Concrete Achievements

Tag: brexit

  • Reading Rupa Huq (in today’s Observer) saying “there’s no appetite for a second…

    Reading Rupa Huq (in today’s Observer) saying “there’s no appetite for a second referendum, we just have to make a good fist of Brexit” reminds me of the history of 1914 where war had to start because the troops were already mobilised.

    There’s a possibility that with a deal like the PM’s, Brexit will only be a slow suffocation of Britain’s economic and social potential over maybe twenty years until the UK gets comes down from its nationalism high. However if no deal happens, or if a deal happens and

    the social and political consequences crystallise quickly (lots of labour shortages and investment redirection, the settled status scheme cocking up), then public opinion will snap away from apathy very quickly.

    And when that happens “I don’t agree but we should get on with it anyway” will be absolutely the worst opinion to have held.

  • Post-Christmas downer: the plans for Brexit day events are already starting to be…

    Post-Christmas downer: the plans for Brexit day events are already starting to be published. @BOZARbrussels is staging a concert/lecture called Goodbye/Hello. passaporta.be/en/calendar/go….

    The Bozar listing reminds me how during 2018 the different masks of the Brexit project have been stripped away – economic case gone, optimism gone, ideology gone, even pub-bore diplomacy gone – until all that’s left is its fundamental core: pure political vandalism.

    I don’t mean that in the context of Leave voters – they voted for all sorts of reasons we can and can’t know – but of the Brexit leaders, who for whatever reason are determined to smash down 40 years of peaceful co-operation and damn the consequences.

    Some are nationalists, some are hyper-libertarians, some haven’t got over a teenage crush on the United States – but all of them are deeply deeply irresponsible, shallow politicians, happy to sacrifice people’s lives to finalise their hollow victory.

  • Links from the week of 10 December 2018

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • More remain cake. “Brexit is a self-inflicted disaster, driven by liars and charlatans…

    More remain cake. “Brexit is a self-inflicted disaster, driven by liars and charlatans, which will harm Britain for generations, so the EU should do what we want.”
    theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

    The reform free movement insanity claims another victim. The answer to this choice is “it’s better to lose”.

    Freedland isn’t even pretending the UK can reform free movement, he’s arguing the remain campaign should just spin it that they can/could. HAVE YOU LEARNED NOTHING?

    If the UK isn’t able to bear free movement it should not be in the EU. Sorry, that’s bad for remainers, but so is winning on a lie and keeping the narrative that free movement is this terrible burden that for some reason only the UK sees.

    It’s the same sort of “oh Europe’s shit but I suppose we have to go along with it” argument that remain used in 2016 to such magnificent effect.

  • I can see from the 27 perspective the incentive to squeeze the Brexiteers.

    I can see from the 27 perspective the incentive to squeeze the Brexiteers. They believe that no-deal is unlikely (and given the immunity of May to challenge and the huge anti-no-deal majority in the Commons, you can see why). Also they, uniquely, can offer

    extension(?s) to A50 that the UK will take in a heartbeat to keep things going (and which would come with increasingly heavy hints about how they would welcome the UK back). So they have May’s deal as a minimum, which is fine for them. That’s still going to be

    on the table. Why throw May a bone now when a few weeks of pressure might end up with a second referendum or even a Parliamentary withdrawal? They read the British press, they can see how withdrawing A50 has become a respectable edge position not a crazy one.

    “Let’s see how things develop” is a good strategy for them, given their control over the extension button.

  • Links from the week of 19 November 2018

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 8 October 2018

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 10 September 2018

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 3 September 2018

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • The core choice of all choices is whether politicians think the British public will bear…

    The core choice of all choices is whether politicians think the British public will bear continued free movement. twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/s…

    Options are (a) No – so hard Brexit with all that entails, (b) Yes – so EEA is fine, no big numbers of voters care about ECJ; (c) Yes but only if the government lies about it stopping one day – temporary EEA is fine but get ready for endless arguments.

    The problem is that (a) is undeliverable without burning every bridge; (b) raises the question ‘why not stay in the EU and have a say in the rules then’ and (c) means Brexit paralysis continues for ever and I mean yes literally for ever until people choose (a) or (b).

    And this is before taking into account the views of the EU27 and EFTA, who probably prefer the UK having a good long time-out in (b), marginally, over the UK staying in with its neuroses intact.