a small country that will soon be a quaint curiosity and museum. Just as in less developed countries, the best and brightest will leave for the US, Europe, China, India.
19
Good op-ed.
I remain confused. Since Brexit is such a disaster, why doesn't Prime Minister May lead the Parliament into cancelling it. If she was against it, is she afraid of the voters, even though much of what got them to the polls was apparently fake news.
What is motivating Theresa May now?
What good is the will of thee people when they are manipulated by Fake News and scam artists?
I remain confused. Since Brexit is such a disaster, why doesn't Prime Minister May lead the Parliament into cancelling it. If she was against it, is she afraid of the voters, even though much of what got them to the polls was apparently fake news.
What is motivating Theresa May now?
What good is the will of thee people when they are manipulated by Fake News and scam artists?
27
Because elites should have to state their true belief openly: that those who make more are worth more.
11
Britain's politicians have let the electorate down and we are now courting disaster. The vote to proceed to exercise Article 50 was overwhelmingly approved in the House of Commons based on the spurious notion that the voters had spoken in the referendum. While 17+ million people out of an electorate of 46 million voted to leave 16+ million voted to stay. While the Brexiters had a majority the outcome was not decisive, indeed it is hugely divisive. Furthermore the referendum vote was advisory and not binding. A large majority of the MP's who voted to proceed with Article 50 are well aware that Brexit is folly and it seems they voted despite this fact, indeed against their conscience. They will be remembered as moral cowards by those of us who would like to see the Remain supporters in power demonstrate some spine. There are no facts to suggest that Britain will be able to replace its trade with the EU with other parties (at least not of any significance) - only wishful thinking. We are presently served by third rate politicians who are largely unprincipled. May is a complete lightweight and embarrassment and those of her Government who are urging her on to disaster such as Johnson, Davies and Fox perennial failures. The great British statesmen of the past are spinning in their graves.
26
""The “Brexiters” were a motley band driven mainly by anti-immigration anger, sentimental nationalism...."
Seriously? If this is how we talk about working class people who have had their world upended, is it any surprise at all that they would vote for Brexit or Trump for that matter?
Seriously? If this is how we talk about working class people who have had their world upended, is it any surprise at all that they would vote for Brexit or Trump for that matter?
16
Resentment, low informed, and identity result in many working class and rural whites to vote against their own economic interests in the US and UK. This is a trend what will continue in many EU countries that are seen as the bedrock of liberalism and progressivism. How to address the grievances of the working class and rural whites is a challenge that the progressive, liberal political establishment and educated whites are grappling with and seem clueless. Time is running out while the demagogues on the right are winning and pressing ahead with the support the aggrieved whites and the complicit of the moneyed class. The future is dark. Could this be the watershed moment for American and European liberalism?
36
An important issue in Brexit campaign was the loss
of sovereignty to Brussels. Now Theresa May is working
hard to lose sovereignty to Washington. Her sycophancy
of Trump portrays her in a bad light and certainly make
her desperation clear despite high sounding slogan of
" Global Britain". Scotland will probably hold another referendum on independence with a good chance of
success. An incredibly shrinking Britain is the future.
of sovereignty to Brussels. Now Theresa May is working
hard to lose sovereignty to Washington. Her sycophancy
of Trump portrays her in a bad light and certainly make
her desperation clear despite high sounding slogan of
" Global Britain". Scotland will probably hold another referendum on independence with a good chance of
success. An incredibly shrinking Britain is the future.
21
Brexit teaches us several lessons – many of them the same lessons we learned from the election of President Trump.
The vote on Brexit was enabled by Former Prime Minister, David Cameron, assuming that Brexit would not be approved, but hoping that allowing the vote would divert attention from Cameron’s bias against working Brits.
Most politicians – aside from the characters loudly urging Brexit – underestimated how determined people can be when they feel ignored and insulted. Most educated Brits also were surprised by how strong the working-class prejudice is against immigrants who are people of color.
Prime Minister, Theresa May, sees herself as a woman of action, and that part of her self-image is correct. The other part of her personality – the part about underestimating Queen Elizabeth II – demonstrated a grand self-delusion.
Elections have consequences. There and here.
The vote on Brexit was enabled by Former Prime Minister, David Cameron, assuming that Brexit would not be approved, but hoping that allowing the vote would divert attention from Cameron’s bias against working Brits.
Most politicians – aside from the characters loudly urging Brexit – underestimated how determined people can be when they feel ignored and insulted. Most educated Brits also were surprised by how strong the working-class prejudice is against immigrants who are people of color.
Prime Minister, Theresa May, sees herself as a woman of action, and that part of her self-image is correct. The other part of her personality – the part about underestimating Queen Elizabeth II – demonstrated a grand self-delusion.
Elections have consequences. There and here.
19
After the UK leaves the EU and Scotland leaves to UK, I'm looking forward to the cries of "build a wall!" - not by the English to protect themselves from European immigrants, but by the Scots wanting to keep the English out. Pity the poor Queen - she'll need a visa to visit her Scottish castles.
I'm also looking forward to all the English retirees who voted for Brexit grousing about having to wait in long immigration lines as they go to/from their precious summer holidays on the Mediterranean, about no longer having access to free healthcare while they're on holiday, and about having to put their beloved corgis and bulldogs into quarantine if they want to take them along.
I'm also looking forward to all the English retirees who voted for Brexit grousing about having to wait in long immigration lines as they go to/from their precious summer holidays on the Mediterranean, about no longer having access to free healthcare while they're on holiday, and about having to put their beloved corgis and bulldogs into quarantine if they want to take them along.
18
Is Hadrian's Wall in the right place? Of course, it was originally erected to keep the Scots out, not the other way around.
6
"The “Brexiters” were a motley band driven mainly by anti-immigration anger, sentimental nationalism, resentment of globalized elites, economic fears, phobias about Germany and Brussels — all whipped up by post-truth politicians. The European Union was little more than a convenient scapegoat for a host of anxieties."
Yes, this is an opinion piece--but it is consistent with NYT reportage that--oddly--seems anti-labor.
Yes, this is an opinion piece--but it is consistent with NYT reportage that--oddly--seems anti-labor.
12
"But they felt overlooked by politicians."
The heart of the matter
The political class has largely been captured by the moneyed class. No one in office dares any longer to bite the hand the feeds them lavishly once they are out of office - have you seen a poor ex office holder lately ?
Behold the glittering City of London, thriving on globalization, Polish plumbers willing to work for less than the English , full of money shufflers making obscene amount of money stashing away the loot of Russian Oligarchs and Despots from various Stans.
And to rectify situation, the forgotten have decided to forgo short term gains and vote for long term objectives:
To have their grievances acknowledged to be legitimate, rather than being labeled racist, xenophobic, and outdated
The elite calls that voting against their own best interest
The heart of the matter
The political class has largely been captured by the moneyed class. No one in office dares any longer to bite the hand the feeds them lavishly once they are out of office - have you seen a poor ex office holder lately ?
Behold the glittering City of London, thriving on globalization, Polish plumbers willing to work for less than the English , full of money shufflers making obscene amount of money stashing away the loot of Russian Oligarchs and Despots from various Stans.
And to rectify situation, the forgotten have decided to forgo short term gains and vote for long term objectives:
To have their grievances acknowledged to be legitimate, rather than being labeled racist, xenophobic, and outdated
The elite calls that voting against their own best interest
35
And it is.
9
Aren't these the same people who wanted federal government out of their lives?
Now they have the gall to claim they are ignored.
You can never win with people like that. They will always find someone else to blame for their own shortcomings.
Now they have the gall to claim they are ignored.
You can never win with people like that. They will always find someone else to blame for their own shortcomings.
14
"Afternoon, Sir. Can we help?"
"Yeah - I want a better deal on my membership."
"OK, here's the best we can do."
"That's not good enough for me."
"Really? No-one else in the club has such a deal."
"Well, I don't like the paying and I don't like the rules. I don't like how we vote. You're all a dictator. I've decided - I'm leaving. I'm cancelling my membership."
"OK"
"But I still want access."
"Right. OK - we can sort out some partial access deal... but you'd need full membership for full access."
"Oh, so you want to punish me for not being a member, eh?!"
"No..."
"Yes, you're punishing me. You're just like a WWII prison guard beating me for trying to escape."
"Um, what? You're free to go..."
"You need me more than I need you!"
"Please go..."
"Yeah - I want a better deal on my membership."
"OK, here's the best we can do."
"That's not good enough for me."
"Really? No-one else in the club has such a deal."
"Well, I don't like the paying and I don't like the rules. I don't like how we vote. You're all a dictator. I've decided - I'm leaving. I'm cancelling my membership."
"OK"
"But I still want access."
"Right. OK - we can sort out some partial access deal... but you'd need full membership for full access."
"Oh, so you want to punish me for not being a member, eh?!"
"No..."
"Yes, you're punishing me. You're just like a WWII prison guard beating me for trying to escape."
"Um, what? You're free to go..."
"You need me more than I need you!"
"Please go..."
38
It's called having your cake and eating it, too. Or eating it, denying it and wanting more.
Here, our right-wing loony leader vowed to rid us of Obamacare on day one. Had a plan to replace it repeat on day one, just ready to unleash/unveil. If he can find it. Probably in the same folder as his tax returns. Maybe.
The GOP also has/had a plan to replace Obamacare, just you wait and see.
Well, hmm. Now President Scattershot allows it's maybe not even going to be day 100, but by the end of the year or next year but probably soon. It's hard to rip your own arms out from the sockets.
Just as the Brits closed their eyes and jumped head first into that very cold, shallow water called being on their own, we succumbed to Trump tweeting sweet and sour nothings, and I mean nothings, into the public's ear.
Took a chance on nothing. Didn't think what it actually meant. Like Brexit meant leaving the EU. Who would have thought? Didn't think banks would go elsewhere fun like, sigh, Paris.
Didn't realize Britain couldn't make deals that would soften landing on the other side. Thought it would remain in preferred status with the rest of the EU because...just because.
Didn't think about it. Too busy gnashing teeth over assorted immigrants who shouldn't be in Britain because, well, they're not British.
America and Britain share language and special relationship. They also have a peculiar affinity for going off the rails at the same time.
Must be that ye olde exceptionalism.
Here, our right-wing loony leader vowed to rid us of Obamacare on day one. Had a plan to replace it repeat on day one, just ready to unleash/unveil. If he can find it. Probably in the same folder as his tax returns. Maybe.
The GOP also has/had a plan to replace Obamacare, just you wait and see.
Well, hmm. Now President Scattershot allows it's maybe not even going to be day 100, but by the end of the year or next year but probably soon. It's hard to rip your own arms out from the sockets.
Just as the Brits closed their eyes and jumped head first into that very cold, shallow water called being on their own, we succumbed to Trump tweeting sweet and sour nothings, and I mean nothings, into the public's ear.
Took a chance on nothing. Didn't think what it actually meant. Like Brexit meant leaving the EU. Who would have thought? Didn't think banks would go elsewhere fun like, sigh, Paris.
Didn't realize Britain couldn't make deals that would soften landing on the other side. Thought it would remain in preferred status with the rest of the EU because...just because.
Didn't think about it. Too busy gnashing teeth over assorted immigrants who shouldn't be in Britain because, well, they're not British.
America and Britain share language and special relationship. They also have a peculiar affinity for going off the rails at the same time.
Must be that ye olde exceptionalism.
32
There is a mental virus abroad. It leads people to a terribly hazardous thought pattern that fits the following script.
"I don't like the drapes I have in my house. What can I do?"
"I can take them down and clean them, or I can replace them."
"O.K. Then I will get rid of them by burning the house down."
Everyone who has not yet been infected can only look on in horror, and go, "Huh?"
