It is perfectly ironic that the current United States President wants to restrict immigration while also keen on making the country great again. At the same time the people who are in favour of Brexit in the UK think that Britain will rise again if immigration is restricted. It is a lovely idea, but the reality is that immigrants tend to work harder and become more successful than those who have lived in a place for generations. It is only natural. They have been uprooted and want to build something solid for themselves and their families and so they work hard, they take risks, they find solutions. This kind of mentality was a key element in the whole idea of “The American Dream”. If you want evidence of this, one can look to a think tank called New American Economy, which showed in a 2011 survey that 76 percent of all patents issued in the US had at least one non-US born person involved. Immigrants search for opportunities, they are more alert to changes, they have an entrepreneurial attitude and are willing to move things quickly. If you want a good example of this one needs only to look at a man called Walter Wolf.
He was the son of a German bricklayer and his Slovenian wife. Born in Graz in Austria, just a few days after World War II began, Wolf did not have an easy early life. His father was called up into the German Army and was captured by the Russians. The Wolf family did the obvious thing and moved to Slovenia, where his mother had family. But times were hard and he had to give up school early to work to help the family survive. Even so he lost his sister to malnutrition. He did jobs that others would not do, including the alarming task of dismantling hand grenades, which resulted in many deaths. Wolf survived. His father was not released from Russia until 1955, when Walter was 16. The family moved to Germany and he went back to school. He was fascinated by aviation and, once he had graduated, found a job at an aircraft factory – and learned to fly in his spare time. Once he had a licence he headed to the United States, aiming to live The American Dream. At the age of 20 he began working as a crop-duster, but there wasn’t much money in it and after a year he went to Canada, with only seven dollars in his pocket. His English was still poor but he began working on construction sites and learned the language by watching TV. Things began to improve. He was soon working as an elevator engineer, getting paid better money, flying occasionally and learning how to be a diver. In 1967 he became a Canadian citizen.
The diving work was for the construction industry and for pipelines and the company he worked for was called KD Marine. It was heavily in debt and eventually went out of business. Wolf went to the bank, asked for a $25,000 loan and bought the company and was soon developing KD Marine in the oil services industry. The firm did everything that oil companies did not want to do and Wolf even began trading crude oil from the Middle East, selling it to whoever wanted it. Very rapidly, he acquired all the toys that money can buy: a Lear Jet, a Bell Ranger helicopter, a Lamborghini Countach and a Rolls Royce. He married a Canadian nurse and started a family and began to travel. He moved the family to Europe in 1972 and had residences in London, Lugano and in Cannes. He could afford it. He was keen to go motor racing and early in 1975 Giampaolo Dallara mentioned him to Frank Williams, who was looking for money (as always) for his F1 team. Williams invited Wolf to the International Trophy at Silverstone in early April and Wolf began to help out. At the end of the year he was offered the assets of the Hesketh F1 team and asked Williams to join him. Williams decided it was the best thing to do and became an employee. The car (a Hesketh) was renamed the Wolf-Williams, but Walter Wolf was in charge. Things did not go well and at the end of the 1976 year Williams was “promoted” to a commercial role and Peter Warr was hired from Lotus to run the team. Harvey Postlethwaite went to work on a new car and Jody Scheckter was lured from Tyrrell. When the Wolf team went off to Argentina in 1977, Williams was left behind. To make matters worse, Wolf then won its very first race…
Williams decided it was time to depart and took Patrick Head with him to start a new team. Wolf won in Monaco and again in Canada. Money was not a problem and he also ran a CanAm team for Chris Amon, with Dallara providing a Wolf Dallara sports car. There would be Wolf Dallara Formula 3 cars in 1978 for Bobby Rahal, amongst others, and Rahal would make his F1 debut with Wolf at the end of that year. But the F1 cars were not competitive and Scheckter went off to Ferrari in 1979, to be replaced by a demotivated James Hunt, who quit that summer, opening the way for Keke Rosberg. By the end of 1979 Wolf had had enough, he sold the F1 team to Emerson Fittipaldi and dropped out of F1.
A little over a year later he sold KD Marine. His marriage broke up around the same time but he now began to wheel and deal in political influence in Canada, introducing important people to one another, while investing in businesses that others were running. He had the money to buy a 7,000-acre ranch in British Columbia and married and divorced a former Miss Austria and Barbara Stewart, a relative of the movie star James Stewart.
He was close to Canadian politician Brian Mulroney and introduced him to a German-Canadian businessman called Karl Heinz Schreiber but that went wrong in 1995 when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police accused Mulroney of having accepted payments from Schreiber in exchange for Air Canada buying a large number of passener jets from Airbus when he was Prime Minister.
Then in 2008 Wolf was caught up in a corruption scandal involving the Finnish firm Patria, which accused him of bribing Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, in relation to arms deals. They both denied the accusations but the Finnish police issued an arrest warrant for Wolf, who protested his innocence. In 2014 Jansa was convicted, but Wolf argues that the $3 million he was paid was a legitimate consulting fee. The scandal lost Wolf a great deal of business and he threatened to sue the Slovenian government for $100 million after charges against him were laid. The problems are ongoing…
joeblogsf1 
Two main problems with unfettered immigration a) serious difficulties with infrastructure: schools, housing, hospitals, social security, etc. and b) national security. Life is not just a car race.
