The European press on our election

[Suff]

And who knows us best and highlights the dilemma?

Have a read you should not be surprised

[Workingman]

They know us and our politicians better than we know them or ourselves.

But so what? They do not get to influence our election in the way our homegrown rags and foghorns do, and, as we all know, they are always even-handed and tell us the truth - every one of them, all of the time.

Politicians and journalists; two of the lowest forms of life on Earth.

[Suff]

The French and German press are either wilfully or totally clueless about us. The Swede's on the other hand? They grok us.

[Workingman]

So, if they chime with your views it's fine, if not they are those of the Devil incarnate.

Thanks for clearing that up.

[Suff]

No, they understood the question before us. So did our electorate.

Now it is time to move on. This is not the result I would have wanted but it is what it is.

[Workingman]

It's RIP the UK, that is what it is.

Those areas that changed from red to blue will richly deserve everything that is coming to them, but this time there will be little or no sympathy, as there was following the Thatcher years. This time they are self-inflicted injuries.

The LibDems and Labour now have their work cut out.

Vince Cable was a decent enough man and politician but totally lacking in inspiration following the Clegg experiment. He plodded on far too long making no headway with the voters and that led to Jo Swinson taking over, at the wrong time. She should have, and could have, won back many former supporters but she pushed the pendulum so hard and so early that it swept past the middle ground and all those in it. Ed Davey, if he takes over, will have his work cut out - anyone will.

Labour has a much easier task. Corbyn and his front bench of uninspiring and ineffective tick-box comrades have to go. Angela Rayner, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Diane (Abacus) Abbott and Dawn Saunders are proof positive that inclusivety and diversity for inclusivety and diversity's sake does not work. They were promoted way beyond their ability levels while other more capable people such as Starmer, Benn, Reeves, Cooper and Watson were sidelined, shackled or muted.

As the Conservatives drift rightwards there is a big hole at the centre of politics just waiting for someone to step up and fill it. It does not have to be New Labour II or Aftershock LibDems just some grouping of level-headed politicians who are willing to put a shift in.

The first best thing about the election result is that 'Bluff, Lie and Bluster' Boris and his ERG mates are now going to have to take ownership of the mess they helped create. They will no longer be able to blame 'the others' or Remainers when the sunlit uplands turn into a misty bog, and with a bit of luck the media will fact check their every move. The second best thing is that the BP and Farage have gone the same way as UKIP.

[Workingman]

Another thing. The result, an 80 seat majority with 29% of the total vote, might make the push for a proper PR system a key issue for many parties at the next general election.

A lot could depend on how the Johnson uses his majority. If he allows his ego to run wild, as he usually does, then the calls to install a voting mechanism to prevent a leader's excesses will be deafening. If, on the other hand, he acts like a 'One Nation' Tory it might go away.... possibly.

My bet (evidence based) is that he won't be able to resist the first option.

[medsec222]

I am not so sure that the Conservative Party will drift further to the right. With his majority he should certainly be able to keep right wing tendencies from the ERG in check. Also he acknowledged this morning on television that he owes his large majority in part to the many many previous Labour voters who have felt left behind and who have now put their trust in him, and he acknowledged also that those votes were 'loaned to him' and could be taken away in the future. The fact that he has pledged not to let them down signals to me that he is prepared to balance the interests of a wide variety of voters, which could keep him around the centre. We can only hope he will be able to keep to his word. Apparently despite all odds he was elected twice as London Mayor and did a good job for the City.

[Suff]

We shall see.

I did note that Boris' very first appearance before a microphone he stated that the budget for the NHS would increase by £650m per week. We shall see but I fully expect that things will be sacrificed to meet that target.

As for people being disappointed and deserving what they get?

We will "leave" the EU on Jan 31st. That is a given now as the Tories have full control of Parliament and can bring the Lords to heel.

This means the "Treaties" governing the EU will no longer apply to the UK, however our "Deal" will keep us aligned with the EU until the end of 2020, in order to agree our post EU trade and movement agreement.

If anyone was in the slightest doubt, within the EU, as to whether Boris will rip the UK out of the EU on WTO terms with no right of movement, on Dec 31st 2020, the last 24 hours completely disabused them. The EU has been playing a political game with a hamstrung government in the UK. That strategy is now dead.

For the first time since that fateful decision in 2016 there is absolute certainty about where the UK is going. It is now up to the EU as to whether the UK continues to trade with the EU or moves to the US and the commonwealth.

The EU has a new commission. Junker is gone, their is no need to hold fast to past decisions just to save face. The world has changed.

Pretty soon, it will occur to the markets, once the UK has left the EU, that US GDP is $21.4.tn China is $14.1tn, rhe EU without the UK is $15.1tn and China is still growing at 6% whereas the EU is growing at just over 1% and the US is averaging about 2.5%

At current rates of growth, China overtakes the EU in 2021. Had the UK remained in the EU, China would have taken until 2024 to overtake the EU.

The world changed for the EU, as a major economic force, in 2016. Last night just sealed the lid on it.

These things will all unfold in the next 5 years. But we have to ask ourselves where is the UK going. If you listen to remain, we are going to diminish and pass into the west... If you listen to leave, we are going to emerge onto a bright new stage where our skills and knowledge can be used to catapult us into a bright new future.

I don't know which will happen. I suspect the middle path as there are those who wish to tear down and destroy to meet their political agenda (on both sides).

But I will tell you this. I was contacted by a friend a few months ago when the £ was sitting at it's lowest for 2019. He asked me what he should do as he had property and funds in Europe in $.

We talked for a bit and I explained that the UK economy is fundamentally sound and that the value of the £ reflected the uncertainty and not the strength of the UK economy.

He listened and agreed. Today the £ is significantly higher than it has been since the beginning of the year. It will surge again in Feb and again in Jan 2021.

My friend will make quite a lot of money. Those who continue to shout for remain will make nothing more than poison for us all to sup.

I was subjected to a tirade from a colleague at work last night. She was disgusted that I didn't vote for remain because I have a home in France and "told" me that the NHS is going to lose all its EU funding. She has friends in the NHS you know. I didn't even get a chance to explain my connection with the NHS, I'd been "told" and the "discussion" was over.

So if that is the quality of the debate, then I do hope those who voted for hope and a bright new future do get exactly what they deserve. Because they deserve what they voted for.

Regardless of what I hope for, reality will be something different.

What I can say is this. The poor idiot cheapskate politicians we have been forced to vote for over the last 2 decades are going to die a death. Because those politicians are going to have to be responsible for their actions.

I see that as a good thing.

[Workingman]

Time will tell, Meds, time will tell.

Unfortunately all the best evidence is that the Johnson says one thing and does something completely different. What he said today is what he and his adviser and strategist, Domineeric Cummings, knew the people and the all important media wanted to hear. He was hardly likely to come out and say "I won, you lost, suck it up losers" but I will bet that is what he was thinking.