So far, the United Kingdom has been infected, the United States has been infected, Poland and Hungary have been infected, Venezuela has been infected. Next to come are France, Germany and Italy.
I'm worried.
"I don't like the drapes I have in my house. What can I do?"
"I can take them down and clean them, or I can replace them."
"O.K. Then I will get rid of them by burning the house down."
Everyone who has not yet been infected can only look on in horror, and go, "Huh?"
So far, the United Kingdom has been infected, the United States has been infected, Poland and Hungary have been infected, Venezuela has been infected. Next to come are France, Germany and Italy.
I'm worried.
11
Actually France, Germany, and Italy are already infected....the Netherlands too.
5
Actually, France, Germany, and Italy are already infected...the Netherlands, too.
2
Well, you cut right to the heart of the matter. These populist movements reflect a squishy amalgam of the least desirable traits of our species including fear, hate and ignorance.
Populism is easily co-opted by various fringe groups and the results are often ugly.
Those who say that opposition to Trump and his authoritarian agenda is 'overblown' do not understand that millions of German soldiers did not put on brown shirts overnight. It is a slippery slide into the abyss and it looks like business as usual--until it is not.
The human ability to work in concert has established us as the masters of the planet. It is also, unfortunately, our greatest weakness and has been exploited to accomplish all of histories greatest atrocities.
The Rule of Law and our civilization have sometimes put a worthy cloak over our ancestral nature. But the veneer, as they say, is thin. Perhaps never so thin as it appears right now.
Populism is easily co-opted by various fringe groups and the results are often ugly.
Those who say that opposition to Trump and his authoritarian agenda is 'overblown' do not understand that millions of German soldiers did not put on brown shirts overnight. It is a slippery slide into the abyss and it looks like business as usual--until it is not.
The human ability to work in concert has established us as the masters of the planet. It is also, unfortunately, our greatest weakness and has been exploited to accomplish all of histories greatest atrocities.
The Rule of Law and our civilization have sometimes put a worthy cloak over our ancestral nature. But the veneer, as they say, is thin. Perhaps never so thin as it appears right now.
24
The European Union was poorly timed, coming with the rise of terrorism around the world. In the early 2000s, Europe was in the process of dropping border controls. If someone gets into one Euro nation, they can travel to all of them without being bothered with pesky immigration agents, concerns about their financial backing or anything else.
When I first traveled to England, not long after college at age 24, my passport was marked "for three days only" because I wasn't carrying enough money to impress the immigration agent who allowed me to enter. The Brexit vote was not only a protest by people who feel they have been left behind, it was a scream against rapid and fairly uncontrolled immigration by people from north Africa and the middle-east who not only come from a clashing religious culture, but also people who, in many cases, have little or no intention of surrendering the ways of their home country to those of the new.
With the excesses of Trump and the Trumpsters, this is a difficult time for calm discussion of the clash of cultures. Nonetheless, it is a fact that Islam has a view of the world at large as wrong, sinful and in need of correction (as does Christianity). With terrorism, the religion/culture based clash became more pronounced than any time in the last 700 years, since the Crusades. Those with more money and education have less trouble dealing with these changes than people who find their neighborhoods and towns changed around them and nowhere to go.
When I first traveled to England, not long after college at age 24, my passport was marked "for three days only" because I wasn't carrying enough money to impress the immigration agent who allowed me to enter. The Brexit vote was not only a protest by people who feel they have been left behind, it was a scream against rapid and fairly uncontrolled immigration by people from north Africa and the middle-east who not only come from a clashing religious culture, but also people who, in many cases, have little or no intention of surrendering the ways of their home country to those of the new.
With the excesses of Trump and the Trumpsters, this is a difficult time for calm discussion of the clash of cultures. Nonetheless, it is a fact that Islam has a view of the world at large as wrong, sinful and in need of correction (as does Christianity). With terrorism, the religion/culture based clash became more pronounced than any time in the last 700 years, since the Crusades. Those with more money and education have less trouble dealing with these changes than people who find their neighborhoods and towns changed around them and nowhere to go.
11
Britain has very few people from North Africa. Most of the immigration is from WITHIN the EU (poland, baltic states, rumania) and South Asia (india, pakistan). But, hey, enjoy your alternative facts - I assume that you believe that Poles are muslims.
11
Before calling for a referendum on such a momentous issue, it may be wise to recall Churchill's famous dictum:
"The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter."
"The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter."
20
Too many Brexiters used the referendum as an opportunity to shout loudly about various complaints at their lawmakers, hoping they might finally get an audience to many reasonable and many unreasonable grievances. Westminster ignored spiralling housing prices, declining NHS quality, and the education system falling apart. But a good many Brexit voters have freely admitted they never thought to be a majority. Their protest vote threw away 40 years of membership in the EU and once more condemns Britain to marginalization between the U.S., united European powers, and China.
Trump voters protested against the status quo and discovered, like Brexiteers, that the leaders they elected will not listen to their wishes. Theresa May acts recklessly to chart a new course, ignoring anyone who questions her decisions. She rejected the levers of power offered by Angela Merkel and the EU to prevent a hard Brexit. Forget a soft Brexit strategy similar to Norway's arrangement. Apparently vast seas of migrants and Polish workers coming in bothers her more than anything, even though Britons have the largest ex-pat community in Europe, at 7%+.
You reap what you sow. Courting chaos and angry voters seeing their apparent privileges and status change -- whites who no longer find easy jobs with a high school education, anti-immigrant factions, etc. -- is a recipe for a socioeconomic bomb, not a stable government. It's a pity how many have fallen for the charade.
Trump voters protested against the status quo and discovered, like Brexiteers, that the leaders they elected will not listen to their wishes. Theresa May acts recklessly to chart a new course, ignoring anyone who questions her decisions. She rejected the levers of power offered by Angela Merkel and the EU to prevent a hard Brexit. Forget a soft Brexit strategy similar to Norway's arrangement. Apparently vast seas of migrants and Polish workers coming in bothers her more than anything, even though Britons have the largest ex-pat community in Europe, at 7%+.
You reap what you sow. Courting chaos and angry voters seeing their apparent privileges and status change -- whites who no longer find easy jobs with a high school education, anti-immigrant factions, etc. -- is a recipe for a socioeconomic bomb, not a stable government. It's a pity how many have fallen for the charade.
36
It is amazing to see a country that once "ruled the waves" not so long ago for a couple centuries is going down a calculated path of self destruction. U.K. Will be a mere England bereft of Scotland and Northern Ireland where pro EU sentiment remains strong. Post truth politicians on both sides of the Atlantic have successfully preyed upon anxious populations to grab power with no real solutions to the popular angst. Those of us whose personal and business lifestyles embraced globalism have silently tolerated the ever intrusive security apparatus that governs the direct global aspects of our lives such as at airports and border crossings or in our dealings with customs agents. All this is a result of the terrorism originating or inspired from the Middle East or due to the masses fleeing wars or economic collapse ...call them illegal immigrants or refugees. Post truth politicians have successfully picked on these events and roused the fears of huge swaths of the population creating an aura of anxiety and deprivation to capture votes. This cycle of despair needs to be broken somewhere and at least in our country neither the Democrats nor the moderate elements in the GOP seem to have an answer. Until that occurs the Trumpists and the Brexiters are going to prevail.
22
Voters across the world are in a restless mood and feel the need to be heard. But along with this many would throw out stability and throw the dice for change, any change. Stability is needed for change to be effective.
In our country we conducted a successful revolution because we say the need for a strong constitution. The French saw a revolution that only bred chaos because of its lack of one.
If in the UK as in the US you do not plan an effective transition to something different you will wind up with chaos.
In our country we conducted a successful revolution because we say the need for a strong constitution. The French saw a revolution that only bred chaos because of its lack of one.
If in the UK as in the US you do not plan an effective transition to something different you will wind up with chaos.
7
Of course Great Britain is going to turn to its closest ally the United State. Unfortunately, for Prime Minister May and Great Britain, the megalomaniac Trump is president and the Republican white nationalist Party controls government. As it turns out, no matter where you come down on Brexit, it couldn't have happened at a worse time in history. Trump and the Republicans can and probably will make things a whole lot worse for everyone but the wealthiest 1%.
The only reason top tier countries are in these turbulent times is because for the last 30+ years, politicians have abdicated their responsibilities to the 99%. Despite irrefutable evidence of extraordinary and persistent income and wealth inequality, politicians continue to stack the deck in favor of the 1%.
The European Union is a scheme that favors mostly German bankers and capitalists to the detriment of other European countries who are plagued with structural obsolescence and whose powers of negotiation are compromised.
Greece is not the only country that is tired of being brow beaten and out maneuvered by the more forceful Germany. From the very beginning, the IMF and the Euro have been a bonanza for the Germans forcing most everyone else to play catch-up. The European Union has not been all bad but like every scheme it was cleverly designed to reward the stronger and richer countries.
Unless the unrestrained pursuit and concentration of wealth and power is contained it will tear apart civilization.
The only reason top tier countries are in these turbulent times is because for the last 30+ years, politicians have abdicated their responsibilities to the 99%. Despite irrefutable evidence of extraordinary and persistent income and wealth inequality, politicians continue to stack the deck in favor of the 1%.
The European Union is a scheme that favors mostly German bankers and capitalists to the detriment of other European countries who are plagued with structural obsolescence and whose powers of negotiation are compromised.
Greece is not the only country that is tired of being brow beaten and out maneuvered by the more forceful Germany. From the very beginning, the IMF and the Euro have been a bonanza for the Germans forcing most everyone else to play catch-up. The European Union has not been all bad but like every scheme it was cleverly designed to reward the stronger and richer countries.
Unless the unrestrained pursuit and concentration of wealth and power is contained it will tear apart civilization.
4
The main slogan of the Leave campaign was "Take back control". Instead, we are giving away all the benefits of the single market and the customs union, all the benefits of being able to tax multi-national companies, or draft our own regulations ("non-tariff barriers"), and probably any hope we have of participating in the fight against climate change.
It is undemocratic to take an incohate expression of anger and use it as the excuse for a policy damaging the British people, but the moneyed elites are forcing it through on us.
Resist.
It is undemocratic to take an incohate expression of anger and use it as the excuse for a policy damaging the British people, but the moneyed elites are forcing it through on us.
Resist.
24
TRUMP & MAY Hasten the downfall of world order as we know it. May may seem more civilized and presentable. But the rest of the EU and globalized businesses are steering away from Britain. During the next 2 years, Britain is going to get a preview of what Brexit will really be like. Meanwhile, Trump, sitting on his Golden Throne of Royal Plops, is acting like the senile madman that he is. And May believes in his garbage. Poor EU, poor US. Poor world!
9
Who would have thought that Donald Trump could make Prince Charles popular? But, I'd pay to see that, Charles making Trump look stupid and small about global warming and so much else. Love him or hate him, Charles is an environmentalist. Plus, I expect he hates Trump's gaudy buildings too.
9
Whoa, just a bit of dissonance here. The final two paragraphs appear to be taken from the story about Trump's Irish golf resort "wall woes".
At best I have 20 years left to live. By then it won't matter to me about the mess that democracy will have made of this world. Our current government is quickly making us over into yet another heartless dictatorship. We are all sailing on a ship of fools captained by the biggest of all fools. I can't help but think all the time I spent in grade school pledging allegiance was a joke and a really big waste of time when I could have been learning to play a musical instrument or become fluent in Mandarin. Instead in my old age I have to sit back and watch the demise of our nation's promise.
14
Full disclosure: All of my friends in the U.K. were against BREXIT.
But then, being artists they didn't quite see things the way the Nigel Farage-led populist crowd saw it.
