Jon Danzig is a campaigning journalist writing about human rights and the European Union. Now on BlueSky at: bsky.app/profile/jondanzig.bsky.social
Articles by Jon Danzig
Why Reform's plans would hurt Britain
The Telegraph reported on September 21 that Nigel Farage’s Reform Party would expel hundreds of thousands of migrants if it gained power. Reform says it would scrap Indefinite Leave to Remain retrospectively, raise the Skilled Worker salary bar to £60,000 a year, require higher English, restrict access to most benefits and free NHS care for migrants, and run mass deportations. Here is what that would mean in practice. ▪ NHS and care International staff keep hospitals and care homes open.
Was Brexit decided in Russia in 1997?
EU ROPE A blog by Jon Danzig About EU ROPE A blog edited by journalist Jon Danzig. The Author Jon Danzig is an award winning medical journalist and formerly an investigative journalist at the BBC. He specialises in health, human rights and the European Union. In 1997, a little-known Russian political thinker, Aleksandr Dugin, published The Foundations of Geopolitics. Inside, he laid out a blunt and chilling plan. Russia, he argued, would not rise again through tanks and bombs alone.
The Farage paradox
Someone commented: “Farage is committing political suicide by aligning with Trump. He needs to distance himself from the โorange aubergineโ if he wants British votes.” ๐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ: Thatโs the paradox. ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ปโ๐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ต๐ถ๐บ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ณ โ because his brand is built on the Trump playbook.
Most European countries are in the EU or want to be
President Trump calls it “Liberation Day” – but what he’s launching is a global trade war. Sweeping US tariffs are provoking retaliatory ones from around the world. Everyone, including Americans, will end up poorer. Contrast that with the EU’s approach: cooperation, not confrontation. The Single Market offers tariff-free, frictionless trade among its 27 members. It’s the world’s largest and most successful trading bloc – and it works.
Brexit is causing a severe medicine shortage in the UK
The UK is grappling with its worst medicine shortage in four years, and the evidence points squarely at Brexit as a central cause. In 2024 alone, drug companies reported 1,938 supply disruptions to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) – a sharp rise from 1,634 in 2023. The worst-hit medications include essential treatments for epilepsy and cystic fibrosis, leaving vulnerable patients at risk.
Lost at sea - does Britain go east or west?
Which way is the wind blowing for little Britain? Little? Yes. We are a tiny, isolated, island in a corner of the North Sea, now quite alone in the world, lost, and lonely. We’ve turned away from our closest allies, our neighbours on our continent, with whom we used to enjoy a close affinity, and a leading role, as a full member of the European Union. But our Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has made it clear: there is no path back.
The Brexit nose job
Just before the EU referendum, the then USA President, Barack Obama, visited the UK and said he hoped that Britain would stay in the EU. Nigel Farage was having none of it. An American President, he said, had no right to meddle in British affairs. The President, in short, should “butt out”. The Daily Mirror ran the headline, “Nigel Farage tells Barack Obama to keep his nose out of the Brexit debate.” Zoom forward almost nine years and spot the difference.
Starmer has backtracked on migration and FOM as he dances to Reform's tune
I believe Keir Starmer when he says that under Labour we will not be joining the EU again, or its Single Market, or customs union. He has been saying that since he became Labour leader and now since he became Labour Prime Minister. He had quite a different view of migration and FOM back in 2020: The government will now “aim” for the fastest economic growth per capita in the Group of Seven advanced economies, according to a document setting out Starmer’s plans.
Why Brexit is bonkers
Share EmailTwitterFacebook From 31 January 2024, certain goods coming from the EU to Great Britain – particularly fresh foods – will be subject to full Brexit border controls and checks for the first time, meaning extra paperwork, delays, and costs. The UK government had previously delayed the new Brexit controls five times, concerned about the impact on British businesses. Since Brexit, the EU already has border controls and checks for imports from Great Britain.
Government finally bites the Brexit bullet
Share EmailTwitterFacebook Starting on 31 January 2024, the UK government is imposing full Brexit border controls on imports from the EU, having delayed them on five previous occasions. This is three years after the UK left the EU’s Single Market, when the EU had no qualms in immediately imposing full border controls on goods from the UK entering the bloc.
