Posts Tagged ‘Boris Johnson’
Five Reasons Why Boris Johnson Should Legalise Cannabis Now
1. Popularity
Polls confirm that a majority of British voters support reform of our cannabis laws. More than three-quarters are strongly supportive of medicinal cannabis. There has been a sea change in attitude, also strongly accelerated by the rise of the CBD market, itself born entirely out of small, entrepreneurial British businesses. Boris could catch this wave, delight more than half of the electorate immediately with a bold, radical move and dispel much of the ‘nasty party’, authoritarian mood that has come out of the Covid crisis. Properly explained, a new policy can also deal with the concerns that still remain about cannabis. It should be presented as a solution to the four further reasons set out below and because, in 2020 no one wants to see their son, daughter, mother or father turned into a criminal just for cannabis. A large majority of electors support this.
2. Mental health
For many years, politicians have been advocating that mental health should be treated with the same priority as physical health. The Conservative Party has promised it repeatedly over the past decade. For those that fear cannabis contributes to young people’s problems, legal regulation is, without doubt, the solution. Age limits and licensed rather than criminal distribution channels will minimuse underage use. Proper labelling and limits on THC content of licensed cannabis will protect against the negative effects of so-called ‘skunk’. For the millions that we know already use cannabis actually to help with their mental health, particularly during lockdown, it will enable access to new, safely controlled and designed products with ideal ratios of CBD and other ingredients. These will be far preferable to the massive bill both in NHS expenditure and side effects that we currently pay for tranquilisers, anti-depressants, sleeping and anxiety medicines.
3. Tax revenue
The potential for an enormous net gain to the British economy, turning what is now only a drain on resources into a new revenue stream is huge. Serious, erudite work has been completed by a number of well-respected institutions. The most pessimistic estimate a net gain of about £1 billion. The most optimistic projections are 10 times as much. Looking to actual experience around the world, most likely is somewhere in the middle, perhaps around the £6.7 billion that the Independent Drug Monitoring Unit calculated in its 2011 study. As we emerge from the Covid crisis into a deep recession, cutting our costs and increasing our income are going to be vital and cannabis isn’t going away. We have to choose whether to waste money on it or make money from it. Cannabis legalisation won’t just cover its own costs but provide billions more that can be added to the public expenditure budget – and we are going to need every penny.
5. Crime and violence
The long held ‘gateway’ myth that consuming cannabis ‘leads on to harder drugs’ has been disproven over and over again by science. It’s still strangely prevalent amongst the poorly informed but even the UK government’s expert advisors formally rejected it in 2008. The laws against cannabis and the £6 billion criminal market that they have created is the gateway to deliquency, knife crime, county lines exploitation and hard drugs. The police and our political leaders have found themselves on the same side as organised crime, for they share the desire to keep cannabis banned. The public demand is not going away and a responsible government would act to regulate the market, to make it safer and to protect consumers. The criminal cannabis market is how young people get groomed and enticed into county lines and it’s what drives knife crime. It drives and funds much more serious crime. It is undermining our society. It really is one of the most idiotic, irrational and counterproductive of all government policies. A legally regulated market will pull the rug from under this nightmare scenario. As Canada has proved, within two years, around 50% of the market has already moved to legal channels and the damage caused by nearly a century of prohibition is gradually being undone.
Brexit Is Britain’s Greatest Victory Since WWII. Let Us Go Forward Together To The Broad, Sunlit Uplands of 2020.
With apologies to Churchill and great respect to his deserved successor who can confidently plan for 10 years in Downing Street if he so wishes.
Brexit was about love of our country and self-determination. It was not, as the hate-filled Remain campaign alleged, about racism, xenophobia, immigration, looking inward or disliking European cultures and people.
As for lies, the biggest lie of all was Project Fear. It eclipses completely the clumsy exaggerations and overclaiming of the Leave campaign. Project Fear was a systematic, well-funded campaign by big business and bankers, driven and managed on their behalf by the EU.