They knew that keeping ties with the rest of the European continent and its economy was necessary to remain on the world stage -- even if they had qualms with many of the decisions made by the Eurocrats sitting in Brussels.
But like many Americans, the (s)election of Donald Trump has put many Brits in an uproar, given the mixed signals he has been sending out since assuming office -- and Prime Minister May has her work cut out for her if she thinks a quick hop over the pond, and an invitation to tea in London is going to cut it with him.
The right-populist movement has found solid footing all across Europe, and there's no way of telling which way the wind is blowing until the upcoming elections in France, Germany and the Netherlands have taken place.
And with Globalization being slowly replaced by chants for strict isolationism, the world economy faces the prospect of possibly screeching to a grinding halt.
But then, being artists they didn't quite see things the way the Nigel Farage-led populist crowd saw it.
They knew that keeping ties with the rest of the European continent and its economy was necessary to remain on the world stage -- even if they had qualms with many of the decisions made by the Eurocrats sitting in Brussels.
But like many Americans, the (s)election of Donald Trump has put many Brits in an uproar, given the mixed signals he has been sending out since assuming office -- and Prime Minister May has her work cut out for her if she thinks a quick hop over the pond, and an invitation to tea in London is going to cut it with him.
The right-populist movement has found solid footing all across Europe, and there's no way of telling which way the wind is blowing until the upcoming elections in France, Germany and the Netherlands have taken place.
And with Globalization being slowly replaced by chants for strict isolationism, the world economy faces the prospect of possibly screeching to a grinding halt.
6
Showing off a Trump brand tie he had purchased in New York, Harry Trueman of the Sunderland City Council noted, “It’s the only thing Trump can produce,” Trueman told me. Then he showed me the label: “Handmade in China.”
So, here is the question: Why does not Trump bring back jobs to the USA by making his ties in the USA?
As the saying goes, charity begins at home. Can Trump take the lead?
So, here is the question: Why does not Trump bring back jobs to the USA by making his ties in the USA?
As the saying goes, charity begins at home. Can Trump take the lead?
We have large swaths of the worlds population being left out in the cold. They can no longer count on that repetitive job at the factory, it is now done by a computer and a robot. I don't profess to begin to know the answer but perhaps population control is in order and a rethinking of our service sector to replace the dominance of consumer goods.
9
Brexit and Obamacare have an interesting similarity. The decision made to scrap the EU and scrap Obamacare with little thought or intelligence as to replacement, or how long the process of replacement will take, brings each decision into question. What have we done? It is now going to take years to "do" the Brexit deal. Folks will be asking themselves "what did I vote for back then?" Obamacare is now Repair and Replace. We see the start of back-peddling by Trump and Co. who yesterday said it will now take a year or so before anything substantial is accomplished. Uncertainty. Uncertainty has been introduced at a time when stability is most needed. We have become more vulnerable to negative change - to outside intervention - by these actions. All the bans on immigrants and refugees will do nothing to help our larger condition of vulnerability. Russia, Iran, North Korea, China, and India - and all non-NATO members are wondering now about choosing sides for real. With leaders like Putin, Trump and May in charge of major international players, one has to ask: have we already gone down an inevitable road to major worldwide conflict?
6
Those of us who voted for Brexit are not fools, for years the EU has overridden the wishes of the electorate, not just in the UK but across Europe. Immigration was the main reason for the Brexit vote, part of this is because England is now the most overpopulated country in Europe, our health service is in disarray, our roads are congested. There is a housing shortage which cannot be alleviated without destroying our countryside. Over the last few years we have also lost some of our industries to the EU, HP foods for instance. Still David Cameron could not get an agreement from EU bureaucrats to limit free movement of people which has led to the underpopulating of Eastern Europe and the overpopulating of Western Europe. This proved if anything how the EU was completely distant from us in the UK, especially England. Our government kept saying we are part of the EU and have to obey their laws so who were we to blame our weak kneed politicians or the EU's unelected bureaucrats, we blamed both, hence the vote. Simply put, there are no guarantees that our divorce from the EU will be a success but there are also none that it will be a failure. We have been threatened before and we come through, we have been through harder times than this and we have survived. Don't write us off yet.
6
What PM May promotes is the idea of bilateral trade agreements to replace the multilateral agreements that were embodied in the EU. In theory, there's no reason why a web of bilateral agreements can't replicate the EU and multilateralism. In practice, it's reinventing the wheel for each country and theory runs up against countries that have their own agendas that can be put into practice with a negotiation with a single Britain.
I want Cohen to tell us about his personal healthcare and providers.
My older friends in the UK are not getting the medical help they so desperately need although they paid into the system their whole, entire work lives.
How is this fair Mr. Cohen?
Reducing the amount of people immigrating and using the generous National Health care may help them get forward in the waiting queue.
My older friends in the UK are not getting the medical help they so desperately need although they paid into the system their whole, entire work lives.
How is this fair Mr. Cohen?
Reducing the amount of people immigrating and using the generous National Health care may help them get forward in the waiting queue.
6
Doing without all those immigrant doctors in the UK (the NHS relies heavily on physicians "imported" from Africa and Asia to handle the public health system) will certainly do the opposite of making life better for UK citizens.
Most white UK doctors are in private practice and do not accept NHS patients. If you disallow immigration, especially in the areas of need, it affects the country in a big way.
Likewise, in the US, doctors are in shortage in many rural areas of the nation, and immigrants usually end up taking the low paid, long work hour jobs in health care (including doctors). Yes - we can kick them out, or prevent new doctors from entering the country, but don't be surprised if we have negative consequences as a result.
Most white UK doctors are in private practice and do not accept NHS patients. If you disallow immigration, especially in the areas of need, it affects the country in a big way.
Likewise, in the US, doctors are in shortage in many rural areas of the nation, and immigrants usually end up taking the low paid, long work hour jobs in health care (including doctors). Yes - we can kick them out, or prevent new doctors from entering the country, but don't be surprised if we have negative consequences as a result.
3
May can't wait to do away with the sanctions on Russia either! Mayfair real estate prices are on the rise again! Yay oligarchs!
The Brits will reap the "rewards" of Brexit just as we will suffer under Trump.
Hopefully the continental Europeans are watching as closely as I think they are. People like Marine LePen must be defeated. People like Angela Merkel must be supported. There must be a sanctuary for Western values.
Hopefully the continental Europeans are watching as closely as I think they are. People like Marine LePen must be defeated. People like Angela Merkel must be supported. There must be a sanctuary for Western values.
There's nothing pointless about refusing to let in millions of Muslims who do not share the values of the west.
7
Most of the disaffected on both sides of the pond are white, middle class or working class and live in fear that the world is changing faster than they can keep up with. Thus, they want a return to the golden years that never really were. Couple that with the lies and deceits and carnival trickery that was used to corral them into the pen, and you have a perfect storm of opportunity for nationalist pols with the scruples of big-city cockroaches. While many of their grievances are valid, the 'cure' will be worse than the malady.
3
I doubt the Queen is amused.
5
Sucking up to Donald Trump will get you a positive comment on his Twitter feed and not much else. The last people it's going to benefit are Britain's working class. I suspect they'll figure this out well before the blue-collar folk here do.
5
Countries operate on their interests, inside the EU Britain had a voice, with the US Britain will just be a sidekick. what are they going to do export Nissans to the US?
3
A large majority of the western masses have very little understanding of the mechanisms of international trade and oversight of trade deals by the World Trade Organization and how exiting the EU complicates the GB's international standing on free trade.
The masses do not understand that Great Britain's exit from the EU includes negotiating new trade agreements that must conform to WTO standards to retain its Most Favored Nation (MFN) status, which GB currently enjoys as a member of the EU, and early signs indicate GB's new agreements (Nissan) may be in opposition to WTO's rules for maintaining its MFN status.
In addition, under Article 50 of the Lisbon Accords, the UK has a two year window to negotiate its withdrawal from the EU, which may include negotiating individual trade agreements within the EU or maintaining the UK's existing trade status within the entire EU, however any agreements are subject to unanimous approval by the EU member states. Note: this time frame will probably be extended.
During the withdrawal phase from the EU, GB's standing in the EU is unchanged, and therefore it is unlikely that most of GB's citizens are currently affected by the BREXIT vote, which depending on their own POV either proves the vote was meaningless or the consequences overrated.
However, if foreign corporations withdraw from GB, and international investment disappears, the lessons of BREXIT may be sooner than expected.
The masses do not understand that Great Britain's exit from the EU includes negotiating new trade agreements that must conform to WTO standards to retain its Most Favored Nation (MFN) status, which GB currently enjoys as a member of the EU, and early signs indicate GB's new agreements (Nissan) may be in opposition to WTO's rules for maintaining its MFN status.
In addition, under Article 50 of the Lisbon Accords, the UK has a two year window to negotiate its withdrawal from the EU, which may include negotiating individual trade agreements within the EU or maintaining the UK's existing trade status within the entire EU, however any agreements are subject to unanimous approval by the EU member states. Note: this time frame will probably be extended.
During the withdrawal phase from the EU, GB's standing in the EU is unchanged, and therefore it is unlikely that most of GB's citizens are currently affected by the BREXIT vote, which depending on their own POV either proves the vote was meaningless or the consequences overrated.
However, if foreign corporations withdraw from GB, and international investment disappears, the lessons of BREXIT may be sooner than expected.
2
If Brexit is such a bad idea, and if public opinion has reportedly swung the other way, why don't the Brits simply call another referendum? Where is Parliament on this?
3
As was stated at the time, many Brexit voters were making a protest vote not voting to get out the EU. Cameron's folly and the electoral college awarding the popular vote loser Donald Trump the presidency has thrown the special relationship between the US and the UK into a glaring light. Too bad for the UK that Trump doesn't see too much to be gained by cozying up to PM May. But the NYTs relentlessly blames Putin for all the bad choices made by voters. One should remember the voters in the US and UK didn't vote for policies so much as out of anger.
4
Americans generally fail to understand what Brexit means in British politics.
“None of us saw this coming,” for a train coming down the tracks.
"In fact, it’s unclear what the people voted for." Unclear to people who are the politicians that did not see the train coming.
Tony Blair's Third Way remake of the Labour Party disconnected British politics from many of their voters. The sell out by the Lib Dems to exactly what they opposed then put the seal on that.
The British may be staid, but they've never been submissive. There is a reason that democracy went so far, so early, in Britain compared to the Continent.
Someone like Roger Cohen is ideally placed to stand a bit apart, and see events surrounding Brexit as British politicians failed to do, and then explain it to the Americans who need to be clued in to the basics of British politics. Unfortunately, he does not do that here.
The Tory leader, Prime Minister May, said she was against Brexit, but that was half hearted and now she is making it happen, rather pleased to do so.
The Labour Leader said he was against Brexit, and still says so, but has always been half hearted about that, even more so than May.
Yet both were "surprised" by Brexit and both fail to appeal to Brexit, even as they fail to sign on to serious opposition to it.
Leading British politicians are trying to have it both ways. They fail to connect with voters on either way.
The political leadership is dysfunctional, and therefore so is Brexit.
“None of us saw this coming,” for a train coming down the tracks.
"In fact, it’s unclear what the people voted for." Unclear to people who are the politicians that did not see the train coming.
Tony Blair's Third Way remake of the Labour Party disconnected British politics from many of their voters. The sell out by the Lib Dems to exactly what they opposed then put the seal on that.
The British may be staid, but they've never been submissive. There is a reason that democracy went so far, so early, in Britain compared to the Continent.
Someone like Roger Cohen is ideally placed to stand a bit apart, and see events surrounding Brexit as British politicians failed to do, and then explain it to the Americans who need to be clued in to the basics of British politics. Unfortunately, he does not do that here.
