I’m sorry, but I can’t resist sharing this cartoon from today’s Times, and I apologise in advance for the rant which follows:
©️ Times Newspapers
As I’ve said before, I have no pretensions towards being a political blogger or commentator, but I do think of myself as a vaguely intelligent and very concerned citizen. I have always believed the outcome of last year’s referendum was a disaster for my country, and events continue to confirm that belief. The immediate aftermath was an outburst of racist and xenophobic behaviour which had hitherto been latent but was in some way legitimised by the vote, in the eyes of its perpetrators. Since then, the country’s financial base has weakened, every day we seem to hear of another company or financial institution making plans to move away from the UK when we leave the EU. We are being led, lemming-like, towards the cliffs by a bunch of jingoistic, narrow-minded clowns who follow the dogma that they have created, to the exclusion of any sense of reality. And a cynic like me has a hard time believing that any of them is doing this for the good of the country, when it appears that their own self-interest and career ambitions are more likely motivators.
It is abundantly clear that those who led the Leave campaign were as amazed as the rest of us at the result, and that their ‘plans’ were simply a set of vacuous phrases like ‘taking back control,’ which have been shown to be a totally inadequate basis for any serious negotiation over the terms of our departure from the EU. They really are utterly clueless and the cartoon is, unfortunately, an accurate depiction of the state of the UK government. Oh, and they lied to us too, but I’m not going down that path today.
What saddens me even more is that this whole process has somehow become the catalyst and template for similar votes in other countries. The biggest and most obvious example is the US, where it seems that Numpty Trumpty stole his campaign from Vote Leave’s model of phrases and slogans to appeal to the basest parts of human nature, coupled with the repetition of outright lies with no shame whatsoever. Similar far right gains have happened in other countries, notably France and Germany, but thankfully so far the only campaign to result in the involvement of the far right in government has been in Austria.
I’ll probably get some negative comments for this piece: after all, any disagreement with the ‘will of the people’ is apparently ‘unpatriotic.’ And where else have you heard that argument used? Come on, people, this isn’t Zimbabwe or North Korea! Or the US. We live in a messed up world. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but this little cartoon symbolises so much more than that. We need to laugh at our politicians: it is the only balm we have to apply to the wounds they are inflicting on us.
Take It Easy 
A sad situation alright, Clive. It’s easy to despair and hard to see a solution; the fact is so many factors are at play it’s hard to identify them all, let alone bring them together in one argument or discussion. I see my own teenage kids (well, he is not quite there yet) and despite being basically decent individuals, they have little regard for or interest in anyone outside their social-media-fed orbit. I think this is how society has been behaving too, caught up with bread and circuses, in permanently arrested adolescence. So many are afraid for their futures and lacking confidence in or respect for authority figures, who only speak false truths. Poor employment legislation, unions hand in hand with management, bad working contracts breeding selfishness and fear … maybe they are better clicking on YouTube! “I’m not alright Jack, pull up the ladder anyway!” All grand otherwise!
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You’re right, Enda, there are no easy answers. The importance of social media can’t be understated, as that is where today’s young people get a lot of their news from, and we’ve seen how easily it can be manipulated. I just cross my fingers and hope: it’s better than despairing of our future!
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Yeah, we have to remain hopeful
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I am a true outsider from a country with no global clout whatsoever, but I watch the goings-on avidly in both Britain and the US, so I hope you’ll forgive my commenting.
I agree absolutely with Osyth’s view on the need to examine the basis for the collective dissatisfaction. I must be one of the few people who wasn’t surprised that Trump won. Horrified, but not surprised. He appeared to offer an alternative to the despair generated by the status quo, and if you’re desperate enough, you don’t necessarily look too closely at anyone who seems to offer hope, however twisted their means of delivering it (see Hitler).
Brexit I think suffered quite a lot from the fact that no one quite believed it was real so they didn’t bother voting. It always struck me as a piece of cynical political doodling that got out of control.
As for the ‘the will of the people’… With all due respect to the US, it may see itself as the world’s greatest democracy, but it seems to me that ‘the people’ have far less say than the top 1%, the corporate donors, the state power brokers who do the gerrymandering, and the Electoral College.
I am also horrified at how few people vote in both countries. I know the arguments against compulsory voting, but to me, they are far outweighed by the fact that if you are privileged enough to live in a democracy, it is your absolute duty to take responsibility for those you put in power. It also means you have to think about it before it happens, rather than just squealing afterwards.
