they need, it has now become the job of head teachers and property owners to control immigration. If you cannot do it yourself outsource to someone who can is the leitmotif of the May government.

Landlords now face the risk of prosecution if they fail to check the right of their tenants to live in the U.K. Yet when a Tory Minister for immigration in the last government failed to check the papers of his cleaner he simply went to the back benches only to be reappointed to a Ministerial job. The “A country which works for everyone” slogan needs more small print than the average insurance policy.

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Phil Craxford

If I hear the phrase ‘political elite’ one more time I swear I shall go pop!

By Phil Craxford | Sat 8th October 2016 - 11:45 am

On the face of it, it seems an innocuous enough phrase. A simple telling it like it is without being too specific or a way of summarising all those professional politicians and others in the orbit of government. It’s handy when the column inches are tight. So why am I so vexed with this now? After all the phrase and the theory behind it isn’t a new one as it has been around since the middle of the 20th century. Why now?

Because in the last few years its usage has been subtly usurped and now it hides a whole series of insinuations that undermine many of the core principles not just of those who read this here but of anyone of any political stripe who takes what democracy gives us to heart.

I’ve heard it used more recently but here is a good example of how the phrase has been corrupted. Nigel Lawson (a member of the political elite if ever there was one) on Question Time.

  1. A lady asks a question to do with issues around Europe.
  2. Nigel Lawson responds by blaming the ‘political elite’.
  3. The lady’s question is based on her understanding of a binary ‘us and them’ scenario but surreptitiously his response has changed this to a trinary ‘you and I against them’ condition.
  4. He then goes on to state his own opinion.
  5. He and the lady nod as if agreeing although their interests are poles apart.
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Paul Walter

Events of the week highlight the courage and clarity of Tim Farron’s stance

By Paul Walter | Sat 8th October 2016 - 10:15 am

It’s been quite a week in British politics. The Tory conference and the UKIP self-combustion serve to crystallise a distinct change. A sea change, if you like.

We heard Amber Rudd saying companies will have to register “foreign” employees (next step getting them to wear badges?) and Theresa May hard Brexiting.

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Gail Smith

Who dares wins: we dared in Sheffield and won

By Gail Smith | Fri 7th October 2016 - 3:45 pm

Gail Smith Mosborough‘Who Dares, Wins’ was our catchphrase used by my campaign manager and Leader of the Sheffield Lib Dems Cllr Shaffaq Mohammed to motivate the many members and supporters who came to Mosborough to support my campaign to be elected as Councillor for the Mosborough Ward on Sheffield City Council. It was a stunning victory that saw us go from 4th place to 1st, increasing our vote share by a whopping 32%.

I have lived locally in Mosborough for 25 years, I’ve brought my children up here and feel passionately about the community. I have been fortunate enough to represent this area once before from 2008-2012. People remembered the hard work I put in during my time as a Councillor previously and appreciated that I knew the area. Labour, on the other hand, selected a candidate who lived 20 miles away on the opposite side of the city.

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Geoff Crocker

The divisive inconsistencies of Theresa May

By Geoff Crocker | Fri 7th October 2016 - 2:15 pm

Theresa May’s triumphalism over the Brexit election result is divisive and shocking. 48% of the electorate voted Remain, apparently including, inconsistently, Theresa May. Her statement that anyone continuing to campaign to Remain is ‘subverting democracy’ is equally shocking. Do Remainers no longer have the right to freedom of speech and democratic campaigning? The Brexiteers campaigned long and hard against a previous democratic vote to join the EU, so Remainers are equally free to do the same now. And they should. I’m ready to join and support any such campaign.

Her claim to be uniting the country whilst setting ‘the working class’ against the ‘international elite’ is yet again shocking. Caricaturing a whole group of people who, in the main, are hard-working intelligent professionals working internationally in this way, and pitting them against the ‘working class’, is outrageous. These groups of people should and can respect and value each other in a civilised society.

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Simon Perks

The Tories’ populist agenda seeks to silence the voices of reason

By Simon Perks | Fri 7th October 2016 - 12:45 pm

The Conservative Party conference has opened the floodgates to a torrent of populist policies aimed firmly at what Theresa May calls ‘ordinary working-class people’. The NHS is to become self-sufficient in British doctors. British firms will come under increasing pressure to hire British workers. Our military will ‘opt out’ of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The hard-working people of Britain, says Theresa May, will no longer be ignored by ‘the powerful and the privileged’. And she rails against those who see their patriotism as ‘distasteful’ and call their fears about immigration ‘parochial’.