I’m a Europhile but an EUphobe. The EU is not Europe. It is a bureaucratic monolith established by those big businesses and bankers who have put their oligarchs in charge. It has run an extraordinarily successful disinformation campaign, persuading those who consider themselves ‘progressive’ that it is a benevolent institution. It’s exactly the opposite and I’m astonished so many intelligent people have been had by this disinformation, completey suckered by EU propaganda.
Let’s just be grateful that wiser judgement has prevailed and at the end of this month we will be out. I know a lot of people are very sore. I am an admirer of Jeremy Corbyn for his great personal integrity which was severely tested by sinister forces, particularly over the fake antisemitism smears but he is no leader and that was clearly shown in the election campaign. As a Leaver himself he tried to muddle through with a useless compromise position on Brexit which was his undoing. I wish him well for the future and there is a role for him as a statesmen-like campaigning politician once he is free from the shackles of his smaller-minded colleagues who forced him into that doomed strategy.
By contrast, Boris Johnson is not a man of great moral integrity. But while I wouldn’t lend him a fiver, he is a great leader and to return to the wartime analogy, I would go over the top with him. He is inspiring and he gets things done.
I am only just beginning to understand the scale of the Tory victory and the depth of defeat of Labour and socialism.
The people’s verdict could not be more clear. The facile ideas of socialism, promoted, virtue signalled and claimed as popular on social media are fanciful. This isn’t the first time that the British people have expressed a decisive opinion on left wing philosophy but the metropolitan, champagne socialists that dominate Twitter and Facebook never seem to get the message. Let us hope they can now come to terms with reality.
If this new government can espouse true Tory values of liberty, individual responsibility, small government and free (but properly regulated) markets, then we have cause for great optimism. What we must guard against is the malevolent big business and monopoly power influence that does exist within the Conservative Party. Margaret Thatcher’s small business background is where the true soul of the Tory party is to be found, not in the elitist world of David Cameron and Theresa May.
Please be a true Tory government. Set Britain free and give us the independence and enterprise to be the great nation we truly are.
Never Understimate The Power Of Leadership
At last! After three years of miserable, negative, guaranteed-to-fail incompetence, we have a leader who will make things happen.
Theresa May was a dreadful home secretary and our worst ever prime minister. Everything she did at the Home Office went wrong. To use the adjective she once chose, she’s a nasty politician, and the Conservatives were stupid, utterly barmy, to make her leader. As I’ve written before, she never had an ounce of leadership ability. She is an authoritarian bureaucrat, a pen pusher with out-of-date, out-of-touch, discriminatory and spiteful ideas and no ability at all but administration. I wouldn’t put her in charge of anything except an office full of not very bright book keepers.
Boris is exactly what Britain needs.
They say he’s Marmite but I don’t agree. I like lots but there’s also some that I dislike. He’s flaky, unreliable and I wouldn’t lend him a tenner. If you gave him your bag of coke to go to the loo with, you wouldn’t trust him to bring it back.
It doesn’t matter. he’s still the right man for the job.
The EU and the particularly oily Michel Barnier have totally humilated us. Our negotiating position and ability have been atrocious, worse than useless. It’s time now to remind the EU that they are dealing with Britain, the fifth largest economy and the world leader in soft power,
We have let our star fall far too far. It is time to put things right and Boris is the man to do that. After he’s got us through this we can put someone serious and boring in charge.
Boris To Back Cannabis?
I believe the stars are aligned. The time is right. Cannabis law reform has become a political opportunity instead of a problem and Boris Johnson is the politician who could exploit it for his personal advantage but also for great benefit to the whole nation.
Public opinion is now clearly onside. According to the latest poll, twice as many people (48%) support legalisation as oppose it, an overwhelming 77% support legal access to cannabis as medicine and 22% support legalising ‘grow-your-own’.
Remarkably this poll was commissioned by the newly-formed Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group, a development which itself shows how dramatically opinion has changed, even amongst the party of government.
