O wad some Power the giftie gie us, to see oursels as ithers see us!

[Jimgward]

This article is in a Swiss newspaper today.
http://mobile2.derbund.ch/articles/5944 ... 44ba000001

THE LAUGHING STOCK OF EUROPE

If it weren't so serious, the situation in Great Britain would almost be comical. The country is being governed by a talking robot, nicknamed the Maybot, that somehow managed to visit the burned-out tower block in the west of London without speaking to a single survivor or voluntary helper. Negotiations for the country’s exit from the EU are due to begin on Monday, but no one has even a hint of a plan. The government is dependent on a small party that provides a cozy home for climate change deniers and creationists. Boris Johnson is Foreign Secretary. What in the world has happened to this country?

Two years ago David Cameron emerged from the parliamentary election as the shining victor. He had secured an absolute majority, and as a result it looked as if the career of this cheerful lightweight was headed for surprisingly dizzy heights. The economy was growing faster than in any other industrialised country in the world. Scottish independence and, with it, the break-up of the United Kingdom had been averted. For the first time since 1992, there was a Conservative majority in the House of Commons. Great Britain saw itself as a universally respected actor on the international stage. This was the starting point.

In order to get from this comfortable position to the chaos of the present in the shortest possible time, two things were necessary: first, the Conservative right wingers’ obsessive hatred of the EU, and second, Cameron’s irresponsibility in putting the whole future of the country on the line with his referendum, just to satisfy a few fanatics in his party. It is becoming ever clearer just how extraordinarily bad a decision that was. The fact that Great Britain has become the laughing stock of Europe is directly linked to its vote for Brexit.

The ones who will suffer most will be the British people, who were lied to by the Brexit campaign during the referendum and betrayed and treated like idiots by elements of their press. The shamelessness still knows no bounds: the Daily Express has asked in all seriousness whether the inferno in the tower block was due to the cladding having been designed to meet EU standards. It is a simple matter to discover that the answer to this question is No, but by failing to check it, the newspaper has planted the suspicion that the EU might be to blame for this too. As an aside: a country in which parts of the press are so demonstrably uninterested in truth and exploit a disaster like the fire in Grenfell Tower for their own tasteless ends has a very serious problem.

Already prices are rising in the shops, already inflation is on the up. Investors are holding back. Economic growth has slowed. And that’s before the Brexit negotiations have even begun. With her unnecessary general election, Prime Minister Theresa May has already squandered an eighth of the time available for them. How on earth an undertaking as complex as Brexit is supposed to be agreed in the time remaining is a mystery.

Great Britain will end up leaving its most important trading partner and will be left weaker in every respect. It would make economic sense to stay in the single market and the customs union, but that would mean being subject to regulations over which Britain no longer had any say. It would be better to have stayed in the EU in the first place. So the government now needs to develop a plan that is both politically acceptable and brings the fewest possible economic disadvantages. It’s a question of damage limitation, nothing more; yet even now there are still politicians strutting around Westminster smugly trumpeting that it will be the EU that comes off worst if it doesn’t toe the line.

The EU is going to be dealing with a government that has no idea what kind of Brexit it wants, led by an unrealistic politician whose days are numbered; and a party in which old trenches are being opened up again: moderate Tories are currently hoping to be able to bring about a softer exit after all, but the hardliners in the party – among them more than a few pigheadedly obstinate ideologues – are already threatening rebellion. An epic battle lies ahead, and it will paralyse the government.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said that he now expects the Brits to finally set out their position clearly, since he cannot negotiate with himself. The irony of this statement is that it would actually be in Britain’s best interests if he did just that. At least that way they’d have one representative on their side who grasps the scale of the task and is actually capable of securing a deal that will be fair to both sides. The Brits do not have a single negotiator of this stature in their ranks. And quite apart from the Brexit terms, both the debate and the referendum have proven to be toxic in ways that are now making themselves felt.

British society is now more divided than at any time since the English civil war in the 17th century, a fact that was demonstrated anew in the general election, in which a good 80% of the votes were cast for the two largest parties. Neither of these parties was offering a centrist programme: the election was a choice between the hard right and the hard left. The political centre has been abandoned, and that is never a good sign. In a country like Great Britain, that for so long had a reputation for pragmatism and rationality, it is grounds for real concern. The situation is getting decidedly out of hand.

After the loss of its empire, the United Kingdom sought a new place in the world. It finally found it, as a strong, awkward and influential part of a larger union: the EU. Now it has given up this place quite needlessly. The consequence, as is now becoming clear, is a veritable identity crisis from which it will take the country a very long time to recover.

[PhotoLady]

Spot on, I reckon....

[Poppy]

It's a pity that this dreadful article does not get ir's facts right!! Just for one point alone they think that the Prime Minister has not spoken to survivors or helpers WRONG!! They state that our BREXIT negotiators have not got a plan WRONG!! How the hell do they know that? They talk about the Daily Express but this paper is worse!!

[Poppy]

Well if this is the sort of daftness that you have to resort to then carry on looking foolish. It is about time that the Media relied on truth rather than sensationalism

[kingfisher]

This is rich coming from a country of former cuckoo-clock tinkerers turned money-launderers who aren't even members of the EU or EEA. An ignorant rant, which shows them in their true colours. PS why did they stay out?

[OhSusana]

Thank you for this, Jim.
And this is from Switzerland - not even in the EU.
One of the most affluent and well-educated countries in the world.
What worries me, and many of us, I am sure, is in the final sentence.
from which it will take the country a very long time to recover.
A laughing stock, indeed.
I have many many friends in central Europe. My brother lives in Switzerland. Their opinions to a man match what is written above.
I think shock and disbelief would be the main terms used to me. Bemusement.

