In the opening of Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina, there is a well-known and oft-used quote: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." I think that also applies to countries and even perhaps individuals. I am in my late seventies and I really can't remember Britain ever being so divided, unhappy and at odds with itself. This isn't all down to Brexit of course, but it's certainly deeply connected because it's both a symptom and a cause of our current unhappy state.
Remainers are upset naturally because they didn't want to leave the EU in the first place. But now and increasingly, leave voters who supported the project are unhappy because they didn't get what they voted for. The fact that they all voted for something different, much of it either an illusion or contradictory, meant some were always bound to be disappointed. But it seems they are a very large and ever-growing minority of Brexit supporters.
Some still hold out hopes of our fortunes enjoying an unlikely upswing in the years to come but are unhappy with the slow progress toward that Utopia. Even voters who were indifferent and didn't vote in 2016 are mostly unhappy with how it has all turned out.
Most striking perhaps are those who campaigned for Brexit and think it's been a success. Yes, there are some! They're unhappy that the rest of us don't see what they see or that some people (The dreaded Blob) are somehow blocking the path to national prosperity and renewal.
As far as I can determine the only people who are happy are the ones who are live in a small social bubble, completely separate from the world at large. They don't read newspapers or watch TV news and exist in ignorance - and there is a lot to be said for that. However, their worlds are being impacted by Brexit whether they realise it or not and their unhappiness has simply been deferred.
Brexit was an expression of national frustration at our slow decline from a position of wealth, influence, and power over a century or more, with governments of every hue unable to arrest the fall despite years of manifesto promises of a brighter tomorrow which never comes. It was a symptom of our problems which has now become a contributory factor in our unhappiness. How much, depends on your point of view, of course.
The partner of Reform Party leader Richard Tice has offered her thoughts on the state of the nation:
Roads, railways, schools, GP services, hospitals, airports, housing, borders, prisons and anything involving call centres -all these things are broken in Broken Britain. The speed and depth of national decline is breathtaking
— Isabel Oakeshott (@IsabelOakeshott) September 8, 2023
Oakeshott's Twitter profile describes her as a political journalist and commentator as well as a scoop-getter and feather ruffler. She is also apparently the international Editor at Talk TV.
As I type this, her tweet has had 3,889 responses, most of them angry, like these:
Brexit isn't to blame for Mrs Richard Tice (but then again, she wouldn't blame Brexit would she? It's her millionaire partner's main aim in life after all) but what might be to blame is a total mystery because she doesn't tell us.
And while as I said, our national ills long pre-date Brexit, there is no doubt in my own mind that it has made things worse and in a way, forced the issue as we used to say.
To support and campaign for Brexit you had to be a half-wit, mad, bad, or simply ignorant of the real problems and the way Britain was earning its wealth before 2016. What the referendum did was pave the way for these ill-qualified men and women, like Gove, Johnson, Frost, Cummings, etc., to rise to positions where they were making decisions, all of which have resulted in making matters worse.
We may soon begin to learn how it all played out since Laura Kuenssberg is to front a documentary series called The State of Chaos. This first of three episodes starts tomorrow night on BBC 2. It should be worth watching.
Kuenssberg has spoken to "dozens of senior politicians, staffers, and former top officials to find out why they believe the era we have all just lived through was so wild. These were the people who were in the room when vital decisions were taken that affected us all, and they have relived and recounted the most intense moments."
One former (female) government official who she claims had one of the most important jobs in Britain said: "We lost our minds" as a way of summing up the turmoil in the UK between 2016 and 2022. This anonymous official sees it all now as "a collective meltdown in a country previously known for stability."
We might just be taking the first few baby steps toward understanding how we got here. The Blob is about to speak.