Thank you for your opinion.
There’s a grand misconception about immigration that’s inhibiting any sensible progress: both the. USA and Canada Britain have had policies of allowing passporting of families beyond the applicants themselves. In America it was a Republican party policy. I believe that the Conservative government likewise oversaw the extension of settlement rights to become automatic for at least Immediate family. If you’re thinking that’s too liberal, the fact is that both were hopefully targeting the arbiters of family wealth and more obvious to British politics maybe your labor party likely was never much for the import of skilled healthy young workers in potential competition with their electoral base.
Somehow the general impression has been inverted about who wants what and right twisted up about what’s wanted in the first place.
Both nations have actually raised the bar for their indigenous deprived, by making higher education mercenary, while the demographic fact that a generation of parents to desired immigrants are also of working age but soon to suffer the effect on health of a different standard of living altogether, combine to mock any simplistic portrayal of the problem.
California is almost fifty percent Hispanic. The country is going that way soon. The white majority probably peaked in absolute power when before belatedly joining the Great War, every town that printed a daily German language newspaper quietly shuttered the gothic type blocks, and that was a white hegemony of religious refugees itself, their offspring, the baby boom, the alpha and omega of this description of American Culture.
What twentieth century American culture did so well, was not only listen, but seek out different voices.
Partly this is the habit of any displaced diaspora, to keep a ear to the ground for word from home as equally as forewarning of threat to the only recently settled Just Fled.
But we let scaremongers insulate first our cities and businesses and next our media (arguably the insularity if the senate owes overmuch singularly to the scars of civil war which I think are always underestimated in depth if not breadth) and finally our youth, who are now raised on a regurgitated pre masticated pulp of dirge selected for enhancing only the most adjudged to be important social muscles, by this foul bait of gunpoint inclusivity called Facebook.
Maybe we shall soon look in gratitude to how at least we all share one God and pray to the same Prophets…
Isn’t this blog about Formula 1? Why is Trump, Immigration, and Brexit discussed here in such a polemic way? I suggest the purchase of a soap box. If used properly it might alleviate the feeling of suppressed anger by aerating it.
Now back to the actual subject here, namely Walter Wolf: As a young lad I was enamoured for the entire year after Jody Scheckter won their very first Grand Prix, then Monaco, and finally Walter Wolf’s home race. Never mind that he was only in Formula 1 for a short time, for me he added a lot of colour to an already rich kaleidoscope.
Thanks for reminding me Mr. Saward.
PS: In his heyday he even started a “Wolf” fragrance range. Alas, that went the same way as the team…
Seriously, immigration and hospitals? Take a look at how many of our doctors and nurses are from abroad and you’ll see why it’s a good thing. Since Brexit nurse applications from the EU have dropped by 96%.
Yes immigration and hospitals… this is something that I hear much about first hand, as my wife is a senior registrar working in a London hospital.
In general the indigenous population don’t like to trouble their doctor. That’s just the older generations “British” way. However many of the immigrants see the NHS as something they can take advantage of. In one particular ethnic group it appears they have no concern for their own health as they think the NHS can fix whatever might go wrong and for free too! So the vast majority of my wifes’ patients are immigrants of one sort or another.
As for why so many doctors and nurses are from overseas, it’s because a significant proportion of British educated doctors have left the country for places where conditions, patients and pay are better. That’s not difficult given how overworked and relatively poorly paid doctors are in the UK.
It’s a good thing that we don’t train enough medical staff of our own so have to raid other countries for theirs? None is as arrogant, selfish and colonial as the modern “progressive” liberal…
Funny, but as I read the above article, I had in the back of my mind that we were going to end up with Toto!
Sorry Joe but if you will keep mentioning your view of Brexit…..
I agree with Bob. Our village population has trebled in the last 15 years, while 3 of our 5 GPs (doctors) have retired. (the only practice within 7 miles.) it is still normally a two week wait to see a doctor. 4 weeks to book a blood test. Our infrastructure is stretched beyond all credibility. (How the drain and sewage systems cope with many times their design capacity is a mystery.) (The water not yet a major problem as it is in areas of the USA)
Our situation is very different from the USA 100 years ago, welcoming hundreds of thousands to fill the vast, supposedly unpopulated, unexplored central and western regions. We are full! At least untill a hundred or so new hospitals are built, thousands more houses, New power stations sewage works, water reservoirs.
Try emigrating to America or Australia now! “How much money do you have to support yourself? You may not work. Do you have a return ticket?” No, they have a points system which seems very sensible and the obvious answer.
Our struggle to leave the EU before they kill off all remaining UK industry is rarely put into context of the many major industrial/manufacturers who have moved from the UK into central europe encouraged with EU grants. But let us try and save an industry and it is not allowed. Yet we are still the second largest contributor to the un-auditable EU buget.
