It'll be the 'polies' and the 'pen-pushers' who wreck it

So, today's the day!  The beginning of the world's greatest 'snore-fest' as we Brits raise our hats politely and make for the European exit.  Enter from stage left, a whole chorus of singing and dancing European 'polies' and 'pen-pushers' from every obscure region of the continent eager to have their moment centre-stage in the spotlight.  Good manners insist that we listen politely to a certain amount of their show-standing but, paraphrasing the words of Evelyn Waugh, only 'up to a point, Monsieur and mein Herr'!  Gradually, it will dawn on the GBP (Great British Public) that just like the Eurovision song contest the whole thing is based on BML (Britain Must Lose).  Oddly enough, I don't altogether blame them after all, the French under 'General de Grumpy' tried their best to keep us out because he was shrewd enough to see that we would never fit in properly and would only make trouble.  It was us, or at least, some of us but not me who kept banging on the door and insisting on entry and now, 45 years later, we're on the way out.

So there will be hurt feelings all round and no doubt a strong desire from many of the Europeans to ensure that we are stripped naked before being pushed out through the exit.  So far, so human - and so very, very stupid.  But when are 'polies' and 'pen-pushers' ever intelligent?  I sense - I cannot know for sure - that Mrs. May is about the best leader we could have in these circs.  She is, or appears to be, exceedingly calm and will not allow herself to be provoked too early but I just hope she has a streak of Thatcher in her so that when the European intransigence is at its height, she has the determination to pick up her handbag and make for the door.  To quote her own words, "Brexit means Brexit!"

 

Comments

[david morris]

I bow to your undoubted wisdom, but fear I must disagree when it comes to your conclusions in regard to Mrs May. I fear she will be easily turned over by the undoubted bias against the Brexit project, widespread throughout both the civil service & political classes.

But I will be delighted to be proved wrong !

[David Duff]

David, you would have to bow exceedingly low to reach the level of my miniscule wisdom! You will have noticed my caveat "or appears to be" because, like you, I still 'hae ma doots' concerning the lady. However, her three 'Brexiteer' ministers may keep her on the straight and narrow! A man may hope, may he not?

[Whitewall]

May Brexit be the first of many.

[Michael F Adams]

Government is like cockroaches:It's not what they steal. It's what they fall into and mess up. Government doing more is more opportunity for messing up. Government doing less is, 'more'. The whole idea of the welfare state arises from the belief that some people are getting an unfair amount of this world's goods, but every attempt to redistribute brings chaos and more poverty.

Relevance to Brexit, you ask? Well, a customs union, a free trade zone, is just an agreement among governments to STOP DOING THAT! 'That" in this case being mucking about and rearranging economies. Free trade hath its consequences, but they are bearable, more bearable than what happens when governments scramble the markets, which do not dictate, but take dictation, from everyone who buys, and from everyone who sells. It was intolerable to people in extra-London Britain that some officious bureaucrat in Brussels could decree that a grocer in Nottingham can't sell cheese by the pound. It would royally piss me off, too. Nobody knows enough to tell everyone else what to do. This is the reason, simple enough, I think, that I don't advocate for one side or another in other people's elections. (But, oh, boy, do I cheer when you win!)

So, it is no coincidence that your national bureaucracy sides with the remainers. Their sympathies lie with bureaucrats everywhere, and they go to bed at night and rise up in the morning whining,"Just give us a bit more control and we'll sort it all out." A Parliament or a Congress with a majority in favor of freedom is rare enough, and we all wish the best for the cousins, and for ourselves. Brexit and the repeal of Obamacare are test cases. Can the noninterference faction hold together long enough to move the marker back a degree or two on the board? We shall see.

[David Duff]

"We shall see." Quite so, Michael, but as a medical man you will know that it is not wise to hold your breath as you wait!

[AussieD]

According to the news services here in Oz the divorce papers have been served on the Euroweenies.

Go Britain.