100 Years On

"Our immigration policy is an exercise in wishful thinking. We pretend that we control our borders when we have lost all control." (Welcome to the Asylum", Centre for Policy Studies, 2001)
That quote from 2001 is equally valid today.
It explains the murder of Jo Cox MP and why England and Wales voted to Leave the European Union.
Yesterday much media attention was focussed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916, when the British Army suffered 60,000 casualties.
It begs the question:  What would the young men who flocked to the colours 100 years ago make of the UK's failure to protect her borders now?

Do as the Romans (& Irish) do!

In 1973 I was against the UK joining the EU because of immigration and because I read that of 125 mandatory EU laws Italy had complied with only 17 (i.e. those Italians agreed with).
Britain, being law abiding, wouldn't be playing on a level field.
Many people blame Mr. Cameron for having a "stupid" referendum. It is said to have been because of divisions in the Conservative Party.
But everyone knows that the UK is being exploited. E.g., by Romanians sending child benefits back to Romania. Something had to be done.
Mr. Cameron got concessions from the other EU countries only because of the threat of the UK leaving the EU.
That policy failed big time when a majority in the UK voted to leave.
Mr. Cameron told EU leaders they hadn't given him enough about immigration.
We fined our fishermen while other EU countries didn't fine theirs. It's no wonder Cornwall voted to leave.
Britain should just have ignored EU laws, like other countries....
Italy:    What laws?
France: We're a founder member, so we can ignore them if they don't suit us.
Spain:   Manana....
Greece: We gave everyone democracy, and we can't afford it....
A few years ago the Republic of Ireland had a referendum about the EU. The Government didn't like the result, so they had another one. Which got the result the Government wanted....

What Goes Around Comes Around

The original "Thucydides trap" was Sparta (a land power) fearing the rising (sea) power of Athens. Sparta's King Archidamus urged restraint rather than war. He was cited in Britain's House of Commons on 18 March 2003 by an MP who opposed the invasion of Iraq. But in the 5th century BC Athens' democratic leader Pericles argued that concessions would be interpreted as weakness. Athens lost the war.
The early years of the 20th century were an example of Thucydides' (an Athenian general) theory. Germany (a land power) was rising. Britain (a sea power) was afraid.
Today the rising power, China, is building airfields on islets in the South China Sea and claiming the Sea as its own.
Only the existing power (the US) can stop them.
Both Athens and Sparta had allies. So did Britain and Germany 100 years ago.
Weaker countries bordering the South China Sea look to the US to help them....
Thucydides believed that war in one place caused a movement of people and so another war....

Good and Bad

Socrates said few are the good things in life, many are the bad. For the good things we can thank God, for the bad we have to look elsewhere. When asked to define Good, he replied "I'm afraid it's beyond me".
Hamlet famously said "There's nothing either good or bad but that thinking makes it so."
Enoch Powell said immigration to the UK was a "preventable evil".
It's certainly good for lawyers....

Atrocious Misuse of Language

In one fell swoop Mr. Cameron has taken the UK out of the EU and probably broken the UK.
In his speech to the Commons yesterday he described hostility to Poles living in Britain as "despicable" and the perpetrators as "racists".
My beef is not with the word "despicable" (although yesterday I had the misfortune to meet a woman who once said to me "You are despicable"). It is with the word "racist" (which I have also had directed at me).
The usual word for people who don't like foreigners occupying their territory is "patriot" or "nationalist".
Patriots are usually admired, so Mr. Cameron avoided that.
Nationalists are identified with Scotland. Ditto.
On this day in 1914 a Serb nationalist (no one calls him a racist) committed an atrocious assassination. (He told his captors he hadn't meant to kill the wife.) Archduke Ferdinand was killed not for being a bad man but for being a good man who wanted to smooth things over.
(P.S. To cap the above, England lost at football to Iceland! in the European Cup yesterday.)

Good Grief! From Goodwill to Goodbye!

Tony Blair recently received an award from the Polish Government because in 2004 when Poland and other East European countries joined the EU he allowed their citizens to live in the UK though other EU countries prevented them from moving there.
It is now extremely ironic that this moral act may well have been a major factor in the UK leaving the EU.
Politicians over the years have said EU citizens could not be stopped from coming here. That was not strictly true, because other EU countries stopped the East Europeans while the UK did not.

Hope and Understanding

There has been a lot of praying ("flopping" as Dickens called it in "A Tale of Two Cities") recently. A frequently quoted passage from the Bible says: "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do." The people who caused unhappiness to Mr. Mair (and others) know fine what they do.
My local vicar says "sisters and brothers". I pointed out that if Jesus did not say it like that (in Aramaic) then that version is unChristian.
The Church would do well to pray for Mr. Mair. Not for forgiveness (leave that to God), but for Hope and Understanding.