Read the blog rules
It was not a complaint, read them years ago, but if you keep mentioning double glazing as is your indisputable right, I may well comment on double glazing.
Here here! Funny that the “rules” be thrown up when one is met with an argument to one’s monologue that one doesn’t agree with.
There is no factual causal link between immigration and overburdened hospitals. People (including gutter-journalists) try to turn anecdotes into data (which doesn’t work), and to draw causal relationships between these. But without good statistics, this isn’t valid. Consider, for instance, that 11% of all NHS staff and 26% of NHS doctors are non-British. If you remove those employees along with the immigrant patients, do you get a better NHS or not?
CBA
What?
There wouldn’t be a problem if the infrastructure were scaled-up to match the growing population. We know immigration is a net benefit to the economy so it should pay for itself, but we have a government in power who don’t really believe in spending more money on schools and hospitals, however badly they it be needed.
So, if I understand it correctly, that means the Wolf team had 3 drivers who were either an existing F1 champ (James Hunt) or were to become same (Jody Scheckter and Keke Rosberg). If no-one else drove a Wolf F1 car that is very impressive!
Also, according to a buddy of mine who worked there and showed me around the premises in Bennett Road, Reading, the large Canadian maple leaf on the front of the transporter was not paint but gold leaf.
I think that should be 4 champions. Didn’t Mario Andretti drive for Wolf at 76 International Trophy?
Bobby Rahal also drove a couple of races in a Wolf F1 car in 1978. But he also became a champion, although in IndyCar and he also won the Indy 500.
> If no-one else drove a Wolf F1 car that is very impressive!
Even without counting the Wolf-Williams races: Bobby Rahal did, it’s stated in the article.
Frank Dernie said he learned a huge lesson at Williams compared to Wolf. One had the best transporters in the paddock, whereas the others didn’t even have a truck, and when you got your plane ticket you checked if it had a return stub on it.
But by 1979 Williams was starting to win and Wolf was doing so badly they pulled out. Best to put the money into the car and not the truck…
Thanks for sharing another fascinating real life story Joe. But more importantly I complete appreciate and agree with your comments on refugees enriching their new homeland with renewed energy and commitment to their new home.
And meanwhile another immigrant, from a “shithole country”, has sent a sports car on a trip to the asteroid belt.
Though there IS a school of thought that holds Elon Musk to be a rogue agent from The Culture.
I think the launch of the Falcon Heavy is actually putting that car into temporally shifted synchronous orbit identical to Mars around the Sun. In other words, but for a bit of timing, Musk is proving that he can deliver the goods to Mars itself.
I read also that the basic Falcon launch increased payload during development to leapfrog the original Heavy spec, while the Heavy spec almost doubled, to my amazement at least to hear of any kind of programme actually increasingly capabilities before delivery. The dates did slip on first blush hope, but the payload increases negate that entirely. Awesome. It feels good to not use that adjective gratuitously one time. We need awesome to become the new normal, pronto.
Love the Iain M Banks reference. And as for a Tesla sent into orbit around Mars, that made me think of Bank’s idea of a Volvo estate orbiting Earth (see “The State of the Art”).
Ditto re Banks.
I’ve had that exact thought myself! He seems to be doing exactly the kind of things a Contact agent might do.
Jo
That’s a sweeping generalisation regarding immigration. Especially now, when huge numbers of Muslim immigrants show little inclination to build success stories as you fondly relate, but seek to undermine Western values and get host societies to pay for it.
Not in any way comparable to previous waves of immigration. More is the pity.
Amnon Needham
Sent From iPhone
>
Basing your view on personal knowledge of them all no doubt??
Sweeping indeed!
Hi Joe, I greatly respect your motor racing knowledge. I’ve been an enthusiast even longer than you, but nowhere near to the same depth. However I feel that you should steer clear of politics. You’re entitled to your views of course, but this isn’t the right forum to view them. As a French resident you may have a different take on things vis a vis Brexit etc from us UK residents, but likewise you aren’t exposed to some of the issues influencing us. I’m definitely up for a political debate in the right circumstances, but your F1 blog and GP+ (yes, I am a subscriber) are not the place. Good luck with your F1 coverage in the coming season.
Read the blog rules.
OK, if it’s politics you want…….. My preference would have been to stay in the EU, but with some long overdue changes to reflect its massive growth from the original 6 tightly knit members to the present sprawling empire, and addressing some specific concerns which are the cause of many of the current problems. Sadly the EU hierarchy proved impervious to any requests to modernise, so we were left with two extremes: to leave or to remain in an organisation hell bent on preserving all that’s bad in its current structure and the exacerbation of some frankly undesirable aspects (eg. ever greater union). It was a very difficult choice and I only made my final decision days before the referendum. My vote reflected the national result: just tipped in favour of leaving. I must say the EU’s trenchant attitude since the vote has confirmed my view that it was the right decision. Their behaviour has convinced me that we are right to be out. The next few years will be tough as we adjust, but future generations will thank us, unless of course the EU finally sees the error of its ways and joins us in the real world…….
