The final line to the ditty the title is taken from is; "and he ain't going to jump no more!"
I heard a UK political journalist, on a US TV program, describe Brexit as the same as an Englishman jumping out of an aircraft without a parachute from 20,000 feet.
Alongside the Englishman in this freefall escapade are an Irishman and a Scotsman who both have parachutes.
As they descend the Englishman continually claims they do not need their parachutes, they will land safely. "See you Celtic wimps, free fall is not at all dangerous", he shouts at them, "Just do as I do and you will be safe."
Technically the Englishman is correct; free fall at around 100 feet per second is not, in itself, inherently dangerous. The problem comes when terra firma arrests your descent, when you reach zero feet above the ground and all that potential energy from the fall, contained within the Englishman's body, turns into kinetic energy. I will leave you to imagine the picture at the end of the Englishman's free fall descent without a parachute and how far he is now spread across the countryside.
In the meantime the Scot and his Irish companion are falling at the same rate, during free fall. They are free to deploy the parachute whenever they wish to within certain safety margins. First it takes 3 seconds for the chute to deploy fully and begin to slow the descent. I would be pulling the rip chord at 1000 feet and complete the rest of the descent under the canopy from around 700 feet. A skilled parachutist might well wait until 700 feet and a Special Forces' nutter to 500 feet. The problem they then have is what if they need to deploy their emergency chute. For the 700 foot release you deploy your emergency chute at 400 feet and you are probably safe, at 500 feet initial deployment, you will probably break one or both legs.
The big question with in the current time line for Brexit is: What height above ground level are our trio of parachutists now at?
For me, we are now reaching the 1000 foot mark, the safest point to deploy our independence parachute.
We now know that Labour will abstain its way to backing May's Brexit whether deal or no deal. Corbyn has indicated this position clearly and will seek to obtain a three line whip on the issue. The Customs Union he wrote about to May is just a wet blanket to quiet his party's remainer wing. He will then hope to reap the electoral rewards when the UK economy is spread as thin as our putative English parachutist, on Brexit impact.
We know the EU is not for turning and it is the agreed Brexit deal in full or no deal. There is no room for any further negotiations on this issue. Yet the UK meedja are still trying to sell the idea that Ms May is negotiating hard behind the scenes at the EU and she will get her deal on the Northern Ireland border. This is just nonsense, as anyone who watches any EU news reports on Brexit full well knows. The EU 27 are completely agreed on one point, they are sick fed up with Ms May and her wheedling and whining.
The British Road Haulier Association is telling anyone who will listen, they have so far only obtained 1000 of the required transit permits from the EU, for the post Brexit period, they will require to move goods to the EU, out of the 11,000 their members actually require.
We have UK farmers who have no clue as to whether the calves and lambs, they are bringing into the world over the next few months, are worth the work as there is likely to be no market for them.
The pound is now 18% lower in value than at the worst point during the 2008 financial crash, the UK economy is rapidly plunging into stagflation. Foreign investors are shifting their assets out of London at an ever faster rate as are the banks for whom the City of London supposedly exists. Over 80,000 jobs in the UK financial sector have already been shifted out of the City of London to Dublin, Frankfurt and elsewhere.
NIssan is starting the process of buggering off from Sunderland, Honda is well down the road of flitting operations from Swindon to its EU plants while Jaguar / Landrover are already heading for Croatia.
In the meantime at Westminster a Defence Minister, Williamson, makes outrageous claims about the future of the UK's armed services in spite of the reality they are currently short of personnel, material and supplies. In an off the record briefing, a MoD insider claims the UK armed forces are 20 years out of date and not fit for purpose.
Williamson's response is a typical Brexiteer response to seek to sort out this governmental department's failing with equipment he does not have - drones - and by painting a couple of past their sell by date ferries, Naval grey. Of course there are no details as to how these ferries are to be converted, what armament they are to be given, what modern fire and control systems will they be fitted with, how they will be manned, in a RN now struggling to man the ships they can afford to send to sea, or the actual cost to the naval budget of these white elephants that will be Williamson's saviours of Britain.
I have held my wheesht, supported Nicola's cautious approach but the reality is we do not have much time left to pull the ripcord on the Scottish parachute to land safely as an independent country within the EU. A course of action 60% of Scots who have been asked to state their views, wish to happen. We still might land safely if we deploy later but is it a risk we wish to take?
Nicola, we need you to act by the end of February and unleash the potential of Scotland to become an independent nation state once more. We do not need Westminster's approval to end this perfidious union. The UK Supreme Court would be ineffective in any attempts by Westminster to challenge a decision to repeal the 1707 Act of Union of the Scottish Parliament under Scots Law and constitutional practise at the current parliament at Holyrood. This we know is true under the UN Convention of Human Rights and the Kosovo Declaration. A simple majority at Holyrood to repeal the act is all that is required even without any second referendum on the issue of independence for Scotland.
The UK Parliamentary Union is now the Norwegian Blue Parrot of our time. It would not go voom even if you put a few thousand volts through it. It is an ex-Parliamentary Union bereft of life, hope or breath, it is dead; deceased, gone to its maker.
So please Nicola can we put it out of our misery, once and for all?
I heard a UK political journalist, on a US TV program, describe Brexit as the same as an Englishman jumping out of an aircraft without a parachute from 20,000 feet.
