Toby on Tuesday

'Strange Unexpected Limits'

Probably the most poignant of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories is “His Last Bow:  The War Service of Sherlock Holmes.”   Set on the evening of 2nd August, 1914, with all Europe collapsing into the abyss of the Great War, two German agents, Von Bork and Von Herling, meet on the coast of Kent to discuss their years in England.   Von Bork declares, “They are not very hard to deceive, these Englanders...A more docile, simple folk could not be imagined.”   To which Von Herling replies, “I don’t know about that...They have strange unexpected limits, and one must learn to allow for them.   It is that surface simplicity of theirs which makes a trap for the stranger.   One’s first impression is that they are entirely soft.   Then you suddenly come upon something very hard, and you know that you have reached the limit and must adapt yourself to the fact.”   The truth is that the limit of Britain’s patience with its EU membership has now been reached.   No political sophistry and no bullying by the “Remain” campaign can work now, as our country prepares to face down the bullies once more, as we have done so often in the past.

Those bullies can really be divided into two camps, those within the EU and those outside.   For the EU countries, and especially those within the Eurozone and the Schengen Area, which by a miracle Britain has never joined, the bullying will come from those pushing for a United States of Europe, with its own Euro-armed forces, Euro-treasury and aggressive EU foreign policy.   Last week, their apologists in Britain tacitly agreed to collude with them in return for some cosmetic changes to social security benefits.   But given that both the Eurozone and Schengen Area have already proved themselves to be unsustainable, it is from the second group, those outside the EU, Turkey, the U.S., and their allies in Saudi Arabia that the most unpredictable bullying will come.   The war of words between Turkey and Russia is escalating into something far more dangerous.   Turkey, a NATO member and candidate for early EU membership, is coalescing with Ukraine against Russia, which it accuses of acting as “a terrorist organisation”.   We may dislike Mr. Putin’s way of doing business, but there is no appetite in Britain for a war with Russia.   Yet if we are not careful, we are at risk of being bullied by Turkey and Ukraine and their sponsors in Washington and Riyadh into an accidental and unpredictable war.

The same poor judgment and impetuousness which coloured David Cameron’s EU “renegotiation” also marked his failed attempt to seek Parliament’s support for a bombing campaign against the Assad regime in Syria in 2013, when we would have found ourselves allied to a host of terrorist groups, including ISIS.   Yet again, Britain’s luck held and the House of Commons restrained the folly of our rulers.   Now there is a chance to face down the bullies once more and make Britain a safe haven in a troubled world, something which our people want above all else.    Soon we shall all have one last chance to remind the bullies, wherever they are, that in the words of Conan Doyle’s Von Herling on the British people, “One’s first impression is that they are entirely soft.   Then you suddenly come across something very hard, and you know that you have reached the limit.”   And we must never forget that bullies are cowards and, not for the first time in our history, must be faced down!

Until next Tuesday!

Toby