The message is clear: If you’re working hard to make ends meet, the Tories are the party for you.

I have to admit that it’s a clever strategy. This pro-British, anti-foreigner approach appeals to the many people who feel that previous governments have left them behind, while also being a sort of political catnip to Tory stalwarts. And it cleverly taps into the popular sentiment underlying the Brexit vote, without needing to refer explicitly to the shambles that is the Government’s Brexit policy.

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Bernard Aris

The internationalist LibDems should represent the expats in the Brexit debate

By Bernard Aris | Fri 7th October 2016 - 9:40 am

“Nieuwsuur”, the Dutch equivalent of BBC Newsnight, on Wednesday October 5th had an item about the situation that the tens of thousands of Britons (43,000, according to estimates) living in the Netherlands landed in because of the Brexit. In the capital Amsterdam alone, there are 15.000 British inhabitants; so it was logical that the local “Expat Center” opened an information desk once the result of the referendum became known. The town mayor, Mr. Van der Laan (PvdA/Labour), organized an information evening at which he recommended not to be too hasty in taking decisions about one’s status and/or position. He …

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Caron Lindsay

Why we must stand up for EU citizens’ right to stay in the UK #notacard

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 6th October 2016 - 6:49 pm

I’ve  only done a couple of posts in the past week or so, making reference to “events” keeping me away from LDV. When I came back from Witney, I found my husband very seriously ill.  An ambulance dash and some very scary moments later, my worst fears were confirmed and then some.

Things have now settled down considerably. We’ve had a couple of boring days without medical drama now and we’d like things to stay that way. He will be in hospital for a wee while yet, though, so please bear with me if it takes me some time to respond to things.  The rest of the team have been fantastic – so many thanks to them for stepping in while I’ve been preoccupied.

The reason for telling you all of this is to help you to understand how utterly furious I was to see that Liam Fox had actually said this out loud when asked about the rights of EU citizens following Brexit:

To give that away before we get into a negotiation would be to hand over one of our main cards in that negotiation and doesn’t necessarily make sense at this point.

You just can’t go changing the goalposts when people have made their home, maybe fallen in love, settled, had children, built lives and support networks. That is so wrong. It is simply not fair to put EU citizens in a situation where they won’t know what’s happening to them until the Brexit deal is stitched up behind closed doors.

The team caring brilliantly for my husband includes people who have moved here from other parts of the EU. I don’t want to think of any of them being used as a negotiating card. They are working hard, in very difficult, under-resourced circumstances, giving outstanding and compassionate care to people at their most vulnerable.

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Paul Walter

The founding king of England encouraged an open, outward-looking country

By Paul Walter | Thu 6th October 2016 - 5:22 pm

Full marks to Tom Ash. Earlier this week he nailed an historic parallel for Brexit. That was Henry VIII and the reformation.

However, those who favour an open, outward-looking UK, can claim an older, greater precedent than the Brexit-like Henry VIII, who broke with Europe basically because he couldn’t perform in bed sufficiently to produce enough healthy sons. (OK, there’s a bit of historic licence there and I’m being a bit (a lot?) cheeky – apologies – and I also apologise to the Scots, Welsh, Irish and Cornish that this is all about England).

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David Hopps

The Lib Dems need answers, not just anger

By David Hopps | Thu 6th October 2016 - 4:00 pm

Well, you have to hand it to the Tories. When it comes to brazen reinvention in an attempt to hold on to power there is nobody quite like them.

The Tories have rarely been more on message at an annual conference. “A Country That Works for Everyone” was not just in every camera shot but in every speech, whether it was Amber Rudd (yes, that one-time Remain campaigner) insisting companies employ more British workers or Angela Leadsom, in surely the most curious environment speech in British political history, imagining a future of happy youngsters breathing in rural British air as they reconnected with rural communities.

Combine lip service to a vague industrial strategy to benefit all hard-working Britons with some populist and reactionary thinking drawn from the lexicon of some – even many – of the 52% who voted for Brexit. Job done.

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Catherine Bearder

Catherine Bearder MEP writes…Golden opportunity to end the illegal ivory trade wasted

By Catherine Bearder | Thu 6th October 2016 - 12:34 pm

serious-about-willdife-crime-picI was honoured to be part of the European Parliament’s observer delegation to the CITES CoP17 in South Africa. As a campaigner for wildlife protection I know the opportunity to influence protection at the highest level is rare.

