What a strange article!
It appears the authors have spent too much time in London and have London centric bias. There are a number of reasons people voted to leave; the EU was not seen as democratic (the EU Parliament makes no laws and can only say Yes or No to laws proposed by the EU commission), UK sovereignty was being steadily eroded, millions of EU citizens flooded the UK workplace since 2004 which had a dramatic effect on the wages of the working class and caused massive problems with the availabilty of low cost housing.
London and the UK Govt cared more for the EU than the rest of the country.
There is a lot of animosity towards our parliamentarians and Government for spending the last 20 years or so providing London with everything they want - Crossrail, HS2, generous public transport, improved airports, etc, while those outside the South East of England get next to nothing.
I, for one, am not suprised by the result of the referendum. The remainers want another referendum. This is the same as the response by the EU when member states voted in referendums to block the Mastricht and Lisbon Treaties. "Go back and try again until you get the answer we want!"
No wonder those outside London voted in such numbers to leave the EU.
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@aelstor The perceived lack of democracy in the EU institutions is simply bizarre. First it is true that the EU parliament does not have the power to propose new law, but in many countries perceived as democratic this is exactly how this works already. Only the executive can propose laws. Second they do not simply say Yes or No, the EU parliament can certainly amend the proposals. Third, the EU parliament has been very good at making sure the decisions it makes are as consensual as possible. Fourth the law proposal come from the EU commission, which consists of one commissioner per member country nominated by the EU council. The EU council is composed of the various relevant ministers of every member country. The EU commission is approved by Parliament, with its president being the object of a specific vote. The EU parliament has the power to boot out the EU commission and it has happened in the past.
Overall, there is an executive branch composed of the various ministers of the EU and a legislative branch composed of separately elected EU members of parliament. I'm not quite sure what the problem is, really. Over the years, the power of the EU parliament has only increased.
Finally, there is the issue of jurisdiction. The EU essentially has jurisdiction over inter-members commerce issues and not much else. This include border laws, which is the one thing the UK IP really complains about.
Unfortunately, the Achilles' heel of the Leave camp is Northern Ireland.
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Many of the English are too isolated from Europe, constantly living in the past, thinking of the Colonial Power they once were, and not acknowledging that now they are nothing but a small country in the rain and living on Fish and Chips. If they will not join the EU recognizing their limitations they will suffer an emotional death.
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@rudolf Says who? Based on what data? You could live in the UK for ten years and never hear anyone mention "empire". The only people who talk about the British Empire are people like you and old folks who died 50 years ago. Move on.
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@rudolf Who are you to tell citizens of another country how they "should" live and what they "should" believe?
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@rudolf Actually no, we are not consumed by our colonial past. Yes, we are a small nation, but we are a proud one. It is ironic that as you sit in a country that rebelled against being governed by others, you are condemning the British while we are trying to do the same.
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The UK needs another Brexit referendum. There was too much deception and foreign interference in the first one. If the British people really want to leave the EU, a second Brexit referendum will confirm it.
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I see frequent negative references to laws made by bureaucrats, and I wonder if laws made by politicians are any better. I suspect that bureaucrats are less affected by party politics and lobbies and, therefore, they tend to be more objective in their intent. Now, whether they are effective or not is another issue, but the same can be said of laws made by local politicians In any event, British politicians and bureaucrats were involved in the making of EU regulations. What we do know is that the UK is in a bind to which no EU contributed.
I wonder if we looked hard and long if we wouldn't find Putin's long tentacles both in Brexit and the Yellow Vests. It isn't that there aren't real topics to discuss as the world moves forward and the class/wealth/cultural divides increase but I suspect that in the background for very little investment the Russians are reaping great rewards as the western democracies fracture.
Obviously this has already happened in the USA. But how to work a photo of Putin into this essay. You can't see the ghost in the shadows...
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@Bill Cullen, Author Sorry, but this is absurd. Did you read any of the articles about problems of the working and middle class French people? You are just trying to pretend that real people are not suffering, and I wonder why you want to discount and deny that they DO have valid issues and problems.
