This is the front page article from the latest print edition of the Heckler which should be out within the next fortnight…

The 2016 referendum on remaining in or leaving the European Union was a gamble by the then prime minister, David Cameron, who has turned out to be one of the biggest chancers and losers in recent history. The vote to leave put immense pressure on a hapless Tory government that has spent more time fighting among themselves as to what leave actually means rather than getting on with the job of trying to negotiate a halfway workable deal with an intransigent European Union.

This is why we’re in a country that’s more divided than ever and going into 2019 not having a clue what Brexit is going to do to us. For this, we have to thank the politicians who presume to lead us and who try to con us into thinking they have our best interests at heart. The reality is that they’re a bunch of self serving, posturing charlatans, many of who don’t appear to have a grasp of the complexities of what Brexit entails. One classic example is one of the former Brexit Secretaries, Dominic Raab, only realising late in the day the strategic importance of the Dover/Folkestone to Calais sea and tunnel link! Seriously, you couldn’t make this up…

There were a lot of shady goings on in the run up to the referendum with revelations now coming out about how the vote was influenced and who was influencing it. The shady goings on are still going on. The European Reform Group that includes the likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg want(ed) a no deal Brexit, the aim being to use the ensuing chaos to push through a shock doctrine form of disaster capitalism. Basically, this means a low tax, low regulation economy where protections for workers are torn up, the tattered remains of the social safety net stopping people falling into destitution are destroyed and the environment is ripe for exploitation and trashing.

It’s no better at a local level. We have local authorities cosying up to developers in secret, closed door events, cooking up deals which will have profound impacts on our communities. We have councillors moonlighting for consultancies that facilitate the nefarious work of these developers. When councillors don’t get their way in flogging off a park for a school, they turn round and arrogantly brand the residents who had perfectly legitimate concerns as NIMBYs.

Then there are the agencies such as Highways England who, despite a few bulls**t consultation exercises, are presenting the controversial Lower Thames Crossing as a done deal. All they’re willing to discuss are the technical details of route alignment, junction layouts, cutting depths and embankment heights. Any questioning of the need for the route, particularly in the face of the climate change emergency we’re facing, is airily dismissed.

These self serving, blinkered, arrogant politicians and agencies are the people who presume to run our lives. They run our lives because as things stand at the moment, they face no serious challenge to their power. Take a close look at this bunch and ask yourselves – do you really want this shower running our lives? Some of them, removed from their insulated, protected, elitist cocoons would struggle to run a bath.

Who are the best people to run our lives? Us, the people. We have the collective experience and wisdom to know what’s best for our neighbourhoods and communities. In the workplace, if it wasn’t for our input, there would be no economy. We’re the ones who put the graft in to keep the show on the road. We don’t have to endure the dysfunctional, dystopian world we live in. If we can find the collective will and strength, we can change things for the better. It doesn’t have to be like this!