I made a real hash out of Brexit argument

The other day I unwisely allowed myself to be drawn into an argument over Brexit with Maryport’s Philip Cueto. Among his other assets, Philip owns the Golden Lion Hotel and the Golf Hotel at Silloth. Among his talents is the ability to argue his cause.

I knew this when I went in to the argument and, based on the old adage that if you don’t want to be burned, stay out of the fire, I should have walked away.

I didn’t and now everything I thought I knew has gone up in smoke and every ideal and principle is something to be doubted!

Anyway, I maintain it is difficult to win an argument if your opponent is talking in a different language and Philip was. He was talking pure Cumbrian!

I asked: “What about the farmers? They will lose their subsidies.”

Counter argument: “When did yu last see a tatie ’ash field?”

I couldn’t say for certain I had ever seen a tatie ’ash field, and, if I had, would I even know I was looking at one? In my mind’s eye I could see a field full of pots of bubbling vegetables, black pudding, lamb and whatever else goes into the local delicacy. It turns out I was half right.

A tatie hash field is where a farmer grew all the ingredients for the pot. So the field would have potatoes, carrots, onions and perhaps cabbage all grown alongside each other.

He pointed out many farmers nowadays are being given subsidies, NOT to farm but to leave land empty.

If all farms were used fully, if beef and dairy cows and meat and wool sheep were raised along fields of crops, including cereals and vegetables, there would be no need for subsidy.

Their market would be on their own doorstep and the British people would have all the food they needed right on their own doorstep! Now I am sure there are farmers and agricultural experts out there who will have other points to raise and good reasons why this would not work but it does seem logical.

His next, what I assumed would be jingoistic, argument put me firmly back in the In sector.

“We need to put the Great back in Britain.” He took the wind out of my sails, however, by reminding me that his family were of fairly recent Spanish descent and spoke of the positive things that immigrants had created in our area alone.

But Britain used to be great, he said, and if everyone pulled together and had a bit of pride we could be so again. Honestly, I cannot tell you how entrenched I was in my view that we had to remain in the EU! And because of my passion for In I was inclined to see racism and ignorance behind any Brexit argument.

I can’t really be blamed, though. Look at the people who were spouting the Brexit message. For that matter, look at the people who were giving us reasons to stay. It has been said too many times, but everyone knows by now that both sides discarded truth in their efforts to “win”.

If every politician had been as dogmatic as Philip can be, but had used everyday language and common sense, who knows what the outcome of the referendum would have been. It may have been different or the same – depending on who spoke the plainest truth.

I have two points to make in this column. The first is, Brexit or not, our farmers need to get back to planting taty hash fields.

Secondly – and this I will throw in and then leave for the day – maybe, instead of first past the post, we really do need some alternative voting method so we can pick the very best people to lead us, whether in making a decision to leave Europe or just to find a common sense way of restoring Britain to greatness!

What a refreshing change it would make from having to choose between the major political parties with all the recent evidence that they can’t even agree among themselves, never mind run a country