MM
2018-02-11 12:46:26 UTC
Brexit is being used as a tool for making Britain better. A tool like
any tool is designed to make a particular job easier, cheaper,
quicker. So you take a spade rather than a teaspoon to dig your garden
or you use a fork to feed spaghetti into your mouth. (So much easier
than with the fingers, which are also tools, of course.)
No one can deny that Britain has problems, just as any country does.
But in Britain the problems always seem to get worse, whereas other
countries deal with their particular problems and ameliorate them.
Thus we no longer see headlines about a Greek economic crisis. Or a
Spanish one. Or an Italian one. But we do see increasing numbers of
headlines about the problems that beset Britain. The difference is
that Britain and the government are doing very little, if anything, to
fix the problems we're facing.
And this causes people to become first discontented, then angry.
People cannot get an immediate appointment to see their GP.
Parents cannot send their kids to the school they prefer.
Foreign languages are heard now all over Britain. It used to be only
Welsh.
The roads are not being maintained.
Ambulances regularly queue outside A&E for lack of (a) beds and (b)
sufficient staff. People die prematurely as a result.
The trains are often late. That is, if they actually turn up and not
cancelled due to "leaves on the line" or the "wrong kind of snow".
Plus, the fares are now more expensive by far than many people's
mortgages. Many trains are old and decrepit. Overcrowding is now the
norm -- worse, often, than in World War II. But instead of investing
in improvements to the current railway system, the government is
pumping tens of billions into the HS2 vanity project.
Wages are not going up in line with inflation. Workers are steadily
getting poorer. Bosses are steadily getting richer. And now the
council tax is due to be raised by up to 6% while services are being
cut back.
Having any kind of job frequently means doing it without being paid
any wage at all. The gig economy sounds good to the bosses, but less
so to workers.
And all these and many other problems cause people to become first
discontented, then angry.
But, they're told, Brexit will fix everything. We will become masters
of our own destiny. However, since most of the above problems were,
and are, not caused by the EU, our mastery of them has not exactly
resulted in any improvements so far, so what might we expect Brexit to
deliver that we ourselves have so far been unable to achieve?
On the contrary, most of the problems listed here will only get worse,
whether Brexit happens or not. So two years after Brexit, five years,
ten years, most of our problems will still be apparent, despite having
left the EU, the Single Market and the Customs Union. And there will
be additional, fresh problems caused by the very act of leaving.
As long as there is a Conservative-led government, these current
problems and future ones will NOT be addressed, but kicked into the
long grass. Already crime is rising and is one inevitable consequence
when a government ceases to govern; when anarchy starts to look like
an alternative. But if anarchy is allowed to put down roots, the
country, ungoverned as it is, will not be able to maintain law and
order.
What will Brexiters do then? There's no further place to go! They will
have cut ties to the EU and, by implication, to the rest of the world.
Once cut, you can't cut 'em again!
It's not looking good, is it, the future of life in Britain?
MM
any tool is designed to make a particular job easier, cheaper,
quicker. So you take a spade rather than a teaspoon to dig your garden
or you use a fork to feed spaghetti into your mouth. (So much easier
than with the fingers, which are also tools, of course.)
No one can deny that Britain has problems, just as any country does.
But in Britain the problems always seem to get worse, whereas other
countries deal with their particular problems and ameliorate them.
Thus we no longer see headlines about a Greek economic crisis. Or a
Spanish one. Or an Italian one. But we do see increasing numbers of
headlines about the problems that beset Britain. The difference is
that Britain and the government are doing very little, if anything, to
fix the problems we're facing.
And this causes people to become first discontented, then angry.
People cannot get an immediate appointment to see their GP.
Parents cannot send their kids to the school they prefer.
Foreign languages are heard now all over Britain. It used to be only
Welsh.
The roads are not being maintained.
Ambulances regularly queue outside A&E for lack of (a) beds and (b)
sufficient staff. People die prematurely as a result.
The trains are often late. That is, if they actually turn up and not
cancelled due to "leaves on the line" or the "wrong kind of snow".
Plus, the fares are now more expensive by far than many people's
mortgages. Many trains are old and decrepit. Overcrowding is now the
norm -- worse, often, than in World War II. But instead of investing
in improvements to the current railway system, the government is
pumping tens of billions into the HS2 vanity project.
Wages are not going up in line with inflation. Workers are steadily
getting poorer. Bosses are steadily getting richer. And now the
council tax is due to be raised by up to 6% while services are being
cut back.
Having any kind of job frequently means doing it without being paid
any wage at all. The gig economy sounds good to the bosses, but less
so to workers.
And all these and many other problems cause people to become first
discontented, then angry.
But, they're told, Brexit will fix everything. We will become masters
of our own destiny. However, since most of the above problems were,
and are, not caused by the EU, our mastery of them has not exactly
resulted in any improvements so far, so what might we expect Brexit to
deliver that we ourselves have so far been unable to achieve?
On the contrary, most of the problems listed here will only get worse,
whether Brexit happens or not. So two years after Brexit, five years,
ten years, most of our problems will still be apparent, despite having
left the EU, the Single Market and the Customs Union. And there will
be additional, fresh problems caused by the very act of leaving.
As long as there is a Conservative-led government, these current
problems and future ones will NOT be addressed, but kicked into the
long grass. Already crime is rising and is one inevitable consequence
when a government ceases to govern; when anarchy starts to look like
an alternative. But if anarchy is allowed to put down roots, the
country, ungoverned as it is, will not be able to maintain law and
order.
What will Brexiters do then? There's no further place to go! They will
have cut ties to the EU and, by implication, to the rest of the world.
Once cut, you can't cut 'em again!
It's not looking good, is it, the future of life in Britain?
MM