O U T Spells Out!

Well that was a jolly jape, wasn’t it Boris! Got everyone rightly worked up! But the sooner you doddle off to your farm in Cornwall, the better, and I should think you will do well to stay there a long time. If I had my way, you would be in court for deceiving the electorate, along with your mate Mr Farage; though I fear you are only front men for the really sinister movers. But it looks like between you you have succeeded in ruining your country and a lot of people in it, so there has to be some kind of pay-off.

As for the mess that not just the UK, but Ireland and the rest of Europe are left with, let’s try getting a handle on some of the basic principles involved. A difficult thing to do, in this age of nearly infinite sound-bites from folk who have precious little idea what a principle might look like. However, here’s one: nobody seems to have troubled to explain to the British electorate that you cannot have a common market without the free movement of labour.

A common market, especially coupled with modern methods of production, will naturally generate losers as well as winners. Some areas will thrive, while others will decline. A first necessity, if one is to address such imbalances, is to ensure that the unemployed from the declining, peripheral areas can get on their bikes and go where employment is available.

It is also necessary for the successful areas to recycle some of their wealth in the direction of the less successful. Besides maintaining a balanced society, this will also improve the demand for their products. Apparently Mr Farage and his likes, and even some of those in high places in Germany for instance, cannot see this!

There is another thing that they refuse to see. In a highly interdependent world, cooperation between states actually improves and underpins the sovereignty of individual nations. As part of Europe, Great Britain, the traditional counterweight, is able to punch way above its weight. It has huge advantages in the lines of language, English being the lingua franca, and financial and global networks. By itself, it is frankly more of a sad joke.

The leavers do not seem to have progressed much beyond playing King of the Castle! Unfortunately it is a game the English are particularly fond of; it suited the imperial narrative very well. One sucked the world’s resources into one’s castle and told the dirty rascals, starving Irish for instance, to get lost. On the other hand, Europe should beware of treating the English as dirty rascals now. Plenty of them voted to Remain, and of those who didn’t, plenty either did not really know what they were doing or did not really mean it. They just wanted to give the establishment a kick up the backside. It is true that this crisis can be a great occasion for growth and heightened awareness.

Meanwhile, if drawbridges are to be pulled up and main roads blocked, it is all the more important to keep the byways open. I believe one should establish whatever little zones of openness, communication and contemplation that one can, but it’s no use trying to do this in total isolation. I am very glad that we have our own little link with the Continent floating in front of our house! And with, please God, a new Celtic axis being established, with Scotland and Ireland keeping a high-road to the Continent open, perhaps the Gannetsway will find it takes on a whole new significance….

Contemplating Blocks.