since the vote to exit the EU was 52% in favor and 48% against, why not have another vote to determine if the exit is really what is really wanted?
7
Leave it to the globalism, big-government advocates, the NY Times, to try to generate fear on speculation as the UK gets nearer to extracting itself from the clutches of European socialism. Social change always comes with some infrastructure unrest, but in the end, the UK will be strengthened for this move and the tyrannical dystopian socialism across Europe will be weakened. The Brits still have a good work ethic, so productivity will prevail.
3
@Winston Smith UK has relatively low labour productivity by EU standards (ranked 11th in the bloc) and is static at best. Compared with leading and dynamic EU economies in Scandinavia, Ireland and Benelux, not at the races. The most successful countries have generally long been ruled by tyrannical dystopian socialists, fortunately for them.
23
The irony in it all is that people and companies that claimed leaving Europe would be beneficial have recently announced that they are leaving the UK. Dyson comes to mind.
The hypocrisy is amazing.
24
According to Boris Johnson and the other Brexiteers, Brexit was supposed to be the land of milk and honey. Well, after 29th of March, the milk will turn sour and the honey won't get past the customs checks.
16
This is a perfect example of what Theologians mean when they say “Fear never leaves home”
Or, “Projection Makes Perception”
U.K. citizens have and the rest of the world, have fallen under a heavy mantle of fear that leads to mindful projections of fear such as Brexit, or the election of a Russian Agent as USA President.
5
I thought this all started because the EU neglected to enforce its own individual nation budget rules, something like deficits are limited to a percentage of the nations GDP? Several eastern newly admitted nations exceeded the deficit limits with no consequence. This damaged the EU early on. Anyone know more?
When I first moved to England from New York in 1990, the lettuce was wilted, the strawberries, if you could find them, we’re moldy. I was in a Tesco looking at shriveled red peppers, commenting to my wife that the shop was literally selling garbage, and a fellow shopper said that they were the best quality she’d seen all week. You couldn’t get a decent cup of coffee anywhere. And the country was destitute. Poverty everywhere north of Watford Junction. An inward looking place. The country seemed cut off from everywhere, and old fashioned. After living here for a year I thought that I traveled to England in a time machine.
Yes, there still is poverty in the North, but the country really is transformed, in large part this is the result of being in the EU. Everything from the quality of collaborative research (I’m an academic), human rights, opportunity for young people to work anywhere in Europe, and, yes, the quality of food, have been positively affected by the UK’s membership in the EU.
Why would the UK inflict on itself such a grievous wound? There are no simple answers. Nostalgia for a time that the never existed? Bigotry against foreigners (yes, even Americans)? Anger and disgust with increasing wealth inequality (which is an enduring legacy of the Conservative Party)? All three? Who knows... But one thing is for certain. Readers of history a few generations hence will look back on this and shake their heads in wonder and perhaps despair.
39
@Richard
"Why would the UK inflict on itself such a grievous wound?" "Readers of history a few generations hence will look back on this and shake their heads in wonder and perhaps despair." My understanding of many Brexit voters (and many Trump voters) is that, for all the undeniable benefits in the aggregate, these are the people who experienced increasing insecurity over the past few decades, and increasingly bleak futures for themselves and many in their families. In the UK, rising home prices, more precarious work, decreasing autonomy, both personal and legislative, are the flip side of those aggregate benefits of "free-trade." Maybe for some, the world is better with lower aggregate incomes when accompanied by more stable employment, more positive futures, and greater control.
2
@Richard There is a simple answer to your question. The UK voters were tired of the career bureaucrats in Brussels micromanaging every aspect of their lives under German leadership. In light of the devastation and atrocities they suffered at the hands of Germany in World War II, it was particularly repugnant to them that Angela Merkel and Wolfgang Scheauble were controlling European economic policy. For the people of the UK, the last straw was Merkel bringing into the EU millions of so-called "war refugees" from Arab countries. The UK will survive,albeit with substantial pain. But in the long run, they will benefit from regaining control of their country and telling Brussels to take a flying leap.
3
@Richard But England has been a member of the EU since 1973. Why we're things still so bad in 1990?
4
Seems odd to me that the UK govt wouldn't simply allow food etc from the EU into the country without the delay, if it means averting the kinds of shortages described in the article. In other words, do what they are doing now.
Products leaving the UK for the EU is different, as the EU has control over entry into the EU. It sounds like the problem here is EU tariffs, not the quality of the UK products -- which currently satisfy EU standards.
