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Monday 25 June 2018

Brexit Bites — And The Band Plays On

Cartoon of Britannia post Brexit by Wendy Cockcroft for On t'Internet
I could have called it "Brexiters on the fiddle while home burns," but it's actually legal and apparently sensible to (not really) move your money out of the country to offshore accounts post Brexit. As the reality begins to bite, I'm finding a disturbing disconnection between Brexiteer fantasy and on-the-ground reality. This is the state of play.

Cakeism continues


When the Tories first announced their plan to implement Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty they've been telling us repeatedly they have a Grand Plan but it's a secret so they can't tell us what it is in case Johnny Foreigner finds out and scuppers it. This is Brexit, not Bletchley. Well now it transpires that the original plan is (always has been, always will be) "have cake and eat it despite the ongoing calls for a hard WTO-only Brexit. UK-centric hubris is still very much in evidence, with no evidence that Our Glorious Leaders have done a damn thing to prepare for not being in the EU any more. Job losses are apparently no biggie because you get what you vote for, per Our Tess.

If it fails, it's their fault


Needless to say when the whole shebang blows up in our faces, the Brexiteers have a cunning plan to deflect the blame from themselves: they're going to lay the blame very firmly on the intransigent EU. Yeah... about that... we signed a series of treaties that bind us to the EU. That's why we can't just walk away; this is by design. What bothers me is that the disaster capitalists driving this aren't even bovvered about this, they just want to get to work dismantling public services* and selling them off for a profit. This explains absolutely everything else.



"Business is booming!"


Everyone who calls me a Remoaner tells me business is booming, and points to their favourite sources. These same people decry Socialism on principle, as if the fact of having a sense of compassion for your fellow human beings means you're in league with Karl Marx and all the fiends of Hell. So it is that Peter Bone MP flat out lies to the nation to bolster his claims that Brexit is best for Britain. It's not, as George Freeman MP is discovering.

Stuff business!


So intent are Our Glorious Leaders on foisting this debacle on us they're refusing to even pretend to be the party of business any more. Is it any surprise, then, that Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson blithely replied with profanity when questioned about UK business concerns?



No deal?


As Britain lurches drunkenly towards a no-deal Brexit, businesses are preparing for the worst. I've already had my wages frozen because our company needs to have the finances to weather the storm of unprecedented tariffs and potential visa costs for traveling in the EU; we get parts from Germany for our turnstiles and the chap who does the humidification chamber at Uxbridge comes over from Holland. Don't be surprised, then, that many companies plan to up sticks and split because hoping for the best and muddling through no matter what aren't options for them. Yes indeed, this is a thing:

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the warnings from businesses were "inappropriate" and undermined chances of getting a "clean Brexit." - Brexit hardliners push Theresa May to prepare for 'no deal', by Associated Press for International Business Times.

When ideology trumps empirical fact, we have a problem, people.

Big deal!



So, when the last of our largest corporate employers moves abroad and the next election comes around, expect a landslide for Labour, who will of course promise an about turn; they've just got to let the Tories be seen to muck this up and try to pin the blame on the Juncker.

Can we reverse Brexit?


The People's March on Saturday 23rd June attracted tens of thousands of marchers. This is one of many mass actions in which people are calling on the Government to reverse its harmful policies. Will they succeed? I can only hope. Given that their livelihoods — and our services — are on the line I can imagine they'll keep going no matter what. And as Brexit bites deeper, expect more discontent.

Even Farage admits it's failing


Arch-Brexiter Nigel Farage is coming under fire for back-pedalling on his promises of a rosy post-Brexit future.


But fear not, good people of Britain, for behold, ye olde trade of fruit pykinge is raising the standards of peasants everywhere:


If you believe that, I've got a great deal on shares in a bridge in Brooklyn, if you're interested, but hurry, it ends soon. Meanwhile, the nation is as divided as ever. And overseas, per my in-laws recently returned from Portugal and the Azores, even the British-owned Port houses aren't even bovvered since the British market isn't big enough for its loss to hurt them.

I'll leave the last word to lawyer David Allen Green on why this nightmare ain't going to end any time soon:

A mild couterview to much of my timeline. Referendums are part of the problem, not part of the solution. In UK they inject a "mandate" into a political system which cannot then deal with it. It would be far better for Pariament to re-assert its supremacy. - David Allen Green


*What do you think "free market" means??!
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