Thursday, November 25, 2010

This has to be mentioned

The Daily Express has become the first national newspaper in the UK to call for Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. (It is phrased correctly in the article though not in the headline.) Quite a bit step forward but still a long way to go. My own prediction, for what it's worth, is that the EU will fall apart before the UK begins any serious moves towards withdrawal. The end may well come very rapidly when it does. Whether the Express stays the course remains unpredictable. But there is one thing I can predict: when either the EU has collapsed or Britain - mirabile dictu - exits there will be many who will take credit: every media outlet that has ever made a critical comment about the EU, however mild; every Tory "eurosceptic" who has ever quietly confided in somebody that yes, actually, this was all going too far; every organization that has dolefully called for a reform; every Tory blogger who has on occasion noted something going wrong; and, not to be forgotten, every trendy chef who has shed tears over the situation with the fish once a year.

4 comments:

  1. I understand, that at the end of the war it was difficult to find a supporter of the Nazis in Germany – Human nature does not change.

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  2. More recently and reliably I watched the academics who had been writing about the Soviet system being barely different from Western democracy claiming credit for its collapse.

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  3. I think we are all being far too optimistic about this.

    The EU elites (who are accountable to nobody, remember) will do anything, go to any lengths, sacrifice anyone or any country, to keep their project on track. They have not schemed and plotted for fifty years and more, through thick and thin, just to roll over at the first real crisis.

    We are a very very long way from the collapse and disbandment of the EU. I do not expect it to happen in my lifetime, though it might happen in my childrens' lifetimes. Recall that even the Soviet Union survived for eighty years.

    It's just about possible that enough political and popular will might arise in Britain for a withdrawal to be talked about openly - though I believe the political class will succeed in massaging the narratives so that it doesn't, but only if the powers (ie the Commission) commit some gross and open affront to what we imagine is left of our sovereignty.

    They won't take that risk. Their strategy is to leave the image of a nation intact, while removing the actual soul and power to their own sphere. It's worked amazingly well, and they won't change it or need to change it. Who would ever have dreamed that they could do the things they have already done, with barely a whimper of protest even from Britain, a once-proud, victorious, world power?

    No; we have many many more bridges to cross before we can hope that all this is about to crumble. I'd give it fifty years, by which time we'll be living in a Unitary European State with one (unelected) governing body, and the game will be over. It's pretty much over now.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think we are all being far too optimistic about this.

    The EU elites (who are accountable to nobody, remember) will do anything, go to any lengths, sacrifice anyone or any country, to keep their project on track. They have not schemed and plotted for fifty years and more, through thick and thin, just to roll over at the first real crisis.

    We are a very very long way from the collapse and disbandment of the EU. I do not expect it to happen in my lifetime, though it might happen in my childrens' lifetimes. Recall that even the Soviet Union survived for eighty years.

    It's just about possible that enough political and popular will might arise in Britain for a withdrawal to be talked about openly - though I believe the political class will succeed in massaging the narratives so that it doesn't, but only if the powers (ie the Commission) commit some gross and open affront to what we imagine is left of our sovereignty.

    They won't take that risk. Their strategy is to leave the image of a nation intact, while removing the actual soul and power to their own sphere. It's worked amazingly well, and they won't change it or need to change it. Who would ever have dreamed that they could do the things they have already done, with barely a whimper of protest even from Britain, a once-proud, victorious, world power?

    No; we have many many more bridges to cross before we can hope that all this is about to crumble. I'd give it fifty years, by which time we'll be living in a Unitary European State with one (unelected) governing body, and the game will be over. It's pretty much over now.

    ReplyDelete