Britain's Royal Mint will be issuing a number of limited edition fifty pence coins this Friday. They are to commemorate our country's departure from The European Union - in other words to mark Brexit.
Above you can see the wording that will appear on the reverse of the coin - "Peace, prosperity and Friendship with all nations". I wonder who dreamt this wording up. Perhaps Boris Johnson's chief political adviser - Dominic Cummings who with the assistance of mainstream media cunningly engineered the tragic Conservative victory in the December general election.
Examining those words more closely I have several things to say. Firstly, half of British voters did not want to leave The European Union. Secondly, what does "leaving" mean anyway and can we ever entirely leave as we are so closely connected with our European neighbours? Thirdly, how will these coins be judged five, ten, twenty years from now? Perhaps they will strike a cruelly ironic postscript note.
Let us look at the words. In what sense does leaving a union of nations indicate "friendship"? Surely it suggests the opposite and where there is division it is historically not the best climate for either "peace" or "prosperity". These words are pretentious nonsense - trying to pull the wool over people's eyes.
"Division, regret and desperate bickering for trading advantages with all nations" would seem to me to be a more honest legend to write on the reverse of the 50p coin or perhaps simply: "Into the abyss with Mad Johnson at the helm".
In my way of thinking, January 31st 2020 will be a very sad day for Great Britain. The most appropriate way of marking it would be the tolling of bells all across the nation - solemn funeral bells. And why has "Friendship" got a capital "f" when "prosperity" hasn't? Simply stupid.
Who ever thought it up is trying to convince you all of what they are delivering. Propaganda in every purse.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry this is happening. The madness is everywhere
Propaganda does not belong on coins of the realm.
DeleteIn the words of John Lydgate...and echoed by Abraham Lincoln....“You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”.
ReplyDeleteI don't think there would be room for all that on the reverse of our 50p coins.
Delete*Sigh*
DeleteI acquiesce. Chin up though. The NHS will be better off by millions a week if you remember the promises. Lying toads.
ReplyDelete...and there will be unicorns frolicking in a land of milk and honey and no holes at all in Blackburn, Lancashire.
DeleteThe 31st of January is my Dad's birthday. We are so very glad to still have him with us after all he went through in the past 2 years, so it will be a day to celebrate for my immediate family, and we shall try not to think of what is going on not all that far from us.
ReplyDeleteAnd my sister and I have already booked our next Yorkshire Holiday; as long as we can legally visit without too much hassle, we will continue.
Happy birthday to the father of Meike and the MS (Mysterious Sister). If you need a reference to get through border control I will be happy to vouch for you.
DeleteI will donate any that make their way into my purse to charity. Age UK springs to mind as social care does not appear to be a priority for this government and sooner or later we might need it.
ReplyDeleteIf I get one I will keep it in a drawer so that in years to come I will be able to taunt "Leave" voters with "I told you so".
DeleteAnd then there's the whole Oxford comma question, which has apparently riled people up.
ReplyDeleteI agree -- this wording is ridiculous posturing and the complete opposite of Brexit's actual message and intent. It's positively Orwellian.
If George Orwell had witnessed the descent into Brexit, even he would have been gobsmacked. Maybe he would have written a dystopian novel about it titled "2020".
DeletePretty absurd.
ReplyDeleteYup. Johnson is learning from your orang-utan.
DeleteThe more things change, the more they stay the same. What really bothers me is how upset people get when you say the truth. When something is bullshit, people get upset with you when you say it's bullshit. I'm not a fan of propaganda. What's that old saying? If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. Or in this case a load of crap.
ReplyDeleteBrexit is not a duck it's a scary monster.
DeleteAnd "stress, worry and possible heartache" for all the expat Brits in the EU wondering just what the hell is going to happen to them if they don't meet the as yet unspecified requirements for staying on in their country of choice!
ReplyDeleteMy brother and his girlfriend have some of those worries living as they do in the south of France.
DeleteI'm looking forward to seeing new 1 and 2 Euro coins with amended maps of Europe and the words "We don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wipers".
ReplyDeleteOr perhaps more succinctly "We fart in your general direction"
DeleteI didn't realise that Johnson was a general.
DeleteAbsolutely agree with you, YP, and with the comments made here. Later this year Boris will probably stand at the door of No 10 - thumb his nose and say "Ha, fooled the lot of you!" and happily ripping up whatever agreements might have been made.
ReplyDeleteI was appalled to see, on a TV programme last weekend, that few assurances have been given for the future of the farming industry. Some woman who was full of herself, and more concerned that she was on TV, was dodging the serious questions about the future of the industry, put by the programme presenter. I can imagine a similar scenario played out about so many important issues - particularly the NHS.
Thank you Treaders for showing concern for us Expats - it's a very worrying time for us all.
Truth is the number one casualty in this ongoing fiasco.
DeleteAs I agree with all of the comments, the only judgement I will pass is that they could not capitalise the p of prosperity between the other two capitals because of space. Or perhaps they know something we don't know - there ain't going to be any prosperity...
ReplyDeleteThe Johnson family will continue to be very prosperous. I expect they will soon be starring in TV commercials having done the reality shows and the "Get Brexit Done" farce.
DeleteI don't think it will take five, ten, or twenty years for this to be judged "a cruelly ironic postscript". It's ironic already. It's also trying to put lipstick on a pig, and I apologize to all pigs for that comparison.
ReplyDeleteI wonder which shade of lipstick Mr Johnson favours.
DeleteTears were, involuntarily, rolling down my cheeks that fateful morning in June 2016.
ReplyDelete31 Jan 2020? You do realize that 31 read backwards amounts to 13. On a Friday, no less. Not that I am superstitious.
Having had a devastating run-in with the Home Office (under May's tutelage) some ten or so years ago and, again, a few years later I dare not leave the country (to, say, visit my parents in the motherland) lest passport control won't let me back in again (under any old pretext); into the country I have spent most my adult life in.
It's shameful. Still, mustn't forget the "Kindertransport".
U
PS You forgot (though Steve Reed didn't) to mention Philip Pullman's (the author) wagging his finger at the missing Oxford comma. Bloody hell.
I don't care about the Oxford comma, it's the Yorkshire two fingers they missed.
DeleteLove this comment, Neil!
DeleteA waste of money....
ReplyDeleteQuite literally!
DeleteHow.....silly. At best.
ReplyDeleteI think somebody doesn't understand the meaning of the word "friendship".
Prosperity doesn't have a capital p because they thought nobody would notice. the jury is out on Brexit but my opinion is that it will not be positive.
ReplyDelete