Takeovers, Takedowns and Meltdowns.

Takeovers, Takedowns and Meltdowns.

I woke up this morning with my mind on an old customer whose story I would like to share.  I don’t wish to name names, so, as it amuses me, I will call them Dave, Ed & Nick LLP.   They were a customer for the best part of a decade.  I personally looked after their account and every other day would be talking to their excellent general manager John who ran the show for the owners, taking his orders, sorting out his problems, make sure his supplies and equipment arrived when he wanted them where he wanted them, keeping him happy.  A wonderful chap, an expert (yes, I know expertise is so last year), keeping his employer’s ship on a steady course for many years.  John knew what he was doing.   Sometimes he dropped a clanger or would make totally unreasonable demands and I would be swearing and muttering to myself around the office as I tried to figure out a solution that would get him out of a fix.  I always did and often it cost us money and he wasn’t always as grateful as I would have liked, but he always paid the bills and gave a fair price. Our working relationship was both excellent and mutually beneficial.

Then out of the blue the Dave, Ed & Nick LLP partners all wanted to retire and sell up.  John decided to go to pastures new and his assistant, Ben was put in his place.  We were assured there would be no change, we would have the exact same benefits and relationship with the new permutation of the company.  Of course, the inevitable unravelling started quickly.  The calls from Ben were full of unspoken anxiety and stress, you could almost feel him shrinking in the middle of the circle of wagons as he came under siege.   Their accounts department dragged their feet, Ben’s budget was squeezed, customers started to leave them in droves.  I would have to stop supplies until invoices were paid, never happened before.   It turned out that the new owners were not interested in job creation, or investing for growth, they were not interested in the existing staff or the long history of the company.  They had used lies to keep staff on board.  The prize in their sights was the prime property the company owned which was right in the middle of an area of intense redevelopment for buy to let luxury apartments.    They were running the company down for the cashflow whilst they got a developer on board, which they did.  Within a year the company which had operated for 30 years was dead, redundancy notices handed out.  The plaque on the swish new apartments should read RIP Dave, Ed & Nick LLP you served us well but well, we couldn't be bothered with all that work malarkey and besides we made more money this way.

Why do I tell you this story you ask?  An everyday story of business surely.  Well I am no politician or historian, so I see the world through the lens of everyday life.  I see a parallel in the current body politic. Like my customer it has been broken and taken over by asset strippers and opportunists, people who have leveraged populism to take control.  I am shocked by what has happened in the last 8 years.  The electorate sold its votes to the highest bidders, fed up with stagnant wage growth and self-serving over familiar plastic politicians.  Conservatives under David Cameron bowed to pressure from the extremes within and sold their Tory souls to the UKIP agenda of division and blaming the Other to deflect from the fact that their own policies were woefully inadequate in addressing the post 2008 climate of poor growth and financial crisis.  Now under the cosh of a referendum result which she knows is damaging and makes no sense, May is caught in the death grip of the ERG who are pushing us steadily towards a disastrous Brexit.  The Tory back benchers, mostly remain realists originally, are invested so heavily in the folly of the great Willerthepeople Project that they are refusing to acknowledge we are all at the mercy of a small number of Billionaire disaster capitalists who are pushing their Brexit agenda for personal benefits, the acquisition of money and power, at the expense of millions of people around the country.  These people count their pounds, euros and dollars, whilst most of us will count the cost in pounds, in tax burden, in family lives, in jobs, in closed businesses, in lost family and friends from the EU27 community who are fed up of being depicted by press and politicians alike as a problem rather than a part of our community.  Look at Jacob Rees Mogg talking about the Northern Ireland Border.  He cares not a jot for the ordinary people of the United Kingdom.   Nor does Boris Johnson who has dodged and wavered and lied and twisted direction.  Who would trust him? These people are not our friends, yet they hover malevolently in the background threatening May’s leadership to get their way. 

But what of the HM opposition you ask?  They got a shiny new management too and the launch party was indeed super exciting and remarkable.  People were swept up in the fever of enthusiasm of a new (to them) face who appeared to be speaking so plainly and selling his politics of hope and simple solutions.

Beware though, they are gambling with the Politics of Catastrophe as much as the government is.  They have consistently failed to point out to their constituents what a damaging thing Brexit is.  Most of their supporters know and can see that but these are politically engaged individuals.  The average constituent has no idea and barely an interest in what is in store. The correct responsible response to the referendum result would have been to press for a thorough review of what the result meant, what would be the consequences and if necessary some consensus as to what a desired realistic endpoint to aim towards if it was decided by parliament to trigger the A50. Yet the shadow front bench sat back and let it all happen.  Totally blind, totally clueless they supported the government in triggering the A50.    When challenged they wring their hands.  What can we do?  We have 6 tests.  Will of the People.  Honour the referendum.  We have no say.  Well the six tests have already failed under any kind of Brexit so what now?   What are they doing?  Are they waiting for government to fail and pick up an election win and possibly an opportunity to bring in their own Corbynomics agenda?   

