Brexit Discussion Thread VI

My opinion on how things have gone?


To be honest, I just sort of assumed that I would vote Remain. Then I saw that The Economist had a special report on the subject called "The Reluctant European". I picked it up. It did an excellent job of providing a brief overview of Britain's involvement in the European project including the rebate and the veto, Cameron's decision to withdraw the Conservatives from the European People's Party in a bid to placate the Eurosceptics in his party and what would happen if Britain chose to leave. Most importantly, it dismantled every single leave argument including sovereignty and immigration. It mentioned that the EU member states would each have to ratify the EU-UK trade deal, a fact rarely mentioned at the time.


I was living in very liberal/left-wing Brighton at the time, a better exemplar of the loony lefty elitist caricature you could not possibly find in the UK. I wasn't too worried. Like many, I thought that Remain would claim the day if only narrowly. On Friday the 24th June, there was a horrible shadow over the medical school I was working in at the time. Most of the staff were from Europe, namely Portugal, Spain & Italy. Few, if any got much work done. It took some time for the shock to kick in. That was it. The UK had voted to leave and somehow, nobody was too bothered about the fact that the NHS wasn't getting $350 million a week extra.


However, and it was extremely naive of me in hindsight, I did expect politicians to... "Grow up", for want of a better phrase. I mean, this is the future of the country for crying out loud. Instead, Cameron resigned on the spot rather than try to sort out the mess he'd made while the Tories turned on each other. Labour decided to just keep calm and carry on with very little. Since then, we've seen judges which Brexiteers have told us must be able to enforce the law of the land derided as traitors along with democratically elected MP's. Parliament itself, which is supposed to be sovereign became a target for vitriol. Suddenly, the Good Friday agreement, something barely mentioned at all before the referendum had become an inconvenience. Jacob Rees-Mogg became an envoy of the working man. The party of big business and stability became the party of economic ruin and chaos while Jeremy Corbyn did and still does continue to fiddle. Up became down and black became white.


I knew it'd be a tough few years but I didn't count on so much farce being prevalent in actual Politics that Armando Iannucci would feel surplus to requirements. And what does it look like we'll be left with? Either giving up as opposed to the status quo of pooling sovereignty in order to avoid economic ruin or said economic ruin. And for what? Bananas which are now bendy? More powerful vacuum cleaners? Blue Passports? Spam for dinner? PM Boris Johnson whose new populist Tory party might win power on little over a third of the popular vote?


If British politics was an animal, I'd argue for it to be euthanised. Ironically, it's the undemocratic elements of it which seem to be holding the vaunted democracy somewhat together. The House of Lords seems to doing some decent work in holding the government to account while the civil service, based on a contact of mine in Liam Fox's department seems to be well ahead in preparations for disaster though the easiest trade deal in history is some ways off. Meanwhile, we have a load of Tory rebels who were unhappy with Theresa May's election so they agitated for a second vote.


I don't know any more. Maybe someone here will figure out a way to package and sell irony because that seems to be the only growth industry here at the moment.