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No need to ‘forgive’ you – comments are valid from anywhere and it is often better to get a view from somewhere less involved. I think you underestimate Australia’s influence: your recent vote on same sex marriage was closely followed around the world, and it was interesting to see parallels between some of the views expressed there and those that are held by many, particularly in the US. As it wasn’t compulsory, the turnout was fairly similar to what we get here: I’ve no experience of compulsory voting, but I doubt that it would have changed the outcomes here or in the US: just more people believing the lies! We’re also interested to see what will happen to your government once they work out what nationality they are! You’re an important strategic ally and that mustn’t be undervalued.
You’re right about corporate influence too. Whilst it is less blatant than in the US, the same happens here. Not much of an advert for democracy, is it!
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Given that Hitler was Austrian I took no comfort from that result. Your piece is worthy and if anyone shoots it down in flames then, my opinion only, their heads are so far buried in the sand or up their own jacksies that there is no daylight to illuminate their opinion. The fact is that all the countries you mention were in a mess and that so many were mal-manipulated and blagged into voting for the actual or possible results that it is essential to examine what the collective dissatisfaction is. My own country of birth? What I have seen since June 2016 is so wholly depressing that I cannot ever envisage moving back. My eyes are to the future. I try to take on board what it was that motivated these horrible results and I urge oppositions to reach out to those that did vote so foolishly and to really try to convince them that they will be heard next time. If that doesn’t happen I dread to think what the end will be ….
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I agree with all you say. The problem is that we have a government with its head so far up its collective arse that I doubt it will ever see daylight again. And the ‘opposition’ isn’t likely to do any better if given the chance. If only we could turn back the clock even to 2015!
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Exactement. But it would only be worth turning it back if we had real control of what was said and done. If I had a moment with Farrage, Johnson or any of the other criminals who sold the lies to the foolish I can honestly say (as a pacifist) that they would never walk again and certainly would not be owners of wedding tackle. *boil, seeth, breathe ….*
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Politicians have always told lies, they just seem to have become more brazen about it. But whilst the masses are gullible they have no motivation to change.
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Indeed, of course they have. At one point in my life I thought I wanted to go into politics, then I remembered the dishonesty clause and decided to make a noise from the side-lines instead. But from an opposition, a true opposition standpoint, I think it is important to stop using words like gullible and substitute dissatisfaction. There is clearly a reason why many feel disenfranchised and it is important to try to understand what that is. Bin the soapbox rhetoric and the false promises of a new nirvhana and go and find out what is really bugging these people. A few will be genuine bigots but most will have gripes that they need to feel are being tended to. If the US Democratic party doesn’t put it’s dirty boots on and engage and the British Labour party keeps floating around trying to be trendy we will never have countries that want to pull together. No-one wants to be made to look foolish and sadly I feel that is precisely what the righteous opponents of Trump and May are doing – rock throwing, point scoring but not getting to know the bruised who so clearly felt there was something amiss … I will likely never agree with them, will have to bite my tongue in two to avoid choice reminders of the foolishness of their actions but if I understand WHAT they feel then I can at least try to tame them sufficiently to believe that there is another way than the suicide missions both countries are on at the moment xx.
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I know what you mean, and there was clearly an element of protest in both our referendum and the US election, also in France and Germany, that needs to be understood. But I still have a hard time believing that many weren’t conned into voting the way they did, on the basis of false promises that could never be delivered on. You’re right about the opposition parties too: they seem unable to organise their opposition in any coherent way, or to have a wider vision than short term point scoring. It’s a mess! xx
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Oh there is no doubt whatsoever that they were conned – good and proper and cruelly. It’s time to stop the point scoring that you correctly highlight and start trying to understand. In fact, as my father was fond of saying – it’s time for some real communication and real communication is more in the listening and hearing than the talking 😉 xx
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I despair at the lack of leadership of these people. What happened to the age of politicians who genuinely knew what was best for the country and were not afraid to say so? Even Labour can’t be trusted after the vote in the Commons the other day. Have hared your post via ‘Press This’.
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I tend to tar all politicians with the same brush, Frank. The current Labour leadership is further to the left than at any time since the 1970s and their campaign in the general election was cynically based on an appeal to people too young to remember how bad that was! The current government is a total shambles, doing untold damage to the country’s future.
Many thanks for sharing 😊
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Good share, Frank … it’s a great article!
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