The Tory leader, Prime Minister May, said she was against Brexit, but that was half hearted and now she is making it happen, rather pleased to do so.
The Labour Leader said he was against Brexit, and still says so, but has always been half hearted about that, even more so than May.
Yet both were "surprised" by Brexit and both fail to appeal to Brexit, even as they fail to sign on to serious opposition to it.
Leading British politicians are trying to have it both ways. They fail to connect with voters on either way.
The political leadership is dysfunctional, and therefore so is Brexit.
14
a surplus of half hearted politicians may provide potential for a whole heart. A more serious problem is the surplus of voters with only half a brain....
"Americans generally fail to understand what Brexit means in British politics"
No surprise there, especially after seeing what they voted into office here.
No surprise there, especially after seeing what they voted into office here.
10
If the Brexit vote affected just those who feel abused, perhaps this experiment in conducting international relations in modern times would be one worth conducting. England out, on her own, fine.
As it is two much more dire consequences will be Brexit's affect on Scotland, and on Northern Ireland, the latter arguably the more dangerous, given the history of The Troubles and Stormont Agreement's applaudable, working resolution of them. Brexit's probably imposition of a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland may endanger that.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/brexit/enda-kenny-warns-hard-bord...
Theresa May nevertheless insists that the UK must follow where England leads.
As it is two much more dire consequences will be Brexit's affect on Scotland, and on Northern Ireland, the latter arguably the more dangerous, given the history of The Troubles and Stormont Agreement's applaudable, working resolution of them. Brexit's probably imposition of a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland may endanger that.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/brexit/enda-kenny-warns-hard-bord...
Theresa May nevertheless insists that the UK must follow where England leads.
1
Roger Cohen: Teresa May....is NOT coddling Donald Trump....she is standing
her ground....and so you Cohen have written what is known now as the
current idiom aka "the alternate truth" which is NOT a truth...
Let us NOT get used to reading and accepting "alternative truths"....because
this is a greasy ugly trap for journalists....
Teresa May sees a wider picture of the world....and does so correctly.
The world is intertwined economically without political restraints....and these
fraying ties ...which do not coincide political commitments alongside
economic commitments are what is causing so much harm....
International laws...need an overhaul....and it is law...first then economic ties
second or alongside the laws which are the "ties that bind" ....Teresa May
sees this ...after all British Empire political philosophy is NOT dead...but
thankfully dormant....I suggest you read "The Bayard of India"....which
was a way to win the peace...years and years ago.
her ground....and so you Cohen have written what is known now as the
current idiom aka "the alternate truth" which is NOT a truth...
Let us NOT get used to reading and accepting "alternative truths"....because
this is a greasy ugly trap for journalists....
Teresa May sees a wider picture of the world....and does so correctly.
The world is intertwined economically without political restraints....and these
fraying ties ...which do not coincide political commitments alongside
economic commitments are what is causing so much harm....
International laws...need an overhaul....and it is law...first then economic ties
second or alongside the laws which are the "ties that bind" ....Teresa May
sees this ...after all British Empire political philosophy is NOT dead...but
thankfully dormant....I suggest you read "The Bayard of India"....which
was a way to win the peace...years and years ago.
2
Yes but Mexico has a 120 million young and growing population that is the #3 American trading partner and source of imported foreign crude oil and is the # 2 American export market. And Mexicans can walk or drive to an America that has 11% Mexican ancestry and has more German Americans than any other kind of Americans. Bratwurst and tacos are far more appealing than bangers and mash.
5
Nothing wrong with bangers and mash....and squishy peas.
3
A lot depends upon elections elsewhere in Europe later this year. The EU as it has existed looks to be in deep and deepening trouble and it did not have to be this way.
The Eurocrats have taken the wise idea of a common trading bloc and used it to force Neoliberal economics and other things not advertised in the EU deal upon the nations of Europe. It is disingenuous to posit that a common trading bloc has to be the bloated, undemocratic and hapless EU or nothing.
The same is true here. We can have "free trade" that is truly fair trade without these bad trade deals that put American workers in direct competition with sweatshops that have no worker safety rules, no environmental regulations and that employ child labor. That is what we would have had with the TPP President Obama negotiated - US workers competing with 65 cent an hour Child Labor in Vietnam. How that is in the best interest of anyone other than a Bankster or other soulless 1%er is beyond me.
Resource scarcity and climate change will put an end to globalism as we have known it, which is a euphemism for an endless search for cheap wages and no regulation. We need some international trade- America grows no Bananas- but we do not need to import cotton that we can readily grow in Mississippi.
Presenting those who supported Brexit as uninformed rubes is a less than accurate statement of the facts. It may be true in some- but not all- cases.
The Eurocrats have taken the wise idea of a common trading bloc and used it to force Neoliberal economics and other things not advertised in the EU deal upon the nations of Europe. It is disingenuous to posit that a common trading bloc has to be the bloated, undemocratic and hapless EU or nothing.
The same is true here. We can have "free trade" that is truly fair trade without these bad trade deals that put American workers in direct competition with sweatshops that have no worker safety rules, no environmental regulations and that employ child labor. That is what we would have had with the TPP President Obama negotiated - US workers competing with 65 cent an hour Child Labor in Vietnam. How that is in the best interest of anyone other than a Bankster or other soulless 1%er is beyond me.
Resource scarcity and climate change will put an end to globalism as we have known it, which is a euphemism for an endless search for cheap wages and no regulation. We need some international trade- America grows no Bananas- but we do not need to import cotton that we can readily grow in Mississippi.
Presenting those who supported Brexit as uninformed rubes is a less than accurate statement of the facts. It may be true in some- but not all- cases.
21
"Presenting those who supported Brexit as uninformed rubes" serves some American political purposes. It helps hide the problems that the US does not face up to either.
A real understanding of what is happening in Brexit would be very uncomfortable to both American political parties.
There is a reason so many on the Continent always referred to Britain as Perfidious Albion. They balanced off shore, with their only permanent allegiance being to their own interests, shifting among various Continental interests for their own best advantage. They still are. We don't want to talk about that.
A real understanding of what is happening in Brexit would be very uncomfortable to both American political parties.
There is a reason so many on the Continent always referred to Britain as Perfidious Albion. They balanced off shore, with their only permanent allegiance being to their own interests, shifting among various Continental interests for their own best advantage. They still are. We don't want to talk about that.
5
The masses of those who supported Brexit are uninformed rubes. Most people are.
Regarding the TPP trade agreement. I guess we should be grateful that we abandoned it when we did. That is if one wants China to call ALL the shots as to how it would be implemented. That's right, trashing all these trade deals is a fool's choice. NAFTA, the big bogeyman has proven to improve not only our own trade deficit but created a much more successful economy for Mexico. Before you all start howling though it has allowed the average Mexican worker to want to remain in Mexico according to the immigration numbers coming out of the agency responsible for keeping track of such statistics. In fact, there now is a net loss of Mexican of immigrants sneaking across our borders.
Now we need trump's wall to keep migrant labor from fleeing back to their homeland (see Alabama's crops dying on the vine for an example).
Now we need trump's wall to keep migrant labor from fleeing back to their homeland (see Alabama's crops dying on the vine for an example).
2
The very day after the Brexit vote the future president opened his renovated Turnberry golf course in Scotland, where he giddily boasted that due to the pound most certainly falling 'bigly', he was going to make much more money there.
Many years ago I played that gorgeous course with the unique above the cliffs lighthouse where Robert the Bruce was supposedly born, but as long as Herr Trump still owns it I would never set foot on it again even if someone would pay me mucho dollars to do so. SO SAD!
Many years ago I played that gorgeous course with the unique above the cliffs lighthouse where Robert the Bruce was supposedly born, but as long as Herr Trump still owns it I would never set foot on it again even if someone would pay me mucho dollars to do so. SO SAD!
I still am trying to understand what the voters -- Trumpsters in the US, Brexiters in the UK -- feel is the good that's going to come to them. What jobs? What kind of better life? How would it all work for them?
Shouldn't we ask these folks for essays of a minimum of 300 words?
Shouldn't we ask these folks for essays of a minimum of 300 words?
37
Understanding starts with the bad that has come to them from what has been going on for so long.
What better alternative is actually being offered to them by those who decry this alternative? Only more of the same.
In a binary choice system, when more of the same is a problem, then the only alternative wins, no matter how ill considered an alternative is presented.
What better alternative is actually being offered to them by those who decry this alternative? Only more of the same.
In a binary choice system, when more of the same is a problem, then the only alternative wins, no matter how ill considered an alternative is presented.
8
Well, I pity Theresa May and would not want to be hurrying across the Atlantic in her shoes. If she believes or hopes Donald Trump will cut England a nice fat trade deal she's in for a surprise. Trump only cuts fat trade deals for himself, with help from an army of lawyers (and then he lies about them, exaggerates them). Trump will not be moved by the implicit argument that the United States and Britain (which may soon be just England ... a little island, stripped of its empire) share a special historic bond. He doesn't DO history. Has never heard of Virginia Dare (first British child born in North America, they say) or the Massachusetts Bay Colony or the London Blitz or that meeting between FDR and Churchill and, um, Stalin (though there is a molded head of Churchill someplace on the White House).
What Ms. May needs is a little blackmail. Somebody tell her to talk to Putin.
What Ms. May needs is a little blackmail. Somebody tell her to talk to Putin.
15
Indeed, many Europeans are talking to Putin, except those closest to him on the Eastern edge, who fear being the coin paid for his favors.
3
Well, that's exactly why Europeans are talking to Putin....They could all end up being "closest to him on the Eastern edge", especially since Putin has no regard of what a border is.
5
I repeat, it's the UK that will leave the EU, not just Britain, and if Cohen doesn't know the difference, it's time he hit the books.
As for global warming, Trump is a hypocrite. He has a golf resort on the Atlantic coast of the Irish Republic, and has been fighting the Irish government for years for permission to build a wall to keep the rising sea from encroaching on his property.
As for global warming, Trump is a hypocrite. He has a golf resort on the Atlantic coast of the Irish Republic, and has been fighting the Irish government for years for permission to build a wall to keep the rising sea from encroaching on his property.
6
trump may get the Queen. But I guarantee there will be gigantic crowds of demonstrators on the streets.
Maybe if enough Brits promise enough huge demonstrations, trump will cancel his trip. Like he cancelled his trip to Milwaukee (Harley Davidson) due to the strength of the Resistance and the certainty of HUGE Demonstrations!
God Save the Queen! From trump.
Maybe if enough Brits promise enough huge demonstrations, trump will cancel his trip. Like he cancelled his trip to Milwaukee (Harley Davidson) due to the strength of the Resistance and the certainty of HUGE Demonstrations!
God Save the Queen! From trump.
52
The voters that passed Brexit and squeezed Trump into the office of President of the United States have something fearful in common: they reject other cultures far beyond the expiration date. What I mean is that the horse is already out of the barn and British and American voters just managed to close the dang door. Obviously too late to have any positive effect on their imagined loss of self esteem they none the less wanted to rattle the cage. It is now chaotic anarchy that was forewarned to be so. However, both nation's working classes missed the boat for the past 8 years.
What is mystifying to those of us on the other side of this result is how did the other side not know that the outcome was going to be disastrous for both economies. The absolute refusal to think ahead of the probable outcomes is beyond shocking. It has a bit of cultural suicide that will only get worse before it gets better, and another decade goes by without any real progress or benefit to the very people who are the angriest. This of course has a huge element of racism infused into the formula that saw the worst outcome, not only as a stunted moral failing but that will impact their pocketbook negatively.
