You may have noticed that we did not post a blog yesterday. This is partially because we have been kind of busy, but mainly because we are bemused by the events of last week and its fallout.
We are disappointed by the result, because it improves nobody's life. People who voted to remain like us are aghast at the rhetoric used, and the people who bought into the rhetoric are now finding out that they will not get anything they thought they were voting for.
Then to compound issues, a British MEP went to the European parliament and displayed the lack of manners you would hope never to see from an adult. Amongst his gems: “I know that virtually none of you have ever done a proper job in your lives, or worked in business, or worked in trade, or indeed ever created a job.”*
The Guardian had an interesting link to a blog post by Vytenis Andriukaitis, an MEP from Lithuania.
"Vytenis Andriukaitis, who was born in a Soviet gulag on the edge of the Arctic Ocean and started his political career with the underground Social Democrat movement, has written a blogpost in which he reveals his thoughts during Farage’s speech. The 64-year-old worked as a cardiac surgeon for six years and took part in the first heart transplant operation in his country’s history." The Guardian
*rich, coming from a failed merchant banker who couldn't even set up a tax avoidence scheme properly
We are disappointed by the result, because it improves nobody's life. People who voted to remain like us are aghast at the rhetoric used, and the people who bought into the rhetoric are now finding out that they will not get anything they thought they were voting for.
Then to compound issues, a British MEP went to the European parliament and displayed the lack of manners you would hope never to see from an adult. Amongst his gems: “I know that virtually none of you have ever done a proper job in your lives, or worked in business, or worked in trade, or indeed ever created a job.”*
The Guardian had an interesting link to a blog post by Vytenis Andriukaitis, an MEP from Lithuania.
"Vytenis Andriukaitis, who was born in a Soviet gulag on the edge of the Arctic Ocean and started his political career with the underground Social Democrat movement, has written a blogpost in which he reveals his thoughts during Farage’s speech. The 64-year-old worked as a cardiac surgeon for six years and took part in the first heart transplant operation in his country’s history." The Guardian
*rich, coming from a failed merchant banker who couldn't even set up a tax avoidence scheme properly
8 comments:
Not seeing hour daily post yesterday, I was really worried about you both. I'm relieved that you're O.K. in a way. As for Brexit I know it must be a big concern for British expats in France.
Your words sum up exactly what we feel.
Being surrounded last week by the people who exactly fit the profile of the mass of voters who dropped us in this mess, we have never before felt so desperate to get back to France.
That's the saddest thing for me, the fact that I was born and bred in Derbyshire, come from a very low income, working class family, and now feel I no longer want to be anywhere near the place. I couldn't bear to listen to the crowing and the tabloid headlines coming out of people's mouths in Tesco, in the pub, on the bus.....everywhere.
As for Farage, the arrogance of this loathsome man is unbelievable, as unbelievable as the absolute tripe he fed to the people who voted out because if it.
Sums up how most of Britain feels... and I use 'most' very deliberately, in order to include the part of the 52% who now realise how much they have been conned.
I, too, was worried that you hadn't posted... always a problem when people are regular bloggers...especially daily!!
His blog entry is very supportive, and cheering in a way...
and I am so glad he, and he alone so far, as a public representative has called Jo Cox's murder what it was....asassination!!
Not one British politician, as far as I have read, called it thus... the all only got as far as 'murder'.... how effing tweee!!
Well said S&S. I completely understand your arguement.
I sway between fury, acceptance and an inability to quite believe that this has happened. One of my few comforts is the knowledge that our children are as outraged as we are, and will, in their own ways, fight against racism, inequality and xenophobia wherever and whenever they see it.
I am sorry that some people were duped by lies into buying into the Brexit idea.
Well done for publicising the blog written by Vytenis. In comparison, the rant by Farage demeans us all. As my daughter has written "Farage doesn't speak for me. He NEVER will...
RIP Jo Cox
As nearly as I can tell from this side of the pond, Farage is your Trump, but with better tailoring.
Sad and disquieting times.
I do share your bitterness and dismay. I have never felt so close to my British friends, all remain voters, needless to say. A new dull page is being written but pages are also made to be turned. Never give up!
I was visiting my mother in England just before the referendum and people were - unusually for England - talking about how they were going to vote. Predominantly Leave. I heard no racism, xenophobia, at all; people seemed to have as much scorn for Farage and Johnson as for Cameron and regarded the propaganda on both sides as just that - propaganda. The Leave vote seemed to me to be impelled by a fury at the way in which people had been robbed of the sort of secure jobs they needed in order to bring up a family; people were worried for their children's future in a low wage, insecure society - conditions which membership of the E.U. had done nothing to improve.
It was a protest vote, as is so often the case with referenda.
I abhore the slick response of those who voted to Remain that the 'Leavers' are ignorant and racist - some may be as may be some Remainers - but to try to shovel a protest under the carpet by denigration of the protesters is cheap.
It seems to me that the Brexiters were all about kicking the Conservatives and that it is a hangover from the Thatcher years. One of the things that struck me when we first moved to the UK was how traumatised many people seemed to be by the Thatcher years, even 6 years after she had gone. Even by the time we left the UK, the issue still regularly came up in the popular media. What I hadn't picked up on before the referendum was how much the Cameron government was hated. I'm afraid I think the EU got to be an undeserving scapegoat. I know the EU isn't perfect but it seems to me to have more positives than negatives. I was also struck by the culture of envy in the UK. Many people seemed convinced that everyone else was doing better than them, based on no real evidence that I could discern. I was fascinated by the way class still matters there and that those attitudes are not maintained by the elites and upper classes, but by those who identify as working class.
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