The country has gone mad

It is incredible to see the force of debate between the two sides on Brexit. Today John Major waded in to the polemic to demand a free vote on the referendum in Parliament, and that no PM should deliberately make the country poorer.

It is true that Theresa May is taking us down a very narrow path, a deep ravine over which we will surely tumble. The December agreement has today been published in legalese by the EU, stating the three options that the UK government has regarding the Irish border:
 - Remain within the Customs Union
- Identify a technical solution to avoid a hard border
- Accept convergence of regulations between Ireland and Northern Ireland, effectively putting the border into the Irish Sea.

May has rejected outright the 3rd option, as this would break up the internal Single Market of the UK. A taste of her own medicine perhaps. It would also never be accepted by the DUP. Despite Boris's ridiculous suggestion that the border could be managed with similar technology as with the Congestion Charge between Camden and Westminster, no detailed technical solution has been forthcoming to answer option 2. That is because there is none. And even Boris has admitted in private correspondence that a hard border would be necessary.

This leaves the only remaining option, which is to remain within the Customs Union. This is what, back in 2016, we warned Brexiteers would happen. I hold my head in my hands as the news avalanche of Brexit continues to pour cold water on the stupid and ridiculous hard Brexit ideology. Yet they cannot accept reality as it stares them in the face. Surely, sooner or later, the Government will have to accept that this entire fiasco must stop.

Snow day!

So Jeremy Corbyn has declared that Labour would seek to remain in "a" Customs Union, finally putting some clear blue water between the Brexit policy of the two main political parties. Boris, who has accused him of selling snake oil and deceiving the will of the people (despite doing exactly that on the side of a red bus) is still barking on about the use of technology to avoid a hard Irish border. This morning on Radio 4 he even compared it to the Congestion Charge technology used when passing between Camden and Westminster. Well time is running out for the Government to come clean and reveal exactly what the technological solution would look like exactly. The whole thing is ridiculous. If Corbyn is being truthful then I might well vote for him should there be another General Election. Forcing this path would almost certainly bring down the May government, that's for sure.

Other news this week I had my operation for the catheter insertion. A couple of nights at Guys and now I am back home recuperating.  The NHS is truly an amazing organisation of people. It is the people that make it so special. Operationally I was lying in my bed on the ward, comparing how it could be improved if it took a few patterns from the airline industry: checkin, upgrades, ancillaries, seat/bed map. I could definitely provide a few ideas.

Now I'm not working right now I am spending a lot of time in my flat, staring out of the window. I've stopped my painkillers and am looking at the snowflakes drifting down onto the rooftops across the road. Thursday is supposed to bring a blizzard. Finally, the Daily Express can be proud that their headline has some degree of accuracy. 

Downwards

So I've received my appointment for surgery to insert a peritoneal catheter into my abdomen. This is the first stage of my entry into dialysis.


In addition I will be having an umbilical hernia fixed, which was something I was not aware of, but hey, two for the price of one and all that I suppose.


For preparation I have to take a nasty solution of Sodium Picosulfate, which will clear my bowels, dramatically, in the 48 hour run up to the operation. So that will mean I have to work from home in the run up.


I knew all this was coming but my last blood test revealed a reduced eGFR of 8. Carla eat your heart out. When I watch that programme I know it's for dramatic effect that she is not already on dialysis but it is still odd to see her collapsing on an eGFR of 16. Still, I suppose everyone is different. I feel generally fine still, if a little drunk feeling and out of focus on life challenges. I've recently just not been going into work and sleeping a lot, which I guess is my symptoms starting to rear up.


And if that were not bad enough we are still in this poisonous Brexit nightmare where the government is still insistent on pursuing a suicidal exit strategy. They want to leave the Customs Union in order to strike trade deals with the rest of the world! Well guess what, we have to put up a border across Ireland if we do that. It's very very odd to see the blatant myopia and insistence that Mr Barnier would not go that far. Well he has spelt it out very clearly now. There will be a border if we leave the Customs Union. And so the likes of Mr Rees-Mogg, who seems as divorced from reality as my renal symptoms are making me, wish for us to go down the no-deal route and exit the EU next year without any implementation phase. This will lead to utter chaos, with planes not even able to fly across our borders in theory. I just wish this chaos would all stop. It is obvious that we cannot pursue a hard Brexit and that a no-deal would be catastrophic. The recent leaked Government sanctioned reports have stated this - that there would be up to 16% impact in the classic Brexiteer areas of the North East if we leave without any deal.


I just wish for one thing. That my health returns in the near future, and that I have the choice at least on whether to leave this xenophobic, poisonous country and move across the Channel to Europe. That is my dream, but for the time being I am reliant on the NHS, wonderful that it is, to help me recover.