MM
2018-11-06 11:37:52 UTC
By Jan Fleischhauer. See link at end.
"Its symptomatic of Britains decline when a man such as Boris
Johnson is regarded as one of its clearest thinkers"
"I have always admired the British. We owe them afternoon tea, Monty
Python and the Beatles. This is more than many nations have achieved
in their history. I was also one of the few columnists in Germany who
found it ridiculous to be angry at our British neighbours after they
decided to leave the European club they had once helped to make great.
I felt sorry whenever I saw the British prime minister stumble through
a European summit, with her crooked smile and her even more crooked
offers. Right now, though, Im feeling less sympathetic. In fact, I
have been catching myself thinking: 'Go with God. But go!' Maybe this
week could be the week things become clear. But who would bet on it?
"The UK is making a spectacular demonstration of how to make a fool of
yourself with the entire world looking on. What was once the most
powerful empire on Earth cant even find its way to the door without
tripping over its own feet. When Theresa May arrives in Brussels with
yet another proposal, you can be sure it wont be worth the paper its
written 24 hours later. She either presents ideas that Brussels has
long ago rejected, her plans have been rejected by her own party, or
Boris Johnson tears them to pieces in his newspaper column.
"No deal is better than a bad deal? If you are convinced of this: go
ahead. A hard Brexit will cost the rest of us a lot -- theres no
question about that -- but it is nothing compared to what is awaiting
you Britons.
"First the trucks will be jammed all the way to Wales, because the
borders are back. Then the fuel will run out at filling stations and
medicines will run out in pharmacies. And once all the Polish plumbers
have gone home, there will be nobody to call when the toilet gets
blocked.
"So there you are: left in your water-damaged homes, without fuel and
aspirins, but with extremely bad-tempered Russians as neighbours. And
they will realise they have invested far too much money in the English
real estate market and will be incensed because their investments are
going down the drain.
"When I mocked the Brexit chaos in Der Spiegel recently, I received a
lot of mail saying that this wasnt fair. One line of attack was that
only the English had voted to leave the European Union, so it was not
a British decision. Second, the government in London wouldnt speak up
for right-thinking people who want to stay close to the EU.
"I can only say: sorry, folks, but it doesnt work to declare the
government a kind of foreign power, whose rise cant really be
explained. We Germans have tried to pull this nifty trick a few times
ourselves. Unfortunately, in a democracy any government that has come
into office not through a coup but through free elections is regarded
as an expression of the will of the people. That is why we are talking
about representative democracy.
"Almost everyone who has had a say in this adventure seems to belong
to the British establishment, meaning they went to an outrageously
expensive private school and completed their studies at Cambridge or
Oxford. What in the name of God do they teach them? It certainly cant
be skills that prepare them for the real world. Or would you trust a
manager who regularly shows up to negotiations so haphazardly that
they have to be broken off again after just a few minutes?
"Wherever you look, you see buffoons. Of Johnson you can at least say
the man knows something about intrigue. Hes also a brilliant writer,
which naturally endears him to a columnist such as me. But, hand on
heart, what does it tell us about a country when a man like Johnson is
regarded as one of the clearest-thinking minds in the circle of power?
"Two weeks ago May had a chance to present her ideas for an orderly
exit to the other 27 EU heads. She left them confused, and trying to
figure out the meaning of her presentation over dinner. Angela Merkel
indicated that she didnt really understand what May had said, but
that she would ask the Brexit chief negotiator Michel Barnier to
explain it to her. I didnt make that up; Bloomberg reported it.
"The disadvantage of being intelligent is that it hurts when you act
stupid. The fool doesnt feel this pain because they dont have to
pretend. For a nation, the problem begins when the level of stupidity
at the top is unusually high, because the smarter people have thrown
in the towel. This is generally the point at which decline becomes
inevitable."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/06/britain-foolish-decline-boris-johnson
MM
"Its symptomatic of Britains decline when a man such as Boris
Johnson is regarded as one of its clearest thinkers"
"I have always admired the British. We owe them afternoon tea, Monty
Python and the Beatles. This is more than many nations have achieved
in their history. I was also one of the few columnists in Germany who
found it ridiculous to be angry at our British neighbours after they
decided to leave the European club they had once helped to make great.
I felt sorry whenever I saw the British prime minister stumble through
a European summit, with her crooked smile and her even more crooked
offers. Right now, though, Im feeling less sympathetic. In fact, I
have been catching myself thinking: 'Go with God. But go!' Maybe this
week could be the week things become clear. But who would bet on it?
"The UK is making a spectacular demonstration of how to make a fool of
yourself with the entire world looking on. What was once the most
powerful empire on Earth cant even find its way to the door without
tripping over its own feet. When Theresa May arrives in Brussels with
yet another proposal, you can be sure it wont be worth the paper its
written 24 hours later. She either presents ideas that Brussels has
long ago rejected, her plans have been rejected by her own party, or
Boris Johnson tears them to pieces in his newspaper column.
"No deal is better than a bad deal? If you are convinced of this: go
ahead. A hard Brexit will cost the rest of us a lot -- theres no
question about that -- but it is nothing compared to what is awaiting
you Britons.
"First the trucks will be jammed all the way to Wales, because the
borders are back. Then the fuel will run out at filling stations and
medicines will run out in pharmacies. And once all the Polish plumbers
have gone home, there will be nobody to call when the toilet gets
blocked.
"So there you are: left in your water-damaged homes, without fuel and
aspirins, but with extremely bad-tempered Russians as neighbours. And
they will realise they have invested far too much money in the English
real estate market and will be incensed because their investments are
going down the drain.
"When I mocked the Brexit chaos in Der Spiegel recently, I received a
lot of mail saying that this wasnt fair. One line of attack was that
only the English had voted to leave the European Union, so it was not
a British decision. Second, the government in London wouldnt speak up
for right-thinking people who want to stay close to the EU.
"I can only say: sorry, folks, but it doesnt work to declare the
government a kind of foreign power, whose rise cant really be
explained. We Germans have tried to pull this nifty trick a few times
ourselves. Unfortunately, in a democracy any government that has come
into office not through a coup but through free elections is regarded
as an expression of the will of the people. That is why we are talking
about representative democracy.
"Almost everyone who has had a say in this adventure seems to belong
to the British establishment, meaning they went to an outrageously
expensive private school and completed their studies at Cambridge or
Oxford. What in the name of God do they teach them? It certainly cant
be skills that prepare them for the real world. Or would you trust a
manager who regularly shows up to negotiations so haphazardly that
they have to be broken off again after just a few minutes?
"Wherever you look, you see buffoons. Of Johnson you can at least say
the man knows something about intrigue. Hes also a brilliant writer,
which naturally endears him to a columnist such as me. But, hand on
heart, what does it tell us about a country when a man like Johnson is
regarded as one of the clearest-thinking minds in the circle of power?
"Two weeks ago May had a chance to present her ideas for an orderly
exit to the other 27 EU heads. She left them confused, and trying to
figure out the meaning of her presentation over dinner. Angela Merkel
indicated that she didnt really understand what May had said, but
that she would ask the Brexit chief negotiator Michel Barnier to
explain it to her. I didnt make that up; Bloomberg reported it.
"The disadvantage of being intelligent is that it hurts when you act
stupid. The fool doesnt feel this pain because they dont have to
pretend. For a nation, the problem begins when the level of stupidity
at the top is unusually high, because the smarter people have thrown
in the towel. This is generally the point at which decline becomes
inevitable."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/06/britain-foolish-decline-boris-johnson
MM