Did you read the blog rules?
Yes thank you. I’m done with the politics, you can have the last word. I’ll continue to read your blogs and look forward to the GP+ season preview. Have a good season.
Nobody is talking about politics enough, or else maybe we’d get some progress which is so sorely needed. I grew up in s generation which equated politics with the least level of being intelligently informed, and whether dinners became stultifying as a result of not, the effect was a far more progressive experience in society than has come since. Some such as my cousins and in laws in England point to the massive expenditure on the institutions that self declare embodiment of the kind of progressiveness that I hark to. But whereas in America I see religious charities involved in expressing the interrelationships between their constituents and the pulsing rush of mainstream culture and middle society, I see the English equivalents merely coopting public funds for constituency enrichment. Generational issues are the likely flashpoint. If you invite the parents of the go getter types of immigration advocacy dreams, you often place pressure on your newly settled citizens from their relatives to get them into a new nirvana in their lifetime of early retirement. Early retirement because they’re working age yet unable to assimilate and unlikely to bring skills. I’m so doing you just saddle once lucky happily entrepreneurial newlyweds with both sets of in-laws who, unacclimatized and often unwilling to, as all who are disappointed to find that life has no actual Nirvana country issuing passports can be disillusioned, and saddling the very best chance of a prosperous immigration policy with the hindrances the same as I am sure most emigres sought to escape first of all.
We have no political debate to which we could bring the demographic and cultural information and obviously crucially but somehow overlooked the actual voices of those people whom are involved. This poverty is effected in different ways in each of our nations, but it is most real, and I will forever be aghast to hear anyone say to another that he or she is out of order to speak of what affects our happiness inclusively of all concerned. Politics has to cease to be a dirty word. The idea is not new, it was espoused by my generation who vocally, mostly in student years, attempted to wash politics free of the more by diluting the debate with our numbers and every upright human being we could encourage. Somehow just as the seventies, the idea seems to be rather radical.
Yeah, yeah. Stick to what you know and don’t talk politics. Same old cheap shot aimed at silencing inconvenient views you aren’t intellectually capable of challenging.
I’d lay money you live in a town that’s 95%+ White British and your experience of migrants is relayed to you almost exclusively through the press.
Mixing with politicians can be as deadly as dismantling grenades. Something toxic about finance added to career politics with a large splash of entrepreneurship!
The blog rules are available for those who don’t understand why I delve into these matters. I recommend that everyone read them.
I have just had the vision of a student body of a”progressive” American university, happening upon this discussion and rushing to get the fluffiest seats and best petting dolls in the nearest safe space, the rising murmur if which I can assume largely consists of distressed incantations evoked to dispel your great evilness, chanting “check your privilege, check your privilege’…
I think Al is talking about Mr Wolf there Joe.
Thank you Richard. I was indeed.
Of the old phrase “Too much of a good thing” springs to mind.. Sadly the real numbers tell a different story. “One in five unemployed people in the UK are migrants, official figures reveal for the first time”..
I myself am an economic migrant so I’m not against the movement of people.
(nor are the vast majority of Brexiters either but again that doesn’t suit the racist little Englander mantra of the remainers) but Tony Blairs nieve dream of a multicultural society whereby everyone holds hands and look lovingly at each other has turned into somewhat of a nightmare. But then again from behind his high security fencing in whatever multi million Mayfair house he likes to dwell in these days I’m sure he remains convinced he did the right thing!
Few PM’s alter the course of a nations history, TB did and with irretrievably disastrous consequences IMHO.
Best regards
Richard
Sunny Tenerife
+1
I think Toni’s biggest mistake was the attack on Iraq, which triggered a lot of those Immigrant issues You guys are talking about. Richard, if someone attacks and destroys Your own Country wouldn’t You try to emigrate to this Country to take Advantage of their NHS System to get a Little bit of payback for what they have done to You and Your Family and Your country?
Any data to support your ‘vast majority’ claim? Because it doesn’t really stack up to the available data. Polling consistently found that immigration was the second most popular choice when Leave voters were asked what was their single most important issue – slightly behind sovereignty at 30%. When Lord Ashcroft (prominent Tory and Leaver)asked people to rank their priorities, 64% of Leave voters chose immigration as their first or second most important issue.
So when you claim a vast majority of Brexiters aren’t against the movement of people, you’re utterly incorrect. You can’t just pull things out of your backside and present them as fact because it’s what you wish to believe.
I choose not to get involved in politics or their debate. As an observant individual once said, voting isn’t a choice, you still end up with a government!!
As a first generation son of Italian immigrants I can appreciate both points of view and understand the pros and cons of each.
Anyway…. back to the motorsport. Back in 1983, a video was released called Formula Villeneuve which included an interview with Wolf. At the time Walter also owned a Ferrari 512BB and needing a service, Gilles offered to take it to Maranello for him.
At the time Villeneuve was driving a 208GTB (smaller engined 308 for Italian tax laws.)
