united Kingdom – What Now?

He did it. He won by a landslide. The papers are full of analysis and predictions. What will he be like, now that he’s got that all-enabling majority? Where is Britain going? What about Scotland? Ireland? united Kingdom?

In all of this, we should not forget the underlying facts: Britain is where it is because of a nationalist and xenophobic drive, led by Nigel Farage and his enablers, succumbed to by a weak Tory Prime Minister, David Cameron, who produced a half-baked referendum, followed by Theresa May and a Tory party, the deceitful message of which it was that 51.5% of the vote reflects “the will of the people”, a notion that turned into a mantra of the political class. All this was nurtured by a Brexit pushing populist press. Then there is the interesting question of foreign meddling (Putin?) and the personal interest and whims of a few mega-rich individuals who finance such campaigns.

The deed is done. Will it be good for Britain? Nationalism and Xenophobia are bad. Full stop. They go hand-in-hand with racism and antisemitism. And they have all been given a free run. From this point of view, the whole process has been extremely bad for Britain.

Will it be good for Britain’s economy, for people’s standard of living, for the quality of their lives? I think not. Time will tell.

What is it be: Leave the country? Build a bunker and store food and medicine? Pray? Meditate? It’s the time of the year and it will probably just end up with drink and be merry.