Running away from whatever the perceived problem was has never been successful for any nation. Thinking that isolating ourselves will make money for the average working class family has no basis in fact nor any positive historical parallel.
What is mystifying to those of us on the other side of this result is how did the other side not know that the outcome was going to be disastrous for both economies. The absolute refusal to think ahead of the probable outcomes is beyond shocking. It has a bit of cultural suicide that will only get worse before it gets better, and another decade goes by without any real progress or benefit to the very people who are the angriest. This of course has a huge element of racism infused into the formula that saw the worst outcome, not only as a stunted moral failing but that will impact their pocketbook negatively.
Running away from whatever the perceived problem was has never been successful for any nation. Thinking that isolating ourselves will make money for the average working class family has no basis in fact nor any positive historical parallel.
15
What a misleading title! The queen, no matter how much I like her, expresses no such view. It's "constitutionally" inappropriate.
As to free trade, no one is for it. "Trade agreements" are vehicle for companies to rack up privileges and benefits. They are driven by lobbyists and often written by coprote lawyers to support coproate interests and throw workers and consumers under the proverbial bus.
As to free trade, no one is for it. "Trade agreements" are vehicle for companies to rack up privileges and benefits. They are driven by lobbyists and often written by coprote lawyers to support coproate interests and throw workers and consumers under the proverbial bus.
Brexit strikes me as the same thing as Trump's wall. Both are the manifestations of fear. Of others. Instead of working together to resolve problems England and America are saying the world is too scary to deal with so we'll cut off ties, put up walls and hide.
Isolationism may have worked in the ancient world, but today it is just a fool's choice. The globe outside every country exists. We are connected to Mexico by more than a physical border. England is connected to Europe by more than a physical tunnel. What happens in one part of the globe will impact the entire globe and no wall or shredded agreement will stop it.
It would be far better for each country to recognize we are all in it together, need to work together. That would give each of us much more influence on other countries, the world, to address our specific concerns and achieve our desired goals than disengaging and pretending others will have no impact on us.
Isolationism may have worked in the ancient world, but today it is just a fool's choice. The globe outside every country exists. We are connected to Mexico by more than a physical border. England is connected to Europe by more than a physical tunnel. What happens in one part of the globe will impact the entire globe and no wall or shredded agreement will stop it.
It would be far better for each country to recognize we are all in it together, need to work together. That would give each of us much more influence on other countries, the world, to address our specific concerns and achieve our desired goals than disengaging and pretending others will have no impact on us.
Trump ties can adorn. Trump ties can strangle, whether or not they are hand-made in China.
As a western community, we are proving ourselves unfit to adjust to the inevitable social disruptions of technology-driven economic change. We yearn to recapture conditions that have long since fled, abjuring the collective initiative to shape and capitalize on what is coming whether or not we like it. Accordingly, we yield to the tug of our own entropy, placing trust in demagogic figures who, while promising what can never again be, threaten to hasten the decay.
Thus, far from suffering the failure of democratic self-governance, we are failing it. Figures like Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and Marine Le Pen are the advance guard of the charge led by Vladimir Putin. But we are the blindly willing cannon fodder.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
As a western community, we are proving ourselves unfit to adjust to the inevitable social disruptions of technology-driven economic change. We yearn to recapture conditions that have long since fled, abjuring the collective initiative to shape and capitalize on what is coming whether or not we like it. Accordingly, we yield to the tug of our own entropy, placing trust in demagogic figures who, while promising what can never again be, threaten to hasten the decay.
Thus, far from suffering the failure of democratic self-governance, we are failing it. Figures like Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and Marine Le Pen are the advance guard of the charge led by Vladimir Putin. But we are the blindly willing cannon fodder.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
4
A few years ago the U.K. banned Michael Savage (of Hate Radio's "Savage Nation") from entering the U.K. Then Prime Minister Gordon Brown said at the time that the ban was appropriate because Savage was "seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts and fostering hatred.” Sound familiar?
I couldn't agree more with the 1.8 million people from the U.K. who now think Trump should be banned as well for similar reasons. While that will never happen, P.M. Theresa May needs to get her mind right and stop pandering to Trump -- if she wants to hold onto her job.
I couldn't agree more with the 1.8 million people from the U.K. who now think Trump should be banned as well for similar reasons. While that will never happen, P.M. Theresa May needs to get her mind right and stop pandering to Trump -- if she wants to hold onto her job.
8
One of the more foretelling issues of how badly things will develop as both nations spin in place are the false predictions that the angry politicians keep feeding the less informed. Brexit is-was sold on the magical ideas that everything will be better at home: jobs will no longer be given to the undeserving immigrants who are hellbent on imposing Sharia Law. Ha, ha, ha is the only truth that is really waiting for that idea here in America, but Britain has some of this ridiculous sickness. The exiting process will take "years" is a real betrayal, showing all that the entirety of the whole campaign was a misdirected set of lies. That certainly holds true here with the "immediate repeal and replace of Obamacare" that we here in the states had been incessantly blasted by empty conservative promises. It won't happen for at least 2 years if at all, and by that time will be hailed as the new 'trumpcare' that will be identical to Obamacare.
So how does the Brixet and trump voter really think about this sad betrayal, all those "years" down the road. This could (should) be a final rejection of racist hate, ceasing to vote against their own best interests, and holding local and national politicians feet to the fire to accomplish some positive changes, rather than throwing the 'baby out with the bath water'. Maybe then, if we survive trump, we can finally get right with the 21st Century. This 19th and 20th century garbage is stinking up the place and needs to be thrown out, period.
So how does the Brixet and trump voter really think about this sad betrayal, all those "years" down the road. This could (should) be a final rejection of racist hate, ceasing to vote against their own best interests, and holding local and national politicians feet to the fire to accomplish some positive changes, rather than throwing the 'baby out with the bath water'. Maybe then, if we survive trump, we can finally get right with the 21st Century. This 19th and 20th century garbage is stinking up the place and needs to be thrown out, period.
4
Cameron thought that the Brexit vote would amount to a vote of confidence in his government, and he got a bad surprise. His was the fundamentally-stupid miscalculation we call "picking up pennies in front of the steam roller." He would have gotten very little by winning this referendum; losing it was catastrophic to his career, the judgement of history, and the people of the UK.
The people of the UK had a real problem; perhaps a throbbing headache.... but they reached in anger for a bottle of cyanide . They haven't swallowed it yet, but it appears that they will.
If there is anyone in the UK who thinks that alignment with Donald Trump will save the UK from the folly of Brexit, I warn these self-deluding lackwits that reality always wins.
The people of the UK had a real problem; perhaps a throbbing headache.... but they reached in anger for a bottle of cyanide . They haven't swallowed it yet, but it appears that they will.
If there is anyone in the UK who thinks that alignment with Donald Trump will save the UK from the folly of Brexit, I warn these self-deluding lackwits that reality always wins.
34
It has been reported, that the Trump Administration has given the United Kingdom an ultimatum.
When Trump comes to visit the U.K., Prince Charles has been forbidden from talking about Climate Change while Trump is there.
If Charles does not do as he's told, Trump is liable to "erupt".
When Trump comes to visit the U.K., Prince Charles has been forbidden from talking about Climate Change while Trump is there.
If Charles does not do as he's told, Trump is liable to "erupt".
"Prime Minister Theresa May has since intervened with Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn, and the company recommitted to the plant last year. "
Doesn't that pretty much obviate the main argument of this column?
Nobody's falling off a cliff. Everyone will find ways to make things work pretty much as they did before. And the British will have more control of their own destiny. Thanks for reassuring those of us who aren't hysterically overreacting to events in London and Washington.
Doesn't that pretty much obviate the main argument of this column?
Nobody's falling off a cliff. Everyone will find ways to make things work pretty much as they did before. And the British will have more control of their own destiny. Thanks for reassuring those of us who aren't hysterically overreacting to events in London and Washington.
7
Yes, and thank you Philboyd!
2
No. The main argument stands.
Nissan agreed to stick around only after the UK government provided it with "support and assurances." Nobody knows what that means in detail, because neither side is revealing anything, but the European commission is investigating to make sure it doesn't breach regulations that stop member states propping up industries or companies if that means they're disadvantaging players in other parts of the EU.
More recently, Nisan has said it'll review its position once the terms of the Brexit deal are know.
In other words, the British government bought a bit of time at an unknown cost. That's hardly finding "ways to make things work pretty much as they did before."
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/nov/06/european-commission-exa...
Nissan agreed to stick around only after the UK government provided it with "support and assurances." Nobody knows what that means in detail, because neither side is revealing anything, but the European commission is investigating to make sure it doesn't breach regulations that stop member states propping up industries or companies if that means they're disadvantaging players in other parts of the EU.
More recently, Nisan has said it'll review its position once the terms of the Brexit deal are know.
In other words, the British government bought a bit of time at an unknown cost. That's hardly finding "ways to make things work pretty much as they did before."
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/nov/06/european-commission-exa...
2
The optics of a female genital grabbing 70 year old juvenile delinquent named Donald Trump with British Prime Minister Theresa May and Queen Elizabeth II is made for a reality TV program instead of a Masterpiece Theater slot.
The sun set on the British Empire and rose in the American Empire. And well-mannered civilized afternoon British high tea has been replaced by a crass craven Tea Party. Trump is no Winston Churchill nor Franklin Roosevelt. And neither May nor ER II are any thing like Queen Elizabeth I.
The sun set on the British Empire and rose in the American Empire. And well-mannered civilized afternoon British high tea has been replaced by a crass craven Tea Party. Trump is no Winston Churchill nor Franklin Roosevelt. And neither May nor ER II are any thing like Queen Elizabeth I.
9
I have no desire to visit England, the heartland of this kind of deeply stupid thinking. The world is changing rapidly and an America catering to the worst of all possible solutions to its problems is not going to be the rescuers of an equally unfortunate political decision. Between the lines is the refusal to face the facts and the use of slogans and fears as the basis of economic and social planning.
We are on the verge of a dictatorial state where the balance of power is shifting to a fool and liar and a Congress acts like a useless appendage to vile actions and decisions that harm rather than help. When the courts are reorganized as an appendage of the Presidency, then the job will be done and the eventual decline of the West will equal the chaos of the Middle East. Time to not have children and to hunker down as the coming collapse brings us back to a new Dark Age in which the very earth and air are destroyed. The religionist will get their wish but not there will be no heaven in the sky, no return of a Messiah, just an end to the human species as bombs rain down their long for ultimate destruction.
We are on the verge of a dictatorial state where the balance of power is shifting to a fool and liar and a Congress acts like a useless appendage to vile actions and decisions that harm rather than help. When the courts are reorganized as an appendage of the Presidency, then the job will be done and the eventual decline of the West will equal the chaos of the Middle East. Time to not have children and to hunker down as the coming collapse brings us back to a new Dark Age in which the very earth and air are destroyed. The religionist will get their wish but not there will be no heaven in the sky, no return of a Messiah, just an end to the human species as bombs rain down their long for ultimate destruction.
4
People are easily duped. Nigel Farange leaves his job in the EU parliament (he was losing his seat so convinced Britain to leave the EU) for a job at Fox TV in the US and presumably a membership at a Trump golf club. Boris Jognson gets a seat in government. The people get an uncertain future. The US has Trump - a man who lives in hotels. The White House is understaffed and almost vacant. Trump installed a big TV in the dining room - that says it all. So as Britain loses the EU and the US loses its mind, the manipulator so get big bucks and a round on the golf course. Jobs? You'll need to wait for the next huckster.
7
Who cares that 48% wanted Britain to stay in the EU? They LOST! This idea that elections don't count if they are close is an especially pernicious political disease. You can't nullify elections because you fell short of success. One recurrent theme remains from the Obama presidency: "elections have consequences". Concentrate on winning them, not overthrowing them.
