Gary Younge - Brexit is not the cause of Britain’s political breakdown. It’s a symptom
The French EU minister,
Nathalie Loiseau, has called her new cat Brexit. “He wakes me up every morning meowing to death
because he wants to go out,” she says. “And then when I open the door he stays
put, undecided, and then glares at me when I put him out.” The Dutch prime
minister has compared Theresa May to the knight in Monty Python who has all his
limbs lopped off and insists “It’s just a flesh wound” and calls it a draw.
“She’s incredible,” says Mark Rutte. “She goes on and on. At the same time, I do not blame
her but British politics.” Italian friends tell me Brexit now comes on at the
end of the news, in that wacky slot just before the sport and weather.
Everybody is laughing
at us. Why wouldn’t they? We look ridiculous. If we weren’t so busy feeling
betrayed, bored, enraged or bewildered, we’d be laughing at ourselves. Brexit, according
to many of its advocates, would give us the chance to stand tall and
independent again: to fulfil the potential, as May put it two years ago, to
become “a great, global trading nation that is respected around the world and
strong, confident and united at home”. Instead we look like a cross between a
beggar and basket case. Yesterday, May pleaded for more time, and the EU said:
only if you can get parliament to agree to your deal. May, displaying all the
skills of brinkmanship and diplomacy that has got us to this point, then went
and insulted parliamentarians, making them more hostile and fearful for
themselves than ever… read more:
