Still banging on and on...

There is still some banging on and on, with few chances passed up to link anxieties about Brexit  to news items — perfectly normal example of journalistic news values of course,or the structuring effects of ideology, or how the two relate together. Thus a programme about the anniversary of a racist speech by Enoch Powell invites obvious comparisons with the racism that must underpin Brexit:

Yet Powellism found its purest expression in the 2016 EU referendum result, which enshrined the convergence of two of his greatest fixations: hostility to immigration and opposition to Britain’s membership of the EU. Nigel Farage’s disgusting “breaking point” poster was the clearest expression of this fusion.

The current scandal about the mistreatment of the children of immigrants of the 1960s, who were not given proper documentation at the time but now seem to require it, raises fears about the treatment of immigrants after Brexit. Apparently, it would have been better if we all carried ID cards like they do in Europe.

On a more positive note, excitement pervaded the Guardian on the announcement of a possible new Centrist Party, possibly a bit like the one in France, with pledges of support and the participation of Tony Blair's son, the kiss of death if ever I saw it. Itis not exactly anti-Brexit butenoughto excite the GUardian, who led with the story in my early-print edition

The movement, spearheaded by a former Labour benefactor, is understood to have been drawn up by a group frustrated by the tribal nature of politics, the polarisation caused by Brexit and the standard of political leadership on all sides. 

There is also a  report of a campaign for a People's Vote on Brexit, personned by the usual Remainer suspects,not at all like another referendum we are assured.

More generally, however, there seems to be a worrying lethargy about the desperate need to halt Brexit before next March. This could be because all except urban luvvies are probably resigned to Brexit if not entirely enthusiastic for it. It could be because Project Fear has failed after all. However, there could still be a hint of dodgy political practice and dreadful cultural conservatism, according to the Guardian: 

There is instead growing complacency and fatalism around Brexit. The question of whether it should be done is treated as taboo by May and Corbyn. But the question of how it should be done hasn’t produced a credible answer to beat the option of not doing it at all. So we creep in this petty pace towards the final act, as if it were all predestined. It isn’t. If the UK does end up leaving the EU, the referendum result will be only half the reason. The other half will be a parliament that knew Britain was going the wrong way, yet couldn’t be bothered to lead the way back.