It's like they said to slaves when they were set free in 1865: "You'll regret not staying with your master. You can't make it on your own. You'll starve!" So, now, the people of Great Britain will regret not listening to the execs at Nissan and those who run the Bank of England? Let us not think we can pursue our own destiny, chart our own course in this world without our corporate masters - because we'll starve?
4
Lots of speculation on the future. My own fear is that the absurd 'American First' goal of Trump and the GOP will become 'America Uber Alles' as their actions and policies begin to disrupt the US and world economies. As Pres Cheney did, "we are screwing up, better invade someone". Pres Bannon will guide Trump thru this process as it becomes harder and harder to simply blame Obama for failures. As Putin's aggression in the Ukraine was designed to cover his governing failures, Trump will do the same to cover his.
7
'America Uber Alles' already disrupted the US and world economies.
Those were the Bush years. Obama tried to undo it, but much of it remains.
Those were the Bush years. Obama tried to undo it, but much of it remains.
4
Isn't "America First" about tending our own garden, before we help others? Some of us who didn't vote for Donald Trump respond to his victory as an opportunity to hold President Trump to his campaign promises, especially getting Americans back to work.
3
The existential problem is more that trade, where will jobs come from? The U.S. and Great Britain face a huge threat as manufacturers are investing more in Capital( robotics )and less in labour. Computers also threaten jobs, in transportation, legal services, and accounting. The speed of transition is exponential and is increasingly causing a political backlash among those left behind.In the past some unforeseen new industry has always arrived to bail out the system. Such an event is desperately needed or the economic future is ominously dystopian.
3
There is a body of opinion on the continent that the EU will be better off without the British who have a long history of wanting (and getting) special advantages and exceptions as an EU member.
For the UK, the best hope seems to be, to have a new plebiscite after the actual terms of the exit become known, and what they mean for the economical and political future of the UK.
For the UK, the best hope seems to be, to have a new plebiscite after the actual terms of the exit become known, and what they mean for the economical and political future of the UK.
5
Europe doesn't need ramparts, they already have a moat! They will increasingly be very glad to have it.
5
And the powers that be are wondering why working class Brits think that the EU is a failure? It would seem to me that if the consequences of 30 years in the EU are "this northeastern town that has lost its shipyard, its coal industry and its glass manufacturers in recent decades" it would be a no-brainer for the super-smart educated elite to see what went wrong. Or maybe they're not so smart after all.
11
Willfully blind.
Simply don't care about those people, and let it show.
Simply don't care about those people, and let it show.
3
The worst political decision in this century so far has to be the Republicans nominating Donald Trump as their nominee, of course. But running a very close second is former prime minister David Cameron's decision to put Britain's EU membership at stake in a referendum. It was incomprehensible at the time and now looking back, I still do not understand the necessity of it. All he had to do was to go to Parliament, where he knew that across party lines there were more MP's favouring continued EU membership than in leaving. History, I'm afraid, will not be kind.
5
Elitist and proud of it.
4
Great Britain could have solved the issue of the 'forgotten' within the EU. Brexit seems suicidal for its generous market within the European Union; but then again, stupidity was never in short supply. And Ms May's belief in fraudster Trump is shortsighted and certainly premature.
4
I think Cohen is correct in his observation about Britain becoming a European appendage of the U.S. Britain should be careful about what, exactly, it's appending itself to with Trump and his no-nothing alt-right tweeters and bloggers at the helm... Perhaps May should be courting Merkel at this tumultuous historical juncture.
7
I agree with the commentators that state the Brexit vote and the election of trump share the commonality of those who feel left behind. What I don't understand is why our respective governments have not made the reeducation of our workforces more of a priority. Twenty-first century jobs require a different set of skills and abilities than twentieth century manufacturing jobs. Skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, proficiency with technology...
In America - we should not only be focused on STEM (or STEAM as I prefer - infusing learning with the arts) for our children - we should be focused on the reengineering of our workforce to enable them to compete world-wide for high end manufacturing jobs that exist today. Any manufacturing jobs that trump and his team keep in America will be robotic - and will not "save" the jobs at the level his followers expect. Once again - they will feel left behind.
Piece-meal manufacturing jobs will not make America great again because Americans will not pay the higher prices for the goods they create...nor will anyone else.
This transformational change will not be easy...any more than it was easy 100+ years ago when we moved from an agricultural economy to a manufacturing one...when buggy makers had to learn how to work on an automobile assembly line...but it is happening. We are just not prepared for it.
In America - we should not only be focused on STEM (or STEAM as I prefer - infusing learning with the arts) for our children - we should be focused on the reengineering of our workforce to enable them to compete world-wide for high end manufacturing jobs that exist today. Any manufacturing jobs that trump and his team keep in America will be robotic - and will not "save" the jobs at the level his followers expect. Once again - they will feel left behind.
Piece-meal manufacturing jobs will not make America great again because Americans will not pay the higher prices for the goods they create...nor will anyone else.
This transformational change will not be easy...any more than it was easy 100+ years ago when we moved from an agricultural economy to a manufacturing one...when buggy makers had to learn how to work on an automobile assembly line...but it is happening. We are just not prepared for it.
7
"why our respective governments have not made the reeducation of our workforces more of a priority"
Just reeducation is an excuse, blame the victim for being stupid.
Why don't our respective government make our workforces more of a priority?
Where are those better jobs? Where is that future? They don't produce.
Just reeducation is an excuse, blame the victim for being stupid.
Why don't our respective government make our workforces more of a priority?
Where are those better jobs? Where is that future? They don't produce.
4
Brexit and Trump have shown that a few well placed lie repeated over and over can sway the average voter. But we've known that since the 1930's haven't we. It is bad sign for democracy that voters can be so gullible. Perhaps we need stiff fines for pants-on-fire lying during political campaigns. Trump's lies were and are easily debunked. We also need a crack down on the vile spew coming from talk radio and ultra-right we sites. Lying and inciting hate are not the same as free speach.
Well I think the Queen for a free trade deal is quite all right with me. Perhaps the Mexican government would jump at the chance to pay for building a castle here in the states as an official residence for visits. As having the Queen as Head of State instead of President Trump is probably much preferable to Mexico. However I am sure that would take a Constitutional Amendment and this congress and the states would not go for that until at least another six months in the term,(or a small nuclear war) by the new administration.
This is all a moot point however since it is doubtful the Queen would ever agree.
This is all a moot point however since it is doubtful the Queen would ever agree.
1
It seems to me that TRUMP wants to divide and conquer Europe. He wants to win, which in his mind means everybody else must lose. Europe is a competitor in his shrivelled-up brain. He forgets that Europe's countries have a long history of killing each other and that they have been peaceful for all of 70 years now. Funny how that is the same age as TRUMP??? From his egocentric and anti-historical point of view Europe has always been peaceful. Throwing Europe into economic disarray cannot end well.
Leaving the EU was tantamount to cutting your nose to spite your face, which is what Blue collar workers in America did to elect Trump.In a world of Global Markets, it’s essential to hold unto every market you can, not sever your ties. May’s effort to make up for losing the EU by replacing it with the US , will accomplish nothing, in as much, as Trump is heading toward isolationism.Nationalism was on it’s way out with out sourcing, it’s no longer the Red White & Blue, it’s been replaced by Green.
6
Sorry but one can partly blame Merkel for this.She shouldn't have let in all those refugees.What is worse is they didn't stay in Germany but flooded Sweden too.No one gave this woman the mandate to open borders like she did.Plus she was inflexible about Eastern European migrants.We did not ask for an unlimited number of Poles to swamp us.All of this scared away the English.An economic,cultural and military heavyweight has left the union.And what did we get?Terror attacks,wage dumping from poorer white Eastern Europeans (the white part is for the Americans) and insecurity.Bravo!
5
If you can partly blame Merkel, then you can partly blame war, colonialism, and poverty -- Not to mention the Schengen Agreement & the Dublin Regulation, which allowed unfettered access for all the migrants and refugees recently pouring across the continent, and the EU for welcoming less wealthy Eastern European countries into the Union.
And you can also blame Sweden too! -- for previously having such an open and liberal policy about welcoming foreigners that they all flooded there.
Another thing.
The "white part" isn't only for Americans, the color line exists in Europe too.
And you can also blame Sweden too! -- for previously having such an open and liberal policy about welcoming foreigners that they all flooded there.
Another thing.
The "white part" isn't only for Americans, the color line exists in Europe too.
2
Just as Trump has been called Putin's Poodle, perhaps May wants to be known as Trump's poodle. May should think of her visit to Trump as "First in, first out"
That is what happens when you pick the expedient over the well thought out plan.
That is what happens when you pick the expedient over the well thought out plan.
Prime Minister May is clearly in over her head. But Roger Cohen should save at least a little of his ire for her feckless predecessor, David Cameron, who gave Britain (and the world) the disaster of Brexit by putting the "unity" of the Conservative Party in parliament ahead of his country's best interests. In a phrase, there should never have been a referendum in the first place. For decades British politicians used the EU as a whipping boy, and the gutter press in London whipped up latent xenophobia to sell papers. (In the gutter with them was the "quality press", always looking for the man-bites-dog foibles of foreigners to regale the Colonel Blimps.) Now Britain will pay for the mistakes of its elites, just as we in the US will pay for the Republicans'.
4
70 years of the post WWII global order has culminated with Trump and Brexit. There must be a correlation between them.
4
May is Trump's poodle and Trump is Putin's bulldog.
35
Trump is Putin's lapdog.
3
First a surprised world with Brexit. Then an even more stunned world, with a so called slam dunk of the political elite election, headed by the Clintons, voted out of office, as were the Democrats, in both houses of congress, and most state houses. Next of course all eyes are on Merkel's hold on power and influence over France, and the fabric of the very EU. What is so so apparent is the polarity in America grows each day, not settling in to the will of the Red States, if that even matters anymore. The so called political elite, Hollywood, the media, Silicon Valley, and Wall street are dug in to get circumstances back as they were, as the simple evolution of change and how things should be. Now as we face 4 years of Washington dysfunction, after 8 years of dysfunction during the Obama administration, the courts have been deployed to assist to bring Americans back to their senses. New world of a class society. Those who have and those who have not. Obscene the multinationals can legally avoid US taxes. Obscene slave labor is ever abundant to rent around the globe, with zero benefit cost. Obscene we have arrived at the juncture where B1 visa's are essential, because Americans cannot fill the jobs. As time passes, it will become evident who we now are, and a revisit, did we even know what we used to be. New US as we watch genocide in the middle east simply not interested. Will probably will watch a Russian invasion of the Baltic on CNN, not interested. Empires don't last.
7
If about 48% wanted to “remain” and about 52% wanted to “leave”, then Britain failed at offering a rationale that was convincing enough to take ANY action; and it was merely the democratic insistence that action follow the rule of 50%-plus-one when a bare majority might have been conjured EITHER way that got them to this pass: action now WILL take place when about 50% of their people disagree REGARDLESS of what they do.
Britain, like the U.S. in numerous examples, notably healthcare, suffered a prolonged crisis of leadership and vision. Britain can be prosperous, contented and free whichever way it goes, with effective leadership … just as we can; or miserable, broke and divided whichever way it goes, with ineffective leadership.
Roger’s continuing contempt for his “Brexiters” continues to miss the point in the interests of one inappropriately berserker worldview: leaders all over the Western world are failing at their charge to LEAD, but they’re getting better at dictating their own preferred policies when they can, and expressing utter contempt for competing visions. Sensibly, we should consider tossing out ALL the rascals on ALL sides and voting in new rascals who might have a BETTER clue as to how to build material consensus on practical terms and unite populations on common themes.
