The UK is now going to leave the EU by the end of January, and it is likely that the transition period will last until no longer than the end of 2020. This will mean that the UK is unlikely to have a complete trade deal with the EU. It …
Read More »Could Scotland join the EU?
The UK is now definitely going to leave the EU. What does this mean for an independent Scotland joining the EU? 1. Political union. Scotland would have to promise to accept the aims of the EU. The EU aims to achieve monetary, fiscal and political union. It might have been …
Read More »The reasons for my opposition to the EU
My opposition to the EU is essentially down to the fact that it works badly. Everything that the UK government does not do well at, the EU does even worse. Let me list some prominent examples… Single currency (Eurozone):Normally, an ailing economy’s currency depreciates, which encourages inward investment and domestic …
Read More »The Euro at 20: Still Destroying Prosperity
In 2019, the European Single Currency turns twenty. Prominent eurocrats have taken to Twitter to celebrate this milestone, simultaneously slapping those in the face who have suffered with stagnant economic growth since the Euro was introduced in 1999. The main problem with the Euro persists – it is a non-optimal …
Read More »The Single Market versus a Free Trade Agreement
What should UK trading relations look like after 2019, when Brexit itself finally happens? We are now being told that the UK must enter the “Single Market “. The Single Market is, in many ways, another name for being in the EU. As the EU Commission puts it: “The Single Market …
Read More »A senseless struggle about nothing
There are two forces going on in human nature, the desire to unify and the desire to separate. The reason that we have nation states at all is because people have felt the need to unify with others who are similar to them. In antiquity each small village had its …
Read More »Brexit has ruined the economic case for Scottish independence
A majority of Scots believe the break-up of the UK is inevitable, Nicola Sturgeon has her “material change in circumstance” that would allow her to trigger a second referendum and commentators crow about how 2016 was the “Year the Union died”. They are all wrong. Far from creating the circumstances for the …
Read More »Germany’s domination of the EU is immoral and is impoverishing Europe
The Remain camp still don’t get it. If any of them take a moment to read Ambrose Evans-Pritchard‘s brilliant article in The Daily Telegraph last Wednesday they will read a damning indictment of Germany’s role in impoverishing the whole of Southern Europe through the introduction of the most calamitous economic …
Read More »How to make the SNP’s task still harder
There is a very respectable argument for Scottish independence that surprisingly is rarely made by supporters. It goes something like this. We want Scotland to be independent because we want Scotland to be a sovereign independent nation state just like all the others in the world and we don’t care …
Read More »Only children are scared of a pin-prick
This may be my last bit of writing for a while. I deliberately organised things such that I’d be away during the referendum. I shall not be paying much attention to the news. My guess is that most of the people in the part of Spain I like to go …
Read More »Cameron’s dodgy dossier
Fed-up with all of the contradictory forecasts and statements about the referendum on Britain’s continued membership of the European Union? You probably should look away. I would like to see another forecast – I know, that suggests either some kind of a weird fantasy obsession or that maybe I am …
Read More »Destroying the SNP’s dream
The SNP’s failure to win an overall majority in Holyrood was a setback for them and their cause. It will be very hard indeed for Scottish nationalists to push for a second independence referendum in the next five years. Importantly, in the present context, this is the case even if …
Read More »Project Fear 2
What would happen if the UK voted to leave the EU? All sorts of claims and counter claims are made about this. But the answer in the end is that we just don’t know. The future is uncertain and undetermined, because it hasn’t happened yet. What we do know however, …
Read More »EU half-truths
Have you received the propaganda leaflet from the UK government yet? What did you do with it? Straight in the bin? Read it? I tore mine up and sent it back to the Conservative party at their FreePost address. That way, Cameron’s party can pay 70p for the privilege of …
Read More »In Scotland we admire things that don’t work
One of the odd things about political discussion in Scotland is our attitude to the EU. During the Referendum it was accepted by both sides that it would be some sort of disaster if an independent Scotland were not to retain membership of the EU. There was therefore lots of …
Read More »Cameron’s Wrong Demands
Cameron's EU renegotiation demands are timid and ineffectual.
Read More »The Euro is a creating a Powder Keg
Well, the EU machine defeated Greece. Tsipras thought he had “taken it to” the Germans and their Benelux friends in Brussels when the Greek people rejected their bailout terms. Then he came right back on bended knees for more money and accepted an even harsher bailout plan. The undemocratic and …
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