How to change the world
Share EmailTwitterFacebook Yes, YOU can change the world. Or more pertinently, WE can change the world. People of all ages, from all ages, have been changing the world since humans arrived on it. There’s no doubt that the standard of living of the average human has considerably changed and improved in the past 100 years, 1000 years, 10,000 years. But there’s still so much that needs fixing. So much is wrong. Terribly wrong.
Without migrants, we wouldn't have the NHS
Share EmailTwitterFacebook Our NHS would collapse without migrants. Almost 20 per cent of the staff in NHS England are from overseas. Out of 1.5 million NHS staff in England, around 265,000 reported a non-British nationality as of June 2023. That’s 45,000 more than the previous year. What’s more, since Brexit, data indicates that the proportion of EU citizens working for the NHS has declined and tapered off, whilst the proportion of Asian migrants working for the NHS has rapidly increased.
Thirteen years of Tory cock-ups
Share EmailTwitterFacebook “The 7 million-plus NHS waiting list, the 2 million-plus fall in the labour force, the world-beating rate of inflation and spiralling mortgage rates are all the result of a succession of bad policy choices made by Conservative Ministers at crucial times in the past 13 years.” Words of truth and wisdom spoken by a Labour member of the House of Lords last week that you won’t see mentioned in the mainstream media.
The Sun poison
Share EmailTwitterFacebook So, press regulator, IPSO, has ruled that Jeremy Clarkson discriminated against Meghan Markle in his column in The Sun that promoted “hatred” of her with a series of sexist tropes. So what? It’s not nearly enough. 25,100 people complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation about the column, written by Jeremy Clarkson on December 18 2022.
Like it or hate it, we're stuck with Brexit for years ahead
Share EmailTwitterFacebook The next government – whether Labour or Tory – won’t be able to negotiate wholesale revisions to the Brexit agreement with the EU even if they want to (and it appears, anyway, that neither Labour nor the Tories want to). Why? Because the EU has indicated that it is not interested in any revision of the agreement struck with Boris Johnson that has only been in force for two years.
And they say the EU is undemocratic! Johnson's (dis)honours list
Share EmailTwitterFacebook In his honours list published June 9, Boris Johnson has nominated seven new members of the House of Lords, a tradition granted to outgoing Prime Ministers (yes, even those who left in disgrace). In addition, Mr Johnson named six new knighthoods, including Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Caroline Lucas announces that she will step down at the next election: please watch her most important speech
Share EmailTwitterFacebook Green MP, Caroline Lucas, has announced that she will be stepping down at the next general election. Caroline will not be giving up politics, however, and intends to continue campaigning on I am posting an edited extract of what was arguably her most important speech in Parliament.
The ILLEGAL Bill
Share EmailTwitterFacebook The government calls it “The Illegal Migration Bill”. But it should be simply shortened to “The ILLEGAL Bill”. Why? Well, first let’s understand what this bill is for and what it does. The bill was announced on 7 March 2023 without any public consultation. It aims to deter small boat crossings of asylum seekers attempting to reach the UK across the English Channel. How?
Brexit is 'unfinished business by a long way'
Share EmailTwitterFacebook ‘Brexit has failed’, says Nigel Farage. Brexit is ‘unfinished business by a long way.’ The former UKIP leader and leading Brexit protagonist admits that businesses may now be more heavily regulated than when the UK was in the EU. Mr Farage told BBC Newsnight last night: He added, Is there a more powerful argument to have a new vote on Brexit? Actually, yes, there is.
When did WE have a say on this?
Share EmailTwitterFacebook Britain is joining an 11-member Asia-Pacific trade bloc, the CPTP. The UK government thinks this is a suitable replacement for our membership of the EU. But when did we have a say on this? When did Parliament consent to this? Brexiters often claim that the EU is undemocratic and that we should have had a referendum to join it in the first place. But neither the people nor our Parliament have had any say on the UK being a member of a trade bloc thousands of miles away.
Tories: always spurious reasons to scrap human rights.
