Running down the country, not the clock…
Standing back and watching the #Brexitshambles (kudos to whoever thought that term up by the way) theStickler cannot help but wonder what on earth all these pundits and politicians (who’ve spent the last six months or more moaning every time anyone was foolish enough to offer them airtime, or their reporter’s notebook) could possibly have been thinking…
Have none of these people ever conducted a tough negotiation in their lives?
What did we know when we started? The result of the Referendum was a small majority in favour of leaving. So there was bound to be a backlash by the group who came such a close second. This should have been foreseen. But no use crying over spilt milk, and get on with the job – well that’s how Saint Theresa seems to have approached things. I’m not sure she really had any other choice. She is effectively the messenger in all this, and yet she’s being shot at (by) left, right and centre. Useful.
History has shown us that the EU will often compromise, but never until the last minute. So why would this time be any different?
To everyone advocating “take ‘no deal’ off the table” I ask just what would this leave us in the way of leverage? It’s the fear of ‘no deal’, and nothing else, that will persuade those EUgotiators, if anything does after this prolonged and embarrassing fiasco, to make some last minute concessions because the EU wants ‘no deal’ no more than we do. This much should be common sense, but precious few seem to have got it.
Industry is rushing hither and thither in a state of uncertainty? Diddums. That’s the nature of the job and it’s about time some of these ludicrous salaries came with some real challenges. This is undoubtedly one. But contrast how the entire EU block have held their nerve, even dealing with local issues such as Gibraltar with barely a ripple, and then look at the utter panic that’s being peddled over here. And let’s not allow ourselves to be smoke-screened by an automotive industry, for example, coming to terms with the environmental impact of diesels in particular, and finding “Brexit” a very convenient excuse to rationalise and or rethink their product lines and their production.
Of the “preparations for no deal” – rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic it’s been said – Mr. Grayling is an easy and rather too obvious target especially when all the fictional no-deal planning is revealed to involve fictional vessels – but be clear, this, and the lorry park and all the rest, is all smoke and mirrors. Westminster is trying (rather badly) to signal that ‘no deal’ is a genuinely possible outcome because that’s the essential bluff if we are to get anyone in Strasbourg/Brussels to blink.
Collectively, and regardless of their viewpoint or preferred outcome, everyone on the UK side involved in this debacle has made us a laughing stock on the world stage, seriously prejudiced our chances of actually negotiating anything, and reduced our net worth not only in financial terms but also in terms of respect, dignity and influence. G8? Probably not for much longer.
But the damage is done. Would the last person leaving this sorry island please switch off the lights. No wait, the French supply our juice these days – they can do the job themselves. Me, I’m off to join them…
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