Before I headed to South Africa I voted in favour of a European Parliament resolution calling for all elephants to be listed on Appendix 1 of CITES (the Convention in Trade of Endangered Species) This would mean in effect a total ban on the international trade in elephants.

The resolution was overwhelmingly supported by MEPs which shows the European Parliament’s strong opposition to the trade in elephants and their ivory which in the past decade alone has seen the loss of 110,000 African elephants as a result of poaching and the massive global demand for ivory tusks as well as for trophy hunting.

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The Voice

Fed up of xenophobic Tory rhetoric? Here’s what to do…

By The Voice | Thu 6th October 2016 - 9:31 am

LDV has received this open letter from a group of concerned Lib Dems…we thought you might like to read it.

Dear friends,

Lets cut to the chase.

We awoke yesterday to the smell of hatred, xenophobia and isolation pouring from the voices of the Conservative Party and Conservative Government.

It sickened us to hear what was being said about refugees, migrants, international students and people who are foreign. It’s wrong and it’s not the country we love.

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Tom Ash

The Brexiteers have got their split from Rome. Next they’ll try to dissolve the monasteries.

By Tom Ash | Tue 4th October 2016 - 5:15 pm

So that’s that then. Theresa May has announced that she’ll trigger Article 50 by the end of March. Therefore, unless Mishcon de Reya pull off a spectacular victory against the attorney general and his squad of QCs in court, it seems likely that the Brexiteers will be granted their divorce.

Like Henry VIII, they’ve got what they wanted: a split from the European consensus. Some, like Daniel Hannan, may choose to leave it at that. But getting their own way will do nothing to pacify most Brexiteers.

Because it’s true that for the Brexit right, the European Union …

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Catherine Royce

Profound Brexit implications for the UK’s Life Science industry

By Catherine Royce | Tue 4th October 2016 - 2:00 pm

Last week I was hoping to hear Liam Fox speak on ‘Maintaining the UK life sciences’ leading position’ at a Royal Society of Medicine symposium ‘Brexit; the Implications for the UK’s Life Science Industry’.

He cancelled (what an (un)surprise). The implications for academia, industry and the NHS are profound.

Already universities, research institutes and individual researchers are feeling the chill, particularly for long term EU grants.

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Paul Walter

Is Theresa May frog-marching us out of the single market through a covert process?

By Paul Walter | Tue 4th October 2016 - 12:15 pm

I have now read Theresa May’s speech from the Conservative conference on Sunday.

The key passage appears to be this one (with my bolding):

…we will seek the best deal possible as we negotiate a new agreement with the European Union. I want that deal to reflect the kind of mature, cooperative relationship that close friends and allies enjoy. I want it to include cooperation on law enforcement and counter-terrorism work. I want it to involve free trade, in goods and services. I want it to give British companies the maximum freedom to trade with and operate in the Single Market – and let European businesses do the same here. But let me be clear. We are not leaving the European Union only to give up control of immigration again. And we are not leaving only to return to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.

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Anna Junk

Are the Lib Dems going in the wrong direction?

By Anna Junk | Mon 3rd October 2016 - 4:13 pm

 

I can tell you the exact moment I became a member of the Liberal Democrats. It was the 11th May 2015.

I had identified with the ideals of the Liberal Democrats for a long time, but waking up on election morning with an extremely sad and defeated looking Danny Alexander on my TV truly summed up how I felt about the election result.

A conservative majority government, now in power and able to introduce right wing policies, without a coalition partner to restrain them; the Lib Dem wipe-out was even more terrifying than the “yellow surge” in my adopted homeland of Scotland.

I did not want to accept that the party with whom I identified myself was about to disappear. I thought that the country would still need a liberal voice. The voting system simply did not reflect the view of the people.

And then, my social media channels were literally flooded by the “LibDemFightback”.

I was on my way home from university when I read a tweet by Danny Alexander. It read:

I thought to myself: I agree wholeheartedly!

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Chris Key

It is time to see spending on mental health as an investment not a cost

By Chris Key | Mon 3rd October 2016 - 2:28 pm

On a recent Question Time there was an excellent debate on the future funding of the NHS and social care. Norman Lamb, the former Care Minister and Lib Dem MP made a passionate plea for greater investment in the NHS and in particular on mental health.

Tory MP, Jacob Rees Mogg, unsurprisingly, countered that the UK cannot pay more tax. Even the usually more Conservative Julia Hartley Brewer nodded in agreement when Lamb outlined how little we spend on health as a proportion of GDP, which by the way is less than other European countries including Portugal.