Walter observed that the 5 litre car needed more work on its return than before Gilles had taken it. Having heard stories of crazy driving on the autostradas of the time, I can only imagine how that car was being driven…
I had a friend who was like that.
I mean if he borrowed one of my cars (not rich just he only the once borrowed my Lincoln which was then my daily driver, long before this wonderful era of reliable small imports) I literally did have to service my ride the following week. MB authorized mechanics in North California are the true reason why you find so many”eco nuts” these parts, you’re spending eternity eating Ramen noodles once you get once visited by their kind of maths. The reliability of something as “simple” as a piston ring, and all the stuff that Japanese manufacturers beat themselves up as much as they hammered cam timing lifters until they banished all but inhumane treatment from the causes of breakdown,I regularly vote should be the Eighth Wonder Of The World. If F1 could once claim to have even been cheerleader for that game, the sport would never die in our economic hearts. But at the time the Japanese were making new friends with the Lexus, I was sat in awe at the much missed bad boy leaping into spare Ferrari racers the make of which depleted the Congo of its total output of rate metals. This must be the most important progress the least appreciated and were throwing it all away, what for? I have seen what worn till useless batteries look like decomposing,even in the controlled conditions I observed it looked like Hell for anyone or anything that came near.
Joe, as an immigrant myself, and living in a city where the mayor likes to use immigrants as a scapegoat for whatever problem he can’t fix, I appreciate what you have said about immigrants. It is totally correct – immigrants come looking to make a better life for themselves and so they are productive people.
I, in turn, have two immigrants working for me. Mr Mayor would like to see them sent back where they came from, but they are decent people who give a good day’s work for their wages.
Thanks for what you said here.
well said. i second this sentiment, thank you both.
Yes. I’m with you.
I find it incredulous that commenters criticise Joe for writing about politics. He is a journalist and this is HIS blog after all. Furthermore, his opinions are generally more informed and reasoned than the majority of commenters. We are all entitled to an opinion and we are all entitled to respect even if we may not all agree with one another.
Amen.
Where did all these tabloid mouthbreathers appear from in the comments? I thought this site was classier than that!
There has always been a strong right wing streak among motorsports fans. Just read the comments about the grid girl decision for further evidence. I reckon if you made a political spectrum out of the morosports fraternity, Max Mosley would come out centre left!
Max shouldn’t be judged for what his father did. Look at the way he reacted when some fans in Spain blacked themselves up to have a go at Lewis Hamilton. He was concerned and angered and took very quick action.
He also has broad views on many subjects because of his upbringing and being schooled in France and Germany before studying at Oxford.
Rose coloured glasses !
You do know that white working-class Labour voters voted in droves for Brexit right? That well-known hot-bed of right wing politics.
Father Wolf must have been a tough old bird. German POWs on the Eastern front were, together with anyone else around, used by Stalin as mobile mine clearers and bullet targets before the infantry, also expendable, were sent in. Those that survived were then dispatched to the Gulags for further softening up. Very few made it home.
Had a chum, quite a few years ago, who worked with me, don’t know if he’s still alive. He came from either Latvia or Lithuania, never remembered which. When the Soviets annexed the Baltic States he made his way down to the German occupied territories, fudged his age, he was too young, and fought for the rest of the war as a rear gunner in the Luftwaffe. He survived (also a miracle since I also worked with the only man to have reputedly survived the whole war as a tail gunner in the RAF) Somehow he got across to the West at the end, became a DP, got to the UK and went down the mines as a Bevin boy. He prospered, not like Wolf, but made a good life for himself and British wife. He was a really nice guy who must have been a lot tougher than he gave out.
Because of our ageing native population and picky choosy young we badly need immigrants. The US was, of course, founded on same. I don’t doubt unemployment figures are distorted by immigrants, many have only just arrived and these statistics should be much more substantial to get a true picture. All sorts of figures are just now coming out showing the folly of our ways.
As a third party I would just say it’s Joe’s blog to do with as he pleases. For those that don’t like it, tough. Go elsewhere or don’t read the bits you find disagreeable. He doesn’t appear to mind dissent as long as it’s not offensive.
You know his opinions on most things and so what to expect, for my money the addenda generated by the blogs add to the whole. If it were not for the internet many good stories would die with the teller.
Please keep in mind that the Trump administration and 70% of the American people are opposed to illegal immigration, starting with those who do and have committed crimes, not legal immigrants, of whom you are speaking of.
Tis a shame to tarnish an FF1F with a gross generalization for a cheap jibe such as “the people who are in favour of Brexit in the UK think that Britain will rise again if immigration is restricted”.
For many who voted Leave (I wont pretend to know whether it is or is not ‘most’), and who would do so again, immigration is not a significant issue, nor is Britain “ris[ing] again”.
Many of us who voted Leave have been unhappy with the extent and trend of superstatist integration since the Maastricht Treaty of 1992 (back when immigration was not a substantial part of the debate, IIRC) was forced upon us, a treaty that was not just contentious in the UK as you’ll well know, evidenced by the Danish narrow referendum vote against it first time around and the French “petit oui” of a mere 51.0% approval — apparently enough of a majority to allow France progress (indeed to leave though, granted, all the EC members left together) from European Community to European Union.
