Grande Britannia

It's a shame that the EU Referendum has essentially become a vote on immigration into Britain. It seems to have brought out the darker side of British culture. I should know. I went through that phase in my teens. It's a phase of my life that I deeply regret and have tried to live down ever since. It's a mindset that imprisons its owner and consigns them to a life of insecurity. History actually shows that population movement generates innovation, growth and success. Travel shows a person how similar people are around the world, not how different. "Immigration" in the media and local discourse equals "race". We all know that really. Race and fear.

Picture postcard Britain is just that. It isn't reality, never will be and probably never was. Just an image, crafted and sold. Voting to leave the EU is no more likely to bring that back than it is likely to bring back steam locomotives or the Spitfire. The future is in open minds, hearts and the recognition that ordinary people everywhere have more in common than they have differences. After more than forty years in the EU, Britain has a far stronger economy than when it joined. Think about that. Is this really about jobs and the economy?

Comments

Orlando and gun laws and Barack Obama: Depressing eh? In this age of individualisation, psychologists would say I'm the cause for failing to cognate the problem correctly. My favourite psychologist was a professor of ours (and how lucky we were to have him for a while). He was adamant that the best way to treat stress is to remove the stressor. Doesn't fit at all with a society based on exploitation. So, I have to cognate the fact of a totally fucked-up society that benefits only those who have bought it with their cash.

Parson Thru

I think you've got two posts here. Maybe split them up. I find it remarkable that I'm on the same side as David Cameron and George Osborne. But there you have it. The only consolation I've got is that Boris Johnson is in opposition. It's going to be close. Very close. I think we'll manage to stay in. We've got some measure of protection being in the European Union. China and America could and would swat us aside. They still do. Look how China dumped steel onto the market because it suited their political and econmonic needs. But look even closer how US companies such as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple/Foxconn whose cash budgets make the UK pauperish and pay no tax and have no one calling them to account, least of all their friends in the financial industries that work to conceaal their wealth. Only the European Union has the might to take on these behomeths. These 'industries' will determine out future. Britain is a good place to be rich. Brexitt means more of the same and turning the screw against the poor even further. I hope we stay. But as I've already said, if we lose, waiting in the wings is another demand for a Scottish referendum and constitutional crisis. To get away from these financial bloodsuckers of a Cameron government might be a price worth paying.  

 

Couldn’t agree more, celt. I really don't see how ordinary people can support leaving unless they've all been hypnotised, which, of course, they have. I might find myself applying for Scottish citizenship.

Parson Thru

If there's a vote for Brexit next week you can guarantee there will be another referendum within a couple of years and I'm not talking about Scottish independence. Can you guess the question on the ballot paper ? Here's a clue: The Sun's headline will be: "The Sun says Vote Yes to String em up!"