It is hard not to feel resigned to our fate today. Like millions of others I am bored to my back teeth and beyond by Brexit. And I know that whatever happens in this supposedly momentous week no one will be happy, and a mess that guarantees we will be worse off than need have been the case is assured. In that situation resignation seems to be almost acceptable.
And I do not have a problem with resignation. At a micro level there are occasions when getting out is the right thing to do. I have left jobs and a marriage, and considered it the right thing to do at the time and in retrospect. The chance to move on has made the pain worthwhile.
The difficulty with Brexit is twofold. This is not a micro issue. It is a macro one. And if there was a chance to move on that still might not matter, but what that chance is, and who might supply it in a world that is finite and the possibilities are decidedly limited, and when none are readily apparent or on offer, is hard to tell. I could leave jobs and a marriage without knowing what was next, confident options were available. Brexit has no such expectation attached to it. Instead it feels like, as Cardiff City football manager Neil Warnock said at the weekend, a chance to say ‘to hell with the rest of the world' without once considering the consequences. Or the responsibilities we have.
So my sense of resignation is inappropriate and I want to chastise myself for it and yet I still cannot. After all, I must have some responsibility for this.
Was I, and others like me, irresponsible for turning my back on party politics as a much younger man in pursuit of career and single issue campaigning?
Was I also, again as a conscious act, irresponsible to stand by and see neoliberalism tear our society to pieces and tut tut but not actually do more to prevent it at the time?
And could it be that the fact that we have such dire politicians, when the generation of which I am a part is overall able, through our collective fault for failing to value government, politics and the processes that drive it enough?
Am I actually, therefore, resigned to my own failure and accepting that I have a part in the collective act of harm that is, inevitably, befalling the country?
My guess is that I do accept that blame. I do think my generation failed the country. Coming of age, in effect, in the era of Thatcher, we let politics be crowded out by the lure of the private sector; the satisfaction of single issue campaigning and the comfort of not having to do the dirty work required to get elected to ensure political sanity prevailed. That is my fault. And, of course, that of many others as well. I am not in this single-handed.
So what to do about it? That is the only really interesting question.
First, we have no choice but recognise Brexit will blight us for a long time to come. Those who think Brexit is over by 29 March are deeply mistaken.
Second, we need to appreciate that whatever happens there will need to be a significant change in the UK. And that change requires rejection of the model that created the demand for Brexit. The perversity that Brexit has been run by the very interests that divided Britain and which would seek to keep it divided, is one of the paradoxes of Brexit that is particularly hard to accept.
Third, this means that whatever happens fundamental economic and social reform reflecting wholly different economic attitudes of inclusiveness and sustainability are required now. And this, I suggest is possible whatever happens. It is nonsense, in my opinion, to suggest otherwise.
Fourth, we have also to accept that this will require change to the UK political process, or at least that part of it run from London. Whether London is the capital of four, three or two nations in the future is not the issue. The fact is that its instruments of government have to change. So, first past the post has to go. And House of Lords reform is essential. As is state funding of political parties. And strict election regulation has to be enforced. Whilst politicians have to be appropriately funded. As do opposition parties to ensure the government is held to account.
And fifth, we need to change our attitude to politics. We get the politicians we deserve, overall. We got the leadership we have as a result. That's because politics was continually undermined and demeaned. That has to change.
It requires hope to think all that is possible.
I cannot be wholly resigned in that case. But I am pushing the boundaries of my optimism.
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Richard, after JC becomes PM Hope you will help in bringing Keynesian Economics back to the People.
I love your two posts today.
Reading your blog over the years I cannot recall a single time you had anything positive to say about the EU. It was always ” in need of reform”, “undemocratic”, ” unelected burocracy”, neoliberalen”. You support the likes of Larry Eliot and Varufakis.
And guess what: negative advertising works. The steady drip of petulant irritation has succeeded.
