So much Brexit chat - it’s everywhere.

On my Facebook feed nearly everyone is shouting into the echo chamber for Remain, ignoring the fact that the only people on their feed are their friends who most likely already share their opinion. Visited Nana in her new house in the Cotswolds and managed to dissuade her from voting Leave in the EU referendum but didn’t have time to persuade everyone else. Nana said she was going to vote that way because all her neighbours said they’re going to. It’s “because of the immigrants”. Regardless, England (outside of London) voted for Leave on 23/6, dragging the rest of the UK with it.

‘Leavers’ tend to either complain of there being too many immigrants, or of a loss of control over what they think should be sovereign matters. It seems pretty obvious to me, safe in my echo chamber of ‘truth’, that the real problem is inequality. The benefits of globalisation look to have been accruing to the South more than the North. This though is thanks mostly to UK government policy not the EU’s. This has been especially true since the credit crunch in 2008 after which the Conservative government started to make big cuts of social services, despite having come to government in 2010 with Big Society on its manifesto (an attempt give more power to communities to effect local change).

Most other Europeans understand why Brexit happened about as much as the British do. Unlike the UK most of the other early EU members (France, Germany, Italy etc) view the EU as more than just a club to be joined or left dependent on a cost/benefit analysis, it’s part of their identity. For them it the idea of ‘leaving’ part of their identity is a weird one.

As an institution the EU is clearly far from perfect and is overdue reform (Strasbourg anyone?) but it seems unable to impose this on itself. As a result it was an easy target for those looking for a simple solution to the UK’s problems. But what political insitution isn’t inefficient and imperfect? Sad. A win for the ‘anti-experts’ (led by Boris Johnson & Michael Gove). This nasty problem with ‘experts’ looks like it might turn into a trend. Trump next? Surely not.