So there are man-made barriers that must be reduced, on both ends.
2
Isn't it obvious that the UK needs to come up with a way to stay in the EU? If May isn't up to the task to working out a strategy for staying, then Parliament should find someone who will and get rid of May.
8
Brexit is the vengeance story of the economically marginalized, those who were treated as a cost of doing business by policy makers and corporations since the 1980s - economic collateral damage.
In the United States,Trump is Brexit by another name. And it is the telling of the same story. Trump and Brexit were brought about thanks to the same economic mythology - trickle down economics. Which is the economic theory that tells marginalized workers to wait. And wait. And wait. And wait until the rich get their full of wealth. Because then you too will begin to share in the excess wealth of the elite as it trickles down to a grateful working class.
The vengeance part of the story is that those who were cruelly left waiting for several generations, with nary a trickle coming their way, are now willing to burn down (vote Trump and Brexit) the whole stinking economic and political edifice in order to get some relief and the attention of policy makers.
And we wait.
35
@wiltThat is probably the best explanation of the cause of populism for both countries. Government and elites can neglect the people that vote only for so long.
9
I can't think of another time in human history when two great world powers were self-immolating simultaneously.
63
They voted to eat cake. Let them eat cake - cake made without flour, sugar, yeast...
30
I am following this for quite awhile. It's fascinating to see what fake news has done to Great Britain. The Murdoch press and others are bashing on the EU for a long time. They don't like their anti monopoly rules.
The Brits bought the news and believe in a fantasy Brexit.
It will be a harsh wake up on March 30th when the reality sets in, that trading under WTO rules won't protect their own farmers and producers of goods.
Another little detail overlooked is the Irish/ Northern Ireland border question. With the WTO rules there has to be a hard border there.
This will lead to new troubles in Northern Ireland and London, that's for sure.
43
Brexiters keep asking the EU to make it easier for the UK to leave. It's not in the EU's self-interest to do that, as it would only lead to the end of the EU. Self-interest was the mantra of Brexiters, and now it's come back to bite them.
54
A wit once claimed that the driving force behind the rise of the British Empire was a quest for a good meal.
British cuisine is an oxymoron. Bangers and mash? Fish and chips? Biscuits? Crumpets? An English breakfast? High tea?
4
@Blackmamba
Completely untrue today. British food has been transformed over the last 30 years and for those who want to stick with tradition there is always Simpsons (which is pretty good too).
12
@John That transformation has coincided with membership in Brexit. What happens when Britain loses cheap access to great produce (and great cooks)?
12
@Diane Same thing that happens to the US when big Ag can't sell their products here. Some farmers will have space to step up and sell fresh food to the local area, maybe.
Brexit supporters could learn the first harsh lesson of how impulsive, irrational decision making can affect their lives (and everyone else's, sadly, in this case). This is a pretty good example of why people should be careful about what they hope for, because they just might get it. A difficult prospect for the rational, thoughtful British citizens who will seemingly be penalized for the poor judgement of their compatriots. One of the foibles of Democracy. For Brexit supporters in particular, this will be all about "learning the hard way". But if they are of similar character of Trump supporters, they will ultimately deny They had anything to do with it. It's always someone or something else's fault.
82
@KB The Brits had their own good reasons to leave and the vote results were to leave the EU. That is my observation not my opinion, So now that they are on the doorstep of the abyss, the hysteria is obviously ratcheting to the highest levels. Note trade is not one sided on food and there is much export of lamb, dairy and a host of food products that the EU imports as well. It could be that both sides will ease in controls and tariffs of a 6 month period and consumers on both sides will see that 5-10% food increases until the majority of producers figure out how to avoid it. Perhaps Ireland is the key to this puzzle, certainly they are entwined in the destiny of both.
3
@KB: Remember that the Brexiteers (Farage and Johnson, to name two prominent ones) ran a campaign of deception and xenophobia to encourage voters to vote “leave.” Remember, too, that the day after the vote the number of Google searches in Britain of “What is Brexit?” soared. And don’t forget that Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU, and the margin in Wales to leave was very close. On this tenuous outcome, a massive (and patently foolish) effort has proceeded. I know nobody in Britain who is anything but disgusted today.
26
Not only the supply of food is likely to be a problem but also
- the supply of medicine
- of industrial parts
- health insurances of Brits travelling to the EU or of retired Brits living in the EU
- travelling from Great Britain to the EU with a pet
- driving a British car in the EU
- driving a rental car in the EU
The unbelievable situation is that, so far, none of this has been regulated.
47