Weekly Message from the L4E Committee

No Laughing Matter

Dear Friends and Supporters

We're now 40 months past the June 2016 referendum, which marked a watershed in British politics in so many ways, and all still here! It is hard to recall that, prior to the referendum being called, hardly anyone ever talked about our EU membership. It is true that politicians were, even then, not held in great regard, but at least we could laugh with them and about them. Remember the great parody TV shows like Spitting Image, and the wonderful impersonators who brightened our TV screens with imitations of Harold Wilson, Margaret Thatcher and the monochrome John Major? Oh, how we laughed!

But, in the words of the late, great Bob Monkhouse, "They are not laughing now!"

And we are not. Many of us are so upset, shocked or angry on either side of the debate that this time we cannot laugh at our collective national misfortune. Remember the words of Basil Fawlty who manages to offend a group of German tourists with: "Don't Mention the War!" Unlike the majority of Leave voters, it seems, I wasn't there.

L4E AGM

On Monday 7 October, we finally succeeded in holding our AGM! This, after months of trying to find a date when our officers, our President Catherine West MP and our preferred venue of Europe House would all be available on the same day!. The event went extremely well, and was well attended, despite the best efforts of Extinction Rebellion to make the journey challenging! We will produce and distribute a report of the event, for all those who couldn't make it.

The Myths

I would like to draw your attention to a publication of which I was made aware just this week. "De-bunking Brexit Myths: The Truth About the EU & Brexit" is a new booklet published by our friends and colleagues from South-West Yorkshire for Europe. It is designed to help campaigners everywhere counter all those strange myths about the EU, like the supposed "EU Army". It contains both a short and extended response in each case. It is available to download here:

I will endeavour to memorise its entire contents ready for Saturday 19 October. Hope to see you all there!

The March

One place I will be is Central London on Saturday 19 October. This last great march before yet another Brexit Exit Day - though hopefully not the last - is entitled "Together for the Final Say." Its working title had been "Let Us Be Heard" - and with this day having been made far more significant by an emergency session of Parliament, we certainly will be!! How wonderful it would be if this could be the day that Parliament voted for a new referendum, or even to cancel the whole sorry process altogether.

The London4Europe meeting point, by the way, is towards the north end of Park Lane, at the Animals War Memorial opposite Upper Brook Street. We will be there from around 11am, with the march set to begin at 12 noon – though past experience suggests it may be delayed.

Beware, however, that if the turnout is as great as we anticipate, you may struggle to complete the entire route. So you may wish to join at other points and meet us on the way. There are many other points at which you can join the march. Whichever you choose, I do hope you will make every effort to attend and we hope to meet as many of you as we can, and to hear your personal accounts afterwards.

Four Marching Rhymes for People's Times

Our good friend Jennifer Monahan, chair of European Movement Hammersmith, Kensington, Chelsea & Fulham (EM HKCF) has compiled a series of rhymes, as an alternative to the adapted football chants that you may hear along the way.

To the tune of ‘Daisy, Daisy…’:

Boris, Boris, give us your answer do.
Why do you spend our money on policies made for you?
It won’t be a happy nation
If you take us to isolation.
For we’re not fooled
And we won’t be ruled
By the charlatan that is you.

To the tune of ‘Rockabye Baby…’:

Rockabye Boris wants his own way,
When the truth dawns the voters will sway.
When the cliff comes they’ll see the long fall,
Say ‘Down with you Johnson, Cummings and all.’
To the tune of ‘Baa, Baa Black Sheep’:
Baa Baa Boris, have you any dough?
Yessir, yessir, told you so.
Lots for the Master, less for the Dame
And none for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.

To the tune of ‘My old man said follow the van…’:

My old man said follow that man
And don’t you allow him to stray.
We dillied, we dallied,
But in the end we rallied
And he’s not going to get his own way.

To the tune of ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’:

Half a pound of currency fall,
Millions of pounds on Brexit.
That’s the way the money goes.
Pop goes the exit.

Andy Pye
Secretary, London4Europe
[email protected]