Self-Propelled?

It is no wonder that Volodymyr Zelensky shows no sign of ever going back to Ukraine. He became President on 20th May 2019. On 20th May 2022, he lost Mariupol. And on 20th May 2023, he has lost Bakhmut to a private company that is largely staffed by dregs who were not allowed even in their country's conscript Army. Such has just defeated NATO. Who could have expected that? The "diverse populations" of NATO Turkey and of NATO-allied Saudi Arabia?

The world over, will Yevgeny Prigozhin be giving up control of the territory that he has captured and will be capturing? The Wagner Group is not the Russian Army, but a private military company. As for Zelensky, he lives in the vanishing world of the G7, shown here. The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that there were nine of them. Two of the nine members of the Group of Seven are the EU, as such. This is what we are fighting for. 

Consider Denmark, which is not only training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets, but has sent all 19 of its CAESAR self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine, together with the ammunition, retaining 21 practically antique mortars with which to defend the Danish homeland. But then, on 5th of this month, Denmark celebrated its last ever Great Prayer Day, which had been held every year since 1686. It had a special bread, and everything. But as a public holiday, it has been abolished with effect from 2024. To increase defence spending. Defence of what?

In any case, CAESAR self-propelled howitzers are about as defensive as Storm Shadow cruise missiles, or long-range attack drones, or indeed air defence missiles. Of those supplied to Ukraine by Britain, at least one of the first has been publicly acknowledged to have been used. "Defence" is usually a euphemism, but "attack" means exactly what it says. And we all know where and whom are going to be under attack.

All cheered on by the Labour Party, and therefore also by the SDLP. All cheered on by the Liberal Democrats, and therefore also by the Alliance Party. All cheered on by the SNP, and therefore also by Plaid Cymru. All cheered on by the Greens, who are the King's Party in every way, and who are already hardline hawks in government in Germany. All cheered on by the DUP, by National Conservatives, and by the Boris Johnson Fan Club at the Conservative Democratic Organisation. All cheered on by the Socialist Campaign Group. And not unconnectedly, all cheered on by Sinn Féin.

But when I tell you that there is going to be a hung Parliament, then you can take that to the bank. I spent the 2005 Parliament saying that it was psephologically impossible for the Heir to Blair's Conservative Party to win an overall majority. I predicted a hung Parliament on the day that the 2017 General Election was called, and I stuck to that, entirely alone, all the way up to the publication of the exit poll eight long weeks later. And on the day that Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, I predicted that a General Election between him and Keir Starmer would result in a hung Parliament.

To strengthen families and communities by securing economic equality and international peace through the democratic political control of the means to those ends, including national and parliamentary sovereignty, we need to hold the balance of power. Owing nothing to either main party, we must be open to the better offer. There does, however, need to be a better offer. Not a lesser evil, which in any case the Labour Party is not.