All I can say is you have not been reading very attentively in that case
Of course I have been critical
And equally I have offered praise when due, most especially on labour rights and tax reform
I am quite glad you did go for a ‘single issue’. In fact is fundamental and underlies many other aspects. Your blog has been quite informative for many of us who had an interest in politics but struggled to find a clear direction. There are others, of course, but it has still been an inspiration with the country by country reporting and green new deal. We need new and good ideas. You are not alone.
Thanks
Sweden, where I live, has arguably much of what you ask for in its political system, and has Proportional Representation. Yet still it fails to deal with the climate emergency. And many government policies – such as catastrophic privatization of schools and health services – seem unstoppable despite up to 90% of the people being against them.
This crisis of democracy is also visible in France with the Gilets Jaunes who are demanding more political influence.
It must be time to move on to participatory forms of democracy.
Both Gordon Brown and The Guardian have proposed an Irish-style Citizen’s Assembly to solve the Brexit crisis.
How pompous. Nobody cares what you think, anymore than they care what I think.
You clearly do care what I think
That is why you commented
Your argument is false
Oh well Adrian, at least you got the 2nd part right.
Richard no need to beat yourself up over the present state of the world. You do magnificent work, and long may you continue to do so. The fact that you and I may disagree on how to achieve what we both and most people want no way diminishes your accomplishments. After all you are a Keynesian. We all have our cross to bear.
You may be pleased to learn that I have another cunning plan, this time to help resolve the Brexit conundrum.
If Labour were able to determine Brexit this what I would advise. Cancel Brexit. We remain in the EU de jure. That would please the remainers. They constitute nearly half of all those who voted, and their vote should be respected. However, the majority voted leave and their constituency should also be acknowledged. This we do by taking back control, we ignore the 3% and 60% rule limiting Government spending, also all the state aid and competition and nationalisation restrictions. In short, we take complete sovereignty over our economic affairs. Anything that benefits the 99% we agree to, anything that solely benefits the 1% we ignore. We pay our dues. In our negotiations we bypass Brussels: for example, our fishing industry (and associated partners) talk directly to those fishermen in the EU countries that have an interest in UK waters. Thy arrive at a mutually acceptable arrangement with reviews in the future as desired. That is the democratic way to resolve issues. Those affected by any outcome have a say in that outcome.
We don’t beg or negotiate for sovereignty we assert sovereignty. The ball will then be in the EU’s court. Let them throw us out. We can pay divide and rule and bribe with the best of them. Hats off to Mrs May for that. The UK stays together. No Eire border problem.
We remain de jure, we leave in fact.
Many remainers state that the EU needs reform. We would be leading from the front and showing the European 99% that reform is doable and underscoring what many on the side of the Brexit case for leave have always believed, the vote to leave is all about the polarisation of income and wealth between the 1% and the 99%, the EU is just the piggy in the middle. It puts the class struggle back where it should be – centre stage.
I do not think we have the right to break international law to which we have subscribed
Both the UK and the USA break international law every single day. What’s good for the goose……
“We don’t beg or negotiate for sovereignty we assert sovereignty. The ball will then be in the EU’s court. Let them throw us out. We can pay divide and rule and bribe with the best of them. Hats off to Mrs May for that. The UK stays together. No Eire border problem.”
There is it in a nutshell. Divide and rule. What does that actually mean? “Bypass Brussels”. This is exactly what I have always feared and utterly despise. The UK wishes to present itself as simply wanting to “take back control”. It isn’t true. It never was true. Brexit always implicitly carried the determination not just to leave the EU but to break it; return to ‘balance of power’ politics that Britain exploited so effectively so long ago, and ended so badly. Never again. Never, ever again.
I really do not wish to live in that sort of country. Why do I believe in the EU when it has so many shortcomings, which Britain grievously exaggerates for political advantage so effectively? My whole argument can be expressed in only three words. It is all I need; three words that I will never, ever ignore: Lest We Forget.
“The UK stays together”? Maybe not.
I have no desire to break European unity
J S Warren said
“Brexit always implicitly carried the determination not just to leave the EU but to break it; return to ‘balance of power’ politics that Britain exploited so effectively so long ago, and ended so badly”.