Alongside the Englishman in this freefall escapade are an Irishman and a Scotsman who both have parachutes.
As they descend the Englishman continually claims they do not need their parachutes, they will land safely. "See you Celtic wimps, free fall is not at all dangerous", he shouts at them, "Just do as I do and you will be safe."
Technically the Englishman is correct; free fall at around 100 feet per second is not, in itself, inherently dangerous. The problem comes when terra firma arrests your descent, when you reach zero feet above the ground and all that potential energy from the fall, contained within the Englishman's body, turns into kinetic energy. I will leave you to imagine the picture at the end of the Englishman's free fall descent without a parachute and how far he is now spread across the countryside.
In the meantime the Scot and his Irish companion are falling at the same rate, during free fall. They are free to deploy the parachute whenever they wish to within certain safety margins. First it takes 3 seconds for the chute to deploy fully and begin to slow the descent. I would be pulling the rip chord at 1000 feet and complete the rest of the descent under the canopy from around 700 feet. A skilled parachutist might well wait until 700 feet and a Special Forces' nutter to 500 feet. The problem they then have is what if they need to deploy their emergency chute. For the 700 foot release you deploy your emergency chute at 400 feet and you are probably safe, at 500 feet initial deployment, you will probably break one or both legs.
The big question with in the current time line for Brexit is: What height above ground level are our trio of parachutists now at?
For me, we are now reaching the 1000 foot mark, the safest point to deploy our independence parachute.
We now know that Labour will abstain its way to backing May's Brexit whether deal or no deal. Corbyn has indicated this position clearly and will seek to obtain a three line whip on the issue. The Customs Union he wrote about to May is just a wet blanket to quiet his party's remainer wing. He will then hope to reap the electoral rewards when the UK economy is spread as thin as our putative English parachutist, on Brexit impact.
We know the EU is not for turning and it is the agreed Brexit deal in full or no deal. There is no room for any further negotiations on this issue. Yet the UK meedja are still trying to sell the idea that Ms May is negotiating hard behind the scenes at the EU and she will get her deal on the Northern Ireland border. This is just nonsense, as anyone who watches any EU news reports on Brexit full well knows. The EU 27 are completely agreed on one point, they are sick fed up with Ms May and her wheedling and whining.
The British Road Haulier Association is telling anyone who will listen, they have so far only obtained 1000 of the required transit permits from the EU, for the post Brexit period, they will require to move goods to the EU, out of the 11,000 their members actually require.
We have UK farmers who have no clue as to whether the calves and lambs, they are bringing into the world over the next few months, are worth the work as there is likely to be no market for them.
The pound is now 18% lower in value than at the worst point during the 2008 financial crash, the UK economy is rapidly plunging into stagflation. Foreign investors are shifting their assets out of London at an ever faster rate as are the banks for whom the City of London supposedly exists. Over 80,000 jobs in the UK financial sector have already been shifted out of the City of London to Dublin, Frankfurt and elsewhere.
NIssan is starting the process of buggering off from Sunderland, Honda is well down the road of flitting operations from Swindon to its EU plants while Jaguar / Landrover are already heading for Croatia.
In the meantime at Westminster a Defence Minister, Williamson, makes outrageous claims about the future of the UK's armed services in spite of the reality they are currently short of personnel, material and supplies. In an off the record briefing, a MoD insider claims the UK armed forces are 20 years out of date and not fit for purpose.
Williamson's response is a typical Brexiteer response to seek to sort out this governmental department's failing with equipment he does not have - drones - and by painting a couple of past their sell by date ferries, Naval grey. Of course there are no details as to how these ferries are to be converted, what armament they are to be given, what modern fire and control systems will they be fitted with, how they will be manned, in a RN now struggling to man the ships they can afford to send to sea, or the actual cost to the naval budget of these white elephants that will be Williamson's saviours of Britain.
I have held my wheesht, supported Nicola's cautious approach but the reality is we do not have much time left to pull the ripcord on the Scottish parachute to land safely as an independent country within the EU. A course of action 60% of Scots who have been asked to state their views, wish to happen. We still might land safely if we deploy later but is it a risk we wish to take?
Nicola, we need you to act by the end of February and unleash the potential of Scotland to become an independent nation state once more. We do not need Westminster's approval to end this perfidious union. The UK Supreme Court would be ineffective in any attempts by Westminster to challenge a decision to repeal the 1707 Act of Union of the Scottish Parliament under Scots Law and constitutional practise at the current parliament at Holyrood. This we know is true under the UN Convention of Human Rights and the Kosovo Declaration. A simple majority at Holyrood to repeal the act is all that is required even without any second referendum on the issue of independence for Scotland.
The UK Parliamentary Union is now the Norwegian Blue Parrot of our time. It would not go voom even if you put a few thousand volts through it. It is an ex-Parliamentary Union bereft of life, hope or breath, it is dead; deceased, gone to its maker.
So please Nicola can we put it out of our misery, once and for all?
We've surely seen enough. Over 300 years is far too long to put up with Scotland being bullied, etc. As for EU Withdrawal, we don't need to wait to see what it will look like; it is plain that it will be dreadful, no matter what. I cannot disagree with the sentiments in this article. The time is now.
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