And Mrs. Merkel ignores the real world outside her Kumbaya bubble at great risk to that bubble and the hordes of European government apparatchiki crammed in there with her.
Britain, like the U.S. in numerous examples, notably healthcare, suffered a prolonged crisis of leadership and vision. Britain can be prosperous, contented and free whichever way it goes, with effective leadership … just as we can; or miserable, broke and divided whichever way it goes, with ineffective leadership.
Roger’s continuing contempt for his “Brexiters” continues to miss the point in the interests of one inappropriately berserker worldview: leaders all over the Western world are failing at their charge to LEAD, but they’re getting better at dictating their own preferred policies when they can, and expressing utter contempt for competing visions. Sensibly, we should consider tossing out ALL the rascals on ALL sides and voting in new rascals who might have a BETTER clue as to how to build material consensus on practical terms and unite populations on common themes.
And Mrs. Merkel ignores the real world outside her Kumbaya bubble at great risk to that bubble and the hordes of European government apparatchiki crammed in there with her.
6
Oh dear, Richard. Your CAPS are multiplying at supersonic speed.
And since when are the healthcare systems of the UK and the US of par? The former is a single payer one, that still functions at less than half the cost of ours, and with better health outcomes to boot - including longevity.
And when it comes to Chancellor Merkel, you have obviously not followed the news that the other party's leader in the present German Grand Coalition, the center left SPD, now has a greater chance in this year's election to form a coalition government than the CDU of Merkel.
And since when are the healthcare systems of the UK and the US of par? The former is a single payer one, that still functions at less than half the cost of ours, and with better health outcomes to boot - including longevity.
And when it comes to Chancellor Merkel, you have obviously not followed the news that the other party's leader in the present German Grand Coalition, the center left SPD, now has a greater chance in this year's election to form a coalition government than the CDU of Merkel.
You just want 48% to be a win for the side you like, non-action.
1
Angela Merkel is on her way to become the leader of the free world. With a maniac in the WH this position is no longer available for the US
5
The British have got themselves into a huge mess. There are only two possible outcomes. Either some more apparent than real exit from the EU (the so called Norwegian option) or a genuine hard break. Initially, it looked as if the former was the more likely outcome but I've now personally come to the conclusion that the complete break is much more probable. There's been complete solidarity in the EU on all the major issues while the British are running around like headless chickens and as Britain's former EU ambassador who resigned said last week the negotiations are going to turn into a fist fight where the British are presented with a 40-60 billion euro bill, no transitional arrangement worth the name and no sector deals for autos, finance.
36
John, Theresa May's speech, pre-visit to kiss Trump's ring, made it abundantly clear that the Norwegian solution was off the table, likely because in order to maintain access to the unified market, they would have to accede to the rules accompanying that, including free movement of people, the number one bogeyman for Little Englanders.
It is going to be a hard Brexit, and May herself advocated worse that the hard line French were demanding.
The idea that May hitched her star to cutting a favorable deal with Trump is the desperate result of hope over experience. Anyone thinking Trump will honor any agreement or contract he signs is willfully ignorant of his record in that arena.
He would cut a deal with May, then demand dealbreakers after the fact.
It is going to be a hard Brexit, and May herself advocated worse that the hard line French were demanding.
The idea that May hitched her star to cutting a favorable deal with Trump is the desperate result of hope over experience. Anyone thinking Trump will honor any agreement or contract he signs is willfully ignorant of his record in that arena.
He would cut a deal with May, then demand dealbreakers after the fact.
And so it goes.
This is a divorce, and civil and rational divorces are very rare.
3
Back in Sunderland, Ross Smith, the director of policy at the Chamber of Commerce, told me: “Hopefully, the negotiations will take years. We don’t want to fall off a cliff.”
That says it all. If Brexit is such a wonderful thing, what is there to fear? Brexit is supposed boost Britain, not collapse it.
Britain is doing the US a tremendous favor. If they would quickly embrace the ultra-nationalist, isolationist, anti-globalist policies that Brexit was intended to accomplish, they would be in a position to demonstrate to the world how much better off they all are.
After they go full Brexit and their economy collapses, multi-nationals pull out, and millions of jobs are lost, our like-minded US counterparts will see the insanity of these positions. Better yet, they can't blame Obama for the outcome.
So full steam ahead Britain! Show us how you ruined your own nation before we ruin ours.
That says it all. If Brexit is such a wonderful thing, what is there to fear? Brexit is supposed boost Britain, not collapse it.
Britain is doing the US a tremendous favor. If they would quickly embrace the ultra-nationalist, isolationist, anti-globalist policies that Brexit was intended to accomplish, they would be in a position to demonstrate to the world how much better off they all are.
After they go full Brexit and their economy collapses, multi-nationals pull out, and millions of jobs are lost, our like-minded US counterparts will see the insanity of these positions. Better yet, they can't blame Obama for the outcome.
So full steam ahead Britain! Show us how you ruined your own nation before we ruin ours.
177
Boo hoo. Bonnie Prince Charlie is still whining about nonexistent global warming.
1
Nonexistent? What planet are you living on? Even most conservatives agree that the earth is heating up. They mostly insistent that man isn't the cause.
31
Make that "They're mostly insistent..."
3
"Nonexistent"(?) Surely you're joking?!
4
Your disparagement of obama helped make trump. Stew in your own juices buddy
17
Every word an absurdity. Legitimate criticism of one leader does not amount to creating a neo-fascist movement.
4
It would be interesting to see what else was hiding behind the Brexit vote, especially with respect to the stance of the labour party. Maybe in a few years time.
1
The UK government's unseemly haste to embrace Trump has been a warning to everyone else. Add that to the pointless humiliation of the Australian premier and the constant needling of Angela Merkel, and it becomes clear that the US is being rapidly reassessed in terms of its reliability as a partner.
This doesn't mean that Europe is going to abandon the US, but it is pushing the agenda forward in the EU. If the UK is leaving to become a lap-dog of the US, then Germany will have to step up to the plate militarily. France cannot carry the burden alone and the defence of the EU requires the Germans to get over their past and start to take their defence responsibilities seriously.
Meanwhile, the UK can take its chances on a free trade deal with the so-called President. Although, if I was Theresa May, I would make sure to get the deal inked before Trump gets to play emperor in Buckingham Palace. She wouldn't be the first person left swinging by the Donald's fast and loose approach to deals.
This doesn't mean that Europe is going to abandon the US, but it is pushing the agenda forward in the EU. If the UK is leaving to become a lap-dog of the US, then Germany will have to step up to the plate militarily. France cannot carry the burden alone and the defence of the EU requires the Germans to get over their past and start to take their defence responsibilities seriously.
Meanwhile, the UK can take its chances on a free trade deal with the so-called President. Although, if I was Theresa May, I would make sure to get the deal inked before Trump gets to play emperor in Buckingham Palace. She wouldn't be the first person left swinging by the Donald's fast and loose approach to deals.
28
Tom Murray
Hopefully Theresa May's embrace of Trump is also a warning to Republic of Ireland and N Ireland leaders to not look to the U.S. for support solving the resolution of the nature of the border between the Republic and Ulster.
From my U.S. perspective Trump strikes me as one who is unaware of the very real issues, and range of consequences, or, if aware to whatever degree, having no interest in seeking to help resolve them in the favor of the residents of the Republic and Northern Ireland should it run counter to his and Steve Bannon's ideological world view.
Hopefully Theresa May's embrace of Trump is also a warning to Republic of Ireland and N Ireland leaders to not look to the U.S. for support solving the resolution of the nature of the border between the Republic and Ulster.
From my U.S. perspective Trump strikes me as one who is unaware of the very real issues, and range of consequences, or, if aware to whatever degree, having no interest in seeking to help resolve them in the favor of the residents of the Republic and Northern Ireland should it run counter to his and Steve Bannon's ideological world view.
1
Seems to me that the new Prime Minister is a bit wobbly. She is obviously taking her best guess but I don't think the UK public has made of it's mind what it wants to tell their Parliament and Government to do. Stay Tuned.
5
Perhaps royalty are used to being pimped out for national interests? And people thought it was horrible when Clinton sold the Lincoln bedroom.
4
In the same way it was embarrassing to see royalty pimped for Xi Jin Ping a couple of years ago. All because George Osborne had enjoyed good times in China !
2
I spend hours every week watching the Prime Minister's Question time, on YouTube. It is oddly comforting, seeing a country that fights loudly for more nurses and hospital beds for the poor, that cares deeply about its responsibilities toward the millions of lost refugees, many of whom were displaced thanks to American war crimes in Iraq.
As an American, I think Great Britain has a massive amount to offer to the America people, and I wish it would stop being so obsequious to our huge mistake, Trump.
You are great, even with Brexit.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
As an American, I think Great Britain has a massive amount to offer to the America people, and I wish it would stop being so obsequious to our huge mistake, Trump.
You are great, even with Brexit.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
25
Britain is humiliating itself. It's embarrassing. Brexit is and will be an absolute disaster. If I were British political leaders, I'd be trying to come up with a way to reverse it. Instead, May is all in, navigating her country into a future of increasing irrelevance. It will be a striking message, however, if Trump does work out a free trade deal with Britain while, at the same time, tearing up NAFTA (to keep Mexico in poverty) and ripping up the TPP (to keep Asians in their place). It will be a stunning affirmation that Steve Bannon's ethnically and racially defined world is what the US is really working to preserve.
77
I really can nor say much about what Britain has set in motion with their vote to leave the EU. All I know about it is what I read. However, I will give you some advice, do not count on or trust "president" trump at all. He is a unbalanced lair whose only goal is to make himself look good and to enrich himself.
52
The one trick pony rides again. These globalists refuse to understand they are the cause of brexit, just as their globalist brethren among the cousins has led to trumpism. Their continued willful ignorance will lead to Le Pen-ism, Wilders-ism, a Basque exit, a Northern Front majority and perhaps even a missing Merkel. Nice work! And once more proving the point that these "liberals" and their vile alchemies continuously produce the exact opposite of their stated intent. There will not be enough tar and feathers to go round once they are unmasked and their comfortable hideouts revealed. Singapore awaits.
20
To say that British foreign policy is 'unedifying' is a bit of an understatement. Here's what is truly appalling. The Brits were sold Brexit on the basis that it would restore parliamentary sovereignty and make the country more independent. The May government has since been busy trying to stop parliament participating in the process of getting out of Europe - on the grounds (never wholly admitted) that the exercise of democracy will prove disruptive. Where foreign policy is concerned, it means toadying to the likes of Trump and Erdogan. Toady-in-chief is the appalling Boris Johnson, who lied his way through the referendum campaign. If the 'special relationship' meant anything it was the notion that the US and the UK shared certain inalienable values - but this now turns out not to be the case and we can support any actions of President Trump so long as a trade deal is in the offing. And meanwhile we further alienate Europeans who are our natural allies in supporting liberal democracy. What is happening in the US has the potential of tragedy. What's happening in Britain is merely sad and grotesque.
93
What's notable in the UK is the differential level of protest: Trump elicits outrage; Brexit, merely a shrug.
Most British politicians - and liberal-minded citizens - are in the grip of a miserable fatalism.
Everyone except the Brexit zealots understands that the process of leaving the EU will be a slow-motion economic and social train wreck whose malign effects will linger forever.
Yet the 48% - 'enemies of the people', according to the Trump-supporting right-wing press - lack all conviction. Well, nearly all; my local Labour MP, Tulip Siddiq, is an exception.
Some of my relatives live in Seaham, a former coal-mining town next door to Sunderland, so I understand the emotions of the 'left behind'.