Just in case you hadn’t noticed we suffered the worst economic crisis in 2008 since the 1930’s. Despite all the false claims to the contrary we are no way close to recovery. The British working class have suffered the biggest decline in their living standards in living memory. We have people in work having to rely on food banks, the unprecedented cruelty in how Universal Credit is being rolled out. The unaffordability of such a basic need as housing for our children and grandchildren. The totally unnecessary and unwarranted implementation of austerity on both the middle class and the working poor. While the majority get poorer the super-rich avoid their taxes and get richer. I think you will find this enough motive without the need to invoke any abstract intention to destroy the EU. During the nineteenth century we had such literary giants as Dickens, Emile Zola and Maxim Gorky to draw our attention to the plight of our less fortunate neighbours. In modern Britain Ken Roach in such films as “I, Daniel Blake” performs that role, if you have missed it, it is worth a watch.
Whatever the motives were for the 17m leave voters I don’t think the desire for a return to “balance of power” politics or the desire to break up the EU was high on their agenda. I suspect the concerns are much more bread and butter. I certainly have no wish to break up the EU. This the EU is perfectly capable of achieving on its own.
Mr Adams,
I understand your anguish, but I do not share your analysis; in fact I believe it is based on a non sequitur. 17m people didn’t think through the ‘balance of power’ implications, but some Brexiteers did. Brexiteers (and international fellow-travellers) are constantly forecasting the end of the EU. I am surprised that you haven’t noticed.
Allow me to refer to just one; not some obscure social media Blog, but Forbes; Simon Constable, 3rd January, 2017: “Britain’s historic vote last June to leave the European Union marks the beginning of the end for the free-trade area. It will be a change as monumental as the end of the Soviet Union a quarter century ago. The parallels are eerie.” The glee is hard to miss.
Whatever people did or did not intend by voting for Brexit (consciously by some who organised it, unconsciously for others who just voted for it), Brexit has created a chain-reaction. People are being manipulated: used. I wish only to address the bigger, darker implications of what is being done; the nature of the can that has been opened. And for those not able to lift their heads above the narrow issues at the end of their own nose; the unintended consequences that will unfold from what they have done.
If Brexit goes through, and when the dust has settled, many of the 17m will have been ill-served, and be disappointed, and many will not even notice. Quietly, even the desire for lower immigration simply will not happen. The Government will discreetly shift immigration from the EU, to non-EU sources. If the Government hasn’t thought anything through, neither have the 17m. Such carelessness comes at a cost. Something fills the vacuum; things we may think are long dead. Are they?
“If we could learn to look instead of gawking,
We’d see the horror in the heart of farce,
If only we could act instead of talking,
We wouldn’t always end up on our arse.
This was the thing that nearly had us mastered;
Don’t yet rejoice in his defeat, you men!
Although the world stood up and stopped the bastard,
The bitch that bore him is in heat again.”
Bertolt Brecht, ‘The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui’
It is perhaps inevitable that anyone concerned about the future prosperity and wellbeing of our country should feel a sense of resignation, and indeed despair, as our Parliament endlessly divides and plots and schemes with impotent fury , our “leaders” (both Government and Opposition) struggle ever deeper into a swamp of indecision, and we ourselves, the citizens of the (dis)United Kingdom, fracture and scream and shout furiously , or die of utter boredom.at each other and the Establishment and divide into unarmed factions at loggerheads with each other – young against old, metropolitans against the deprived North, cities gainst small towns, urban against rural, Scotland and Northern Ireland against England and Wales, right against left etc. It is tempting to abandon involvement, to become a BoB (Bored of Brexit – see John Harris in today’s Guardian). Should we for the sake of our own sanity perhaps detatch ourselves from the drama, sit back, and enjoy the show? Should we with cynical indifference to the future welfare of the younger generation of our society, simply adopt the philosophy of history as entertainment, and rather than allow ourselves to be aroused to fury or sunk into despair, instead be pleased to be witnesses to a great drama that will be remembered and studied in a hundred years time in the history books much as we have read of, say, the repeal of the Corn laws, or Magna Carta, or the attempted arrest of the five members by Charles I, or the Reform Bill of 1832? We live in interesting times and are privileged to be in the auditorium as the sounds and furies of the poor players who strut and fret upon the stage in a drama that may seemingly signify NOTHING. But this would assuredly be a callousness making us indifferent to the futures of millions of younger English, Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish, and a desecration of the memory of Jo Cox.
