Brexit Success: We're changing the colour of our passport

Since the country voted to leave the EU it has taken 18 months to reclaim the British passport and change from Burgundy to blue (the old passport was such a dark blue as to be usually mistaken for black). At this rate it'll take us decades to negotiate trading deals around the world.

Even if the UK goes its own way, the idea that we've got sovereignty over our parliament is patent bollocks. As long as the rest of the world, including the USA and Europe, operate neoliberal economies, we are ruled by capitalism. 

Leaving the EU will simply allow capitalism to operate easier. Employment rights will be whittled away. Health and Safety rules relaxed. Civil rights eroded. The NHS will become the Virgin Health Service. 

But none of this will hit the Farages of this world. No. 

But all you Brexiteers who work or depend wholly on a state pension and don't have private medical health insurance, you can rest assured. You can rest assured that while employed precariously with no H&S or equalities protection and without health insurance, that you'll have a lovely blue passport - if you can fucking afford one, or even need one as cheap flights to Europe end.

Bangor Winter Wonderland cancelled after complaints

You can't beat a bit of festive 'Ho-Ho-Ho'. Apparently, Bangor, Northern Ireland, Winter Wonderland was so awful the operation has been closed down and money refunded to anyone who attended the event at the weekend or was intending to visit.

People complained about the ice rink, which was made of plastic, smelling of chlorine. Which was hardly surprising when it was discovered that bleach was poured onto the surface to make it 'more slippery'.

Father Christmas somewhat burst the magic Christmas bubble with his painted-on eyebrows. If this wasn't bad enough, he needed to pull down his beard to speak to the children. One little girl wondering "Why can I see the elastic on Santa's beard?" The more worldly hardened of the children slicing through the magic of Santa Claus by shouting "He isn't even real!" 

There were no stalls open. And the inflatable castle lay flaccid, as airless as the whole experience.

One visitor likened it to 'Craggy Island Funfair', but without the fun, or the fair.

Sanction Damian Green if guilty of gross misconduct

The Damian Green issue like so many involving MPs is an issue of fairness, equality. Some years ago, Nadhim Zahawi, a Tory MP, was found to have charged almost £6000 against MP’s expenses towards a personal business. The business was a stable which is attached to his rural home. According to Zahawi he inadvertently combined his domestic electricity use with his business power usage.

Zahawi held up his hands pleading ignorance. Admitting he had made a mistake Zahawi promised to pay back the £6000 he had claimed. He then contacted IPSA, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, and apologised asking for an update of the correct procedure.

As we know, Zahawi wasn’t alone when it came to cheating on expenses. David Cameron, ex-Prime Minister, claimed £680 in MP’s expenses to clear wisteria from his constituency home. Iain Duncan-Smith MP, Secretary of State for DWP, claimed £39 for a breakfast even though the meal was priced into his hotel stay.

Boris Johnson has made numerous comments that by most people’s standards are racist; he has insulted the citizens of several cities; his reckless comments concerning a British woman’s activities in Iran that could put her at further risk.

The thing all these MPs have in common is that none of them were penalised for their misconduct. All of them, aside from Green, were found to have made fraudulent claims, yet none of them were prosecuted. No, they merely offered to pay back the wrongly claimed expenses.

Had they been benefits claimants would the DWP have treated them with such leniency? People claiming benefits have to operate within very complicated on-line systems to make claims. If they slip up when trying to access systems that all too often are alien to them, they are sanctioned.

Similarly, if a worker is found with pornographic material on their work computers the likelihood would be charge of gross misconduct followed by dismissal. Yet, an MP is found to have such material on his House of Commons machine, and no sanctions are applied.

Watching our elected politicians seemingly getting away with offences and misconduct not tolerated anywhere else hardly inspires confidence or trust in our parliamentary system. How is it that our law makers can plead ignorance of systems they legislate on, while their poorly educated constituents are sanctioned for misdemeanours.

Therefore, if Damian Green is found to have downloaded pornographic material on his House of Commons PC, he should face the same penalty that one of constituents would incur. MPs should not be above the laws and rules that they create and by the rest of us abide.