Thursday, November 03, 2016

Brexit: Not So Clean, Not So Tidy

Well, when last we heard of the Brexit Debacle of UK, the British Parliament was on the verge of collapse, the British economy was tanking (although it rebounded onto a shaky perch on the cliffs of insanity), and Infidel was kinda pissed at me for making apparently flippant arguments about England going balls-to-the-walls crazy.

In the middle of all the strum und drang of the 2016 Presidential Elections (FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO NOT VOTE TRUMP, ahem had to be said), some of the Brexit stuff had slid by, but it's come back into the news because one of the tricks the Conservatives in Parliament were trying to pull off to avoid accountability on this mess just blew up:

Parliament must vote on whether the UK can start the process of leaving the EU, the High Court has ruled.
This means the government cannot trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty - beginning formal exit negotiations with the EU - on its own.
Theresa May (the Prime Minister following Cameron's fall from power over the Brexit results) says the referendum - and existing ministerial powers - mean MPs do not need to vote, but campaigners called this unconstitutional.
The government is appealing, with a further hearing expected next month...

The Tories were trying to pull off a Pontius Pilate Maneuver: Wash their hands of the affair and let other people do the heavy lifting and take the blame.

That's because the public response to the entire Brexit issue makes it clear that anyone holding this hot potato when the music stops is going to get burned.

The economic implications alone should terrify people. The value of the British coinage - as they call it the Pound Sterling - took a huge hit right after the vote and the current signs are that it will continue to suffer. The value of your currency impacts on trade and tourism in big ways. Also, their own banks - some of the biggest financial institutions on the planet (London is bigger than New York as a capital of finance, for us Yanks to comprehend) - are threatening to relocate to Europe rather than stay in the UK. This can become a serious hit on the nation's ability - for people, for businesses, for the government itself - to deal with any loans, debts and overseas financial transactions.

This getting messier, not easier. As well it should, because the people in power who let it come to this need to answer for this mess.

This fight over the Article 50 rule is getting to the point where the British government is going to have to call a General Election (it's traditionally every five years, but emergency situations warrant calling this out of cycle. They're not regimented the way we do it here in the US). Considering how the Brexit ruling has stirred up all the wrong passions - violence against Immigrants and minorities have ticked up, the fringe politicians are stirring up even more threats, the generational and geographic disparities are more riven than ever - the next election can end up a greater pile of chaos with the wrong people in power. Just think of what it would be like if Trump, uh Boris Johnson ended up as the last Tory standing...

Now you know why the British are openly airing these kinds of ads:


Uh, no. We're not voting for Trump and you lot need to break out the brooms and sweep your own damn messes up.

Sorry, Infidel, but seriously it's their own damn fault.

Update: aaaaaannnnndddddd Infidel's blocked me.

2 comments:

Pinku-Sensei said...

I can see he's taken you off his blogroll. Too bad, especially after this Sunday's link roundup where he featured a lot of your posts.

Paul W said...

Not to go too much into his direct email to me, but he felt personally offended. Partly because I pointedly noted him as someone who disagreed with me on Brexit's results and effect on the UK (and Europe), mostly because he's on the side of the argument that Brexit - by shattering a corrupt, unaccountable pseudo-government - can be a good thing.

I'm not going to take Infidel off my links. He's a good writer that I think the readers I get here will appreciate, with a lot of valid viewpoints and I agree with him on a lot of them. Just not this one.