Excellent analysis Philip. Sadly Brexit has bamboozled Britain, as per this comment from the great Carl Sagan, and there is no desire to fix the mess.
"One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back. ~Carl Sagan"
As usual you have eloquently described the perilous situation the U.K. has created for itself. The first step towards an improvement would be for there to be a Government that shared your analysis. The second would be for that Government and the national large to shift the national perspective of the U.K.’s place in the world from empire to middle weight entity that needs to collaborate to get anything done. Something which you captured very well in ‘Britain Alone’.
Depressing. For a more positive take did you see the letter in the FT on Monday from Richard Corbett? Positive thinking is needed, realism is such a downer.
Such a dispiriting read, much like today’s Britain itself. But you are spot on Philip; as a country Britain has lost so much international credibility and goodwill largely owing to the poltroons and grifters who have been masquerading as ‘leaders’. Nevertheless, a complacent and ignorant electorate must bear its own share of the blame for the country’s precipitous decline having voted for Brexit and two Tory Party prime ministers who were clearly intent on steering the country away from Europe with their GlobalBaloney rhetoric about a buccaneering Britain with the false promise of huge friction-free trade deals. It’s no surprise that with all that nonsense in tatters the country is now left with an insipid and diminutive prime minister, a hostage to his party’s schisms and the lonely path they’ve created for the country. Yes, the electorate has a lot to answer for too.
Excellent analysis Philip. Sadly Brexit has bamboozled Britain, as per this comment from the great Carl Sagan, and there is no desire to fix the mess.
"One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back. ~Carl Sagan"
We need to throw out the charlatans.
As usual you have eloquently described the perilous situation the U.K. has created for itself. The first step towards an improvement would be for there to be a Government that shared your analysis. The second would be for that Government and the national large to shift the national perspective of the U.K.’s place in the world from empire to middle weight entity that needs to collaborate to get anything done. Something which you captured very well in ‘Britain Alone’.
Depressing. For a more positive take did you see the letter in the FT on Monday from Richard Corbett? Positive thinking is needed, realism is such a downer.
Such a dispiriting read, much like today’s Britain itself. But you are spot on Philip; as a country Britain has lost so much international credibility and goodwill largely owing to the poltroons and grifters who have been masquerading as ‘leaders’. Nevertheless, a complacent and ignorant electorate must bear its own share of the blame for the country’s precipitous decline having voted for Brexit and two Tory Party prime ministers who were clearly intent on steering the country away from Europe with their GlobalBaloney rhetoric about a buccaneering Britain with the false promise of huge friction-free trade deals. It’s no surprise that with all that nonsense in tatters the country is now left with an insipid and diminutive prime minister, a hostage to his party’s schisms and the lonely path they’ve created for the country. Yes, the electorate has a lot to answer for too.
Excellent