There is reasoned debate to be had on the direction the EU is being led — it is not an inevitable good nor inevitable that it is good, for narrow-minded superstatism is no less dangerous, and no less an undesirable trait, than narrow-minded nationalism.
I am allowed to have an opinion.
From one immigrant to another, keep up the good work.
” At the same time the people who are in favour of Brexit in the UK think that Britain will rise again if immigration is restricted. ”
This is simply not true. I voted for Brexit to bring power back from the unelected and unelectable in Brussels. As for immigration, I’m in favour of a points based immigration system as adopted by many countries around the world. I’m also someone who believes in the UK, our culture, our way of life – a “Somewhere” person if you like. Try googling “somewhere versus anywhere” and read the Newstateman article on the subject. I would be interested to hear your thoughts.
The people in Brussels are elected in just the same way as the government ministers in the UK. A little research might help your argument
The MEPs are elected. However members of the European Commission (EC) which operate as a cabinet government are not elected by the public. Crucially it is this body that propose legislation. The MEPs who make up the European parliament have no say in proposing legislation.
If the UK public does not like the laws and regulations that the EC are proposing, then we have no way of voting them out. On the other hand, if the UK government does something unpopular, then they can be voted out at the next election.
As things stand now, a large proportion of laws adopted in the UK come from the unelected EC. Brexit will bring back law making to the British parliament.
Something else that is striking about the continuing Brexit debate is the number of people pushing to overturn Brexit who live outside the UK. Soros is one name making the news today. Why should they have a say given they don’t have to live with the consequences of EU policies on the UK?
Having listened to you on the Missed Apex podcast earlier, I wonder if you are being deliberately provocative to get a reaction on Brexit? One subject where I do agree with you were your comments about the cost of UK housing. It’s total madness. Maybe Brexit will crash house prices as warned by the remainers and allow you to return to your home country. Maybe you should be supporting the leave side of the argument?!
Unless the population suddenly decreases there is no possibility of a significant drop in UK house prices. It is not the bricks and mortar that cost so much but the land. Building prices in France for example are at least the same as here, the land much less. As many Brits have found to their cost when buying large and very often very beautiful stone buildings in France that would have cost a fortune here the cost to modernise is not pro rata. They do what they can before the money runs out and rarely will get that money back on resale. Do not go there thinking you will make a killing, that only happens in very exceptional cases.
I did twice.
Me too
There is a reasonable possibility that house prices will fall. Prices have been pushed ever higher in the last 20 years by:
– cheap money (very low interest rates for many years)
– overseas “investors” buying up vast swathes of property
– BTLers buying up vast swathes of property and renting them out to mostly immigrants
All three of these factors are changing. BTLers are being taxed more which is making their business model look dubious, interest rates are rising and overseas investors are no longer confident in the UK plus the Chinese government are trying to limit capital outflow. Unless the government steps in again these factors will in time pop the housing price bubble and bring prices back inline with earnings where they should be.
For those who believe house prices only ever go up, check out what happened in the early 90s when they did crash. My sister bought a flat in the late 80s. By the mid 90s she was in serious negative equity and couldn’t afford the mortgage. She ended up posting the keys through the building society door. Unfortunately for her they caught up with her eventually and she was forced to pay the pound of flesh owed.
The EC is chosen by and can (and has) been dismissed by the Parliament. I’m not sure what else you could ask for; it’s not like MPs get to pick who’s in the Cabinet, is it?
That’s not correct. The EC is only approved by the Parliament.
The EC President is appointed by the Council of the European Union (heads of state or government of EU countries). FWIW David Cameron failed in his attempt to block the nomination of Jean-Claude Juncker as the next president of the European Commission in 2014.
Once the EC President is chosen, he then works with the Council of the European Union to appoint the Commissioners. They are then approved by the European Parliament.
There is not one British MEP that belongs to the leading party in the European Parliament – the European People’s Party. Hence Britain’s influence in the Parliament is severely limited and again, the Parliament itself, can only approve the EC, not appoint them.
So tell me what influence my vote and the votes of the British people can have in choosing the EC? Even tactical voting, which is common when selecting MPs, cannot have any effect when it comes to deciding who is in the EC.
64% of Leave voters stated immigration was their first or second most important reason for voting Leave.
FYI, I would say – from first-hand experience – that Joe is in the 99th percentile when it comes to a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of history. He also rigourously eschews the kind of lazy, black-and-white, catastrophising thinking so popular these days and which seems to have infected some of the above comments. For both reasons, I find his occasional digressions on political topics well worth reading and hope they continue.
I can only assume Joe’s critics here aren’t aware of the wider remit of his work.
There is something in this story about the attention span of wealthy men and women. The Wolf WR1 is/was a lovely car to see, whatever the paintwork. It was a cracking car for 1977 until the Lotus 78 got working. Suddenly, winning in F1 became a new game. Having briefly cracked the old game, Wolf didn’t have the tenacity to crack it again.
