remain

When I can I like to spend time fishing on beaches and rocks by the sea in the UK. I am always amazed by the amount and type of rubbish left in some places. I wonder how folk cannot see the implications of trashing the country side, for them.

I remember the fury expressed by many seaside towns at the idea that a European council could enforce a new standard of beach and sea water cleanliness with sanctions for those authorities who did not comply. Now the beaches are clean.

I remember when I couldn't buy a cycling crash helmet, any where in the UK, for my young son who was to ride in a kids seat on the back of my bike. I found one in Germany on my first attempt. It is clear the Germans had a better view of childs safety in that context than could be said of the culture here. A small example of how we might benefit from membership of a diverse community with different values.

I remember this Tory government wanting to deconstruct the human rights acts formed in Europe. Yes, we have always maintained a bill of human rights of sorts but, when former government ministers repeatedly lie about UK complicity in the torture of alleged terrorists, alarm bells ring. I suggest it becomes necessary to look at the stops and checks that limit the worst excesses of our beloved leaders, of any political colour. Our current membership of the European community ensures that our government is monitored, as are all it's members. With out this authority who would we appeal to when our own justice system fails us?

There have been countless occasions when the European Parliament has decreed that new and some older UK law is flawed, undemocratic and impacts negatively on UK citizens rights. It is said, by leave campaigners, that leaving the European community will bring more democracy and justice. Why don't I believe Boris Johnson?

There are arguments for and against EU rules that affect life in the UK. There is need for reform and for taking out the Kafkaesque nonsense that all government produces but if I listen too long to the out campaigners leaders I sense new darkness and the coming of a right wing, claustrophobic, Little Britain, narrow, isolated and mean.

Recent rainfall and flooding in France tells us that global warming is here to stay unless we work together. Not one European leader has the answer nor the will to do much about it. I expect like all serious potential threats government faces it will be almost too late to solve the problem when the penny drops that the only solution is collective. The only forward is by combining resources and working from the same plan. The threat to our ecology has reached a critical stage and is probably the most challenging problem we all face. I say this knowing that apparently millions of Brits think that immigration is the big issue. They are wrong. Controls have to be made. Reforms have to be made but make no mistake, the problem does not lie with the immigrants and refugees, but with those who want to conserve the ethically bankrupt sytem that governs who gets what. I suggest that ethos will not be overturned by coming out of our European partnership. It is more likely that the ethos will be come more entrenched.

We hear the expression charity begins at home. It seems to me that it is usually said by people who think that as a nation we give too much to outsiders and or foreigners. They have no concept of the value of diversity and it seems they are mainly concerned that they don't own enough stuff. They will never achieve satisfaction via the ownership of yet more stuff. Their stuff will never make up for a hole in their lives or bring them the happiness they seek. They don't seem to have the ability to understand just how bizzarre it is, that while one man wants new windows for his home and a new car, another wants some where he and his family can be safe and drink clean water.

This is a reality that will only be changed by a collective and not by separation. At this time I do not believe that a UK government of any colour can be trusted to run this country with out some stops and checks. I do believe the fears expressed regarding the financial cost of leaving the European community have some validity but I am more concerned about the possibility of a Boris lead society, politically estranged from its near neighbours.

I REMAIN yours truly.

peace