Lib Dems, Greens, SNP, all fully anti Brexit but unless we live in Scotland it’s difficult to feel our remaining options will get us very far, especially given the continuing hostility shown towards the Lib Dems by Labour and their refusal to work together with them effectively against the government on Brexit.  Perhaps we should all move to Scotland.

Young people have been shafted so much by Tories  they will not be joining any time soon in big numbers.  Labour membership Is at healthy levels, but the writing was on the wall for me personally during the 2015 leadership election.  I saw long and frequent threads on Twitter and Facebook filled with vitriolic diatribes towards Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall and a little to Andy Burnham.  Liz got the worst of the abuse.  This was from so called labour members and supporters.  I see some of the same twitter accounts to this day in nasty aggressive threads about anti-Semitism or Brexit telling people to go away and vote tory and how they are responsible for people dying at the hands of Tories by being critical of labour strategies.  I left Labour because of Brexit, but to be honest I heaved a big sigh of relief that I no longer have to be embroiled in these kinds of internal discussions.  They started the tone with this level of aggression towards dissenters and are surprised that it has now come back to bite them in a very public meltdown being covered in the news.  The internal language of labour is now toxic to its core.  I don’t think I am the only one who has been totally turned off by this nonsense.

The Body Politic is broken.  All parliamentarians have contributed to this either by their actions or inaction and it is parliamentarians who must fix it.  New alliances between sensible minded MPs and Peers and MEPs REGARDLESS OF PARTY who believe in doing the right thing need to be forged using their agreement on the Brexit issue to try and defeat these extremes who between them are driving us to the disastrous consequences outside the EU as a third country.  But it’s not just about Brexit, these alliances must push back against the wider implications of these extremes which are creating a political landscape of intolerance, where debate has been replaced by gaslighting and dog whistles and the abdication of personal responsibility.

All I can do is raise my one voice to MPs and potential MPs and say very clearly whoever wants my vote in the future will have to prove to me they have earned it by showing the courage and good sense in standing up right now against this disastrous attempted takeover of UK Plc by ideologues, fools and Wreckers.

I hope you will all use your voices too.

@redalphababe

Brexit is Personal

I have been thinking about why I feel that the EU referendum and the brexit narrative has felt so personally hurtful.  The question of EU membership is complex. On the face of it, a political question.  I am not normally given to political extremes and quite a fan of nuance, balance and reason in my deliberations of political matters. But there you have it, right there.  Brexit goes beyond the political and strikes into the very heart of my family and my family history.  

So, a potted history.  My parents were Spanish from Galicia and moved to Argentina when first married. Not unusual for a time when Gallegos travelled to follow opportunities all over the world.  Gallegos are like the Welsh and the Irish. It’s a small region, population wise, but wherever you go in the world you will meet someone with links to that green and rainy corner of Spain.  But I digress.

My siblings were born and some years passed and there was a gap.  My parents found that they were unexpectedly expecting me and having had a bad time with my mothers health when my brother was born, my father decided to move the family back to Spain before I was born to be close to extended family.  

Unfortunately, things were still difficult at that time, it was still Franco’s Spain and after some time seeking work, my father was recruited as a farm labourer in North West England.  This was somewhat of a departure from his trade which was a salesman in a gentleman’s outfitters, but my dad always lead by example, you do what you need to do to look after your family.  

So in 1971, we all followed my dad who had a permanent job and a place to live.  We qualified for ILR under the rules at the time.  My whole life since the age of 3 has been in the UK - my education, my work, my partner of 29 years, my son.   

It isn’t easy uprooting yourself and your family to another country.  People blart on about it as if it’s mere trifle.  Well let me tell you reader, it takes great courage.  Even when your situation is dire, leaving can still be an agonising choice to make, leaving everything that is familiar, your language, your family support network.  My family did it twice.  In those days there were no cheap flights to hop back and see grandma, there was no email.  You had to write and wait a few weeks for a reply.  It was much harder to stay in touch with your family back in your country of birth and that isolation and separation is not an insignificant consideration.  

My parents may well have been migrants bringing little with them, but all of us become productive and working members of our communities.  I have run a business with my partner for 20 years and we employ several people as well as supporting ourselves.  If you really insist on valuing us in terms of hard cash, I would say the UK has got and is still getting its money’s worth from our entire family.  

Growing up, the different aspects to my identity did not always sit comfortably together.  Was I Spanish or was I English?  I developed a very British sense of humour, enjoying the  sarcastic wit that is found in Merseyside and learning to be rather self deprecating.  I had a love of animals particularly dogs.  My accent when speaking Spanish was very English.  On visits to Spain, people used to call me “La Inglesita”.  At the same time my Spanish heritage was strong - the love of paprika laden food, the much darker more fatalistic side of my humour, my outstanding propensity to procrastinate and my love of fiestas and fireworks and social occasions.  

Spain joined the EC as it was in 1986 and as the years went on and we became the EU and then FOM became a reality, it dawned on me that the different parts of me were finally fitting together and made complete sense under the umbrella of EU citizenship.  We were all Europeans, citizens together.   It was in that context that I came to a decision to be naturalised as a British citizen.  This may sound like it doesn’t make sense but I made the decision with great thought and solemnity.  It was not a rejection of my Spanishness but a commitment to the country that that I lived my life in and a desire to have a full political voice here. My EU citizenship kept the strong connection to Spain alive so there was no door being shut there.  

