‘Not for EU’ labelling: a case study of the Brexit mess
An important development in the Brexit process occurred at the beginning of this month, with the introduction of ‘Not for EU’ labels. As well as being important in its own right, it serves as a case...
View ArticleBook review: Realism or optimism?
This week’s post, which is a day earlier than usual, is the latest in a series of occasional reviews of Brexit-related books, which can be found via the ‘Book reviews’ tag. Foster, Peter (2023) What...
View ArticleMustn't grumble
There is a stereotype about the British, and perhaps especially the English, that we are unwilling to complain, and will put up with quite a bit of privation with little more than a few grumbles or,...
View ArticleBook review: The Brexit House
Today’s post is the latest in a series of occasional book reviews, but it is a new departure in that it is the first time on this blog that I have reviewed a work of fiction. So I should say upfront...
View ArticleWhat the Covid Inquiry tells us about Brexit
The Hallett Inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic still has a long way to go, but the evidence it is taking is already revealing an extraordinary picture of the British government at the time and, in the...
View ArticleA country on the rack of Tory Brexitism
It has become increasingly difficult to separate out Brexit as a topic from British politics generally, and the politics of the Conservative Party in particular. That has been true for a while, but...
View ArticleAn Autumn Statement of Britain's foregone future
The staggering success of Brexit in transforming Britain’s economic prospects has been such that in his Autumn Statement speech the Chancellor mentioned it, well, just once, and that to refer to the...
View ArticleShould Labour be bolder about Brexit?
One of the benefits of having re-enabled comments on this blog, to me at least, is to be able to see what issues get flagged up by readers as interesting or debatable. Last week’s post was mainly about...
View ArticleImmigration and asylum rows are another sign of Brexit’s total failure
One of the reasons why there is still any debate about whether Brexit is a success or a failure is because what Brexit meant and what it was supposed to achieve were so obscure, and were made...
View ArticleThe Brexit battles never went away, and they’ve got a long way to go
A recurrent observation– made sometimes with surprise and sometimes with a kind of perverse nostalgia - about this week’s political and parliamentary events is that it is ‘as if the Brexit battles have...
View ArticleThe Brexit self-punishment machine
It’s tempting to ignore the government’s announcement, made in the doldrums between Christmas and the New Year, that it is to become legal to sell wine and champagne in pint bottles. It seems such a...
View ArticleThe scandal of the settlement scheme for EU citizens
This week’s domestic news has been dominated by the Horizon Post Office scandal, following the screening of the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office. There are some Brexit aspects to that which I will...
View ArticleBrexit has embedded dishonesty in British politics
There has been relatively little Brexit news over the last week or so, and perhaps the most significant was Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s high-profile Mansion House speech, in which he said “it is now...
View ArticleEvaluating Brexit, honestly
In last week’s post, I discussed the way that Brexit has embedded dishonesty in British politics. That is an easy diagnosis, but the treatment, let alone any cure, is more difficult, and poses...
View ArticleBrexit: a mug's eyeful
When I was a teenager, after much saving up from my ‘Saturday job’ money, I bought my first ever stereo device, a portable radio cassette player (younger readers may need to consult a dictionary). Not...
View ArticleUnpicking the defences of Brexit
Bemused by the ‘mysterious silence’ of the government about the benefits of Brexit, last weekend former Trade Secretary Peter Lilley bemoaned (£) that “the consequence of that silence is that the...
View ArticleBrexit, Brexitism, and the Trump and Russian threats
In the Brexit debate, discussion of its geo-political damage has often been the poor relation of that of its economic damage. It’s easy to understand why, as the economic damage is more tangible and,...
View ArticleBritain is slowly learning what Brexit means
Shortly after last week’s post about Brexit, Russia, and defence went up, the news of Alexei Navalny’s death was announced, and although its cause is still shrouded in secrecy it can hardly be regarded...
View ArticleHow the failures of Brexit feed Radical Brexitism
One of the more ‘highbrow’ arguments for Brexit – these things are, of course, relative – was that, having left, politicians would no longer be able to blame the EU and would have to take...
View ArticleA country on hold
Writing this weekly blog creates a certain rhythm, though the nature of it has changed over the years. In fact, in the early years it wasn’t always weekly, as I often wrote several short posts in some...
View Article‘I want my country back’: what’s in a phrase?
Lee Anderson’s decision this week to join the Reform Party, becoming its first, if unelected, MP brought into focus several of the Brexit themes I’ve been writing about in recent months. At the...
View ArticleBrexit Britain’s ailing state
Although not the commonest of the taunts aimed at remainers at the time of the referendum, a recurring one was ‘don’t you think this country is capable of running its own affairs?” The obvious answer...
View ArticleBritain's Brexit drift
It’s fair to say that Brexit has ceased to provide much in the way of drama. To use a cricketing analogy (and they are always the best ones), it is as if Brexit’s Bazball days have given way to the...
View ArticleGibraltar, and reviewing the Brexit 'bill of goods'
Last Friday saw a potentially significant piece of Brexit news with the joint statement of the first meeting in its current format of political leaders from the UK, EU, Spain and Gibraltar, which...
View Article(Still not) facing up to Brexit
During the more dramatic phases of the Brexit process, it was not unusual for some big development to occur just as I was finalizing my post for this blog. It happens less often now, but it did so last...
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