Implementing the wishes of the minority

Before we start, I should make it clear: I feel that Brexit is a supremely bad idea, and if I had any say at all we would not be doing it.  It will mean huge economic and political upheaval and pain in the short term, for no gain in the long term.  The referendum was won on lies, misinformation, and encouraging ignorance.

But vote out the UK did, and the question ever since has been what form the break will take.  Economists have, in the main, been hoping for a ‘soft Brexit’, where access to the Single Market would be retained and the UK would suffer less of a financial shock.  However, recent reports from the government have indicated that a ‘hard Brexit’ is more likely – leaving the Single Market with the aim of controlling immigration and regulations.

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12 million Turks are not planning on moving to the UK

Part of a series looking at the spin behind a Daily Express article – see this post for details.

Now that we have established that Turkey is not about to join the EU, and even with the visa-free travel scheme which might be implemented for the Schengen Area, Turkish citizens are not allowed to move to the UK, it might seem a little pointless examining the Daily Express’s claims and survey findings.  However, comparing the newspaper article to the actual survey that was commissioned is a useful exercise in showing how statistics can be misleading and how, very often, journalists don’t understand the numbers they are reporting on.

Continue reading “12 million Turks are not planning on moving to the UK”

12 million Turks are not allowed to move to the UK

Part of a series looking at the spin behind a Daily Express article – see this post for details.

Having established that Turkey is not going to be joining the EU any time soon, it it should be a relatively simple step to say that we are not going to see an influx of Turkish migrants on the UK’s borders.  Unfortunately, the Express and Mail have been putting out misleading stories about Turkey for months, and their reporting is designed to be vague enough that their readership sort of assumes it’s all the same story.

Continue reading “12 million Turks are not allowed to move to the UK”

Turkey isn’t going to join the EU any time soon

Part of a series looking at the spin behind a Daily Express article – see this post for details.

The Daily Express is very sure of the future.  In their masthead, they state:

MORE than 12 million Turkish citizens are planning to move to Britain when the country joins the European Union, an explosive poll for Express.co.uk has revealed.

There are many things wrong with this single sentence, and over the next few posts we’ll look at some of them in depth – the number of Turks involved, what they are planning to do, and what the survey actually shows.  However, this post concerns the single word ‘when’. Continue reading “Turkey isn’t going to join the EU any time soon”

There’s no need to be worried about a Turkish invasion

The Daily Express has published a story about how 12 million Turks will come to the UK once ‘an EU deal is signed’ – the subheading indicates that this ‘EU deal’ is about Turkey joining the EU.

As a bit of background for those currently not up to speed with UK (and European) politics, the UK will shortly hold a referendum on whether to remain a member of the EU.  Many are concerned about a loss of sovereignty or the money that is sent to the EU; many more are concerned about immigration.  Those in favour of remaining tend to concentrate on economic benefits from membership of the single market (a free trade zone), benefits from harmonised regulation, and benefits from free movement of labour.  The arguments are too complex to cover in a short blog post. Continue reading “There’s no need to be worried about a Turkish invasion”

Can Scotland use Sterling?

A great deal of the Scottish independence referendum has centred on the question of currency and the economy – the ‘yes’ camp say they will enter a currency union with the rest of the UK, while the ‘no’ camp say that wouldn’t be in the best interests of other countries so would be blocked.

A currency union would be something similar to the euro – a common central bank, working for the benefit of all members.  It looks increasingly likely that Scotland, in the absence of a full currency union, would instead just either use Sterling as it is, or would peg its own currency to Sterling.  Some on the ‘no’ side have said that Scotland wouldn’t be allowed to do even this. Continue reading “Can Scotland use Sterling?”

Meeting in the middle: the clustering effect

Today sees local elections across the UK, with the highest profile battle being fought over the mayorship of London.  While there are two high-profile candidates in Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone, there are a number of other candidates who represent a whole range of political views from the far right to the far left.

There is a significant third candidate in the middle, Brian Paddick.  While he is unlikely to get elected, he has a significant impact on the policies of the two front-runners.  There are many differences in policies between the Conservatives and Labour, and this difference is driven by the existence of the third option.  Continue reading “Meeting in the middle: the clustering effect”