Friday 8 September 2017

Brexit ... a sad tale for those who care ...

Living a couple of thousand miles away from the UK does not lessen my sadness when I see what a mess the UK government is making over Brexit. The EU does not emerge with much credit either.

As these negotiations affect millions and millions of British and EU citizens, there does not seem to be a common purpose in sight. "To hell with the consequences" and "don't even look beyond tomorrow" spring to mind when one reads the various commentaries in the mainstream media. Of course I understand that all the media is influenced by their owners, their political persuasion and their desire to appeal to their audience. Just as in the run-up to the referendum, there appears nowhere to turn to for unbiased and accurate information.

As an interested observer it appears that both sides are hellbent in insulting and offending the other side, and nowhere can I find any evidence that the UK and the EU want to work together for the common good of its citizens. The leaking of the briefing papers from both sides is absolute evidence of this. On the British side, and all the opinion polls support this, the educated metropolitan elite are very much against the idea of Brexit - as are big business. And so, in the heart of government and the Civil Service, there exists a hard core of saboteurs who ardently desire the UK to remain in the EU. Off the record briefings, leaks of confidential papers and sheer intransigence all conspire to wreck the process.

From the sidelines, and this is not as a result of the media musings, it seems as if SS Great Britain is heading for the rocks and the Officer of the Watch is having forty winks. What on earth are the government doing? It is almost as if they are sleepwalking to disaster.

The latest - but not the last - confrontation is what will happen to the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. Both parties want their border to be open and allow seemless movement of people and goods. But the EU have stated that a border there must be, and it is the UK's responsibility to sort it out. But, and the devil lies in the detail, it must not disturb the fragile peace brought about by the Good Friday Agreement. If ever there was a Catch-22 situation, this is it.

The pound (and the dollar for that matter) plunges against the Euro, and the ECB's unbelievable policy of quantitative easing continues to distort the market and will eventually bring the whole Euro scheme down - to the economic destruction of the world economy. That will make us all poorer ... but, by then, it will be too late. The western world is addicted to debt and cannot bring itself to go cold turkey. There are times when I wish I was thirty years younger but this is not one of them.

No comments:

Post a Comment