Initial thoughts on the Brexit vote III

I voted (and campaigned) to remain in the EU but I think that holding a second referendum because we didn't get the desired result would be a dangerous affront to the whole concept of democracy in this country, so I will not be signing any petitions or supporting any moves to overturn the will of the majority of the UK electorate.

Initial thoughts on the Brexit vote II

Once the parties have sorted their leadership issues out I think we should have a general election so the public get to decide the government that negotiates the terms of the Brexit.

Initial thoughts on the Brexit vote

I think there are potentially a lot of bad consequences of yesterday's vote. But hopefully President Obama meant it when he said we would be "at the back of the queue" for a trade deal with America. At least that way we might now have seen the back of TTIP as far as the UK (or whatever's left of it) is concerned.

The EU is no threat to UK sovereignty

Here's another analogy about the European Union and sovereignty.

Many people would argue that, in a representative democracy, sovereignty ultimately lies with the people (at least with that part of the people that comprise the electorate). Yet the people do not directly formulate every policy that a national government introduces, nor do they get to vote on every piece of legislation that is proposed in a national parliament. However, if a significant number of constituents are unhappy with the way their government is operating, the latter must take notice of that because otherwise they run the risk of being voted out at the next election, when the people exercise their sovereignty in its most direct sense. When the election comes, if the people are still not happy, the government will fall.
Likewise, the UK electorate do not get to formulate EU law or to vote in the European Parliament. But if a majority of us are happy with the broad sweep of current EU law then we will, democratically, choose to remain a part of the European Union, much like an individual in the UK voting for a political party, whose manifesto she is in general agreement with, to form the domestic government. Similarly, if enough of us are unhappy with the consequences of EU membership, we will democratically elect to leave, either in the upcoming referendum or at some point in the future (as I pointed out in Chapter 1, there is no reason why there can't be another referendum on EU membership in the future - if enough people want one, they will elect a government that offers one), in much the same way that people will vote to depose a domestic government with which they are unhappy.
The foregoing analogy shows that, no matter how democratic or otherwise the internal institutions of the European Union may be, the UK's membership of the EU is no more of a threat to popular sovereignty than is our own national system of representative democracy.

Yesterday's Daily Mail headline

It's a good thing the NHS is able to recruit nurses from abroad as the Trust I work for finds it extremely difficult to recruit and retain nursing staff at the moment and I believe that is true for most, if not all, NHS Trusts. Without nurses from overseas the already seriously overstretched health service would probably collapse. As for the accusation that bosses are using cheap labour, I wouldn't disagree. Those 'bosses' are the Conservative government so beloved of the Daily Mail, who have held down public sector pay for the last 6 years and now even removed bursaries from student nurses. It's good to know the Mail has finally seen the light and decided to speak out in favour of a decent pay rise for our longsuffering NHS nursing staff!

Just in case you are interested...

...here are the links for my other blogs:

"Free Armenian Lessons" (short lessons in both Eastern and Western Armenian).

"Andrew's Art" (drawings and paintings including a few home-made greeting cards).

"Luther's Marbles" (a blog about the Doctrine of the Trinity).

Another analogy about the EU and the 'sovereignty issue'

If I decide to give up going to work, I'll have a lot more personal sovereignty - I'll be able to decide for myself, without any outside interference, exactly what I'm going to do with my time all day long, seven days a week. The downside, though, is that the company I currently work for will undoubtedly cease to pay my wages and that would be something of a disaster for me, since I would no longer be able to pay my rent or even afford to eat. So I suppose I had better carry on going to work, while maybe agitating for better terms and conditions - and, of course, should the time ever come when the benefits of going to work are no longer sufficiently appealing to outweigh the attraction of being able to do my own thing all day long, then I know I will be free to simply hand in my resignation and walk off the job. If that were not the case then I would be no more than a slave.
Similarly, were the UK to leave the European Union, it would notionally regain a certain amount of sovereignty but it would lose the undoubted benefits of full access to the single market (unless it agreed to obey nearly all of the EU's rules - although now with a much reduced say over what form those rules take). However, should the time ever come when the benefits of participation in the single market are no longer considered by the UK public to be worth the price of having to adhere to EU legislation then the country will be free to exercise its ultimate sovereignty and leave the European Union - because that Union is, in the end, a freely made, democratically mandated one and not some kind of old style Empire which forcibly denies independence to its constituent nations.