Wow…
At the time (being a student affected by the first wave of student loans) I never fully appreciated Tony Blair’s first 2 terms as PM for the golden age they truly were.
Unfortunately the ‘current’ anti immigration / anti foreigner feelings in the UK are born out of high spending by Labour on urban, poor areas and high spending in education and healthcare. Unfortunately post 2008 as the economy retracted and the Con Lib coalition took over, the philosophy changed and spending in all 3 areas was significantly cut. This caused dis satisfaction through the poorest, youngest and eldest adults in the country.
What resulted was 3 fold:-
Foreigners coming from Southern and Eastern Europe and ‘taking our jobs (or being hard working, flexible, entrepreneurial immigrants)
High dissatisfaction that when public spending was low, people with a short tax history were allowed to claim benefits, use the NHS and have their children educated in our schools (as should be the case for any responsible society)
The biggest housing crisis since Dickensian times. Long term low interest rates and a growing economy and historically low rates of house building causes a shortage in high quality affordable housing. Made worse by immigrants taking the decision that to follow the opportunities they needed to pay rents / buy houses and added to the demand issue on housing.
This led to the Brexit vote.
And anyone voting Brexit because of the society challenge of integrating an Islamic culture into an country of Christian and atheists values is just an idiot. I expect our dependence on importing workers from Pakistan/Bangladesh/Turkey will increase after Brexit.
Great history on Walter Wolf btw Joe!
@Addmanniw: “At the time (being a student affected by the first wave of student loans) I never fully appreciated Tony Blair’s first 2 terms as PM for the golden age they truly were.”
So what/how, following your personal Damascus, am I supposed to think?
“The biggest housing crisis since Dickensian times.”
When growing up, did you ever watch UK telly? Minder was filmed on a WWII bomb site — in the 1980s. Have you ever seen “10 Rillington Place” which filmed in people’s homes?
a quick search revealed that the UK population has only grown (total, not just immigrants) by more than 1% in a year once since 2000 (and it was 1.1%). if the current 0.6% yearly growth is causing any crises I believe this reveals systemic problems that go far beyond where people were born.
how about focusing on these issues rather than on regular people trying to live their lives as best they can (that is, not trying to ruin the lives of others, as they seem to be portrayed by some factions).
2015 …. “Because when immigration is too high (no figure given), when the pace of change is too fast, it’s impossible to build a cohesive society. It’s difficult for schools and hospitals and core infrastructure like housing and transport to cope. And we know that for people in low-paid jobs, wages are forced down even further while some people are forced out of work altogether. … So there is no case, in the national interest, for immigration of the scale we have experienced over the last decade.” – Theresa May as Home Secretary
2018 …. LONDON (Reuters) – British companies are raising the salaries they offer to new permanent staff at the fastest rate since June 2015 due to a shortage of good-quality staff, recruiters said in a survey published on Thursday.
‘British companies are raising the salaries they offer to new permanent staff at the fastest rate since June 2015’
that is good news for the working class people
‘due to a shortage of good-quality staff, recruiters said in a survey published on Thursday.’
That is good news as well, this time for the social system, which needs to support less unemployed workers.
All in all a win-win situation for the whole country.
However I’m not for leave, but I think the EU needs to protect their frontier better than they do now.
Spot on.
Prejudice burns brighter when it’s all we have to burn.
I had coffee with Walter Wolf about two years ago after a thrilling ride with him in a Vector power boat. Twin Iveco diesels. He was obviously interested in purchasing a large boat for summer use. Still very hale and hearty.
Oh dear… I haven’t heard such a load of rubbish in a long time. Its Joe’s blog and you have to abide by Joe’s rules. If you don’t like them go elsewhere to spout your simplistic views on immigration and Brexit. Joe’s views are perfectly sensible to me, go and read some history books for the contribution that immigrant have made to the success of the UK.
I was just wondering what postings this year would bring in the biggest responses and what issues would get people worked up and responding. I thought in no order it would be, Trump, Gun Control, Brexit. Never thought it would start so early in year.
Good story about WW, but reckon today he would fail at the first job, as today you need a million certificates for courses before you can get a job.
Bring back the grid girls and get rid of the kids.
Comments….whew!
Thanks Joe. Had often wondered where Mr Wolf appeared from, then disappeared too.
Other than Maserati (by default as it was the first ever F1 GP), has any other F1 team won first time out? I can’t think of one.
Oops brain fart, I meant Alfa Romeo!
Brawn got a 1/2 at the 2009 Australian GP (resurrected from Honda when they quit) and Mercedes Benz got a 1/2 at the 1954 French Grand Prix (though they had raced pre WW2).
I’ve always wondered whether you can truly count Brawn as a first-time winner, given they inherited supposedly the most expensively-developed car in F1 history from Honda!
Nonetheless an extraordinary achievement. Last minute change of power unit requiring complete re-engineering of the rear end etc. Significant reduction in staffing. Very little money so the minimum of development.