@Bill Cullen, Author Me; After I wrote this today, Senator Shumer speaking on the floor to keep sanctions on the Russians cited exactly what I said earlier; Russia interfered with Brexit... What comes next will be revelations about the Yellow Vests... It is not that there isn't real issues and a flame but the Russian intelligence agencies are there to work the bellows. This had been going on for 8 decades or more... The absurdity comes when people do not factor that in...
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@Bill Cullen, Author Sorry, but Shumer and other Dems are using/inventing the Russian bogey man as to distract from the problems globalism has brought to working and middle class westerners. It's obvious.
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You can tell you're an American when you see this photograph at the top of the story and really, really want to pick up that flag off the ground.
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Thanks on your charming and brilliant photographic journey. I have sat through lectures, television documentaries. I didn't think that there would be so many Anglo-Saxon attitudes in the New York Times. Fewer grandees and class-besotted. Also that the democracy of Britain also looks better throughout the referendum years - the British like democracy. I am half-French and don't really think myself as English and a mixed Britain. Myself, I have recalled not the dreadful government of Mrs May - as bad as Lord North that destroyed the states of the North America - but the glories of Parliament. I love the kitsch Gothic architecture, awful food, the rowdiest and eloquent speakers. Life goes on leaving the European Union, and a sense of civic humour and responsibility. This is a parliamentary version of the Speaker of the Corner of Hyde Park. Many heroes have been special, by their efforts in the endless debates about arcana of the Brexit debates. I hope in the end that Brits, wherever they stay in Europe, and I hope we will modernising our exasperating sometimes, and charming constitution. But you show what Orwell said in 1941 and what his paradoxes of England - he didn't mention Scotland and Wales - are as richly. Thank you very much, and I will think not the pomposity and shilly-shallying, the best side of England.
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Brexit, Trumpian nationalism and nativism in the U.S., the Yellow Vest movement in France, all have an underlying commonality. All stem from predominantly rural, predominantly lower income, predominantly less-educated populations motivated by a sense of 'left-behindedness', often hearkening to some past era of lost greatness. And they aren't completely wrong, though I think they mis-diagnose the causes. The secular trend in developed economies has been against unskilled or low-skilled labor for a long time now. The trend may have reached an acute phase.
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Great photography by Andrew Testa. The images draw us into the lives of those who are confronting the consequences of Brexit directly.
Whatever one's position on it, Brexit is a poorly thought, emotionally driven referendum that has no rational strategy for improving the lives of its supporters. It's like trumpism here: A demagogic attempt to rile poorly educated masses who vilify some ill-defined segment of the population as "elitist".
Problems need to be solved directly; in democracies, that means electing capable officials to create the solutions. But to accomplish that, electorates must be reasonably well educated to avoid succumbing to the manipulation of demagogs.
These photos show some of the angry population that have rallied around the simpleminded solution that needs much more thought. Democracies are a delicate balance. Now in the twenty-first century, we revisit democracy, seemingly unaware of its unsavory alternatives. The images introduce us to its people who are in that debate.
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Looking at the pictures of places such as Castle point and Grimsby reminds me that outside of London there is a huge problem with social poverty that has been ignored.
Poor post war planning emptied out the industrial slums of the cities, created suburbs and filled small towns and villages with the urban poor. These people became the suburban poor. Looked after by the welfare state, on paper, it looked like their economic prospects improved. But a lack of real economic opportunities and without the cultural or social glue which would usually bind communities that had formed over many generations, in the form of local traditions and micro-industries. These places have become poor in a way that is hard to measure and can be ignored by politicians.
Centuries economic centralisation to London have made the capital seem like another country.
Many of the people who voted for Brexit have the vague idea of bringing back Britain. Holding onto an idea of a country that is, to them loosely defined and threatened by immigration. I feel sad because all Brexit will probably do is make these people more easily defined as poor
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It seems to me that the western world is now caught between eras. Establishment or not, alliances or not. Brexit looks just like the sort of reaction that we had here in November of 2016, when Trump was elected. My point is, how could we not listen or see what's happening in our countries, so much so that the only alternative must be to swing 180 degrees in the opposite direction? I hope Brexit does not leave G.B. in a worse state than it's in now, but then, apparently, no one seemed to realize just how bad it was. As a child of the cold war, I am a die-hard fan of the Atlantic Alliance, and will always feel a great affinity for Brits. All my best to them.