The headlines around Michael Gove’s past use of cocaine led to an outpouring of confessions from politicians of all parties and those who admitted to consuming cannabis brushed it aside as of little consequence.
The evidence coming from Colorado, which legalised five years ago, is very clear that legalisation works and there have been no significant negative consequences. In Canada and California, which legalised more recently, aside from teething troubles, everything is looking good.
The economic case for legalisation is very strong with estimates predicting at least £1 billion up to as much as £7 billion net gain from additional tax revenue and reduced law enforcement costs.
The thunderous clamour from international business is becoming deafening. If the UK doesn’t catch up with the fast-moving pace of reform it is going to lose out very significantly.
It’s clear the police have absolutely no interest, nor the resources, to enforce the laws against personal possession, consumption or low-level cultivation of cannabis.
I hear from a very close and reliable source who works in the criminal courts every day, that throughout the system, judges, barristers, solicitors, police officers, probation workers, everyone thinks that there is no point in enforcing these laws anymore and they do more harm than good.
So, if next week Boris Johnson becomes PM, then probably on 31st October, if not very shortly afterwards, we will leave the EU. Then we will have a General Election because he cannot miss the opportunity while the Labour Party is in its present state of self-destruction.
A new Boris Johnson government will be radical. He will want to assert his credentials as a liberal and a supporter of business and free markets. He will also want to support the police and do something to tackle knife crime which is almost entirely driven by the failed drugs policy of prohibition. It will be a no brainer for Boris to back cannabis.
Do Not Apologise, Boris. Resist The Smears, Jeremy.
So-called journalists, particularly the BBC, acting as trolls. Self-serving MPs, commentators deliberately and falsely smearing to their own advantage. The allegations of antisemitism against Corbyn and of Islamaphobia against Boris are fake.
The antisemtism smear is entirely about support of the war criminal, gangster government of Israel. Its propaganda machine is working overtime and probably its renowned Mossad secret service, twisting and deceiving, stirring and agitating. It has already won the British Jewish establishment and the treasonous Blairite MPs to its cause.
Boris is quite correct about the burka. It is alien to British culture and absurd but let’s not ban it if people want to wear it. To characterise it as racist is absurd and a devious form of victimhood. The corrupt, liar Brandon Lewis and the terminally weak Theresa May claw desperately at him as their government descends ever further into chaos.
I don’t like Boris although we would agree on a lot of policies. I do like Jeremy but we would only agree on a few. They’re both in the same boat at the moment but at least they take a stand. They have some backbone, unlike the rest of them.
Even When It’s Theresa May We Must Not Constrain Our PM From Taking Effective Military Action.
I’d prefer Theresa May wasn’t in charge of putting out her own recycling, let alone the defence of our nation but those MPs and commentators calling for a vote in Parliament before military action are misguided and foolish.
It’s absurd to expect any prime minster to go to Parliament before acting on what may be an immediate threat to our nation or, indeed, to human life elsewhere.
It’s difficult to think of anyone more unsuitable to have their finger ‘on the button’ than Theresa May. She’s a religious nutcase and shifts her position with the wind to suit her own political advantage. Nevertheless, we just have to accept the fact that for now she is prime minister and she has to have the authority to act.
Whether we should attack the Syria government is another matter. With the amount of disinformation coming from all sides it’s impossible for me to make a rational decision. I don’t trust the Russians at all but then neither do I trust Mrs May nor the totally incredible Boris Johnson whose bluster and exaggeration has finally destroyed any confidence I had in him.
There’s disinformation from all sides on Syria, on the Salisbury nerve agent attack, even this morning from the Met Commissioner, Cressida Dick, on gangsters and violent crime in London. The news is full of propaganda these days and both the BBC and the press are playing their own games. They’re all unreliable and untrustworthy.
