Criminal Blair (?)

Saddam Hussein expelled the weapons inspectors. He allowed them back in when troops were sent to the Kuwait-Iraq border.
The Chilcot Report is out today.
On 18 March 2003 several MPs said in Britain's House of Commons that British troops could not remain behind if the Americans invaded Iraq. (They would be worse than useless as allies.)
While British lives were at risk on the battlefield the Government allowed foreign men to take up permanent residence in the UK.
Tony Blair swatted aside the many critics by saying they were racists.
Immigration has forced the UK out of the EU.
Judges gleefully weigh in on immigration cases where there is the prospect of someone being enabled to live here. But not when there isn't.
Please see "Sauce for the Gander" in 2013. My Comments at the end.

Rebarbative

Theresa May is the frontrunner to become Britain's next Prime Minister.
She has been Home Secretary for 6 years, i.e. in charge of immigration.
It is discontentment with immigration to the UK that has driven people (a majority in England and Wales) to vote to leave the European Union.
It is rebarbative that someone who has caused such discontent and such a drastic outcome should now even be thinking of leading the UK.

Wars Within Wars

Having commemorated the first day of the Battle of the Somme (1 July 1916), when 19,240 British soldiers died, soon there will be a celebration. This will be of women getting the parliamentary vote.
As a teenager I was troubled by this.
I didn't know that some women opposed the conflict.
For example, the novelist Mary Ward wrote in a Letter to "The Times" (23 May 1917) that Frenchwomen were suffering and contributing to the war effort but they were not agitating for a great constitutional change.
The Conservatives' 1979 election promise to end the concession whereby foreign men can live in the UK through marriage was vigorously opposed by, among others, Patricia Hewitt (Australian-born, like Mrs Ward, and Equality Minister in the Blair Government) who argued that just as the women's campaign to get the vote was successful so would their campaign succeed.
Unfortunately it is men who mainly fight wars. British soldiers who are killed are mainly men. Foreign husbands are men.
I am grateful to the women who have signed https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/129594

Pointless

My cousin who lives in South Africa tells of a woman who came to Britain from Kenya when it became independent.
She became so fed up with British politics she is now living in South Africa.
A response I got to my petition - please sign https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/129594 - was: "We should send you  abroad."
My brother is Canadian. In 1988 I applied to live in Canada. They have a points system. I got no points for being a journalist, and lost points for being over 44.
The campaign to take the UK out of the EU promised an Australian-style points system.
Strange that Canada was never mentioned....

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....