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Brexit Schmexit
Dec. 31st, 2020 10:49 amEven though we leave tomorrow, and we, the losers , have lost, it remains impossible to respect the result of the referendum, just as if the Tories win a general election, then Labour and other voters don't automatically become conservatives. It's been shonky from the beginning, from bus lies to easiest deal in history to ministers claiming that the Covid 19 vaccine was because of Brexit. Also:
1. Cameron called the referendum for various reasons, but none was about democracy. It was about shutting up the right wing of the Conservative party and seeing off Farage, it was about using referendums to push his policies. It was hubris.
2. People didn't know what they were voting for. I don't just mean the numpties who googled What is EU the day after. Literally, nobody knew what they were voting for. Everyone had different views on a post-Brexit world and it stands to reason that not all of them could come true. Most people were voting for a feeling (Remainers too, of a rather fake version of the wonderful, unifying EU) rather than hard practicalities. No-one really thought they were voting for or against a British firm exporting parts to the EU subject to points of origin certificates, export credit guarantees, import licences, customs declarations, VAT documentation etc in lorries that must still comply with EU regulations but subject to complex documentation and long delays at the border.
3. I would posit that great swathes of Doncaster, Hartlepool, Wigan, Sunderland and so on were trying to cock a snook at Cameron, without really seeing that they were voting for a right wing project.
4. I would also posit that great swathes of the south east who voted Leave are the kind of people who a few years ago were outraged about windfarms and now are outraged about lockdown. The kind of people who blame the BBC for all ills. The kind of people who feed into whatever Farage is against this week. It's pretty hard to take them seriously.
5. A lot of people were not voting against roaming charges or tariffs on services or even fucking blue passports but against immigration, never really answering the question of who was going to do the care working or bus driving or fruit picking. I suspect it will be immigrants, but with visas.
6. It's never been about serious, mature debate with the EU, or even about getting the best deal for Britain. Its always been about politics and vote-winning. Theresa May, who now seem a wheat-field running saint compared to Boris Johnson and his band of incompetents, lest we forget, was banging on about a "red white and blue Brexit" from the off. If it had been about an actual negotiation, then the government would never have sent David Davies to Brussels and these talks would have gone on over many years (a la Canada), rather than rushing into A50 and then failing to leave twice because everything was happening on the fly. None of it has been managed by serious adults with decent aims but by shysters and fraudsters, whom it's impossible to respect.
1. Cameron called the referendum for various reasons, but none was about democracy. It was about shutting up the right wing of the Conservative party and seeing off Farage, it was about using referendums to push his policies. It was hubris.
2. People didn't know what they were voting for. I don't just mean the numpties who googled What is EU the day after. Literally, nobody knew what they were voting for. Everyone had different views on a post-Brexit world and it stands to reason that not all of them could come true. Most people were voting for a feeling (Remainers too, of a rather fake version of the wonderful, unifying EU) rather than hard practicalities. No-one really thought they were voting for or against a British firm exporting parts to the EU subject to points of origin certificates, export credit guarantees, import licences, customs declarations, VAT documentation etc in lorries that must still comply with EU regulations but subject to complex documentation and long delays at the border.
3. I would posit that great swathes of Doncaster, Hartlepool, Wigan, Sunderland and so on were trying to cock a snook at Cameron, without really seeing that they were voting for a right wing project.
4. I would also posit that great swathes of the south east who voted Leave are the kind of people who a few years ago were outraged about windfarms and now are outraged about lockdown. The kind of people who blame the BBC for all ills. The kind of people who feed into whatever Farage is against this week. It's pretty hard to take them seriously.
5. A lot of people were not voting against roaming charges or tariffs on services or even fucking blue passports but against immigration, never really answering the question of who was going to do the care working or bus driving or fruit picking. I suspect it will be immigrants, but with visas.
6. It's never been about serious, mature debate with the EU, or even about getting the best deal for Britain. Its always been about politics and vote-winning. Theresa May, who now seem a wheat-field running saint compared to Boris Johnson and his band of incompetents, lest we forget, was banging on about a "red white and blue Brexit" from the off. If it had been about an actual negotiation, then the government would never have sent David Davies to Brussels and these talks would have gone on over many years (a la Canada), rather than rushing into A50 and then failing to leave twice because everything was happening on the fly. None of it has been managed by serious adults with decent aims but by shysters and fraudsters, whom it's impossible to respect.