While Lamb focused on the human cost of a lack of investment in mental health including on his own family, Rees Mogg’s attitude was totally oblivious to the impact of not spending more. It appeared as if Rees Mogg was finishing an A Level Economics test, not appearing on a national TV programme where human beings with real problems were watching as he regurgitated historical tax take percentages.

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Phil Aisthorpe

A progressive alliance of the left is dead

By Phil Aisthorpe | Mon 3rd October 2016 - 12:35 pm

 

Warning: this article contains an overuse of the word ‘progressive’, a buzzword that doesn’t buzz.

On 24th September the Independent published a list of The Top 10 most popular zombie bad policies. The list included the usual suspects, rail nationalisation, the death penalty, and so on, but to my consternation Jon Rentoul also included this one.

4. Proportional representation. It’s a matter of opinion, but I think it gives disproportionate power to small parties, and it is not obvious to me that Ireland, Germany or Italy are more democratic, better governed or more engaged with politics than we are.

After all the optimism surrounding the building of a progressive alliance of the left to fight for proportional representation, Rentoul’s put-down suggests that an unwelcome cold wind of reality may be blowing.

Meanwhile, in a galaxy far away, the key party in any such progressive alliance was celebrating Jeremy Corbyn tightening his grip on Labour. And with shadow Culture Secretary Kelvin Hopkins calling for the return of Clause IV, it seems unlikely that Labour could now pass any meaningful test of progressiveness even if Mr Corbyn was prepared to play ball with other parties. The progressive alliance idea of cooperation between Greens, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party looks increasingly dead in the water.

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Suzanne Fletcher

A Liberal idea to empower claimants

By Suzanne Fletcher | Mon 3rd October 2016 - 9:35 am

 

At Conference we agreed a policy motion, “Mending the safety net”, on ways of stopping people from falling into poverty caused by problems with social security nets. Leaving aside the heated arguments for how this would best work, how about involving those we are talking about in having a needle and thread too ?

Whatever the ways we have of mending the safety net, those who need it must be able to understand the letters that they are sent from the officials concerned.

I am not blaming the officials, they don’t necessarily know how what is written is perceived, but what can be done is listen to the recipients.  I was a volunteer advisor with CAB for 40 years, and know how many people just do not understand what they are being told.

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Caron Lindsay

LDV Interview: Liz Leffman. Witney Lib Dem candidate on Brexit, NHS, Buses – and puppies and biscuits, too!

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 2nd October 2016 - 5:00 pm

Liz LeffmanI spent a couple of days in Witney this week. Events since my return have prevented me from telling you too much about my trip – but I would say that if you can get there before the by-election on October 20th, do go. We have a brilliant candidate and a huge team doing an incredible job. I spent Tuesday canvassing with Liz and some of her team in Eynsham and  I was surprised by the warmth of the reception on the doors and it’s clear that the more people who go to help, the more people we can speak to, the better the result we will get. So, what are you waiting for? If you can’t go, phone! All the info you need to help is here.

Before we headed out, I sat down with Liz for a chat. She is an incredibly impressive candidate. I’ve known from working with her pretty closely for some years now that she is one of those people who can come into a situation where everyone is running around panicking and just sort stuff. She has the knowledge, the authority and the passion to be a brilliant MP for Witney. She understands the issues facing local people, from the threats posed by Brexit, to cuts in bus services which leave people trapped in their villages to the huge problems in accessing NHS services.

I am very grateful to John O’Neill from Northern Ireland Lib Dems, who very kindly transcribed it for me. 

CL: We are sitting in the Lib Dem office, currently a hive of activity, with Liz Leffman. You’ve been a by-election candidate for a week now, what’s it been like?

LL: Well, it’s been quite a journey! It started off on Tuesday when I was selected. The following day I went straight off to Chipping Norton with Tim Farron. That was very exciting, and then I was on television that evening. So, it’s been all go actually, and I think probably I haven’t really stopped since then.

CL: So, what sort of reception are you getting on the doorstep?

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Katharine Pindar

Heart of England, reject the Tories now

By Katharine Pindar | Sun 2nd October 2016 - 11:45 am

Perhaps we should have known. The Witney constituency is West Oxfordshire, a quiet, beautiful farming area of fields dotted with golden-stone villages and small towns. It is an area for hunting, real ale and country dancing. Among the little towns is Chipping Norton. And Chipping Norton became identified with a ‘set’, including David Cameron and Rebekah Brooks – and you remember then about the News of the World and the phone-hacking scandal.

