OK, right off the bat let me say that I’ve used P&O Ferries plenty myself and was impressed both by the service and the fact that they were still in business despite many other ferry companies going bust. But the double shock for me in this story are the following (and probably many would agree);
- The disgusting manner in which staff have been dismissed and
- Learning that the true owner of the business is a company based in Dubai!???? Yes I am all for globalisation but when it makes sense, done prudently and while at the same time being guided in the main by basic common values otherwise it can become a soft form of takeover of a nation and its destiny.
So here are some thoughts;
- I spoke plenty in older posts about how the UK – mainly due to political corruption and faceless power-brokers (some known ones too) who control politics and the economy – has all but stripped the nation from being in control of its destiny. A nation where all major services & industries and media are in the hands of foreign-based firms & businessmen that have little in the way for genuine devotion to anything beyond the financial incentives and more importantly run by people with suspect loyalties/allegiances. Hell, even with some native influential politicians and businessmen one can easily see how their actions alone tell a disgusting story about where their real interests/loyalties lie; where’s our intelligence service in all of that mess – but that’s a story for another day. Now of course we’re beginning to see signs of this infection with Russian oligarchs but that’s only the tip of the iceberg; an iceberg of a rotten system that has allowed itself to become a haven for hackers of all kinds/breeds.
- BREXIT as it turned out was less about “taking back control” and more about giving full control to elites from around the world so that they can bankroll the economy to give it the fake outlook of prosperity while on the other hand well off politicians continue to stash their cash in foreign tax havens. BREXIT was sold as a question of immigration even at a time when the influx of immigrants from the EU was slowing down. In fact the main problem in the UK was never about EU immigration but rather the poor policies over the years that drained the country from maintaining/expanding its core industries and allowed powerbroker’s (national & foreign) to hijack the country and its future. I would even go further to say that in my opinion EU membership with the economic, political and security benefits it provided served as a soft cushion to protect against full reliance on foreign political & business actors who are now seeking to double their share in the British economy allowing them to triple their influence on Britains future when they have little to share with us in terms of values. This in a nutshell is BREXIT Britain because this is the only workable model that would allow BREXIT to survive….short term anyway. In other words BREXIT Britain is built from the bottom up on the notion that “Britain is for Sale”, and when you’re on sale you don’t get to set your price because its dictated by the market and you’re not in any position to make recommendations on that front. I guess the lesson here would be that no country seeking to be influential can go it alone cause the world is much more complex than the ages of empires.
OK, I hear you ask how did we get from the P&O scandal to BREXIT? If that’s your question then all I can say is this; this little story making the headlines proves without a shadow of doubt – that when push come to shove – our destiny is NOT in our hands but rather pushed around to others, in Dubai or elsewhere – this is how BREXIT functions despite the “take back control” punchline when we’re the ones constantly being punched.
Finally, what about this “values” thing I keep insisting about? My friends if there is anything crystal clear post the Ukraine invasion it is this simple nugget; the world we live in today – like it or not – is becoming a battle of ideologies and one that is getting fiercer by the day. This is precisely why we need to be quite selective about how we choose allies (develop stronger relationship with them) and how we protect ourselves from the influence of our foes because the stakes in this day-and-age cannot be higher. Just ask yourself this; why in the world would our adversaries fiercely support us in pursuing BREXIT or electing someone like Donald “Duck”???; looking at it logically without biased distortions the answer should be quite obvious. So we need not only defend our values but promote them anywhere we can otherwise we lose influence and power everywhere.
Just a thought!
PS: Note that when mentioning Russia or China as adversaries it’s all about the regimes controlling these countries and not the nation and the helpless population they control irrespective of their views. I hope this fracture in world order and these battles of ideologies end in a way that allows focus primarily on cooperation and development in all forms around the world; one that guarantees human rights for all and eliminates economic disparity between the rich and the poor of the world-that would indeed be time/effort well spent.