Michel Barnier on the causes of Brexit.
In an interview with the New York Review of Books (https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/05/29/nostalgia-serves-no-purpose-an-interview-with-michel-barnier/), Barnier gave a wholly unexceptional analysis on the reasons for Brexit:The Brexit result came for "typically British reasons: the hope for a return to a powerful global Britain, nostalgia for the past—nostalgia serves no purpose in politics. In my country, too, some politicians still prefer to live in the past. But there were, also, people voting for Brexit who simply don’t want to accept rules. Some based in the City of London voted to leave, as they don’t want to accept the Union’s regulations on their trading; they want to speculate freely and the Union doesn’t allow them to do so. Finally, and most importantly, there are many people who feel abandoned. They feel that the quality of public services, healthcare, transport, is worsening. We must listen to these fears and address them."Nothing there that hasn't been argued by scores of commentators since 2016, nevertheless that predictable rentagob Mark Francois responded in true fashion (in the Express, natch): “Contrary to what Mr Barnier supposes, the British people voted to leave the EU not out of a sense of nostalgia, but because they are fed up with being told how to run their country [by] people like him.”I don't see much of a career in social studies for Francois, a man who boasted about being in the army but whose military career consisted of being a part-time Territorial Army catering corps & infantry officer for a few years. Not exactly Francois of Afghanistan, is he?
Richard Carter ● 2721d4 Comments ● 2718d