Immigrants get the job done: the Hamilton Report

This was first posted on Facebook on 22nd March 2021, with support from my Ko-Fi network.

(James Hamilton is not an immigrant, but I regret to say I couldn’t resist the quote.)

The question for the independent investigator, QC James Hamilton, who was Director of Public Prosecutions for the Republic of Ireland (1999-2011) and in 2010, President of the International Association of Prosecutors, and who has been the independent advisor to the Scottish Government on the Ministerial Code since 2013 (first appointed by Alex Salmond, re-appointed by Nicola Sturgeon in 2015):

“When Nicola Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament she had first learned about the complaints against Alex Salmond on Monday 2nd April, when in fact she was told about them on Thursday 29th March, was she knowingly misleading Parliament?”

To knowingly mislead Parliament is a resigning offence in the Ministerial Code, though when you look at the current Cabinet Ministers and Prime Minister at Westminster, you wouldn’t think so.

Writing About Brexit: Sajid Javid resigns

This was first posted on Facebook on 14th February 2020, with support from my Ko-Fi network.

I know that right now, the fact of Sajid Javid’s resignation as Chancellor, his replacement as Chancellor by a junior minister who was elected MP in 2015 & before that worked for Goldman Sachs, and the fact that Budget Day for the UK is 11th March and it’s pretty evident that though Rishi Sunak will be presenting the Budget in the Commons, Dominic Cummings will be the Budget’s main author – all of this is more than a little overwhelming, and rightly so.

However, I’d ask you also to consider this:

Writing About Brexit: first PMQs after Brexit Day

This was first posted on Facebook on 5th February 2020, with support from my Ko-Fi network.

I am not a fan of PMQs.

The format, which alternates grovelling questions from Tories inviting self-praise from the PM, with questions from Labour and from the SNP, isn’t really conductive to anything except letting the Tory PM self-praise and spout BS.

(I am not arguing that Blair or Brown’s PMQs were any better, but the last time I listened to a Labour PM at PMQs was at least a decade ago.)

I listened today because it’s the first PMQs after Brexit, and Boris Johnson was taking them himself instead of squirrelling off somewhere else and handing the job to one of his minions.

Writing About Brexit: blocked by the Home Secretary

This was first posted on Facebook on nth month 2020, with support from my Ko-Fi network.

I’m not quite sure how to react to this:

Priti Patel, the Home Secretary of the UK, has blocked me on Twitter.

I checked using Twitter advanced search, and the last tweet I sent that mentioned her account @patel4witham, was posted in December 2018. (It was a fairly civil and indeed quite amusing discussion with a Brexiter about how quotes get misattributed on the Internet: neither of us got abusive and the discussion thread was relatively brief: but it was last year.)

What I did do, much more recently, was RT a tweet from a thread which responded to a tweet on 23rd December in which Priti Patel bragged “The UK is a world leader in science, that’s why I’m introducing fast track entry to the UK for more scientists so we can attract the brightest global talent.”

The tweet I RT’d was by Matthias Eberl: “Some scientists have been living in the UK for many years and may not like being forced to apply to stay in their own home with their own family despite repeated promises by leading politicians that their rights would be guaranteed.”

Here are a few less known facts about scientists. https://t.co/lkLqP6PIbD

— Matthias Eberl 🇪🇺 (@eberlmat) December 26, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Matthias Eberl is “Personal Chair, Division of Infection and Immunity. Engagement Lead, Systems Immunity Research Institute” at Cardiff University: he studied in Germany, England, and Switzerland before settling in Wales.

Matthias Eberl’s Twitter bio describes himself as “Scientist and migrant. #inLimbo”.

And I am now blocked on Twitter by the Home Secretary – along with several other Remainers – apparently because we do not share her views on the wonders of Brexit.

The Queen’s Speech in December

This was first posted on Facebook on 19th December 2019, with support from my Ko-Fi network.

Well, today I watched the Queen’s Speech and debate.

The Queen brought Charles along. It’s Take Your Heir To Work Day, even if he hasn’t got any. She didn’t wear her coronation robes because this was a quickie Opening of Parliament – as was the one after the 2017 general election – and she could therefore wear half-mourning for the UK’s departure from the EU and arrive – and leave – in a car.