Full English Brexit

Even though Euro-scepticism is very much the default position up here in Croppy Towers, the Brexit Referendum result in June was still received with more than a little despair by this venerable organ.

After all, in the final analysis, even if we take the vote as a protest and a kick-up from the disenfranchised, the tone and timbre of debate in the run-up to polling day was by and large an ugly refrain of xenophobia and jingoistic nostalgia for an antiquated and insular little England that probably never existed in the first place (except perhaps in the minds of those whose fear of the future prevents them from embracing the possibilities of the present).

My scepticism about the European project as it stands was never based on a vision of 'Cider with Rosie' bucolic idyll or a world of street parties for the Queen's jubilee. It was rather awakened by a profound mistrust of the neo-liberal vision of a Europe where small countries could be bullied into accepting obligations that condemned their citizenry to generations of debt-bonded servitude in order to bolster the economies of the community's larger nations like Germany, France and er...the UK.

A world where bankers and quack financiers are the recipients of socialistic support while the populace endure the ruthless cynicism of capitalism is what I object to most vociferously. And no doubt, many people in the UK found this equally objectionable and voted accordingly. At least on the left, I could empathise on some level with the Leave vote. However, it's their unsavoury bedfellows on the right who are continually giving this particular dog a bad name.

The racist dog-whistle has been the weapon of choice for the right and it has ironically been used to great effect in numerous English regions which had benefited significantly from EU funding while at the same time not particularly suffering from the perceived ravages of inward migration. This has led to some pretty unedifying scenarios. Cornwall for example, which voted Leave, was a significant beneficiary of EU Structural Fund support and after the referendum, we had the almost laughable situation of our Celtic bredrin demanding that the Westminster government continue provide the same support that they voted to reject. Good luck with that (or 'Chons da', as they say down that neck of the woods, or would do if EU funds were to remain in place maintaining the region's cultural identity).

A rather less humorous corollary of the Leave campaign and victory has of course been the escalation in racist/sectarian offences witnessed by anyone who doesn't live under a fucking rock. This spike in anti-immigrant sentiment was already brutally apparent in the ominous run-up to the vote as evidenced by the the murder of pro-refugee MP Jo Cox. 

It was then underlined by the death of a Polish worker in an early September incident in Essex that has been characterised as a hate crime. While I know perfectly decent people from Harlow who were quick to point out the anti-social as opposed to anti-immigrant tone of that fatal assault, a sense of wanting to attack 'the other' remains hard to dispel.

When radio presenters can point to similarities with 'Mein Kampf' in the Tory conference speech of the recently appointed Home Secretary; when the balanced criticism of 'national treasures' like Gary Lineker can result in his being the subject of a Red-top witch-hunt; when traumatised victims of wars (being perpetuated by this country) can be subjected to livestock tests of checking their teeth as a prerequisite of entry to the country, I know we passed through the looking glass in June.

The tragedy of course for the disenfranchised who voted to 'take their country back' is that the same bankers and freebooting financiers they were angry with in the first place will now be given free reign to fuck us all without a kiss.

Unpacking this clusterfuck a bit further, it will almost certainly herald the end of the UK. Already, the Scots and the Irish in the Six Counties (even the loyal ones) are bracing themselves for a row with Westminster over their place in the EU after both 'regions' voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining in the EU.

Led by a frankly socially inadequate Prime Minister who has always played politics rather than having a quantifiable conviction about anything other than the pursuit of power, the UK is fast losing its way. But I guess we know all this already...plenty of pampered pundits have pointed it out from their cosseted metropolitan bolt-holes. The question now for people on this green and sceptered isle is where they want to draw the line in the sand. Do we really want to sacrifice the last vestiges of a diverse communitarian society and a health service free at the point of access to a bunch of cynics who are prepared to march us over the precipice to prop up a plutocracy?