Some of you will know the famous sub-headline in the London Evening Standard newspaper on the first day of the thickest ever smog in London, 5th December 1952. The headline said THICK FOG IN CHANNEL. An editor had added the sub-headline CONTINENT ISOLATED. Even today many British people will nod wisely at this, failing to see the absurdity of it. Voters agreed to it when they voted Brexit. ‘Isolate the Continent’ they said. Only now are they beginning to see that it is not the continent that is isolated but the UK.
And so it came to pass. In the years since then the economic and geopolitical absurdity of the decision has become clear. Politicians have been reluctant to face it for fear that their constituents will reaffirm their bias and throw out their MP at the same time. So the economy has been significantly damaged – but what the hell, money isn’t everything. Funny how people only say that when they have lost yours, never when they lose their own.
Money, Indeed, isn’t everything, as the clear withdrawal of American support for Europe and possibly even NATO is beginning to show. US support was as financial as it had been ever since the post WWII Marshall Plan. But the greatest support was international trade. Friends matter when security is at risk. Mr Putin knows that. Could the British voter discover it too?
Not in the opinion of the British politician. The consequence is that protection not available from others must be provided by oneself. Unfortunately the cost of it is now greater than equipping Dad’s Army with out of date binoculars. The concept of a country the size of the UK deliberately isolating itself from its nearby continental European neighbours is something future generations will contemplate as manic.
There are times in life when the best way forward is to say “we screwed up, can we please unscrew”. This is one of them. The new Labour Government didn’t ‘win’ the last election in Britain, the Conservative Party ‘lost’ it. LIke all politicians at risk of rejection they need a bold move to reestablish their credibility and authority. The world’s electorates from Russia to Bosnia Herzegovina are in a mood to accept authority – look at what is happening in the USA.
I would go further and say that every government in the world now needs to build its appetite for ‘bold’. In all spheres of life other than government we call it courage. Our risk of international war is now actually greater from weakness than from strength. None of the international political scene is currently attractive. Politics is, however, the possible, not the perfect. A cohesive Europe can still be created.
Brexit contributed the largest part of the recent weakening of Europe. The irresponsibility of it for European neighbours was breathtaking.
Now is the time to start to repair that damage, take a rightful but humble place in the Scheme of Europe and assert the authority that a traditionally well-established democracy is required to show when chaos threatens.
Please can we see it happen.
Now.
Good morning
John Bittleston
I do hope this stirs up some strong views!
We’d love to hear them at [email protected].
27 November 2024
