Irrationality of Brexit voters #94

Business as usual for the pro-EU lobby today:

Stephen Phipson, the chief executive of Make UK, said: “Should the UK fail to reach a comprehensive trade agreement with the EU, then those regions with a high concentration of manufacturing and a dependence on Europe as a major market will suffer a triple hit, given the impact of Covid-19. For some companies the combination may prove fatal.”

In their regional economic outlook report, Make UK and BDO said regions with formerly solid Labour “red wall” constituencies had a high dependence on exports to the EU, as well as a higher-than-average dependence on manufacturing, which would put them at most risk from a no-deal scenario with barriers to trade and tariffs.

The category 'red wall' makes it easy to add all the dangers together, of course

It said almost two-thirds of exports from Wales, the north-east of England and Yorkshire and the Humber went to the EU

However, there are now difficuties in estimating any economic impact, luckily for the Government:

The last time official analysis of the economic impact was published was in November 2018, as Theresa May struggled to get her Brexit deal through parliament. At that time, the government said Britain’s economy would be 9.3% smaller after 15 years under no deal than it would have been under remain....On Tuesday the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, told MPs on the Commons Treasury committee that it would be difficult for economic forecasters now to come up with an accurate forecast due to the coronavirus crisis.

There is some amplification of 'told you so' with this:

The Department for Transport has signed off on the purchase of a vast site in Kent for a Brexit border facility and confirmed that it will be partly used as a giant lorry park just days after the cabinet ministerMichael Gove insisted that was not the “intention”.

Meanwhile, the Graun seems to be launching some odd sort of campaign to get us all touching each other. It's a new petite bourgeois aesthetic, of course, showing you are comfortable in your own body (ie not a socially mobile imposter or residually gammony). It's for everybody:

Sexually flexible here:

The power of touch: having sex with another woman shook my brain and restarted my heart

Sensitive football fans here:

The power of touch: I miss football hugs. Now I long for a fetid, boozy embrace 

The vulnerable here:

The power of touch: I was hugged for the first time at 18. It meant confronting my deepest fears