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Rob Parsons

We need to focus on things which tangibly improve lives

By Rob Parsons | Sat 1st October 2016 - 10:45 am

Terraced housingAre we barking up the wrong tree?

I have wondered for a while if we are focussing on the wrong things, particularly where the EU is concerned. For the record, I want to remain in the EU. I see it as a flawed institution, run by the same cadre of neoliberal capitalists as those who run this country and most of the other countries in Europe. It has, however, two things going for it. The first is the possibility of deeper co-operation across national boundaries. The second is that it has woven into it a thick texture of human rights which the neoliberals, despite their best efforts, have been unable to unwind – it was after all woven in before they came along.

But when I look at this country’s biggest problems, the EU is neither the problem nor the solution. The media cacophony remains completely confusing as to why people voted to leave. The people who voted leave are equally confusing, and there are massive attempts to shut down debate by taking offence if suggestions are made that, for instance, cutting immigration will not solve any problems other than the fragility of some people’s sense of national identity. Taking back control does not take back control, but meely hands it to different members of the neoliberal elite. We still need to identify and solve the problems which have caused such disaffection with the political process.

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Paul Walter

+++BREAKING NEWS+++ Time for “slow news”?

By Paul Walter | Sat 1st October 2016 - 8:49 am

BBC1 Newsflash logo from black and white TVThere was a time when news of the death of the King took months to percolate through to all parts of the realm. Some villages heard the news when a random horse rider came through after taking a wrong turning. I like to think that some villagers in some instances didn’t hear about the death of the King until his successor had also died, but perhaps that is fanciful.

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Jonathan Brown

Assad, Appeasement, Aleppo and the Collapse of International Law

By Jonathan Brown | Fri 30th September 2016 - 9:34 am

The latest ceasefire in Syria failed – and was always going to fail – due to a complete lack of will to enforce its provisions. This failure of the international community to respond to the worst humanitarian crisis of a generation is eroding the system of international laws and norms that underpin democratic societies.

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Lord Roger Roberts

Lord Roger Roberts write…highlighting the plight of child refugees

By Lord Roger Roberts | Thu 29th September 2016 - 5:35 pm

The Refugee Crisis is especially severe when we look at the fate of those who are young and alone. The United Kingdom is pledged to accommodate those most in need. The Dubs amendment originally called for 3,000 to be allowed into the United Kingdom. This was defeated and I sat on the bench in the Lords as 200 Tories marched through the Not Content lobby. These fathers, mothers and grandparents were trampling on the hopes of thousands of “other” children. Eventually an amendment was approved obliging the government to accept an unspecified number of children. We are told that throughout Europe there are 88,000 unaccompanied asylum seekers.

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Emily Fermor

Women in high places: senior female role models are essential in business and politics

By Emily Fermor | Wed 28th September 2016 - 3:25 pm

emma-walmsley-ccl-some-rights-reserved-by-gsk

Emma Walmsley – photo by GSK

This week Britain took a huge leap towards greater gender equality on management boards. It was announced that Emma Walmsley is to become the most powerful woman in the FTSE 100 as CEO of GSK next year, making her Britain’s most powerful business woman.

In an interview featured in BBC Radio 4’s profile of Walmsley, she appeared quick to play down the gravity of this moment: “I’ve never primarily defined myself by my gender… I think of myself as a business person”. I balked at this. For some women defined by their gender, whether they like it or not, this privilege is not often afforded.

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Phil Aisthorpe

Brexit: World War II without guns

By Phil Aisthorpe | Wed 28th September 2016 - 1:55 pm

The EU referendum was decided by the baby boomers, the generation to which I belong and a generation that has spent a lifetime romanticising about a conflict in which it had little or no involvement. I spent my boyhood immersed in the glory of World War II. I knew the names of German generals, built Airfix models of Spitfires and ME109s and listened to family war stories. And I believe there are far more people in the UK than is healthy, who like me can name every capital ship in the German fleet! Little wonder then that my generation views Europe with suspicion.

For many baby boomers I suspect that attitudes to the EU are linked to WWII conflict, a war defined in the nostalgia of the opening credits of Dad’s Army where brave little union jacks are driven back across the Channel by menacing swastikas. But what if this nonsense were to turn out to be true? What if Brexit is history repeating itself, but this time without guns? If it is, then this is how things might play out in this admittedly fanciful scenario from an unrepentant Remainer:

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