T.His year marks the 50th anniversary of a musical masterpiece that continues to tell enlightening truths about the impossibility of the human condition and how the peoples of these islands tend to deal with it. Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon was released in March 1973, and the last vestiges of post-war optimism gave way to economic rivalries and rising international tensions. The responses it provided were twofold: a call to empathy and mutual understanding, and a pointing out of national traits that this writer (among many others) has probably cited too many. It comes out nearly six minutes before him on a song simply called Time.
As we begin the new party year, these nine words seem more appropriate than ever. These nine words fit a single fact that defines Britain’s predicament. That is, even though the wreckage of Brexit is all around us, politicians still refuse to admit it. Evidence includes declining trade, declining investment and the fact that the UK is the only major economy not to return to pre-pandemic size. Brexit has hit tax revenues estimated at £40bn a year. This is enough to prevent 75% of the spending cuts and tax increases announced in November.
In the meantime, amidst improbable passport queues and howls of pain from now bureaucratically bound corporations, there should be at least one story a week that epitomizes the folly of leaving the EU. is. Just before Christmas, for example, it was reported that the Metropolitan Police were planning to buy armored vehicles from German manufacturer Audi because no British firm “had been able to meet the requirements for the tender”. This is evidence of supply chain problems plaguing UK producers and a slump that has caused annual production of UK cars to fall by more than half since 2016.
Governments respond to such news with their usual ridiculous workarounds. On the other hand, ardent Conservative supporters still cling to the belief that if ministers work harder, they can deliver all the promised prosperity and general magic outside the EU.
Good example: MPs led by Jacob Rees-Mogg (who seems to be serious about becoming the next Tory leader) are pressuring Rishi Sunak to stick to the 31 December 2023 deadline. I’m calling And I imagine that the resulting legislative wildfire will create some kind of economic phoenix. The mandate involves hundreds of Whitehall officials forensically assessing nearly 2,500 retained EU laws, and the CBI says the plan is likely to create “further drag on growth.” increase.
What Brexit has brought to Tory politics, beyond the party’s endless debates about what life outside Europe should entail, is deeply rooted in the collective psychology of conservatism. Britain’s political right – which means a cacophony of voices including Conservative MPs, Mail and Telegraph, and pundits like those now being megaphoned by GB News and Talk TV – is steadily turning into an oddball. ,unstable.
As far as basic economics is concerned, they endlessly deny the existence of gravity. But they are now making more noise about climate action, Meghan Markle, BBC, Dictionary content And whatever other “awakened” ghouls annoy them. Part of this is a deliberate distraction from the Brexit catastrophe. But it’s also the sort of eviction activity that was always trying to take hold after these people’s defining projects shattered.
And labor? The tension in Keir Starmer’s position translates into a denial of a fact that is self-evident. In early December, he argued that there was “no reason to go back to the EU or go back to the single market” and that it was just “a very good case for Brexit to work”. , he and his colleagues also exclude returns to the EU customs union.
It is clear why this once-devout remnant persists in these policies. Even if polls suggest that the remaining popular belief in Brexit is now fading, Labor will need to secure the support of those who voted to leave and switched from Labor in 2016. I have. He would greet talk of revisiting the fundamentals of Brexit after taking office in 2019 with anger and dismay. Nor does it detract from the depressing meaning of Westminster’s conversation, which omits the most definitive facts.
There is real danger here. The scammers and scammers who got us out of the EU are still around, threatening their usual mischief. The reformist faction led by Nigel Farage, apparently planning to field his 600 candidates in the next general election, is turning to darker forces amid widespread outrage over the false hopes of Brexit. even may have fantasized about that possibility.
“Britain collapsedFarage says that no one in politics seems willing to point out that he was one of the key players in defeating Brexit, for fear of questioning Brexit itself. Truth is ignored. If you don’t want politics to be inundated with betrayal myths and conspiracy theories, you’re bribing public opinion more than politicians and the media seem to currently recognize. Demagogues often make hay.
In 2023, the gap between the Brexit delusion and our everyday reality will become more and more inevitable. The Conservatives’ infighting and polling woes will continue, but Labor will no longer face inevitable problems. Doing it all becomes a big question of what happens next.To start thinking coherently about Britain’s long-term prospects at a time when current debates of truth are off-limits. What should I do?
Two more lines from the aforementioned Pink Floyd album raise a fundamental question. This is how Brexit has affected not only politics, but also our sense of the future. Will we hang on in quiet despair for another year?