Share EmailTwitterFacebook Once again, the Conservatives are threatening to leave the European Convention on Human Rights. But they’ve been threatening that for many years – and never for good reasons, only spurious ones. Always. Today, the Tories seem ready to jettison our 70-year alignment with the European Convention if that gets in the way of their despicable plans to automatically refuse asylum to people FOR LIFE, simply if they arrive in the UK by certain modes of transport.
The migrant dog whistle is blown again...
Share EmailTwitterFacebook From today, the government has announced, “anyone crossing the Channel will be detained and removed to a safe country within weeks.” To be clear, Home Secretary, Suella Braverman MP, is not talking about those travelling from Calais to Dover with P&O, DFDS, or Irish Ferries. No, she is talking about desperate people, mostly genuine asylum seekers, who can’t get here by “normal means” because those means aren’t available to them.
Britain is naturally pro-EU. Read why.
For all the UK’s five decades in the EU, most Britons were happy for us to stay in. They didn’t want us to leave. The issue was settled in the 1975 referendum when, by a massive 2-to-1 landslide, the electorate voted to remain in the European Community. In the years that followed, calls to leave were on the far side lines of politics. Yes, Brexiters will argue that the 2016 referendum settled the issue for Brexit. But it didn’t really.
'Contempt for the conmen, compassion for the conned' - don't blame voters for Brexit
Share EmailTwitterFacebook Just 24-hours after the EU referendum on 23 June 2016, I posted this on my blog: James O’Brien on LBC has consistently agreed with this line; blame politicians, not voters, he implores. He says he has In 2020 he broadcast: It’s the same message I posted just a few hours after the referendum result, but now, of course, it’s almost seven years later.
Sunak and the single market: proof that Brexit is absurd
Share EmailTwitterFacebook Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, admitted today that Northern Ireland is in a better position than the rest of the UK by having unique access to both the EU Single Market and the UK market.
A vote for Brexit was a vote for Putin
Share EmailTwitterFacebook The main beneficiary of Brexit? Vladimir Putin, argues Jon Danzig. A vote for Brexit, was a vote for Putin Putin’s fingerprints are all over Brexit. There have been suspicions of this for some time, but the evidence is now compelling and urgently needs proper investigation. Motive is the key incentive for any crime. There have never been any benefits for Britain doing Brexit. Not even one.
A vote for Brexit was a vote for Putin
After the EU referendum, suspicions grew about the role of Russia in clinching the narrow ‘win’ for Brexit. Evidence was mounting that there had been deep involvement and interference by Russian ‘agents’ whose aim was to destabilise the EU by enabling Britain’s departure from it. It was no secret that Russia’s Prime Minister/President, Vladimir Putin, held a long-term simmering resentment about the end of Russia’s ‘empire’ that had spanned a huge expanse of Europe.
Brexit: reckless, a colossal mistake and the result of a fatally flawed referendum - part 2
All this past week, Jon Danzig has been posting videos reminding us of the fatal flaws in the Brexit referendum and demonstrating that it was a sham. Nobody wants to rub the noses of deceived voters in this mess. The blame rests firmly with the politicians, the media and those shadowy proponents of this monumental [...]
Brexit: reckless, a colossal mistake and the result of a fatally flawed referendum. Part 1
All this week, Jon Danzig is posting videos reminding us of the fatal flaws in the Brexit referendum and demonstrating that it was a sham. Nobody wants to rub the noses of deceived voters in this mess. The blame rests firmly with the politicians, the media and those shadowy proponents of this monumental act of [...]
Nobody gave informed consent for Brexit
Share EmailTwitterFacebook Nobody gave ‘informed consent’ for Brexit. That’s because, in the 2016 referendum, the electorate was not sufficiently informed. On the contrary, we were grossly misinformed. Legally, informed consent means that consent has been given with full knowledge of: ▪ the risks involved, ▪ the probable consequences, ▪ and the alternatives. – During the referendum, we were not fully aware of all the risks of Brexit.
The question they couldn't answer: what does LEAVE mean?
