It has not been a great nine weeks for the European Union. Readers both inside and outside the supranational bloc will have been horrified at the dithering, disinformation and mixed messages of the commission and its national leaders, now considering an export ban to stop vaccine orders to the UK being honoured. The French position on the Oxford jab for instance has gone from banning it, to allowing it for just those under the age of 65, to allowing it for all, to banning it and now allowing it only for those over 55. Polling now shows 61 per cent of people in that country think the AstraZeneca vaccine is unsafe.
It all seems to have been rather too much for some of Britain’s most prominent remainers. Flicking through his favourite Euro-loving organ, Mr S stumbled across a leading opinion piece in the New European which verged on the pragmatic. Criticising the ‘far less palatable aspects of European governance’ it claims ‘the political decisions to halt the jabs are utterly mystifying’ and notes ‘it is only the AstraZeneca vaccine that has received this extraordinary political backlash, with Europe’s political leaders going against the evidence, the science, and their own regulators in halting a vaccine we know saves lives.’
Gosh. Strong stuff for the paper launched with the tagline: ‘The New Pop-up Paper for the 48 per cent’. But the shock Mr S got from reading that was nothing compared to seeing the fury unleashed on the ferociously pro European former Financial Times editor Lionel Barber for daring to question Brussels’ behaviour. Barber, a holder of the Légion d’honneur, tweeted that Eurocrats were effectively indulging in Johnsonian cakeism – demanding their contracts be honoured but not others:
That mild mannered rebuke was enough to launch dozens of FBPE (FollowBackProEU) type trolls into his mentions, accusing Barber of being ‘extraordinarily simplistic’ and suggesting he ‘Calm down and learn about this topic before spouting off.’
Mr S congratulates Britain’s most ardent online Remainiacs on once again demonstrating that fair minded reasonableness which has become their calling card these past five years.
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