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@Tom Heins Great post. I lived in the UK as a kid, still have friends there, and feel the same way you do. I don't know what's best for them as far as Brexit, but will remain loyal to them and care very much.
Boris distorted and disrupted British government and the British economy by selling colorful, ugly lies to the common people, just like his partner in crime, Trump, has done here.
The answer lies in education - because an educated populace can better see through the lies of these madmen.
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@common sense advocate It's a shame that election results falsely acquired (the massive NHS funding lie that encouraged Brexit votes/Russia's pro-Trump actions here) don't render those elections null & void so that new ones can be called.
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@common sense advocate It's a shame that referendum/election results falsely acquired (the massive NHS funding lie that encouraged Brexit votes/Russia's pro-Trump actions here) don't render those results illegitimate so that new elections can be called.
First, thank you for the wonderful photo album.
Second, my comment: This whole Brexit mess, which is similar to the mess in the U.S. and France, is the result of class warfare. The real "elites" are the wealthy, not the well educated. "Austerity," meaning the rich take a bigger and bigger share of the pie, has made the lives of the former middle class people miserable, and in their misery they strike out at others who suffer their plight, or worse.
What's needed is a return to progressive values, which include building a multi-racial people's movement with class awareness. No matter how Brexit turns out, things won't start moving in the right direction in Britain, or anywhere else, until the people stand up, together, and demand, no, take a fair share of the pie.
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Nice pictures...and soon to be a reflection of a bottomless pit of resentment and loss, isolating folks that desperately need each other as part of a great European adventure...if Brexit is allowed to destroy the bonds of friendship and, likely, the means to 'make it'. Why is it that we have to lose what we are and have...before we appreciate who we were and what we had?
I, as a taxpayer, would pay for Trump’s base and the Brexiteers to go live on a super duper safe island together.
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Wonder if there was a voice off in the distance at one of these rallies yelling "If you don't eat your pudding, you can't have any cake! How can you have any cake if you don't eat your pudding?!"
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Look at the photo of people in a pub watching referendum results on tv. Focus on the blond fellow - looks like Niles in Frasier - at the rear center of the crowd. Everyone else is passively waiting to see what happens. The blond fellow is lost somewhere else; maybe gazing into a cloudy future that will be turbulent whatever the referendum result? For me his expressionless, "Where do we go after this?", aspect summarizes the thoughtless stroll into a minefield that is the whole Brexit story.
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Why are we seeing a photo of a few people holding flags in favor of Brexit. Why is the Press always showing the outliers and never the many. Stop misrepresenting what’s happening by showing the most outrageous folks. This is disingenuous. This how we end up with the Trumps of the world.
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You say: "The borough of Barking and Dagenham, pictured, was one of the few in London that voted to leave the European Union, and it did so by nearly two to one. Many whites there saw a vote for Brexit as a vote against immigration and Islam".
While this is good copy and fits the racists voted leave narrative, it's worth noting that the majority of recent and second generation immigrants voted to leave too. When asked why they said the same things - we can't support the world coming in and have a welfare state/ NHS. Throw in competition for the same jobs and you're getting closer to reality. Don't forget, millions came into the UK just as the economy collapsed and austerity measures kicked in.
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The only good that can come of Brexit for London is the end of destroying ancient and historic neighborhoods, and no more horrible "modern" skyscrapers replacing them. otherwise, Britain is in for a few really awful years. Food and the arts will go into a medieval period and as for finance, they will certainly lose their premiere place in world finance. Somehow, the Conservatives and other Brexiteers think they are still running a global empire, and expect Brussels and the rest of the anti-Brexiters to bow down to them. i have good friends -- smart, talented and ambitious people -- living in the UK. I feel for them. On the other hand, the Republic of Ireland may have a strong hand again. Who knows? The idea of reinstating a hard border may finally lead to reunification. Or civil war. we are living in interesting time.
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@bronxbee Again, based on what data? Says who? "the Conservatives and other Brexiteers think they are still running a global empire" - really? LIke the Persian empire or the Roman empire." Most great nations have had an empire in their pasts.
Nobody talks about "empire" anymore. It's a canard.
