May Christmas message urges unity after Brexit vote

[Blackleaf]

Theresa May has urged Britain to "unite and move forward" after the Brexit vote in her first Christmas message as PM.

In the year that saw the UK vote by 52% to 48% to leave the EU, Mrs May said there was an "historic opportunity" to forge "a bold new role".

However, UKIP's Paul Nuttall used his Christmas message to call for faster progress on Brexit in 2017.

Labour's Jeremy Corbyn highlighted the plight of the homeless while Lib Dem leader Tim Farron focused on child refugees.

May Christmas message urges unity after Brexit vote

BBC News
24 December 2016

Theresa May has urged Britain to "unite and move forward" after the Brexit vote in her first Christmas message as PM.

In the year that saw the UK vote by 52% to 48% to leave the EU, Mrs May said there was an "historic opportunity" to forge "a bold new role".

However, UKIP's Paul Nuttall used his Christmas message to call for faster progress on Brexit in 2017.

Labour's Jeremy Corbyn highlighted the plight of the homeless while Lib Dem leader Tim Farron focused on child refugees.

The Green Party urged people to fight for a future based on equality and hope in its Christmas message.

The prime minister said there had been much to celebrate in 2016 - with the Queen's 90th birthday and British successes in the Olympics and Paralympics.

She added: "As we leave the European Union we must seize an historic opportunity to forge a bold new role for ourselves in the world and to unite our country as we move forward into the future."

Jeremy Corbyn visited a hostel to draw attention to the issue of homelessness

She pledged to "stand up for the freedom of people of all religions to practise their beliefs in peace and safety" and paid tribute to those who work over Christmas, including health and care workers, emergency services and the armed forces.

"Wherever you are this Christmas, I wish you joy and peace in this season of celebration, along with health and happiness in the year ahead," she said.

In a separate message to the armed forces, including the 5,000 deployed on operations over the holiday period, she said: "Just as your commitment to our country is unfaltering, so in return we owe you the same deep commitment and unflinching support."

She pledged to "honour the commitments" to help service personnel buy their own home and support their children in school.

'End of the line'

UKIP's Paul Nuttall used his first Christmas message since becoming leader to say his top priority would be to ensure "much faster progress" on Brexit.

He warned MPs who attempt to disrupt the process of leaving the EU "will find their prospects for re-election greatly diminished".

Mr Nuttall added that Brexit alone would not be sufficient for the "revival" of the UK to help those forgotten by the "political elite", adding that it was time to reorder the priorities of our governing class.

UKIP's Paul Nuttall used his first Christmas message since becoming leader to say his top priority would be to ensure "much faster progress" on Brexit

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn used his Christmas message, which he posted on Twitter, to point to Shelter figures suggesting 120,000 children would spend Christmas without a home to call their own while rough sleeping had increased by 30% in the last year.

He praised charity workers, adding: "It's the goodwill and generosity of ordinary people, public service and charity workers who give tirelessly to help the most vulnerable and the lonely.

"They remind us of Christmas values: love for your neighbour, working together and hope, hope that things can be different."

Liberal Democrats leader Tim Farron filmed his Christmas message at a child refugee centre

In a message filmed at a child refugee centre in Paris and posted on YouTube, Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said the Christmas message should encourage the UK to open its doors.

He said the children were fleeing "appalling circumstances" and wanted to come to the UK "because of Britain's reputation as a place of peace and of security and tranquillity" to start afresh, urging Britons to "be true to British values and be really proud of our country".

The Green Party's newly elected co-leaders, Jonathan Bartley and Caroline Lucas, praised people who worked with refugees and those who campaigned on climate change, as well as NHS workers.

Green Party co-leaders Jonathan Bartley and Caroline Lucas

Noting that 2016 had brought the Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump in the US, Mr Bartley said: "Nobody owns the future.

"Not Donald Trump. Not Nigel Farage. Not Theresa May. We have to fight for the future we want to see - a future based on fairness, on equality, on hope."

May Christmas message urges unity after Brexit vote - BBC News

 

[Ludlow]

You squabblers better try and unite or eventually you'll collapse like every other pack of mule headed pricks that can't get along. " a house divided against itself cannot stand"

 

[Blackleaf]

From our Head of Government to our Head of State:

Queen's Christmas message: 'I draw strength from unsung heroes'

The Queen will say she draws strength from "ordinary people doing extraordinary things" in her annual televised Christmas Day address.

Volunteers, carers, community workers and good neighbours are unsung heroes whose quiet dedication makes them special, she will say.

She will also praise the achievements of the UK's Olympians and Paralympians.

