All Hearts On Sleeves

Another late night post. This time I'm listening to 2Pac. I like to mix it up.

Anyway, I'm posting more in anticipation today. This week looks like it'll be a big one for British politics. Who knows what'll happen. It should be interesting though. It occurs to me that we're only now at the beginning of September. So we still have two full months of this. Plus whatever problems and drama we may face after we leave - if that actually happens.

Boris is promising Brexit. Remainers are promising chaos to stop it. Planning to block the roads and bring the country to a standstill if necessary. Causing chaos to stop Brexit, because Brexit will cause chaos. It's a bit crazy.

As I've mentioned before I think the weather will play a big part in all this. No one likes to protest in the rain. So as it gets colder it may dampen remainer spirits, quite literally. Likewise if we leave and have bad weather in the weeks following it will no doubt amplify the problems.

We're British, we talk about the weather. So it's a little odd that I seem to be the only person thinking along these lines at the moment. Some things are beyond our control. I feel like some kind of ancient druid looking at the sky trying to divine the future. Whether the weather works in the favour of remain or leave, or just washes us all out, I'll just accept it as a sign. Of course, that doesn't mean you abandon your values or views, you soldier on. But you soldier on knowing you're defeated. Accepting the result. You tried to do what you thought was right and ultimately that's all you really can do.

I'm getting a little overdramatic here lol. The effort to leave though does often feel like some kind of noble last stand. It's Italia '90 all over again. We were so close. It feels like it's normal, simple people, playing with their hearts on their sleeve, up against something that's just much more ruthless, relentless and sophisticated. Not that I would compare the EU machine to the West German football team of course.

Our simple demands are constantly taken, repackaged and given back to us. We're told that we don't think what we think we think. Or that we didn't know what we were voting for. Like we're having an endless conversation with a very slick and relentless salesman.

The constant twisting of words. It was just leave or remain before the referendum. Somehow afterwards that became "soft" or "hard" leave.

Before the referendum the EU was just a tiny little thing. "Of course it wasn't a behemoth subsuming our country." Afterwards it was so big and important that it would be impossible for us to untangle ourselves. "We can't just leave, don't you realise how big and complex these things are."

Now we have remainers crying and storming the streets in "defence of parliament". Hang on a minute, wasn't it us that was defending parliament from its increasing erosion by the EU? Wasn't that the whole point of leaving? How have they flipped that one on us too? And how can they keep doing this with a straight face?

They lose a referendum, refuse to accept the result ..then cry that the country is divided and that people are unwilling to compromise.

They get offered a deal that's essentially half remain, refuse to sign up to it ..then again cry that people are unwilling to compromise.

They switch party, refuse to face by-elections ..then cry about a lack of democracy.

The list goes on. You ask them what relationship they want with Europe. They refuse to offer an answer. Even the most staunch Europhiles can't bring themselves to simply say "yes, I want a single EU superstate, with a single government, army and single parliament."

You'd respect them more if they just said that. It's a perfectly acceptable position and they're perfectly entitled to advocate for it democratically. But no, they never say that, and when they state the opposite, that they don't want that, as is often the case, and you ask "okay, so at what point do you say no to the EU?", "where are your red lines?" Again they offer no answer and just shift the conversation.

How can they avoid full integration for Britain if they refuse to ever say "no" or walk away from the EU? It's a simple, logical question, and one they should be answering as they're the ones that are taking us ever forward into the EU, as they have been for decades now. But once again they've flipped it back on us. "If only Brexiteers would tell us what relationship they want with the EU" they state with feigned innocence. It really is quite amazing.

Leavers in contrast are perfectly plain speaking. With their heart on sleeve they say "I want to leave", "I want Britain to govern itself through the British parliament". Leave means leave. We leave it all and go back to being a normal independent country. That's what we want. It's not a difficult concept, but the remain sophistry splits leave into an infinity of remains. It's a level of guile that would embarrass Satan.

Christ, I really have had a bit of a rant here haven't I. I've forgot where I even started. Wasn't I saying something about the weather 😅

This is the thing when I post so late. I'm much more lucid, and perhaps a little too honest. I should go a little easier on remainers really. After all, many of the people out protesting simply don't know what they want or believe. So it's perhaps unfair to accuse them of insincerity. I very much suspect that some of the people leading them know very much what they're doing though. It's hard to have sympathy for those people, but you have to try I guess. I think many of them genuinely believe that they're creating some type of one world utopia. I think they genuinely believe that they know better than all the uneducated plebs, and that what they're doing is for the greater good.

How can you build paradise on a foundation of lies and dissimulation though?