What I am sure of is that our weak and pathetic MPs, the likes of Chuka Umunna and Ken Clarke, should have had the courage to deal with Assad back in 2013 when he first used chemical weapons and before Putin muscled in when the West was too timid to act. The last thing we need now is to let them delay and bicker and score party political points off each other.
The Assassination of Jeremy Corbyn’s Character
While I could never vote for socialism, Jeremy Corbyn provides more leadership, courage and integrity than any other politician in Britain today. Even considering the entire world and recent history, only Obama and Justin Trudeau could hold a candle to the bright light that burns from Corbyn’s soul.
On this day when we remember the assassination of Martin Luther King, one of the greatest leaders ever, whose dream has still not been fulfilled, I say, look at the small-minded, bickering, pathetic excuses we have for leaders today. Certainly in Britain, only Corbyn has the honesty, bravery and determination that are the prerequistites for greatness.
The conduct of the British press, most Conservative politicians, the many vile, treasonable Labour MPs and particularly the BBC towards him is despicable. The antisemitism smear campaign is so far away from truth as to be worthy of comparison with McCarthysim, the worst excesses of the Soviet era, the KGB, Stasi, Spanish Inquisition, the dissolution of the monasteries, the witch hunts, any of mankind’s most shameful epsiodes. If anything was ever going to turn me against the mainstream Jewish community and into a supporter of Corbyn, it is this. The behaviour of those I have named as responsible is a national disgrace.
Our leaders are inept. Authoritarian bigots such as Theresa May, incapable of any effective action. Today she is more concerned with ‘the burning injustice of the gender pay gap’ than with the horrendous murder rate on London’s streets. Politicians prefer to put time and money into politically-correct, virtue-signalling policies that raise obscure minorities way above the majority and the real issues that determine our society. Transgender ‘rights’ for children get more attention in Parliament and from the media than the essential need to provide worthwhile employment, education and guidance in our inner city ghettos. We have politicised love, relationships and the mating game to the level where men are unable to pass a compliment for fear of accusations of harassment and abuse. Homosexual love and desire is given more respect and value than the 95% of population that is interested in the opposite sex. We decry the ‘porn culture’ yet little girls are encouraged to idolise ‘Little Mix’, girls dressed as street whores as some totem of female empowerment.
The state of our justice system is pathetic but when the tyrant and incompetent such as Chris Grayling, who could only ever be Theresa May’s apprentice, is put in charge, what can we expect? For a few moments, Michael Gove, perhaps the only ray of hope in the entire cabinet, takes over and immediately wise, innovative reforms are in the offing but just as swiftly, May replaces him with the third rate, timid Liz Truss who achives absolutely nothing. It is impossible to get justice in Britain today in either criminal or civil systems unles you are rich or you are in the ‘minority of the moment’, viz the ridiculous, politically-correct decision that police officer are compelled to believe every word of even the most incredible allegations of historical sexual abuse. A decision that has led to persecution, harassment, ruined lives and suicide amongst completely innocent people and then another behemoth of a public inquiry that will achieve nothing except to make a lot of lawyers rich and give our sickening newspapers more material on which to to pontificate endlessly. Which brings me back to Jeremy Corbyn.
Please God that soon, and it cannot be soon enough, we are rid of the harridan monster in Downing Street. Yet who can replace her? The entire Conservative cabinet is disgraced. Though Boris Johnson has some qualities that I value, his rush to judgement about Russian responsibility for the Salisbury nerve agent attack makes him (and his colleagues) unfit to govern – another instance where Corbyn was right all along despite enduring rampant, hysterical criticism from all sides. I first saw through Johnson when he was Mayor of London and a few more year’s experience have done nothing to iron out the fundamental flaws in his character. Sadly, the once great libertarian David Davis has been effectively stubbed out by assimilation into the malevolent collective known as the European Union. He may have gone there to rescue us but he has been absorbed, no doubt exactly as Mrs May intended. The only other possible candidate, Michael Gove, has disqualified himself by his duplicitous and cowardly conduct after the referendum. I blame him for the fact that Mrs May is our prime minister and there are few greater crimes than that.