It's liek going to Britain and expecting to see "Monte Pie-thon" on TV. You're talking about the past. You could live in the UK for ten years and never hear anyone mention "empire". The only people who talk about the British Empire are people like you and old folks who died 50 years ago. Move on.
Let’s not forget that Russia had its hand in Brexit as well as our presidential election . Who knows if it would have passed without their dirty tricks on social media ? Same goes for the US presidential election of the maniac in the White House . All due to our outmoded electoral college system of electing a president. In what country does the guy who gets 2. 8 million less votes win the presidency? It’s insane.
The real “Fake news “ is upending our entire globe thanks to Russian propaganda . And our electoral college system is destroying our democracy because it makes no sense .
But since that is all we have now , Dems will have to work twice as hard at getting the swing states like FLA, PA,Wisconsin, Michigan etc although I think Wisconsin will be easier next time around to go blue .
I hope they have another vote on Brexit . I would like to see what the people say now that all this time has passed and no satisfactory deal can be made . Maybe they think they made a mistake voting for Brexit in the first place .
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As someone from the UK, I just want to say what fantastic photos these are. It’s very interesting reading about this from an outsider perspective.
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Brexit defies all analysis. It is an abyss. Charismatic madmen with the flimsiest of evidence have concocted this situation. The greater the lie the more people will believe it. The elite have made this happen. Rhetoric and the soap box rules in UK political circles. The ignorance of politicians, a rather dishonorable group of cads are ultimately responsible for this fantasy. The education system is a failure, poverty is raising, racial hate is increasing, nothing is working, so all is good in UK politics. As a Brit, it hurts me to say this.
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@HJAC
As an American, it hurts me to say "ditto" from across the pond. We are doing no better, and your concerns are our concerns too.
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As soon as a new country from Eastern Europe joins the EEC ,the population run to Western Europe.Britain and Germany the first choices.Race to the bottom with lower wages,overcrowded schools,strain on the health system and on and on.That and the endless new laws by beurocrats in Belgium.Can you blame a country for saying let’s try a different way.
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@jack Exactly. Don't forget, we've a welfare state so when these people turn up they're automatically entitled to housing, benefits and healthcare if they can't support themselves on a low wage. As austerity kicked in, Brits learnt we were paying for children who lived in Poland but whose parents worked in London; as services and benefits were slashed for their kids. I get the economic arguments but reality for many was different.
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@London I beg to differ here in the US. Yes we have a lot of illegal immigrants living here amongst us especially in California. These illegals are taking jobs no American would want to take. They are in the back of he restaurant doing the dishes, bussing tables, filling your glass of water when the waiter is too busy to do so. They are hard working people and only want a better life for their families here in American and back in the country of origin, i.e. remittances. They are contributing much more than they are taking from our "welfare" system. Most Americans would not want to do the work that they are taking up the slack for because it's "beneath" them. I think the pro Brexit Brits should take a step back and see if that is the situation in their own country; they see an invasion of foreign hordes from the EU taking jobs they'd rather not deal with.
Stunningly good photography. Just plain masterful.
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This issue is about the unfair controls placed upon capitalist leaning member nations by socialist leaning member nations. For decades Germany has used its faux liberal position to draw industries and nations into their economic web. Having the benefit of historic perspective, Great Britain maintained it's monetary sovereignty while participating in this grand experiment. Meanwhile the EU continued to manuever it's policy and regulations to favor socialist leaning nations, unfairly burdening the UK. Now pitted as a generational GB battle, people with perspective continue to sense the reporting is sophisticated effort to draw learned readers to articles rather than education on the issues. BTW your pictures are fabulous and capture the emotion, misguided as it may be, of the moment. Thank you.
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A peculiar feeling seeing your own country through the eyes of another nation.
As Zoe (Scotland) has so eloquently posted already, the whole place looks gray and exhausted - and it is, it really feels like that here. How many people are smiling in those images? Those smiling bar staff are almost certainly NOT British (and most likely from Eastern Europe). So, none. A parade of glum looking Brits.
The Brexit divided (shattered?) nation thing is absolutely real. It's not safe to mention Brexit to anyone you don't know. The whole vibe can go sour and nasty very quickly. Brexit has been the cause of countless family and domestic quarrels, even homicide, allegedly.