[Jimgward]

This is rich coming from a country of former cuckoo-clock tinkerers turned money-launderers who aren't even members of the EU or EEA. An ignorant rant, which shows them in their true colours. PS why did they stay out?

It demeans you're argument straight away to call an entire nation what you have.

It's also hardly a rant. Maybe just a different opinion to the hard right.

[kingfisher]

So why is Switzerland not in the the Euro, the EU or the EEA if they are so good. I just wonder why? Any one know?

[OhSusana]

So why is Switzerland not in the the Euro, the EU or the EEA if they are so good. I just wonder why? Any one know?

Switzerland–European Union relations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerla ... _relations
might help you a bit.
a country of former cuckoo-clock tinkerers
Very petty. Revolting comment. Worthy of the Express!
What about the article itself?

[OhSusana]

Amen!
As for me, I'm going out for lunch with an Austrian friend. It will be interesting what he makes of this. I don't think he's seen it yet!
Incidentally, the full non mobile version of the article - obviously in German - is at
http://www.derbund.ch/ausland/standard/ ... y/29320034

Actually he's just been to the dentist, so this should really cheer him up! But joking aside, the Germans and French must be now wringing their hands at the business and jobs that will be coming their way thanks to Brexit.

[Devil]

This is rich coming from a country of former cuckoo-clock tinkerers turned money-launderers who aren't even members of the EU or EEA. An ignorant rant, which shows them in their true colours. PS why did they stay out?

1. Cuckoo clocks are made in the Black Forest, Germany, not in Switzerland; where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise
2. Switzerland has the strictest money-laundering laws in Europe, and they are respected. Cyprus and the UK both do much more money laundering than Switzerland; where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.
3. Switzerland stayed out of the EU, as a democratic wish after a referendum, or rather several referenda; where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise
Who is ignorant in their posts?

[kingfisher]

Oh Susana- Thanks for the Wikipedia link, very informative. The Swiss are definitely a lot better at safeguarding their national interests than us Brits, I’ll grant them that!
Devil- Yes, I accept your points, that part of my comment was intended to be facetious/flippant, no wish to offend.

[Poppy]

Oh Lloyd may I remind you that you were deriding George Soros not so long ago as the person who destabilised economies for his own financial gain but now you appear to support his views!

[kingfisher]

Lloyd-Google "Soros says EU could collapse". You'll get a whole page of his prognostications of impending doom. Perhaps he's got a punt on this one, and is trying to influence things?

[Pete G]

Christian Zaschke is a London based journalist the UK reporter for Die Bund, but mainly works for Süddeutsche Zeitung, a South German left leftist EU supporting paper.

His job since 2013 has not been serious political or economic journalism, but rather to write amusing two column hit pieces regarding the vagaries of British life, in order for the Germans to confirm their moral superiority over those little Englanders who think they can slow down or thwart the great European experiment of a united and prosperous Europe [under the guiding hand of a paternalistic and caring Germany, of course].

His 2014 book "Little England" [which is pre-Brexit, for those with a short memory] should tell you something about his position.

Still, I suppose if you are so convinced of your position that you predict, with relish, the economic collapse of the UK, or even wish for it as a vehicle to be proved right, and are prepared to openly undermine UK efforts to make a success in order to establish your moral superiority, then any source of supporting information is a good source, no matter how rabidly anti-British it may have been in the past

[Firefly]

Personally I couldn't care less what other nations think of us, this is our decision. The Swiss haven't seen their country having to take in unlimited numbers of immigrants, who refuse to adapt to our way of life and live by our laws, if they had, they may think differently. Plus being governed by Brussels, they should give it a try.

Jackie

[Devil]

Personally I couldn't care less what other nations think of us, this is our decision. The Swiss haven't seen their country having to take in unlimited numbers of immigrants, who refuse to adapt to our way of life and live by our laws, if they had, they may think differently. Plus being governed by Brussels, they should give it a try.

Jackie

What do you know about immigrants in Switzerland? I do, because I was one for 35 years. And why should the immigrants in Switzerland, many Muslims among them, 'adapt to our way of life and live by our laws' when they are not in OUR country, Cyprus?

[Firefly]

Devil

Cyprus is NOT my country ! Here in the UK anyone who is allowed to reside here coming from another country, should be prepared work for a living and integrate with us. That's my opinion, like it or not. You say you were Swiss for 35 years, what are you now then ?

Jackie

[Poppy]

I think you mis read Jackies post Devil. She was not intimating at all that immigrants in Switzerland should adapt either the cypriot or british way of life. I think the heat must be making you a bit tetchy!

[Devil]

Devil

Cyprus is NOT my country ! Here in the UK anyone who is allowed to reside here coming from another country, should be prepared work for a living and integrate with us. That's my opinion, like it or not. You say you were Swiss for 35 years, what are you now then ?

Jackie

B'oody 'ell, where did I say I was Swiss for 35 years? I said I was an immigrant in Switzerland for 35 years. I've not lived in the UK since 1963, but I'm still British

I think you mis read Jackies post Devil. She was not intimating at all that immigrants in Switzerland should adapt either the cypriot or british way of life. I think the heat must be making you a bit tetchy!

No, I'm not tetchy, her post clearly said the Swiss immigrants should adopt OUR way of life, not the Swiss way of life. I did not misread it, but I like English to be used correctly. I'll accept the epithet pedantic, if you like.