They still don't get it #94

In one of no doubt several looking back pieces, the GHraun offers this essay by one Tim Adams

we examine the forces that finally pushed the UK and the EU into this momentous break

... emotional brutality of the choice... after all these years of angst and haggling, the UK will finally hear the door slam on its long-time family home and find itself suddenly alone with all its baggage in the chill air outside

In a set of imagined answers to future school questions, Adams suggests as reasons for our departure:

stubborn Euroscepticism that always characterised Britain’s relationship with the union as it inched toward federalism, just as they would note the immediate crises of the Greek financial bailout, and the migrant chaos brought on by the collapse of Syria, and examine how they coincided with long years of stagnant wages and austerity at home.

The marking scheme might look, too, for reference to the geographical inequalities of Britain – the sense that the vote against Brussels was also for many a cathartic “up yours” to London and Westminster. And examiners could also give a tick to mention of the role played by tabloid media, owned by offshore plutocrats with a vested interest in deregulation and a reliably profitable line in raucous jingoism.

The top grades might be reserved for those framing these arguments with introductory paragraphs on the rise of populism fuelled by the unchecked influence of Facebook and fake news – and perhaps the unique combination of a prime minister in David Cameron who was the opposite of a man of the people, and a throwback opposition leader in Jeremy Corbyn, seeking to hide doubts not only about the EU but also Nato, by not showing up.

Which is nearly reasonable for the Graun at first, then a bit obsessive. And, of course:

Nigel Farage, bothering asylum seekers in his union jack loafers and Arthur Daley coat; Dominic Cummings, the self-styled “disruptor” who found new ways to use social media to stoke the oldest prejudices about “foreigners”; and diehards like Bill Cash MP, the emblematic old soldier of the struggle, who spent a political lifetime seeking to “avenge” the death of a brave father killed in the Normandy landings.

There's some generational stuff  and some crap about social media memes, and inarticulacy among Leavers, and trotting out the wise cosmo EU line about sovereignty meaning shared powers. There is still denial:

The strong likelihood, after all the political trauma, is that we are leaving the EU, on terms no one imagined, with a majority of the population much preferring to stay in.

And a consoling joke:

my favourite answer to the question of how we got here came from that caller, named Mark, who contacted Farage’s LBC phone-in show last year, to thank him for everything he had done for Britain.

“I used to be an ardent remainer,” Mark said. “I believed in the European project and that staying in the union was the best thing for us, and then something monumental happened and I completely changed my opinion on all of it.”

“And what,” Farage asked, “was that monumental thing that happened, Mark?”

“I was kicked in the head by a horse.”

 They won't change. They can't change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We're out of the European Union. Just how did we get here? | Brexit | The Guardian