Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Tuesday 28 March 2017

Brexit and Lord Heseltine


As I have indicated before about Brexit I remain a Remainer.

I have never been keen on EU per se, with its obsession with over-regulation but I do accept its underlying concept of a shared culture and civilisation, and, as a consequence, the economy that make sit tick over.

Too many in the United Kingdom never understood the basic idea of binding countries together by a variety of means in the wake of the two World Wars.

Brexit is, I fear, a leap into the unknown and into uncertainty - and not least over the future of the United Kingdom in respect of Scotland and Northern Ireland

However the situation is not helped by ardent pro-Europeans like Lord Heseltine whose latest interview suggests, as a spokesman from UKIP does, that he is losig the plot. If you have not seen it then read this post from the BBC News website:Brexit 'clears way' for German domination claims Heseltine
Ironically Heseltine ends up sounding more like a Europhobe, and betrays an astonishing lack of historical understanding or simple good manners towards people we shall have to negotiate with.

What a mess!


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