Cui Bono

So, the consensus seems to be that voting LibDem in the European Elections stands the best chance of defeating the Brexit vote. Gina Miller and several other analysts are agreed on that. Luckily for me, that's my choice too, but for reasons other than simply combating Farage.

I think it's always reasonable to follow the principle of cui bono when it comes to political funding and influence on policy - who benefits, materially or geopolitically. The Tory Party is the party of the wealthy, for the wealthy; the Labour Party is funded by the unions with the aim of social justice and jobs (not to mention union power); Brexit is funded by 'dark money', speculators and disaster capitalists, as there's always money to be made in a crashing market. The flat refusal of Farage to say where some of his funding comes from is suspicious in the extreme, especially as he's known to have trousered half a million from currency speculation on the night of the referendum in The Big Short.

I was upbraided for likening Brexiteers to England football hooligans, but when the overwhelming consensus among experts is that Brexit will do severe damage to the economy, that is simply economic vandalism; when Farage has talked about creating mayhem in the European Parliament following the European Elections, that is political vandalism. I stand by the analogy - if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, the chances are it's a duck.