Buckingham Palace has said she will not attend church on Christmas Day because she still has a heavy cold.

The Queen's Christmas address was recorded before news broke that her granddaughter, Zara Tindall, had lost her baby.

The 10-minute message, filmed in Buckingham Palace's Regency Room, will be broadcast at 15:00 GMT on BBC1, ITV, Sky News channel and BBC Radio 4.

For the occasion, the Queen wore a deep jade, silk cloque dress by Angela Kelly, as well as a pearl and diamond brooch previously worn by the late Queen Mother.

Queen's Christmas message: 'I draw strength from unsung heroes' - BBC News

 

[tay]

Farage has criticised the Archbishop of Canterbury after he said that the mood of uncertainty and division in Britain and around the world at the end of 2016 shows that “our values are in the wrong place”.

Mr Farage, the former Ukip leader, told people to “ignore all the negative messages” from the Most Rev Justin Welby, who used his Christmas Day Eucharist at Canterbury Cathedral to say that the events of the last year have ushered in “a different kind of world” which is more uncertain and “feels more awash with fear and division”.

The Archbishop did not mention any specific events. However, his comments come at the end of a year where the Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump in America defied expectations.

His Christmas Day comments were echoed by those of the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, in his homily at Christmas midnight mass at Westminster Cathedral in London. He also spoke of a “deep and widening sense of uncertainly” about he state of the world.

Cardinal Nichols remarked that recent events have even prompted many to quote WB Yeats’s 1919 poem The Second Coming, which speaks of a crumbling world order with the lines: “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.”

The Cardinal remarked: “These words reflect the deep and widening sense of uncertainly many feel today.

“This is not the time or place to reflect on reasons or causes, but it is right to recognise these anxieties and fears.”
But he added: “Yes, we are anxious of the current instability in economic prospects and in the effectiveness of political structures.

The Archbishop added: “The end of 2016 finds us all in a different kind of world, one less predictable and certain, which feels more awash with fear and division,” he is expected to say.

“Uncertainty in the midst of much - but far from universal - prosperity is a sign of our trust being in the wrong things.

“It tells us that our values are in the wrong place. …. Economic progress, technological progress, communication progress hasn’t resulted in economic justice.

“It hasn’t delivered glory for us.”

It is not the first time that the Archbishop has clashed with Mr Farage. Earlier this year the Archbishop said that he “utterly condemned” comments made by Mr Farage at the weekend that sexual assaults by migrants were the “nuclear bomb” of the EU referendum.

The Archbishop said Mr Farage was guilty of “inexcusable pandering to people’s worries and prejudices, that is giving legitimisation to racism”.

Ignore the Archbishop of Canterbury's 'negative' Christmas message, Nigel Farage says*

 

[MHz]

A call for unity after a referendum shows there is no commonality to cling to?? Only in the UK. Scotland need those people to move there and have another vote on leaving the UK and to stay part of the EU. Luckily that would have a border where black market items are the backbone of a thriving industry on both sides of the border. Show the world what a real civil war looks like.

 

[Murphy]

An encore post.
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The UK is pathetic humanity. They have soiled their own nest and now other creatures are arriving to mess it further.

They live in the past. Like senile old men, they speak of a long ago time which hasn't existed since the late 1800s. Still, they keep talking, trying to convince themselves that they are strong, believing in their former empire, now rotting away.

They still support a monarchy. A modern aberration. A wasteful public expense. Yet, they believe that the royals must remain, believing in their star power, and that the tourist trade justifies their continued existence.

They hate giving up the countries that they stole. The erosion will continue, but it is ironic that places like Australia, where the Brits sent their criminal, are better places to live, with stronger economies.

It is ironic that the ones who they still believe are inferior, Arabs particularly, are taking over their country now. The UK will be conquered by interbreeding, not by bloodletting.

In the short term, Brexit tantalizes and give some false hope. The world is witnessing the fall of an empire, but in the scheme of things, Britain's disappearance means nothing.

If there is anything good to say of the UK, it is that the Brits join other great kingdoms that have disappeared before them. Many regions have seen a rise and fall - The Roman and Ottoman Empires, the Chinese Han Dynasty, and the Byzantine Empire are a few.

In the modern age, complete with instant communication and pictures, delivered to the world by common folk, the world is witnessing their flailing and crying as they spiral into oblivion. It is ugly to watch and embarrassing in which to listen. Unlike the olden days, where the warts and reprehensible behaviour went unseen, today our cellphones and computers bring their silliness into our living rooms daily.

So, goodbye to the UK. Don't let the door hit your a$$ on the way out.