I wouldn’t blame yourself or generation. Imho this is an English problem created by every pothole in the road, annual rail fare increase and council tax rise. In effect the English have lost their sense of “place” and are giving out a collective howl of indignation. They don’t feel well done by, feel they are milked for no return and are blaming it all on johnny foreigner. Even if brexit went great, their indignation will remain and this fire will keep burning. They keep being given the “world class” guff but they can see the place is a shambles. I hope we in Scotland get as far away from them before they really implode. Sorry to sound racist but I feel this is going to get really nasty over the next few years.
There an awful lot of resignations I’d like to see before I see yours, Richard. 🙂
I’m sorry you feel despair but you shouldn’t blame yourself for it no more than I can accept blame. We all had our chosen professions and life trajectories and I tore my hair out during the Thatcher ascendency. I thought the coming of Blair in 1997 would reverse some of that – he had a majority of 179 – he could have done anything but he just carried on. I utterly despise Blair more than I hated Thatcher. The world won’t end because of Brexit but climate change could change it irreversibly. For any incoming government that is the real issue and sooner rather than later all governments must wake up to the fact. I’m an old man but my grandchildren will face this issue. Under our present system the Labour Party is our only hope and a change of leadership to David Miliband will only keep us marching along the neoliberal path. Corbyn maybe a flawed man but he’s a decent man and he is tottering away from neoliberalism but he has a party that is full of Thatcher’s children. Don’t give up. You do a fine job here and I know you disagree with a lot of what Bill Michell says but there is a spectrum of opinion on the left. It failed to unite in Germany in the 1930s and allowed a monster to take over. There are some true nutters in the Tory Party; they must not be allowed to prevail because of disunity on the left.
The party is not full of Thatcher’s children – they’re fast fading
It is full of members who do not buy the Seumas Milne view of the world though
And that is the problem
Historically and summarily this period of British history ought to be known as “Blind Brexit” where a significant number of citizens were deluded they had the expertise to sever the UK from the EU with a workable plan.
I must say that up to now Andy Crow has said the right thing in answer to your post.
The recent book ”Reckless Opportunists’ sums the whole current political crisis we have with those ‘in charge’.
Our generation tried to de-politicise society by using the apparently resource efficient rubric of the market only for many of us to eventually realise that we need more (and better) politics more than ever before.
We took on neo-liberal ideas and attitudes on faith with an open mindedness that its adherents do not have and never will. We have tried to make it work.
It does not.
But in relation to BREXIT, I’ve been poring over Hugo Young’s ‘This Blessed Plot’ from the 1990 s. I can assure you that the problems we face now with BREXIT were created as far back as the 1950’s – before you or I were born or even conscious of what European union actually was. Honestly – read it – it’s all there. Talk about deja vu! I have made notes for my next stab at a synopsis of more chapters for this blog but I do not have it with me.
You blame yourself like my late father and Trades Unionist (bless you Dad) blamed himself for the declining fortunes of the working person. He – like you – was an honourable person and did not feel that he had done enough.
Me – I’m a working class boy too badly educated to have know any better until he got into his mid 20’s and was made redundant for the third time in his life after working hard at all the jobs I’d had to get on in life as the U.S imported neo-lib self help books told you to do. And there I was on the phone one night to the Samaritans contemplating jacking it all in. No future and an overwhelming sense of personal failure.