Share EmailTwitterFacebook ๐๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐จ๐๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฒ: Hereโs a question for you, I wrote in my report of February 2016: No, me neither. But thatโs what those campaigning for Britain to leave the EU were expecting voters to do โ vote to end our membership of the EU without knowing what weโd have instead. The problem LEAVERS had is that they simply didnโt know, and for sure they couldnโt agree.
Brexit remains a nonsense - Michel Barnier
Share EmailTwitterFacebook The truth: Brexit offers no added value to Britain. Speaking to The Observer this week, the EU’s former Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, spoke common sense. Three years after Britain left the EU, the signs are that Brexit is dead – but it won’t lie down. Last week the International Monetary Fund warned that Britain will be the only major industrialised country to see its economy shrink this year. Yes, that means Britain will perform worse than sanctions-hit Russia.
Why the EU referendum was invalid - by former Brexit Secretary
The EU referendum was fundamentally flawed according to criteria set by ardent Brexiter and former Brexit Secretary, David Davis, on how referendums should be "done properly". In July 2016, the Tory MP and then Chief Brexit Negotiator in Theresa May's new government, Mr Davis lauded the result of the EU referendum as fair, legal, and democratic.
Ken Clarke. The only Tory MP to vote AGAINST triggering Brexit
Share EmailTwitterFacebook From 31 January to 1 February 2017, MPs debated the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill on whether to trigger Brexit (the Article 50 notice). MPs overwhelmingly backed the bill, supported by the Labour leadership, by 498 votes FOR, to 114 AGAINST. Ken Clarke was one of the 114 MPs. He was the ONLY Tory MP to vote against triggering Brexit.
The truth deemed 'misinformation'...
Share EmailTwitterFacebook ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ข๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ ๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ข ๐๐ฌ ‘๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ง๐๐๐’ Yesterday LinkedIn took down my video of Stanley Johnson, Boris Johnson’s father, claiming that the post represented โmisinformationโ. In the video, Mr Johnson senior asserted that we only have Brexit because, โit was a cunning ploy by the Russians to destabiliseโฆWestern democracyโ.
Jon Danzig on LinkedIn: #brexit #russia #putin #ukraine #eu #europeanunion
→ How much more confirmation do we need? – 30-second video 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗝𝗢𝗛𝗡𝗦𝗢𝗡 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗨𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 If Boris Johnson's father, Stanley Johnson, can say that “the only reason we have Brexit at all is because it was a cunning ploy by the Russians to destabilise…Western democracy” how much more confirmation do we need? This isn’t fiction. It’s fact. The Russian’s aren’t coming. They’re already here.
The Brexit nobody voted for
Share EmailTwitterFacebook When people voted for ‘Leave’ on 23 June 2016, nobody had been told – let alone asked – what Leave meant. It was just an undefined word. Leave. One word that could have meant anything. If you say you’re going to leave, the obvious next question is ‘where to’? But that wasn’t a question offered or answered. After Theresa May became Prime Minister the following month, in July 2016, she said, “Brexit means Brexit”. It was gobbledegook. Brexit at that stage didn’t mean anything.
Dozens of child refugees abducted in Brighton. Where is the national outcry?
Share EmailTwitterFacebook Dozens of children have been abducted by gangs in Brighton, the Observer reveals today. A whistleblower and child protection sources told the newspaper that the children have been taken off the street and “bundled into cars”. The source said that the children have disappeared and have not been found. “They’re being taken from the street by traffickers.” Why isn’t this front-page news everywhere? Why isn’t there a national outcry? I will tell you why.
Jon Danzig on LinkedIn: #brexit #eu #europeanunion #russia #putin #ukraine #democracy #politics
โ Human rights court requests UK government response โ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก๐ฆโ ๐ข๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐๐ก ๐๐ก๐ง๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ก๐๐ ๐๐ก ๐๐ฅ๐๐ซ๐๐ง โ ๐ช๐ฎ๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ญ๐ฌ-๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ผ The UK government has been asked by the European Court of Human Rights to respond to โcredible allegationsโ of Russian interference in the #Brexit...
