One of the great things about the UK summer, and it’s not the weather, is that the politicians are away on holiday, which means the politics programmes on TV have little to talk about. So, no Daily Politics or Question Time.
But now they are back, and it’s just like they haven’t been away. The one topic we got some relief from is now back as a major topic, Brexit, the UK leaving the EU.
There is so much, sorry, crap being said by the UK side. The European negotiators say “you’ll regret leaving” etc, the UK people say no, it’ll be all sweetness and light. Some are saying, well, OK, we had a referendum, the majority who voted wanted to leave, we leave regardless of cost or consequences. There are still people saying it can be stopped, or reversed. There are stupid arguments: people have changed their minds, mostly old people voted to leave and they are dying off all time, whereas mostly young people voted to stay and more young people are becoming eligible to vote each day, so the balance changes.
Let’s just be clear. We had a referendum last year. People 18 and over who registered were allowed to vote. The vote was to leave, not overwhelmingly, but the point of a referendum is to take a snapshot of what the country wants. OK, both sides, but especially the leavers, said things that were patently not true (like, more money for the NHS and an end to immigration). The remainers said the stock market and British jobs would be hit. The truth was, nobody had a clue.
They still don’t. Have a clue. The leavers now point to certain days and say the stocks have gone up, see, Brexit has had no effect. Truth is, we haven’t left yet. Things go up and down naturally. It’s very Trumpian to point to random good things and say look at me, I’m wonderful.
Now we have idiot Boris Johnson stirring it up. Idiot is not fair. He gives that impression, but I am sure he is a calculating, scheming and basically untrustworthy person. Yes, I have met him.
The slimy (my opinion) David Davis, who leads the leaving team, says they have suddenly realised it’s all rather complicated and they will need more time, at least two extra years. Mr Trump of course said he was going to sort USA healthcare almost immediately, then came up with who knew it was going to be so complicated too. The answer is well, you, the politicians, you knew, or should.
It shows pretty much all our politicians in a poor light. They are incompetent, from Mrs May downwards. Six months of discussions seem to have got nowhere. The tv politics programmes spend hours discussing it, getting nowhere.
Here is my opinion, for what it’s worth, basically nothing. We had a referendum. Maybe it was badly worded, but tough. If we had another and remainers won, would we have another, and another. Many of the leavers voted to leave because they were deliberately given misleading information (because leavers never expected to win, so it doesn’t matter if you lie). So, we leave, there are 18 months to go, it has to be sorted. If we have to pay tens of billions to the EU, then those who voted to leave, including a number of very rich people, should be made to cover the cost. If leaving the EU turns out to be a bad thing, then those who voted to leave should be held responsible.