September 17, 2019

Remember when not so long ago there was a proposal to pull Greece out of the European Union as a way to escape the crisis created by millionaires borrowing so much money they bankrupted the country and threw it to the financial sharks?  Who would have predicted then that Greece would remain and Britain would vote to leave the EU? 

With October 31^st looming over the horizon as the date Britain is supposed to exit the EU for sure, the country is alternatively pulling its hair by the roots, mute in shock and panic, or else attacking immigrants because it hasn’t left already.

Having spent four days at a conference between London and Birmingham, my superficial observations confirm what everyone following the story closely already knows: no one knows what Brexit will mean but it has the potential to be truly chaotic.

A Welsh friend, in fact, described this as a “revolutionary situation,” with the possibility of dissolution of the country – thinking that at least Scotland might exit Britain in the post-Brexit era. (There is talk of a unified Ireland as well.) Certainly the political parties are being shaken to the core, with splits and defections and rearrangements taking place on a daily basis. The Liberal Democrats, for instance, a party badly hurt in the last election has now gained seats in Parliament not through votes but because Tories have switched parties and joined their ranks—except that Parliament has been suspended by the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, (today ruled illegal by the Supreme Court – with Johnson saying from NYC that may not be how he reads the ruling) prompting some television comedians to develop a whole skit asking, without censorship, “WTF???” at every turn. (

Meanwhile, both London and Birmingham are under construction, quite literally.  Cranes, closed streets, and construction equipment reveal that someone was betting on boom times and sunk a great deal of money into real estate.  A conference attendee with ties to the construction industry, in fact, says that her sector is focused on the luxury market, both million-dollar homes and expensive apartments, many of which already are or will be empty because the owners live elsewhere on the planet and come to London only for a few weeks a year.  They bought those properties as investments, but with Brexit, will they be vacationing in England rather than the UK? In any case, she says, those rich homes have created ghostly neighborhoods that do not create or support a local economy.

The HSBC bank, meanwhile, stubbornly clings to the idea that London should remain the financial capital of Europe, reminding people “we are not an island.  We are part of something far, far greater.” The billboards don’t say if that greater entity is the EU, but it sure sounds like it, especially when those ads are immediately followed by one paid for by its Majesty’s Government telling everyone “prepare for Brexit,” and giving them a website to visit. Will the website spell out what to put in the earthquake kit? Maybe medicine, food, and fuel—all the shortages that are expected to happen?

There are signs of the economy taking a hit already.  In Coventry an important auto manufacturing plant already closed but a train companion explains that the government attributed that to the regular economic downturn, unrelated to Brexit, like the way Category 5 hurricanes in the Caribbean have nothing to do with global warming. The iconic chain Mark & Spencer, established in the late 19^th century when department stores first emerged in London to display and sell the fruits of empire, is on the verge of bankruptcy, with more ads asking if the store can be saved by adding prepared meals to the menu. Indeed, the one near my hotel now features food porn as window dressing: a delectable roast chicken to go with your autumn coat this season?

“Chaos” is what the Liberal Democrats predict at their party conference, which parallels the one I am attending, come Brexit. Go with us and we’ll save Britain and the planet simultaneously by ushering “green capitalism,” says some party leader to the faithful. Who knows? Right now the only ones really pulling ahead on this uncertain race are the late night TV comedians. They can’t keep up with the material Brexit generates on a daily basis. How else besides mockery can anyone deal with a Prime Minister who compares himself to the Incredible Hulk, the puke green comic book character who grows bigger and bigger the angrier he gets? But even as they skewer their Prime Minster, the comedians can’t help but ask, in all seriousness, really, people, WTF???

For more:

A good place to start:  Jacobin Radio piece on Brexit

Developments from the weekend and today (24 September 2019)

UK politics

Brexit divisions threaten to plunge Labour party conference into chaos

Corbyn defeats bid by activists to campaign for remain at election

Starmer has ‘mixed feelings’ on Corbyn’s neutral Brexit stance

The Guardian view on Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour: time to come together

Supreme Court: Suspending Parliament was unlawful, judges rule