So what went into the cauldron?
Firstly, English isolationism. Ever since the tyrant Henry the Eighth separated from Rome there has circulated a pernicious feeling that England did not belong to Europe.We were a nation apart. This nonsense overlooks the fact that our greatest king, Alfred, and our greatest prime minister, Winston Churchill were pro-Europe.
This nationalistic delusion has entered the cauldron along with the idea current among some that we are somehow especially strong, tough and competent, capable of standing alone against the world. This delusion was voiced by one Leave supporter on television who demanded that we take a firm line with the Europeans, overlooking that there are twenty seven of them to our one! Some of my fellow countrymen have not come to terms with our no longer being a superpower. So a delusion of imperial grandeur joins the poison brew.
To delusion add deception. Many on the right wing of the Conservative Party, who were one of the main engines of Brexit, aspire to a UK. which is transformed into a European Singapore, a high profit, low wage economy. No guessing who gets the profits [capitalists] and who gets the low wages [workers.] To achieve this capitalist nirvana they had to be rid of the European Court of Justice, which they hate,because it has supported claims that workers have rights. So the right misrepresented the ECJ as a foreign court imposing its will on Britain and which freedom-loving Britons should want to cast off. Recently I was speaking to a fellow remainer, a Labour Party councillor, who said to me that the Conservative right want Britain to become a tax haven, attracting even more dubious money than it does now. So the EU's financial probity is a barrier to these economic buccaneers and their greed.
But turkeys need to be tricked into voting for Christmas [or Thanksgiving] so the right shuffled the blame for social problems onto European immigrants, who were blamed for taking up housing and places in hospitals. Yes, migration did exert pressure on services, but it was countered by a drift of Britons to live and work on the continent. Anyway,the real blame for the housing shortage is successive governments who have neglected to build sufficient social housing, which is housing with rents affordable by ordinary people. But the right were the political force behind this neglect, because they and their rich supporters were profiting off high private rent costs.
Some genuine grievances went into the cauldron, notably that in Britain some areas have been left behind by the growth of the economy.These tended to be areas that voted Brexit. Fishermen often support Brexit, but their problems arise from diminution of fish stocks, which Brexit will not solve.
One pernicious deception was "We send 230 million pounds per week to Europe. Wouldn't it be better if it were spent on our health service?" Actually the nett spend was far less and by leaving we will so weaken our economy that we will have less to spend on public services. Moreover, the one who promoted this claim, Boris Johnson, does not believe in state funded health service.
Another untruth came from Penny Mordaunt. now promoted to cabinet minister, who told the populace frightened by immigration that Turkey was about to join the EU and that eighty million Turks would be eligible to settle in Britain. This was blatantly untrue, but it created the desired fear.
So the message was, "Leave the EU and your problems will be over. You will live happily ever after."
Comments
I am afraid not, I only wrote that satire for this article.
Your opening poetry is quite effective. Would there be any more stanzas to share?
Britain is in one almighty mess. I would not recommend being in Britain just now.
Great questions BSG.... we would all like to know the answers .
This is sensitive area. Britain has offered to respect the residence rights of EU nationals already here, and the mood in Europe is for reciprocity in this matter,but the issue is still not fully settled. There is an agreement pre-dating the EU between Britain and Ireland to have a common travel area and mutual rights of settlement in each other' countries. This agreement will still hold. There is an older treaty between England and Portugal allowing mutual settlement, though the language is not fully clear. A medieval agreement between France and Scotland allows Scots to settle in France.
How does the British prime minister plan to handle the people from Britain who have settled on the continent, and people from the continent who have settled in Britain? would they lose jobs, be expelled, or what? There need always be an impact study and a viable solution before acting with no regard for the details.