Friday, June 24, 2016

"Brrrrrrexit, Stage Right!"

    (If you heard that in the voice of an old Hanna-Barbara cartoon character, I intended it.)

     Yep, the Brits voted "leave."  Surprised me; I figured it would go like the Scotland vote, a great deal of noise right down to the wire, followed by a return to the status quo ante.  Instead, the UK went even further ante and that part of the world is now back to a kind of peaceable version of post-Dunkirk, with the plucky Britons looking across the Channel to a continent united under a single banner.

     I'd like to have an actual opinion about this but you know what?  I really don't.  It's a regional matter and I don't live there; I can read pundits all day long and I still won't have the same visceral grasp of the matter that a rubbish-hauler in Brighton can muster before breakfast.  This is easy to forget; there's an entire news industry that runs on ignoring that fact.  If you're not in the thick of it, you don't really know what's going on, no matter how slow and careful the explanation.

     The UK has chosen.  The Pound dipped.  If you had your eye on something made in the UK, right now might be a good time to price it out.  Past that, time will tell, as it always does.  Good idea?  Bad idea?  We'll all know soon enough.

3 comments:

stuart said...

There's a lot of worried people over here right now. Voting was 51.9% to leave 48.1% to stay, so just about 1 million votes difference. Country split in two numerically but not geographically. London and Scotland voted to stay, most of northern england voted to leave. I think it's going to be a hard few years before anything is sorted out. great political repucussions for all parties.

Anonymous said...


Well, we *are* in the thick of it, meaning the prime motivation of of the vote to 'Exit' the EU.

The Brits are genuinely frightened over two interrelated things - The forced acceptance of 'refugees' of Middle East origin and the albatross chained to their collective necks of any and all EU laws, rules, and regulations. It's no trifle gripe, considering the extent of that forced conformation. It seeps into nearly every aspect of their lives.

US citizens are angry over the un-controlled flood across the southern border.

The international backlash has begun, with calls from the Netherlands, France, and Italy (and other countries) for similar referendums.

This is a *massive* rejection of the 'Ideal European Model' the Left dreams about as their stated goal as to how the USA 'oughtta be'.

Interestingly enough, the European press is calling this as a huge win for Trump and his odds of winning in November.

I'm no fan-boy of The Donald. I have concerns as to how he will perform if elected.

The 'HildaBeast', on the other hand, utterly terrifies me for what she intends to do with the Supreme Court and the legislative branch if she gets in...

Mike V. said...

"now back to a kind of peaceable version of post-Dunkirk, with the plucky Britons looking across the Channel to a continent united under a single banner."

Who would have thought, in 1946, that Europe would, 70 years hence, be united under a reunited and resurgent Germany.