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Stories of the week 4 August

Boris Johnson and his Cabinet are pressing ahead with the No Deal threat refusing to speak to EU leaders until the Irish backstop is withdrawn. The only thing is that they’re not listening to Johnson because they say the deal is done and negotiations will not be reopened.

Food shortages, raised illegal immigration, panic buying are just some of the things predicted with No Deal and, as usual, Brexiters are in denial over the impact No Deal will have. The head of BMW and other business leaders are pleading with Johnson to listen to business to avoid an economic catastrophe with huge job losses. He’s not listening.

Donald Trump calls Boris Johnson my ‘mini me’. Both Trump and Johnson have talked up a great UK-US trade deal ahead. But wait. All is not as it seems. First of all, Congress say they will not pass any trade deal if peace in Ireland is jeopardized in any way. A major block for Johnson’s ‘drop the backstop’. Secondly, Trump himself won’t allow a deal unless the UK drops its plans to tax digital giants like Google, Microsoft and Apple. The question is will Johnson stand up to Trump?

Bad news already for the new Prime Minister. Tory rebels are already threatening Johnson’s No Deal promise threatening to cross the floor and join the Liberal Democrats or stand as independents. As many as 24 Conservative MPs are ready to jump ship. That’s not all. Johnson was jeered for the third day in a row as he visited Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It seems he’s disliked everywhere but England.

In a nightmare for Brexiters, Remain parties formed an alliance to win a by-election and reduce the Tory’s previous 8,000 majority. Boris Johnson does not have a legitimate franchise and the Conservatives have an untenable majority of one.

In grim news this week it emerged that almost 5m people in the UK are in working poverty with 4 in 10 children living in child poverty. What’s even worse is that the summer school holidays, usually a wonderful time for children, will see millions of children go hungry as schools shut and school meals are no longer available.

Political ideologies continue to collide as protests in Hong Kong continue. China is taking an increasingly hard line against activists and protestors with more arrests and more strong-arm tactics used.

Donald Trump continued his racist attacks on four congress women resulting in shootings, targeted racial ad campaigns and more hate across the US.

Environment

The remarkable Greta Thunberg is sailing across the Atlantic in a yacht to a UN Climate summit to live by what she preaches and refrain from carbon causing travel.

As the 10 hottest years on record in the UK have all happened since 2002, Ethiopia planted 350m trees in one day. Scientists say that the UK needs to plant 1.5bn trees as British weather is getting hotter and more extreme.

Stories of the week 7 July

This week revealed yet more ways the Brexit fantasy dream is turning into a real nightmare. In devastating news for the UK’s future trade, Canada refused to roll over the same deal they have with the EU for the UK. After years of negotiations, the Canadians refused to budge putting all future trade deals up for grabs in terms of conditions.

Local Councils in the UK are set for more misery after an £8bn EU fund for local growth will disappear in 2020.

There were several warnings this week from the likes of Theresa May and Liam Fox that the Union would not survive No Deal Brexit. Despite a poll of Conservative Party members finding that they prefer Brexit to keeping the Union if the choice had to be made. A sentiment supported by Nigel Farage.

Women are set to head-up EU institutions for the first time including Ursula Von Der Leyen who called Brexit ‘a burst bubble of hollow promises’.

The Conservative Party Leadership contest took a dangerous and worrying turn this week when it was revealed that Party Members are about to elect a Prime Minister who is not trusted by UK secuirity services. State secrets and sensitive material were routinely kept from Boris Johnson because he can’t be trusted with keeping them.

Boris Johnson also launched a bizarre proposal to review sugar tax. Despite facing a backlash from medical professionals and other politicians, Johnson’s move wasn’t so strange when it was linked to paving the way for US high sugar food imports and the fact that his advisors have financial links to high-sugar drink brands.

Both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt were ridiculed for their No Deal Brexit threats with Philip Hammond claiming it would cost £90bn whilst other MPs are plotting to make sure Parliament can prevent it.

Nigel Farage and the Brexit Party became even more of a national embarrassment this week as they childishly turned their backs on the EU anthem at the opening of the EU Parliament in Brussels. The Press were far from impressed.

The heart-breaking protests in Hong Kong continue as China starts to clamp down hard on any unrest. Despairing Hong Kong freedom fighters are taking their own lives in the ultimate sacrifice for personal freedoms. The world is doing little but watch.

Donald Trump faced a severe backlash for militarising the traditional US 4^th of July celebrations through adding military vehicles and troops to the White House Parade. All the heads of the US armed forces were absent as a sign of protest as President Trump proudly proclaimed that the 1775 Revolutionary army took over airports.

Five former chiefs of Scotland Yard announced this week that Government cuts had reduced policing to dangerously unsafe levels resulting in a feeling of lawlessness across the UK. Make no mistake, they said, the blame for this lies firmly with the Conservative Party.

Environment

This week scientists claimed that the answer to the Climate Emergency is right in front of our eyes. Planting 1 trillion trees would capture enough carbon to make a difference. Greta Thunberg thanked OPEC for saying Climate Activists provided the greatest threat to oil and Prince Charles along with Chris Packham are planning an environmental summit.