However, these people have been lied to, Trump-style. Yet the push-back against falsehood on the part of senior politicians and the news media in the UK has been feeble, compared to the parallel efforts we currently witness in the US.
Nobody expects the UK to get a 'trade deal' with Trump that doesn't leave the UK worse off, not even Mrs May.
It's a fig leaf.
And it's all we can presently aspire to.
Most British politicians - and liberal-minded citizens - are in the grip of a miserable fatalism.
Everyone except the Brexit zealots understands that the process of leaving the EU will be a slow-motion economic and social train wreck whose malign effects will linger forever.
Yet the 48% - 'enemies of the people', according to the Trump-supporting right-wing press - lack all conviction. Well, nearly all; my local Labour MP, Tulip Siddiq, is an exception.
Some of my relatives live in Seaham, a former coal-mining town next door to Sunderland, so I understand the emotions of the 'left behind'.
However, these people have been lied to, Trump-style. Yet the push-back against falsehood on the part of senior politicians and the news media in the UK has been feeble, compared to the parallel efforts we currently witness in the US.
Nobody expects the UK to get a 'trade deal' with Trump that doesn't leave the UK worse off, not even Mrs May.
It's a fig leaf.
And it's all we can presently aspire to.
62
ms. May over reacted to the so called presidency of mr trump. she being the obvious brains between the two should have known better. well everyone makes mistakes and when things really go off the rails most nations in my lifetime get women to steer them correctly. now our new leader does not have that problem. he truly doesn't give a whit how anything works. therefore he doesn't need to learn a thing cause he knows it already.
the world is waking up to the buyer's remorse everywhere.
the world is waking up to the buyer's remorse everywhere.
36
Mr Potter, I wish the world *were* waking up, but there is no evidence that it is. I doubt the crew in the White House expect to succeed in "making America great again", but all their whirlwind activity is designed to allow them to whirl away safely from the chaos they create leaving the rest of us holding the bag -- and their opponents to be blamed for having tried to block this terrible destruction.
1
In 30 years in the work force, the biggest stimulus to employment has been the exchange rate.
Numbers I hear for the U.K are 20-25% currency depreciation, 15% tariff. This is why factories have not pulled out aft the Brexit vote.
Economists will tell you there are benefits, but they very rarely trickle down. Strong dollar are great for buying foreign companies, or investing abroad. Also makes the Villa and Benz cheaper. Great for the 0.1%
As a household that peaks in and out of the 1% (dual income professionals, good bonus this year - we loose our jobs we skid right down the income scale ) our export geared jobs are more important then getting a good deal on a pollution spewing German luxury sedan. And how is it bad to put incentives to buy local?
Numbers I hear for the U.K are 20-25% currency depreciation, 15% tariff. This is why factories have not pulled out aft the Brexit vote.
Economists will tell you there are benefits, but they very rarely trickle down. Strong dollar are great for buying foreign companies, or investing abroad. Also makes the Villa and Benz cheaper. Great for the 0.1%
As a household that peaks in and out of the 1% (dual income professionals, good bonus this year - we loose our jobs we skid right down the income scale ) our export geared jobs are more important then getting a good deal on a pollution spewing German luxury sedan. And how is it bad to put incentives to buy local?
5
One of the really bizarre aspects of this is that the term "Free Trade Agreement" and "Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement" is being flung around, but no one knows what such an agreement would look like or contain; sound great though. The Conservatives in fact are desperate to suggest that things that would be US trade priorities, such as NHS drug pricing (US Pharma wants to bar the NHS from using its size to negotiate cheaper prices, as with Medicare) and US companies bidding to run privatised NHS hospitals is not on the table, nor are hormones in beef, bleaching of chicken and a host of other issues. Everyone ignores that the UK has a hefty trade surplus with US in cars and machinery, a hot-button issue for Trump who wants to lower these surpluses.
What is really bizarre though is why people voted for Brexit. Consider this exchange from BBC Question Time last week from a Brexit voter, who announced proudly:
“I was voting remain, and at the very last minute I changed my decision and I went to leave, And the reason is because I go to a supermarket, and a banana is straight. I’m just sick of the silly rules that come out of Europe.”
The rule by the way was a prominent Euromyth, see
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/11/boris-johnson-launches-...
Brexit voter are desperate to be respected - to be considered intelligent. But for many people the "straight banana woman" summed up completely why so many voted to leave the EU.
What is really bizarre though is why people voted for Brexit. Consider this exchange from BBC Question Time last week from a Brexit voter, who announced proudly:
“I was voting remain, and at the very last minute I changed my decision and I went to leave, And the reason is because I go to a supermarket, and a banana is straight. I’m just sick of the silly rules that come out of Europe.”
The rule by the way was a prominent Euromyth, see
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/11/boris-johnson-launches-...
Brexit voter are desperate to be respected - to be considered intelligent. But for many people the "straight banana woman" summed up completely why so many voted to leave the EU.
52
Uh, we have alternative facts, fake news, and Fox, the godfather of it all. These similarities go together and provide a picture of the dysfunctional level of both nation's lack of just the straight news. Even then however explaining the outcomes with details is not 'popular'. So the quick lie or distortion becomes, magically somehow, the truth.
Make Britain great again!
(But after Scotland and Northern Ireland have left the UK.)
(And after the EU wants nothing to do with England/Wales.)
But, Trump can help make Britain great again!
(Because look how well Trump is making American great again).
The good news for Americans and the English: At least we'll have each other as we swirl into the toilet together.
(But after Scotland and Northern Ireland have left the UK.)
(And after the EU wants nothing to do with England/Wales.)
But, Trump can help make Britain great again!
(Because look how well Trump is making American great again).
The good news for Americans and the English: At least we'll have each other as we swirl into the toilet together.
162
I personally, would trade the entire monarchy for a case of beer.
Having said that, conservative rule has destroyed many areas of the country and many occupations have withered away. Further rising nationalism ( whiteness ) coupled with a woefully ignorant Brexit vote will destroy any business that may be hanging on by a thread.
All that will be left will be the orangmen to march...
Having said that, conservative rule has destroyed many areas of the country and many occupations have withered away. Further rising nationalism ( whiteness ) coupled with a woefully ignorant Brexit vote will destroy any business that may be hanging on by a thread.
All that will be left will be the orangmen to march...
63
Funky: check the vote in NI. East of the Bann, for, West of the Bann, against. An old divide--the closer to England, the dumber they are.
2
Roger Cohen, your words about the UK after BREXIT are the same for the US after Donald Trump was elected President in November - in both cases, the people voted to install Brexit and Trump in their countries - gainsaying losing the Eu Market of a half-billion people for the UK and coddling a xenophobic President for the US. You called Britain's situation in a "nutshell: uncertain, unfamiliar and unsteady" - which is the same nutshell we the American people are dealing with.
Different countries (Britain our "Motherland" before the American Revolution of 1789 that turned the 13 colonies eventually into states and with Manifest Destiny, into an entire great country), but similarly frightening situations on our hinge of history. The unknown ramifications of BREXIT, and what will become of our 45th President who won the election but has been proven a xenophobic bigot, surrounding himself with hench-colleagues and issuing Tweets with the rat-atat-tat of a drumstick on a revolutionary drum - who has created a ghastly foreign policy for America by making anti-Constitutional executive orders to ban immigrants of different faiths and colours from the US. We, the UK and America, are now tied in "nots".
Your funny remark that Teresa May, Prime Minister, is intent on turning Britain into America's "malleable little Euro-appendage" - Churchill and FDR are spinning delightedly in their graves. Laurels to you for clever wordsmithing: "Brexit is the rift that will keep on giving".
Different countries (Britain our "Motherland" before the American Revolution of 1789 that turned the 13 colonies eventually into states and with Manifest Destiny, into an entire great country), but similarly frightening situations on our hinge of history. The unknown ramifications of BREXIT, and what will become of our 45th President who won the election but has been proven a xenophobic bigot, surrounding himself with hench-colleagues and issuing Tweets with the rat-atat-tat of a drumstick on a revolutionary drum - who has created a ghastly foreign policy for America by making anti-Constitutional executive orders to ban immigrants of different faiths and colours from the US. We, the UK and America, are now tied in "nots".
Your funny remark that Teresa May, Prime Minister, is intent on turning Britain into America's "malleable little Euro-appendage" - Churchill and FDR are spinning delightedly in their graves. Laurels to you for clever wordsmithing: "Brexit is the rift that will keep on giving".
79
The main problem I'm encountering with Brexiers is the same with Trump voters in the US: no matter how much hard data, in-depth analysis and facts you bring to the table, they won't listen and their opinion won't budge.
I'm experiencing this with some British family members, with whom I've had very heated discussions on Brexit. I have lost all hope: they simply won't listen to any reasoning that goes against their nostalgic/nationalistic/British-pride mindset, no matter that it's completely baseless and stems from an antiquated worldview. They have found in the EU the perfect scapegoat for all their ills, and nothing short of the British Isles sinking into the ocean will change their view.
I'm experiencing this with some British family members, with whom I've had very heated discussions on Brexit. I have lost all hope: they simply won't listen to any reasoning that goes against their nostalgic/nationalistic/British-pride mindset, no matter that it's completely baseless and stems from an antiquated worldview. They have found in the EU the perfect scapegoat for all their ills, and nothing short of the British Isles sinking into the ocean will change their view.
203
@Andy
Currently In Europe
I've had similar discussions with friends of mine over there, quite sophisticated people in many cases, and you get a similar reaction. When pressed they can't advance an evidence based case for exit. It's all emotion and vague generalizations. Of course I have British friends on the other side who are very alive to the dangers. They have become philosophic and take the view that economic pain has to be experienced for commonsense to return but by then of course it will be too late.
Currently In Europe
I've had similar discussions with friends of mine over there, quite sophisticated people in many cases, and you get a similar reaction. When pressed they can't advance an evidence based case for exit. It's all emotion and vague generalizations. Of course I have British friends on the other side who are very alive to the dangers. They have become philosophic and take the view that economic pain has to be experienced for commonsense to return but by then of course it will be too late.
49
Theresa May (and the people of the UK) are playing Jasmine; the one from the recent Woody Allen movie. Delusional pride has so blinded them to realities that they will destroy all that they have.
Theresa May trying to latch onto Trump as the only savior she can see is beyond pathetic.
Theresa May trying to latch onto Trump as the only savior she can see is beyond pathetic.
3
Andy, that sounds so much like the core of GOP voters here!
The Brexit voter in the UK is the same as the Trump voter in the colonies.
To add insult to injury, Sunderland's football team is in danger of being relegated out of the English Premier League.
To add insult to injury, Sunderland's football team is in danger of being relegated out of the English Premier League.
25
Sunderland's football team is saddled with a clueless American owner who made his pile in private equity, Ellis Short. Their 4-0 demolition away to Crystal Palace bodes well for survival hopes. The scrap looks like boiling down to six teams for three safe places, including, incredibly, last year's longshot champions, Leicester City, still with at least two Champions League fixtures distracting from concentrating on staying up.
Sunderland has survived a high wire act avoiding what looked like sure relegation each of the last three seasons. Worst case would be Sunderland relegated at the same time as archrival Newcastle gets promoted into their place. Near neighbor Middlesbrough and further south Hull City are also relegation bait.
Sunderland has survived a high wire act avoiding what looked like sure relegation each of the last three seasons. Worst case would be Sunderland relegated at the same time as archrival Newcastle gets promoted into their place. Near neighbor Middlesbrough and further south Hull City are also relegation bait.
2
Mr. Cohen, I recall in previous articles has refenced the effect of complexity, tectonic plate shifts in the economy, the international relations, , cultural issues. As instructed for earthquakes, the public is choosing, facing this complexity, to duck, cover, and hold on.