I am in despair, as I believe are so many of my fellow Britons. I see no bright future for our country. Since I was 18, for the past 42 years, whenever I have chosen to vote, I have voted Conservative. In recent years I was a fully paid up member of the Conservative Party and an approved local government candidate. What I know for sure is that next time I vote it will be for which ever candidate best guarantees that the Conservatives will be out of government. If that means voting for Jeremy Corbyn, so be it.
After A Vote For Brexit We Cannot Have A Remainer For PM.
It’s obvious isn’t it? It would be an insult to the electorate and a subversion of the democratic vote if our new PM was not a committed supporter of Brexit.
The most disastrous choice the Tory party could make would be Theresa May. Not only is she a remainer who hid away during the referendum campaign and didn’t have the courage to stand up even for her own side, she is also a deeply divisive figure. All Home Secretaries are unpopular but few are reviled like Theresa May. She is intolerant, authoritarian, illiberal (some Tories might like that but not the rest of the country) and she has a diabolical record of incompetence at the Home Office.
She has presided over the complete collapse of our border controls. Even despite the incompetent policy making on immigration, Theresa May has allowed our borders to fall into uselessness. On the other hand she has also been responsible for some of the most cruel, inhumane treatment of genuine refugees.
She was responsible for the disaster at the Passport Office and for other policies which prevent the partners of British citizens living here unless they earn a minimum amount. These are un-British, cruel and spiteful policies that seem to characterise the mindset of Ms May. She would be a disaster for Britain and for the Tory party.
Stephen Crabb is an interesting, young, up and coming politician – and he’s Welsh (which is always an advantage in my book) but he’s a remainer. He cannot be our next PM. Neither can Jeremy Hunt, Nicky Morgan, Justine Greening, Robert Buckland or any other remainer who puts their name forward. It would be an insult, the greatest disrespect to the electorate.
Personally I regret that Michael Gove is not standing. Other than his support for the war criminal state of Israel which I deplore, he is, in my view, one of the bright lights in Parliament: fiercely intelligent, a reformer and a skilled media spokesperson. I suspect he may be keeping his powder dry for the next opportunity.
I believe there are only three possible candidates for our next PM: Boris Johnson, Liam Fox or Andrea Leadsom.
I’m An Ex-Tory But Osborne’s Budget, The Rail Unions And No To Heathrow Could Get Me Back.
The budget is strategically brilliant. It makes reforms that are essential.
I think some people are going to suffer and I am particularly concerned about disabled people and students but I like this radicalism. It takes us in the right direction. It is political genius for the Conservative Party to introduce a higher minimum wage. All of Labour’s spokespeople are speechless.
I can agree with Boris that the Tube and GMB strike are vexatious and deliberately timed to coincide with the first Tory budget since 1996.
I also agree with Boris that London’s hub airport would be best sited in the Thames Estuary. We need this radicalism. It will create jobs and enormous wealth. The very idea that we should build another runway at Heathrow is, in my view, close to a war crime. It is a gross violation of humanity. It is disgusting that we should even contemplate subjecting a dense population to such violation.
So this Tory radicalism excites me. This sort of visionary, long-term politics is what Britain needs. Add a dash of liberal back in and we could be getting there.
4. Jobs
About 250,000 people work in the legal cannabis industry in the USA and numbers are expected to grow significantly as legalisation expands. That’s equivalent to creating about 50,000 new jobs in the UK. A legally regulated cannabis industry would create huge investment in sophisticated cultivation and production facilities, distribution and retail channels. The CBD industry has already created hundreds of new businesses and thousands of new jobs in the way that only new industries can. We can already see that the push back from big business and big pharma that have missed out on this boom is about destroying jobs and stifling innovation. The path that the EU and the FSA are trying to force the CBD industry down is really about protectionism for the established pharmaceutical and supplement industries. We are going to need new markets, new thinking and fresh ideas to create new jobs.