I used to work in that Thamesmead area shown. It was planned to be a cornerstone of regeneration ('gentrification') in a deprived area. Such high hopes. Now it's ugly and dangerous - a hotbed of crime, drug abuse, mental illness and despair. Anybody who bought one of the 'luxury' apartments there is stuck. You can't give them away, now.
Am I, one of the lucky Brit Baby Boomers, hopeful for the future of my country? Not particularly...
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It's a shame that there are no pictures from one of the largest (and most peaceful) marches ever seen in the UK last October, when around 700,000 turned up to demand a second referendum, now that all the Brexiteer lies have been exposed as exactly that.
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These wonderful photographs show a tired and depressed, worn-out Britain.
The casual maliciousness of Conservative austerity policies coupled with an almost impressive incompetence at governance have led to this point and there is no viable alternative waiting in the wings as the USA has with the Democrats.
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are beautiful, welcoming, friendly countries full of talented people from all over the world, but Brexit has aired the dirty laundry in public.
I could not have picked a better set of photographs to represent Brexit in imagery and I am sure many of my fellow UK citizens will agree. Superb.
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@Zoe
I certainly put a different interpretation on these pictures. They show an active, concerned population expressing some uncertainty as to what will happen.
But that uncertainty is a constant in every reasonable person's life. I visited London last year and plan on visiting both London and Scotland in 2019.
People must make decisions without know the consequences in full ahead of time. They may choose to stick with those outcomes or they may change their minds. Good luck to all.
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Maybe the real agenda behind all of this Brexit is to transform Britain into a “low” tax state to benefit the wealthy and strip the average person of any of their social benefits like health care. It is definitely the long term plan in the US.
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“...tired and depressed, worn-out Britain...”
Oh man, ain’t that the sad truth. That’s honestly how it feels down this end too.
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As a Englishman it's incredibly interesting to see this all from a outside eye. As for Brexit, there is no good outcome either way. It would takes years of unlikely economic reform on both a national and most importantly European level to end the problems (Brexit; the climatic symptom). There truly is just way too much inequality for things to continue as normal. I only fear it will get worse as European austerity intensifies and the far left and right gain stronger support.
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They need to redo the referendum with mandatory voting. I suspect this time around it won’t require much coaxing for the younger generation and urbanites to show up and vote.
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Phenomenal photos and article summing up the attitudes throughout the UK as we watch their Brexit vote today. The comparative realities of our "Father" country and our own deeply divided nation are not lost on me.
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Thinking about a way through Brexit is much like lying awake in bed at night,wondering just how big space is.
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The hope of the EU was to keep this brilliant, beautiful, but savage continent peaceful. Brexit seems like stepping back from that, and the nationalist-Putin connections heighten my anxieties.
I do not care if the stay in or out. Just no more World Wars, eh?
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The whole tortuous progress of the Brexit enterprise has demonstrated that the politics of leaving in Britain are murky and incomprehensible even to those involved in them.
How, then, were the elite media in the US able to take such an emphatic stand on the issue within days of hearing about it and to maintain their state of certainty ever since?
Could it be that their own guiding ideologies dominate their thinking, even about debates in countries about which they have only an outsider's limited knowledge?
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As a Brit living in France (now for 30 years), I've desperately tried to follow the debate and can only say I have failed miserably and am quite exhausted by trying to keep up. All I am now up for now is looking at the pictures. Thanks, NYT for this well-timed and well-judged contribution.
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Many of the issues of income inequality are in full force here as well.
Its the same problem everywhere...in Britain maybe its easier to blame immigration for these issues ...here in the states its harder to see the disparity between most of us who are working hard and falling wickedly behind.
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Countries are fragile things. When individuals start to lose their allegiance for their country and turn inward seeking to find their own place in the world, cracks in the commonweal become clefts and then cataracts.
I believe these photographs capture the anxiety at the heart of Britain approaching a time of difficult transition. Unless the Brits can reform a sense of pride and inclusion in their country whether they Remain or Leave, they will turn back the clock to the Middle Ages view of lords and serfs battling for smaller and smaller crofts.
Britain is showing us one possibility for our own country as we struggle in a Manichean war with deeper divisions and less clarity than even a looming Brexit rupture.
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Brilliant photography by Andrew Testa.
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