New lunacy in the Middle East puts the Brexit nonsense further into perspective, providing as it does the intro of inflationary oil prices bound to finally burn off the European Bunion. This will be a serious problem for Brussels, which in recent years has established itself as a heavy user of diplomatic petrol.

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So the Iranians (and their protests to the contrary don’t bear examination) have attacked and severely damaged Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, and Leader-by-Tweet Donald Trump has already hit back with “our guns are loaded”. I am at a loss to understand how going to the defence of the Saudis – who run a brutal, stone age dictatorship based on privilege and misogyny – has any ethical grounds beyond stoney sand; equally, beyond the geopolitics of energy and the infinite battle between Sunni and Shia, it is yet another case of, “how do we like least – Commies or Nazis?”. Either way, once more we see the Religion of Peace at war with everyone including itself, and the US as ever fixated by control of the oil and petrodollar that underpin its pretensions to global hegemony.

Meanwhile, the Brussels commission uses every opportunity it has to pour such petrol as it has left onto the smouldering relations between the EU and Britain. Following the antics of the Luxembourg PM (who he?), this morning we are the recipients of one more poke in the eye from Jean-Claude Juncker’s limp tickling stick.

“Our Parliament is open and functioning,” he gloated, “unlike the British version, which has been prorogued”. Oh dear. Our elected lower house of Parliament decides all domestic and national strategies, examines and votes upon every Bill presented to it, and – as we are seeing right now – fights tooth and nail (however misguidedly) to keep that right. The EU Parliament is a spineless EUnuch that has never changed a directive from the Brussels clique in its entire pointless existence.

But that’s J-C for you: silly, vindictive, dissembling and – according to a Flemish group  – once again the worse for wear yesterday, slurring his words after having been afflicted by another Tia Maria backache. Lean at a jaunty angle on too many Belgian bars, and such is, I’m afraid, the inevitable outcome.

I raised the point about a fundamental lack of respect, manners, objective protocol and level playing field in the way the Masters of the EUniverse treat member States in a post earlier this week. This opened the floodgates of foul-mouthed fantasy into my inbox from Liberal Democrat supporters. [I decided last night that, henceforth, The Slog will only refer to their Party as The Illiberal Demogogues.]

But I digress. It struck me that an exhaustive audit of spittle, vulgar jokes, insults and lies that have emanated variously from Berlin, Brussels, Paris, Strasbourg and Frankfurt on the subject of the United Kingdom, its electorate and its democratic processes (with all its faults) would be helpful.

Thus, the next time a europhile fluffy wants to sanctify Mario Draghi, Sloggers and others of similar ilk could republish this valuable document. It wouldn’t shut the Wishful Unthinking Tendency up, but it would probably persuade more of the undecided 12% that the UK needs the European Union like Nigel Farage needs a vocal chord transplant.

EU leaders meeting in Salzburg, Austria, in September 2018 shot down every Brexit proposal offered by Theresa May. Hammering home her defeat, Donald Tusk presented May with some cakes….a deliberate set-up he used the next day on social media:

 Harmless? Not really – just an infantile insult. Over time, failed Polish politician Tusk has totted up quite a collection of nasties: “there is a special place in Hell for those who supported Brexit”, “the British Establishment has betrayed six million who reject the idea of Brexit”, “Boris Johnson’s approach to Brexit is absurd”, “Boris Johnson wants a hard border in Ireland” and other assorted twists of factuality.

Last year, French President Emmanuel Macron launched an unprecedented attack on Brexiters from Salzburg, branding them “liars.”

“Those who explain that we can easily live without Europe, that everything is going to be all right, and that it’s going to bring a lot of money home, are liars. It’s even more true since they left the day after so as to not have to deal with it,” he said.

In July 2018, following the resignation of Brexit Minister David Davis and Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, Jean-Claude Juncker gave a press conference, and quipped, “This clearly proves at Chequers there was unity in the cabinet”.

All jolly helpful and constructive, what?

But there are few in Brussels who can match the foam-flecked nastiness of Guy Verhofstadt, a man full of pompous claims about democratic values, and brown envelopes taken (but undeclared) in consultancy fees he gained while advising privatisation carpetbaggers in Greece.  This was his charming intervention on Europeday 2017:

 Oh excellent, hohoho oh how we laughed. Mind you, His Guyness has been on our case for a long, long time:

January 2013: “[David Cameron’s] speech [laying out his vision for a new U.K.-EU relationship] was full of inconsistencies, displaying a degree of ignorance about how the EU works… [He] will not succeed if he attempts to hold his European partners to ransom. He seems to be jeopardizing the interests of his country for internal party stability. Britain has suffered over the years from the chronic failure of politicians to make a positive case for Europe and counter the untruths in much of the populist press.”

(That sort of stuff helped create the majority for Brexit, Guy. For which, many thanks)

January 2013: “[Brexit] is stupidity for a country with 53 percent of its exports going to the Continent and to the rest of Europe. It’s even so stupid that Britain’s best friends, the U.S., don’t understand it all.”

(He inflated the export share almost threefold. The US jibe is baffling and inaccurate)

February 2016: “The only winners from a Brexit would be Nigel Farage and Vladimir Putin; who would relish a divided Europe.”

(Standard NATO paranoia)

February 2016: “[British citizens] are not so stupid to give up [EU membership]… which is economically important for them… and secondly … geopolitically, British citizens know very well that Britain without the EU is in fact a dwarf on the world level.”

(Wrong again, Guy….but the Dwarves reference was cute)

July 2016: “Politically, the U.K. is already on its way to becoming an adversary, rather than a trusted partner, of the EU… [Theresa] May actually opposed Brexit. Yet her anti-European hostility differs only in degree, not in kind, from that of pro-Brexit politicians… who rejoice at the possibility of additional exit referenda across the EU.”

(I’ll judged at best, given this was only three weeks after the referendum. He was 100% wrong about May, but 100% right about further secessions from his Hellfire Club….bring it on.)

These are just a selection. We didn’t even get to Barnier, threats from the new EC Presidential Fuhrerin, and more recent attacks from obese German MPs in search of easy Bild Zeitung bylines.

A picture with just a few words beats a thousand weak cracks, silly puns and spitty rants every time: