Noel Gallagher’s right… our Brexit-sneering liberal elite are Half The World Away
I’VE always thought there was something fundamentally sound about Noel Gallagher.
Talented bloke, decent songwriter and usually spoke a bit of sense. He’s just done so again.
People who want a second vote on Brexit should go and live in North Korea, he said. Meaning that they had no time for democracy.
Gallagher — like almost every bloody pop musician — backed Remain in the referendum. But he said: “There’s only one f***ing thing worse than a fool who voted for Brexit. That’s the rise of the c***s trying to get the vote overturned.”
His message, then, to the relentlessly moaning Remainers who have tried every trick in the book to get that democratic decision overturned is: Don’t look back in anger — get on with your lives and let Brexit happen.
As we decided it must.
And here’s the thing. I suspect most Remainers think exactly the same. The people I know who voted Remain were saddened by the referendum result and they wished we’d all voted differently.
But they all believe that the vote must be upheld. And there should not be a second vote.
‘I’D GUESS THE BBC IS 99 PER CENT REMAIN’
And when I talk to them, they don’t call me a Nazi or a fascist for voting Leave.
They don’t suggest I’m too thick to be allowed to vote or that I hate all foreigners.
They just agree to differ on that simple issue of in or out, and there’s no bad feeling at all.
This is the thing. The politicians and commentators insist Brexit has brutally divided the nation. That the wounds will take a long time to heal. That we’re all at each other’s throats. The 17.4million versus the 16.1million.
It’s not so at all. The only real divide is between the four or five million Remain voters who simply won’t have it — and the rest of the country.
A lot has been written about the people who voted Leave — most of it codswallop.
“It was just the poor and the left-behind, the uneducated and the xenophobes.”
The statistics simply don’t bear that out.
People of all walks of life, all levels of education, all ages and all backgrounds voted Leave.
This is not, however, true of that hardcore of Remainers, between a quarter and a third of that 16million, who demand we run the vote again.
They are insulated from the normal world. When they say they don’t know anyone who voted Leave, they’re telling the truth.
They work in professions where virtually nobody voted Leave.
In our universities (93 per cent Remain), in schools (teachers were 70 per cent Remain, even more in the South East), and among luvvies (95 per cent Remain) and scientists (93 per cent Remain).
And the BBC — I don’t have figures for the BBC but I would guess it’s close to 99 per cent for Remain.
This is the real divide. Between a liberal middle-class elite who simply do not understand the hopes and aspirations of the rest of us. And react with absolute fury when they don’t get their own way.
When Brexit is over, one way or another, that liberal elite will still be with us, utterly out of touch with the rest of the country.
That’s the divide that matters today. A small minority determined to inflict their liberal policies upon the rest of us.
Next on BBC: The bigot debate
THE BBC shoved an imam from Gloucester on to its Tory leadership debate programme and has now had to apologise.
Abdullah Patel asked questions of the candidates about anti-Muslim bigotry in their party. Turns out he’s been accused of plenty of bigotry himself.
A whole bunch of social media posts from Patel attacking Israel and praising Corbyn were uncovered. There were “Zionists” hiding behind the Holocaust, a suggestion that Israel should be transported to the centre of the US and so on. The usual stuff.
None of it surprised me – and he’s not alone in pushing this view. Is it any wonder anti-semitism is now so entrenched in the Labour Party, and in our country?
Goat get them
HERO of the week is a goat. I don’t know its name. Let’s call it Bob.
Bob lived in Zimbabwe. Bob was standing in the middle of a road at night when a car hit him.
The car cartwheeled, killing both of the people in it. They were rhino-horn smugglers – scumbags who kill rhinos so the valuable horns can be sold in powder form to sad Chinese men who can’t get a stiffy.
Anyway, Bob’s now dead. But his life was not given in vain.
Thank you, Bob.
Bursting the bubble
THE latest social media trend is the bubble-tea selfie. Japanese girls take photos of themselves with a carton of the sugary drink nestled between their baps.
Nope, I don’t know why.
The craze is spreading west, too.
People have been seen doing it in Thailand and Vietnam.
Will it reach here?
Well, it’s got to navigate its way through Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia – so I wouldn’t bet on it.
All a bit UF-O.T.T.
THE Breakthrough Listen Project was a massive scheme using millions of computers.
It was dedicated to finding intelligent extra-terrestrial life. It has found . . . nothing. Just light year after light year of utter silence.
I think it’s time we accustomed ourselves to the fact there’s nothing out there and we’re all alone. The rest of the universe is cold, silent and devoid of intelligent life. Just like Canada.
High time for a PM Roderick
IT’S a shame to see Rory Stewart crashing out of the Conservative leadership race.
Not because I agree with him about anything – I don’t. I’d just thought it was high time we had a PM whose real Christian name is Roderick.
If people called Roderick ran the country we wouldn’t be in the mess we are now.
Sure, Mr Stewart doesn’t use “Roderick”.
He’s shortened it to “Rory” in order to sound more dashing and maybe a bit Celtic. Big mistake.
Be proud of your given Christian name, Roderick Stewart. It means great ruler. Rory, I think, just means drunk Glaswegian eating a pie.
Charity case
THE bigger and richer charities get, the less likely they are to do the job they were set up to do. The RSPB is a case in point.
It’s very rich indeed, with mugs like me paying for its upkeep each month.
Incredibly, this organisation has flogged part of a crucial nature reserve near Middlesbrough – so a huge power station can be built on it. What possible right do they have to do that?
The RSPB says the Saltholme reserve is not one of high ecological significance. But it was home to some of the UK’s most endangered birds. Not for much longer. At least the RSPB made a fast buck.
Hart tatt is a 'torn bin liner'
HAVE you seen Joe Hart’s new tattoo? Christ help us all.
It looks like half his torso has been draped in a torn bin liner.
Joe doesn’t care what other people think of it – fair enough.
But remembering his performances in goal for England, I wonder if a different sort of tattoo might have been more helpful. On one wrist the words: “Stand in the centre of the goal when facing a free kick, you idiot.” And on the other: “Have a go at catching the ball from time to time.”
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Giuseppina's long-living tips
THE oldest woman in Europe has died at the age of 116.
Italian Giuseppina Robucci credited her long, long life to avoiding alcohol.
A week ago, however, the oldest woman in the UK died. Grace Jones was 112 when she popped her clogs, and put her longevity down to regular glasses of whisky.
Hmmm. I think I’ll forfeit that extra four years and stick to Grace’s recipe.