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Such a terribly sad thing. Brexit revealed institutional weaknesses in every UK sector it tested- political, media but also education, historical knowledge.
Mr. Eel here voted leave to sell eels to everyone. Now he thinks he won’t sell to anyone, because of the extra paperwork. https://twitter.com/wblau/status/1343906813503303680
Mr. Eel here voted leave to sell eels to everyone. Now he thinks he won’t sell to anyone, because of the extra paperwork. https://twitter.com/wblau/status/1343906813503303680
There’s no point giving out about him being wrong.
People mind their own lives and largely outsource keeping track of, you know, international trade agreements to a political and media class who hold themselves out as competent in that field.
I can’t wire my house, either.
People mind their own lives and largely outsource keeping track of, you know, international trade agreements to a political and media class who hold themselves out as competent in that field.
I can’t wire my house, either.
But imagine I called in a recognised and qualified electrician and they wired the mains to my kitchen tap.
The day comes, as it will come on the 31st December’s passing for Brexit, when I turn on the tap and find I’m washing my hands in lightning
Nobody would say I was to blame
The day comes, as it will come on the 31st December’s passing for Brexit, when I turn on the tap and find I’m washing my hands in lightning
Nobody would say I was to blame
You may say “Listen, why didn’t you stop him when he plugged that wire into your sink? That was crazy stuff!” but remember, I don’t know anything about it.
I’ve hired an expert and he has explained why what he’s doing is for the best.
I’ve hired an expert and he has explained why what he’s doing is for the best.
Now, there’s a bunch of other experts I know about. They say Yer Man’s a cowboy. And that is a bit concerning, yes. But I checked with the ref- an independent bunch of experts who examine competing claims and issue guidance to punters.
And, they mostly said my fella was right.
And, they mostly said my fella was right.
In Ireland, we had the benefit of an entire political and media class who responded to the plans to wire the electrics into the water with a collective “Whaaaattt?”
I know we think we’re all individual geniuses. But think back on the past. Our society has lost its way plenty too
I know we think we’re all individual geniuses. But think back on the past. Our society has lost its way plenty too
Remember how the EU has been taught about in schools for decades (massively positive) and how we have had the incredibly detailed educational experience on debating and voting on each individual EU treaty.
The Irish demos, so to speak, started in an incomparable place to the UK
The Irish demos, so to speak, started in an incomparable place to the UK
The UK’s population simply had not been told about itself, it’s country’s history and current global role, how trade functions in the modern age (ie, post-Galleon times), what the EU actually spends most of its time doing for member states, or how it’s legal system works.
As Britain’s power decreased, education about uncomfortable realities was shunned in favour of bedtime tales for children, right into adulthood.
Imagine a media class who relied for their understanding of the world on a Ladybird version of their nation.
Imagine a media class who relied for their understanding of the world on a Ladybird version of their nation.
Restricting those discussions to comforting pablum had the benefit of reinforcing institutional power, by glossing over (or just not acknowledging) all the times that power had been misused or incompetently wielded to cause disaster.
All those tensions built up in the subterranean in UK society. The earthquake of Brexit came when they were released in a single crack of decades of tension between the stories the nation had told itself and the reality it lived it.
Ireland suffered something similar decades ago when the pablum of the Republic’s claim to Northern Ireland, to be taken by force any time we felt like getting around to it, suddenly smacked into the reality of there being a whole, complicated society in NI we had just ignored.
We still live with the consequences of those decades of ignoring actual Northern Ireland in favour of our own ladybird stories.
So really, I can’t but feel sympathy for Mr. Eel and his employees.
Yes, he voted for it, and that was a v bad decision.
But every institution or body which ought to have helped him assess what the right decision was, his whole life, had actively misled him.
Yes, he voted for it, and that was a v bad decision.
But every institution or body which ought to have helped him assess what the right decision was, his whole life, had actively misled him.
Its not clear the UK has the institutional capacity to trigger a period of reflection on that wider institutional failure, while all of the players immediately responsible continue to hold the same positions of influence.
Perhaps it will take the lightning to come out of the tap
Perhaps it will take the lightning to come out of the tap
