Brexit: A New Era for the UK?

[Stavros]

We are lucky to live in one of the wealthiest and most prosperous nations on earth.

I would agree that the UK is 'one of the wealthiest and most prosperous nations on earth' but the UK is not a nation, and the prosperity here is unevenly distributed. Indeed, one of the key challenges we have which existed before Brexit, was to tackle the increasing gap between rich and poor.

One of the tricks played by the Leave campaign was to imply or even state that the UK woud be financially better off outside the EU, because the costs would be saved, and the money 'repatriated' to the UK, spent on 'us' or the NHS if that slogan on the side of Boris Johnson's bus was to be believed.

That Labour has failed to articulate an agenda for a more equitable distribution of the wealth created in the UK is part of its broader failure to create any agenda with enough appeal to challenge the dominance of the Conservatives in England and the SNP in Scotland. In this sense, if Brexit is creating a new era in the UK, it appears to be one characterised by the retreat of UK-wide political affiliations into their national bunkers, with differences that could become irreconcilable. Thus Scotland may not succeed in becoming independent, yet the proportion of supporters of independence there create an enduring resentment of 'The English' that firms up the SNP grip on power thus denying Labour any hope of winning an election bar a collapse of Tory support in England.

In this sense, Brexit has aggravated existing political divisions in the UK, while the incompetent management of Brexit -by the people most passionate about it- fails to address real poverty and hardship in 'the Shires'. We may live in a prosperous country, but it has over 2,000 food banks, and 'in work benefits' exist because a substantial number of people are working on such low wages they cannot use them to pay the rent or buy groceries.

My proposal to begin narrowing the gap between rich and poor, would be a levy on the transactions agreed in the City of London, say 0.7% per day. Taxing the rich should always be fair, but income is only one part of wealth, assets and transactons are another. But it does also depend for its postive effects on the competence of the Govt to collect the levy and spend it wisely, in an age when wisdom in politics seems in short supply.

Rawls has had his critics, and often rightly too, but his basic ideas of justice and fairness seem to me to be congenial in a liberal market economy, but Democrats in the US, and Labour in the UK seem too scared of the men with money to be bold enough to initiate the changes our societies need.

I did not read obslam's deleted post so I don't know what was written there. Politics is about debate, or it is about nothing. I think I can take robust criticism, so I hope the debate continues.

[obslam]

LOL, I respond to someone writing drivel about how British people have had their "freedom" removed and my post is censored.

Anyway, I've worked out how to block him now, so he can stay in his unhappy world without inflicting it on me in the real world.

[obslam]

If you really wanted to ignore someone, wouldn't it be best to not continually respond to their posts?

I know you're right filghy2, but it annoys me that people can write such ridiculous exaggerations and untruths and feel unable to be challenged on it. They add nothing to our society.

[Stavros]

LOL, I respond to someone writing drivel about how British people have had their "freedom" removed and my post is censored.

Anyway, I've worked out how to block him now, so he can stay in his unhappy world without inflicting it on me in the real world.

Free movement of people -gone.
Free movement of capital - gone.
Free movement of goods -gone.
Free movement of services - gone.
The Northern Ireland Protocol and its negative impact on politics and the economy of the Province -drivel?
The xenophobic posters and statements of Farage from 2016 to the present -drivel?
The vocal criticism by British business of the management by the Government of Brexit -drivel?
Tim Martin of the Wetherspoon chain begging for migrant labour from the EU to be admitted to the UK -drivel?
Five years after the EU Referendum, the UK and the EU have not reached an agreement on Services -drivel?
By January 2021 the Pound Sterling was 15% weaker against the Euro than it was on Referendum day -drivel?
The Referendum result led to the largest fall in value of the Pound Sterling in 30 years -drivel?
Prosperity in the UK has not led to the closure of 2,000 Food Banks -drivel?
The independence movement in Scotland -which voted to remain in the EU- has been revived by Brexit -drivel?

I could go on, but that's my take on the most stupid decision made in this country in my lifetime, even more stupid than Eden's Suez adventure.

There is a genune debate to be had which concerns Brexit and its impact on the UK, indeed on the EU, but I cannot force anyone t engage in it, on their terms, mine, or anyone else's terms. AJ Polan wrote a book called Lenin and the End of Politics. You can see what happens when debate is shut down, be it in Syria, Afghanistan, Belarus, Russia or even inside what used to be called the 'Republican Party' in the US.

A permissive environment in which politics is shut down to maintain power for autocrats, or to empower those who seek to rule without the inconvenience of public opinon, indeed, the Rights of the Citizen, is an environment that destroys the ability of democratic government to function. If those New Wave Fascists fed up with the EU, the Constitution, Parliament or whatever is in their way, at least tell us why, and how they intend to govern, then we can at least take a last stand. Because it might be our last chance to rescue history from its liars, its thieves, and its murderers.

[mrtrebus]

LOL, I respond to someone writing drivel about how British people have had their "freedom" removed and my post is censored.

Anyway, I've worked out how to block him now, so he can stay in his unhappy world without inflicting it on me in the real world.

We have had our freedom removed.

[obslam]

LOL, go on then, what can't you do now that you could before the electorate voted by majority to leave the EU?

[mrtrebus]

LOL, go on then, what can't you do now that you could before the electorate voted by majority to leave the EU?

Before the electorate voted by majority to leave the EU I had an automatic right to live and work in the EU.

[obslam]

Thanks. Which EU countries couldn't you live and/or work in now if you wanted to?

[Jericho]

It was shit today.
It was shit yesterday.
And you can bet your arse it's going to be shit tomorrow!

[Jericho]

It was shit today.
It was shit yesterday.
And you can bet your arse it's going to be shit tomorrow!

Told you...

Boris Johnson on the BBC "I've given you the most important metric which is, never mind life expectancy, never mind cancer outcomes, look at wage growth."