So that was my lowest point but after that I started to read more and tried to find an explanation as to what had been happening to me because just working hard and being reliable just did not seem to be enough to keep you in a job. I found that I was blaming myself too much – there were other forces at work that I should pay more attention to. I tried anti-depressants for about 2 weeks but could not live with them. I found succour in reading and coming to my own conclusions. The first item I read was a speech that I ordered from the Guardian that J K Gailbraith did to the Cardiff Law School in the early 1990’s about economic change. The speech resonated with me and I’ve been on a very personal journey ever since that brought me here and elsewhere – even my choice of work.
At least my father and you (and I) are not blaming immigrants, joining UKIP or have become Trump fan boys. And we still care. But we (and those others here) also carry a huge burden of unfulfilled knowledge and glimpses of a perhaps never to be seen alternative world
But I would rather carry that burden consciously with me than unconsciously carry and advocate ideas that hurt people and enable our tormentors to remain in power like those angry and dispirited folk do who you see persecuting Anna Soubry and attending UKIP rallies. I try not to dislike such people. I advocate trying to understand them. They too are products of Thatcherism and the Third Way. They tried it too but unfortunately came to a different conclusion.
It is better to kick yourself than the cat. The latter can cause lots of regret. Cats are actually quite affectionate despite trying to kill everything they see. So by all means beat yourself up but do not keep doing it forever. Look at what you have achieved Richard! If you feel like this what about those lesser mortals like myself?
I think that it is all about anger. John Lydon said in PiL that ‘anger is an energy’. For me I still need to channel it into something more that this blog. It is up to me to bring the humane ideas here to life as much as it is yours. My job – building new, quality affordable homes to rent helps a lot and this blog helps place that role into a wider context.
But you Richard – you HAVE done enough and continue to do so. Like many of us you found that the neo-lib drugs ‘don’t work’ and you actually have done a lot about it where it matters – at the level of national policy – because that is where the rot has set in Richard.
Anyway – enough!
Thanks
But a bit of guilt does no harm as a motivator in my case
A bit of the Irish Catholic residue in me no doubt
You have your own standards Richard by which you judge yourself and your are entitled to have that conversation with yourself.
Thanks, Pilgrim
If you’d like you to expand you’d be wecome on ProgressivePulse, but even if you decide against, you’re very courageous to admit your past problems and it is proof that the current ‘neoliberal’ economic system is in effect designing its people to fail – which means it will itself fail in the fullness of time.
But of course we might all be dead by then.
Which is a bit of a problem since, rather like the Brexit failure, where Brexit is, it seems, for life, (see Charles Adams article here http://www.progressivepulse.org/brexit/not-another-one-why-not-use-the-numerical-evidence-to-guide-us) Trump is probaby only 2 (certainly 6 max) more years…
So whilst he’s temporary, Brexit is permanent…
I have just been listening to Youtube recordings of talks and discussions from last Friday’s conference The Convention (re campaigning for a ‘People’s Vote’ with the hope of remaining). It has been very uplifting and I highly recommend it.
One interesting fact from YouGov that was mentioned –
Even if no one has changed their mind, just the demographics alone would mean that Remain voters would now be in the majority. The cross-over point is actually due this week!
Hi Richard
I never feel qualified to comment, I read your blog to educate myself.
But I do feel you’ve left out a big issue we have leading the debate in this country, the press, it’s so overwhelmingly Conservative with a big C at times much more the Tories themselves. I’ve listened to so many interviews with the ‘man/woman’ in the street repeating virtually verbatim what’s been printed in papers, mostly the sun and front page of the mail, whilst their sales are falling hugely their influence is still very strong.
Yes, the politicians who trumpeted leave did so with lies the press gleefully ran with those lies and added many of their own unchecked by any organisation worth note. Sadly regulation is still something that will not happen with the present government.
Fair comment!
https://www.vuelio.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Top-50-Political-Influencers.pdf
This list consists of media professionals only, hence only Boris Johnson is the only politician on it and there are no professional academics, other intellectuals etc.