One of my siblings meanwhile around the same time decided to move to Spain to pursue opportunities there.  He was in his teens when the family moved here.   His son - British born British passport, is in the UK and getting married soon.  

Both of these momentous decisions were taken in the context of our EU membership, our EU citizenship and FOM.  Under brexit the context has changed.  What will happen if my brother wants to come back and live here?  His original ILR will be no longer be valid.  The current income specifications by the home office which will likely apply to EU27 post brexit, will probably not allow him to do so either.  His son may or may not be able to join him in Spain.  How many other people have made decisions in the past 20 years which will now lead them to experience even great complex quandaries in this new brexity context.  Lives interfered with, freedoms removed for no good reason.  Families will have to choose and be divided.  

But my biggest problem with brexit, and this is really what gets me riled up, (as my long suffering family and friends will vouch for) is that every time for the last few years the “we can’t talk about immigration” crowd have talked about immigration, they have done so in a way which has dehumanised and insulted every immigrant like my dad who has come here to commit their lives to the UK with love and enthusiasm and courage and strength.  Every time MPs talk about turning taps off, or people swarming or flooding or talk about people not born here as a problem to be solved rather than a human beings to be valued, they insult the likes of my dad who walked 5 miles every day rain or shine to get to and from his work on the farm in order to look after his family.

I am sorry if you think that I am being over dramatic.  Mr. Farage stood in front of that damn racist poster and many voters looked at it and listened to the lies and came to the conclusion that they would then vote against the interests of their friends, their colleagues, their neighbours, even their own families without a moment’s thought as to what the effect would be on millions of people who were denied a voice and their wives, husbands, parents and children.  All these thoughts are like skewers, painfully plunged into my heart as I remember my dad who from the moment he came here to the day he died, did nothing but love the mighty UK and her people with all his heart. 

That’s why Brexit is Personal for me. 

Why I am voting #Remain - my positive case

I think more than enough vile and false information has been splashed about with regards to issues around immigration in this campaign and anybody who has believed some of the the most horrible rhetoric is not going to be swayed in any way by me so I'm not going there. Instead I have decided to lay out MY POSITIVE REASONS for voting to REMAIN A MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN UNION. 

We have all benefited from some aspect of EU membership over the years

Business and jobs from free trade – Just in our little business I would say about 1.5 of the 12 full time jobs our business supports is down to the turnover and PROFIT from our sales into the EU. We do not concentrate on export but nevertheless it has become a valuable income stream and is growing. If the terms of trading into the EU change and it affects profitability of this business we would be left with no choice but to make some changes to protect our core business activities. Or put it another way have been able to create 1.5 more jobs than we would have done otherwise thanks to our EU sales. 

EU funding of social/ cultural/community projects – Lots of parts of the UK have amazing resources thanks to EU funding.  Parts of Wales have really benefited from this and I believe Wales is a net beneficiary.

Infrastructure that would not otherwise be built due to limited resources from Westminster/local authorities – see my last point

It is easy for every single one of us as EU citizens to travel study work and invest throughout the EU and this has broadened minds & enhanced cultural and employment opportunities for young and old alike.

EU structures have enabled more funding and more importantly information sharing and cooperation in the vital areas of science, the environment and security.

Consumer protections and employment protections have been enhanced for each and every one of us. Whether you buy a product in Britain or France or Germany you have the same consumer legislation to protect you. For example I have to give exactly the same returns rights to our British French German or Spanish customers.  Vice verse if you buy from a French retailer. 

Yes regulations can be a pain and there should be a constant revision of removal of regulation that has not achieved the intended aim (apparently this does actually happen in the EU)  but in the main the original intentions are to help EU citizens. Do you really particularly want to choose to buy a hoover with an inefficient motor or would you prefer there is legislation which ensures that manufacturers continue to invest in the technology which drives their designs forward and makes their products more efficient and effective? Maybe some of those regulations are a means to getting us in the right travel of direction towards a worthy goal.

On a final and  personal note re regulation, people (both politicians and other folk)  who have never in their lives run a business or created ONE single job have spent the last few weeks telling me solemnly that small business in particular is hampered by EU regulation.  I have been running a small business for 26 years and we have created an amount of employment over the years which has generated much tax income for the UK that I think we can be quietly proud of.  I can say hand on heart I have never had any EU regulation hamper my business activities noticeably and any business problems we have experienced over the years have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with EU regulations and more to do with how well the economy is doing combined with our decisions.  I cannot speak for others in business but in my company we believe in taking responsibility for the quality of our own work, decisions and judgement.  We try and deal with trading conditions as they are presented to us we do our best we don’t always get it right but we won’t blame anybody or anything else when we get it wrong.  

So that's where I am - that's why I sent my postal vote in a week ago and proudly voted to #remain.  I hope you find something useful  in my humble opinions.