About an article by Ian Mc Ewan
On
the occasion of the UK's exit from the EU, Ian McEwan has written an article in
The Guardian (Sat 1 Feb 2020) explaining some of his ideas regarding
the fact.
Ian
and I already know each other. Apart from reading several of his books, we have
swapped occasional emails talking about the Catalan issue, la cuestiĆ³n catalana, and we have views that do not match.
The
same thing happens with Brexit. On the one hand there are things that we agree
on, such as when he describes the smile of Jacob Rees-Mogg, as ‘mocking grin’
and that simply causes me heartburn. Okay, I agree with you: make people
believe that all problems come from something outside (migrants, for instance).
Okay, also agree with you: that all this crazy process began with a cat fight
of the Tories that went out of control and that if you travel enough to the
left you end up stumbling with the right and vice versa.
Yes,
you're right Ian when you mean the loss of open borders, the promotion of
individual rights and freedom of expression. It is also true that effective
union between countries is needed to stop the progressive increase of what you
call 'a world crowded with loud-mouthed strongmen' and of course I am with you
in that many of the measures taken by the UK were not imposed by the EU and I
liked it a lot when you exemplify, with the change of colours, the British
passport.
But,
on the other hand, I don't share what you write in paragraph 4 'What did we
learn in our blindness? ...’ We will have overcome that not in fifteen days,
but in a couple of years.
And
I don't agree that we will all be poorer. Although I must admit that I have
some concern that the PM continues smiling across walls with the excavator that
those swine businessmen have given him. Will he know how to distinguish between
the thick walls of the houses of rich people and the thin walls of those of the
poorest?
I
must also accept that the 'take back control' is true because the English
people - I say English people - have always acted like this. We have done well
to look at Europe from our island and step on the continent when we were
interested. That's what McEwan refers to when he writes ‘The Brexit impulse had
strong elements of blood-and-soil, with hints of empire nostalgia’.
Perhaps
the turmoil in continental Europe leads to serious problems, but there will be
the English government that from a distance will choose to look the other way
or get into the mud.
Mr Columnist
believes that there is no evidence of being under the boots of Brussels. Really
not? Let's say it to the Portuguese - whom I think I know a little - or to the
Spanish, for not naming the Greeks or the Irish, whom we despised as PIGS a few
years ago. Come on Ian! The food, architecture and languages are very good, but
regarding the economy you cannot deny that all the measures adopted by the EU
have been appropriate.
And
this says one who was born very close to the River Trent and who voted against
Brexit.
From
my Borstal.
LDR
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