Credible allegations of Russian interference in Brexit
Share EmailTwitterFacebook The UK government has been asked by the European Court Of Human Rights (ECHR) to respond to ‘credible allegations’ of Russian interference in the Brexit referendum. The case was brought by a group of cross-party MPs: Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and Alyn Smith MP of the Scottish National Party (SNP). They lodged the claim with the international court based in Strasbourg after the High Court in London rejected the case in 2021.
If only Boris Johnson had been airbrushed from history
Share EmailTwitterFacebook Business Secretary, Grant Shapps, tweeted a photo celebrating a space launch in Cornwall with former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, airbrushed out. On January 17, in Parliament, Mr Shapps apologised and explained that his team had been confused. What a plonker. But the idea of airbrushing Boris Johnson from history is an attractive one.
Britain urgently needs an EU awareness campaign
Remain should have won the 2016 referendum. Of course, we should have done. We should have won. We could have won. And we would have won, with an entirely different campaign. The Remain campaign never expected to lose. That was their mistake number one. They were driven by aloof, smug, complacency. They thought they could easily win with a campaign that instilled fear into the British people. Forecasts of doom.
Please show this to anyone who thinks Johnson should come back as PM
Share EmailTwitterFacebook Boris Johnson has been urged to make a stunning comeback to frontline politics “for the sake of Britain, Brexit and British people”, reports the Daily Express.
What is it with Brexiters and lies? Video
Share EmailTwitterFacebook Has the UK given more military aid to Ukraine than the EU? This is an investigation into a Brexiter’s claim about aid to Ukraine – 4-min video from journalist, Jon Danzig. A former advisor to NATO and the Ministry of Defence, Professor Gwythian Prins, claimed on BBC Radio 5 live that the UK has given more military aid to Ukraine “than the entire European Union put together”. But is his claim true?
Sunak says we need to get better at maths - well, here are numbers the country needs to understand
Share EmailTwitterFacebook So, the new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, is worried that Britons are not numerate enough. He said he wants people to “feel more confident” when it comes to numbers and finances and plans to make maths compulsory study until the age of 18. Mr Sunak added that the UK must “reimagine our approach to numeracy” in a world “where data is everywhere, and statistics underpin every job.” Well, here are some stats that the country might profit from better understanding.
Has Britain lost its sense of history? Who are the real invaders?
Share EmailTwitterFacebook A few thousand bedraggled, desperate human beings have crossed the English Channel to seek our help. They are unarmed and come in peace from war-torn and devastated countries. In many cases, their plight was caused by the bombing of their homes by us and our allies. Under international law, they are not considered to be ‘illegal’.
It's a shame the government has forgotten that people are the country's greatest asset
Share EmailTwitterFacebook Good companies know that they are most successful when they invest in their people. Ditto good countries. Back in the 1990s the then Tory government, under the premiership of John Major, developed a plan to encourage businesses in Britain to invest in their people.
It's a shame the government have forgotten that people are the country's greatest asset
Share EmailTwitterFacebook Good companies know that they are most successful when they invest in their people. Ditto good countries. Back in the 1990s the then Tory government, under the premiership of John Major, developed a plan to encourage businesses in Britain to invest in their people.
The difference in democracy:
Share EmailTwitterFacebook ππ¨ π ππ πππ₯ π¦π§ππ§ππ¦ ππ₯π ππ₯ππ; π¨π π ππ πππ₯ π¦π§ππ§ππ¦ ππ₯π π‘π’π§ So, the Supreme Court has ruled that Scotlandβs government is not allowed to have an advisory-only referendum on whether its citizens want to leave the United Kingdom. Permission must be given first by the βrulingβ government based in England, the court stipulated. Funny thing, really.
52 per cent to 48 per cent equals uncertainty
Share EmailTwitterFacebook So, in a straw poll of Twitter users organised by the new Chief Twit, Elon Musk, Donald Trump has been ‘elected’ back onto the platform after being banned in 2020 for reasons we all know. “The people have spoken,” tweeted Mr Musk. Haven’t we heard that phrase before, ad nauseam, since 24 June 2016? Musk’s poll of ‘the people’ was hardly decisive – apart from the fact that, as admitted by Musk, ‘bots and troll armies’ affected the result.
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