Continuity Brexit Waistcoat

Do you think men's clothing emporia up and down the country have been left with lots of waistcoats that will now remain unsold?

Spotted a continuity error on Poldark on Sunday. One scene showed poppies waving in the wind, meaning it could only have been June or early July. The scene then cut to an image of a character pulling an apple from a tree and eating it - which could only mean somewhere between August (the earliest maturing varieties) to October.

Heard Sir Bernard Jenkin on Radio 4 yesterday morning saying, in reference to the Brexit customs issue, that many countries trade across borders quite adequately, an argument that is intellectually bereft when one considers those countries are not currently in the EU, nor have ever been so. The unspoken corollary is that they never had the benefits of frictionless borders. It's like saying some people never inherit anything from their parents and do OK - yes, but those that inherit do much better, like paying off their mortgages a lot earlier.

Here's an interesting thought - if Scotland seceded from the UK and remained in the EU there would have to be border controls and customs checks. Would that impede and add cost to trade between England and Scotland? Of course it would. If Scotland seceded from the UK but didn't stay in the EU, would England and Scotland initiate a customs union? Almost certainly.

The levels of deceit prominent Brexiteers within government will go to to persuade people that Brexit is a good idea is mind-boggling. They make totally fatuous, not to say fallacious analogies and then generalise them - like Rees-Mogg and his feigned concern for 3rd World farmers. The fact is that the world’s 49 poorest countries can export tariff free to the EU as part of the “anything but arms” initiative, but JRM, for reasons best known to himself, won't tell you that. The only concern JRM has is for making money through speculation. Jenkin was a bloody expenses fiddler too.

We were watching Simon Reeve's programme on TV on Sunday about his travels across Russia, a country that's very rich, but where most of the people are poor. Putin engages in building projects that are totally unnecessary, ensuring the contracts go to his cronies and, of course, he gets a kick-back. I fear Britain is heading the same way under the Brexit Ultras - Brexit will benefit the few, not the many. Speculators and those in government with their hands on the levers of influence and patronage will do very well, thank you - not that this is any change from the current situation. Many go into politics with public service uppermost in their minds, but a number go into it to make money through influence, both during their tenure and after, with lucrative board positions.