Not just the first grand prix but an almost all conquering season.
Regarding immigrants, it is certainly true, that some immigrants can help the economy to improve, however the vast majority are rather a burden, perfect examples are Greece and Italy, who have the most immigrants entering the country through the Mediterranean Sea, and as a result those countries are rather broke than prospering. Since how many years are Greeks living on life aid from the money of the European Union?
Greece and Italy are significantly different cases to the UK, especially Greece.
Small population, desperately crazy employment, tax and retirement rules etc. Lent lots of money by Germany in return for buying lots of German goodies that they had no need of.
‘Greece and Italy are significantly different cases to the UK, especially Greece.’
True. Good point. Therefore the European Union needs to support these countries and the UK needs to pay for them. Not as much as Germany, but still a handy sum. That argument probably supported the decision to leave, amongst others.
Thanks for weighing in on the Trump/Brexit fiasco. For me those supporters are dangerously close to the fascism from the last century.
As for those who say you have no business posting your views on a motorsport blog…it’s your blog. Do with it as you please.
There’s more to life than motorsports. Keep up the good work!
How can you say that the supporters of Trump/Brexit are dangerously close to the fascism of the last century? Where’s the evidence for that?
The reason why I voted leave was to get back sovereignty from the EU who are rushing towards a federal superstate and in the process destroying the British culture and way of life that I grew up with and strongly believe in. As I said before, I am a “Somewhere” person. Try googling “somewhere versus anywhere” and read the Newstateman article on the subject. I am most definitely not a fascist.
If for a moment you open your own eyes and take a look at the behaviour of some on your own side, then you will find actions reminiscent of 1930s Germany.
– a remainer sending a death threat to an 80 year old Brexit supporter
– the mob who tried to stop Jacob Rees Mogg speaking at the Bristol Univ – an attack against free speech
– John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, call for Cabinet minister Esther McVey to be “lynched”
– calling anyone who holds an opposing view some derogatory term, such as fascist, rather than engaging in a logical thought out debate
‘Thanks for weighing in on the Trump/Brexit fiasco. For me those supporters are dangerously close to the fascism from the last century.’
Well that is like saying the majority of UK/US people are close to fascism. I strongly disagree.
Joe,
You have touched on a few things, which as you mentioned in the past there is only so much you can fit into the story.
Walter Wolf did trade a few barrels of oil and was linked to David Thieme and his trading activities. I was “Stepping” out with a young lady who worked for Thieme at that time. We met at Flashman Bar & Restaurant – Monaco, run/owned by Bob (Robert) Perry and John Thorne. (Robert had links to Bernie & F2 at that time)
There was a lot of talk that Wolf and Thieme were giving a serious look at Lamborghini, whom, as you know Wolf had a car made to his spec. Of course, he also teamed up with Dallara to sort out the chassis of his Lambo but backed a race team, which you have mentioned.
Wolf and the person who paid Thieme’s bail, had put funds into what we call a “Hedge Fund” today, but back then it was something very different to trade oil. Today it is called trading on the “Spot Market”.
A few years after Thieme was arrested, a London newspaper was asking about him and contacted my old girlfriend, we were still in touch and the paper got in touch with me. Yes, we had heard he was living in Paris. At that time, he was double our age, and I recall he was seeing a “French” lady who ran his office back then. He also had a nice car collection in the garage of Hotel de Paris, where he lived and had his office.
The technocrats realised twenty years ago that immigration was the only way to deal with the problem of an aging population. Otherwise we were going to end up with too many people drawing pensions and disproportionately dependent on social care and healthcare services, all needing to be funded by general taxation from the declining proportion of the country who were actually still economically active. The numbers were terrifying. The choice was between importing a load of young people to pay tax, or pushing the retirement age out by ten or twenty years. I know, I was there. Not seen any evidence that we were wrong or that the calculus has shifted.
‘The choice was between importing a load of young people to pay tax’
This argument would only be valid, if they would import only young people. However the politicians import old people as well, these never paid in the social system but are receiving social money, offsetting the balance in the process.
Where are all these Peter Pan workers who are coming here to work hard to pay taxes for old British people while never growing old or having children themselves? The importation of young taxpayers does not solve the problem, it *increases* it, and it kicks the can down the road to a future generation. Anyone with half a brain can work that out (so we’ve lost the 250 people who buy the Guardian every day). It transfers the bill to our children and grandchildren, and it drains other countries of their young taxpayers. But who gives a damn about them when white middle-class English professionals can look sooo progressive and virtuous while sipping their early-morning café? None is as arrogant, selfish and yes, colonialist as the modern liberal. Send us your cheap labour so I can get my cheap lattes!
The answer is balls-achingly simple: more apprenticeships and technical colleges in the UK (and close at least 25% of the so-called universities to make space for them) to get young Britons in work, and a managed points-based system with 1, 3, 5 and 10-year work permits for workers with the skills we need, when we need them. And stop one person bringing 27 relatives, all whom can call on public services while never having paid in. But apparently our economy will collapse if we do that. And it’s fascist or something.