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Not Dark Yet #299: Across the Great Divide

17/3/2019

8 Comments

 
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It occurs to me, after a week of (almost) total immersion in the Brexit debate, that the fundamental division in the UK is not the traditional Labour v Conservative but, rather, between Brexiters and Remainers.
 
This does not mean, of course, that the debates and subsequent decisions (should there be any) are any the less binary. Labour and Tories have both been the broadest of broad churches, each united by instinct and emotion rather than specific policy. I mean, have you ever voted for a given party because you agreed with everything they espoused?
 
So it is with those on the different sides of the Brexit debate. Each of us voted with our gut, cherry-picking arguments and points to justify our choice rather than rationalise or explain it.
 
My instinct tells me I am European. I vote Remain, ignoring the neo-liberal bias of the Union. I do not want a Tory Brexit; I don’t even want a Labour Brexit.
 
Your instinct tells you you are British and want British rights, British courts, border controls etc etc; so you vote for Leave, ignoring the fact that every economic indicator tells you that you will be worse off.
 
In neither case will even the soundest, most persuasive arguments convince us to abandon our gut feeling, our emotional commitment to our cause.
 
Can you imagine a Coventry City fan switching allegiance to the Villa? Or A Sox fan suddenly announcing that he or she will henceforth support the Yankees?
 
The Leave v Remain debate is on that level of tribalism. And our democracy is unable to deal with it.
 
That is why we have seen the bizarre breakdown of collective cabinet responsibility; why we have seen the Brexit minister closing a debate with an exhortation to do the right thing for the country and then voting against it; why the PV campaign voted against the PV motion.
 
Yes, as the chattering classes are claiming, politics is broken. Or rather, their politics are broken. Because the TIGS encapsulate everything that Rawnsley, Cohen et al have wanted all along. Or at least since the demise of Blair.
 
We are in the last chance saloon. We are in uncharted waters. We are in unknown territory. We are at the eleventh hour. (These are all banalities which I heard on the radio in the space of about ten minutes this morning.)
 
But there is no way this issue will ever be resolved. Whatever the final result, whatever the means to achieve it, this division will remain, with every issue faced by our country being blamed on the final decision.
 
We are a divided nation, as we have always been. But this time, the political elite cannot cover the cracks. The cracks are widening by the day. They are now chasms.
 
 
Today from the everysmith vaults: Signs of Life is an extraordinary album by Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick, notable for a beautifully expressive cover of a BeeGees song, New York Mine Disaster, 1941. I should have listened to this more.
8 Comments
(Notthat) Bob
18/3/2019 09:33:06

Broken cutters, broken saws
Broken buckles, broken laws
Broken bodies, broken bones
Broken voices on broken phones
Take a deep breath, feel like you’re chokin'
Everything is broken

Reply
Chris
18/3/2019 10:29:33

Yes, this is the problem with aa general election. If you don't want even a 'soft'/Labour Brexit, who do you vote for? LibDems?

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Max
18/3/2019 12:04:41

In my constituency, the Remain voting Warwick and Leamington, we have an excellent Remainer MP in Matt Western. I will vote for him.

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Allan
18/3/2019 11:54:23

The centre cannot hold/mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.

I agree that we are 'sleepwalking' into a catastrophe, and I agree that there is no solution in thwe long or the short term.

What is bizarre is that, apart from the 50 or so Tories we now know as the ERG, the EU was a non-issue until cameron's ill-fated referendum. But now, as you say, it is fundamental to everything and everything is considered and expressed in `Brexit terms.

I fo believe that any vote for or against must be subject to a confirmatory - and clear - referendum. And that is the first time I have gone on record to this effect.

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Max
19/3/2019 07:40:52

And of course:
The best lack all conviction/while the worst are full of passionate intensity.

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CJ
18/3/2019 15:39:34

Signs of Life is such a great album. And Carthy's voice takes you straight back to all nighters in Les Cousins in early 60s. Also 'notable' is Hattie Carroll, a great Bob cover.

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Dan
18/3/2019 20:11:43

It's still Left v Right.

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Martin
25/3/2019 13:36:44

He also makes a decent fist of 'Heartbreak Hotel' on that cd, if I remember rightly.

Reply



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    Max Smith

    European writer, radical, restaurateur and Red Sox fan. 70-something husband, father, step-father, grandfather and son. Resident in Warwick, England.

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