"If the various ‘Leave’ voters have anything in common, it is a desire to kick Westminster for its failure adequately to represent them". Image, Wikimedia
Lamentation, shock, anger among the 48%, bewilderment among at least some of those who voted for ‘Leave’, retracted promises from the most prominent Brexit campaigners as early as breakfast on the day after the referendum. Bawling, however, won’t take us far. Even a second referendum, petitioned by over 2.5 million would carry no guarantee of a different outcome and could expose its petitioners to the definition of lunacy famously attributed to Einstein: doing the same thing and expecting a different result.
Meanwhile, attempts to account for the victory of Brexit multiply: the lies of demagogues about the costs of EU membership, the manna from heaven that would fall into our laps on leaving, and the hordes of Turks and other n’ere-do-wells massed on our borders and hungry to gang-rape our women; immigration and its corollary – border control; loss of sovereignty to faceless, unelected bureaucrats in Brussels; the uncountable evils of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership – a prime example of the EU’s malevolence and particular hatred of the UK; and not least, the bitterness of so many communities in England and Wales (notably) where industry has been hollowed out, and where entire districts are run down, dispirited and seemingly ignored.
