Re: The Swiss are in it
Memories are long. Mother England is a distant memory. New trade agreements may be brokered, but Boris and his Etonian chums are about to find out that when you're over a barrel, the terms negotiated will not be in your favour. This isn't the old days of empire and the British Army/British Navy can't come in to enforce Pax Brittania to keep those pesky natives down and get trade deals on terms which suit the Empire.
I am sitting on the other side of an ocean, watching from a safe distance.
I've been reading sources from around the world for many years, and I can't help getting the impression that a number of people in the UK, particularly politicians and activists of various stripes don't really have a firm grasp on the world as it exists today.
Some seem trapped by ideology, some by ingrained class indoctrination (social class, nothing to do with education - except in Britain, which may be part of the problem), some by a world view rooted in the reality of decades or generations ago.
Assumptions and expectations abound, and from here it seems like they keep getting in the way of dealing with the issues raised by the current situation in a reasonable and effective manner.
The world has moved on, and is continuing to do so. The Commonwealth is no longer an extension, but independent, with countries putting their own priorities first. Former backwater agricultural nations and colonies are turning into high tech industrial economies. Trade patterns and alliances emerge, evolve, and shift. Countries that lag in trade, or technology, or productivity suffer. Protectionism becomes less and less effective, and ever more harmful to the instigator, as global trade and technological convergence erode old principles of dominance and manipulation. Adaptability, economic flexibility and global integration leaves governments and overly prescriptive policies farther and farther behind.
In the end, the results are unlikely to be as bad as they might be, nor as good as politicians tend to promise. One should not, however, underestimate the ability of competing political agendas and maneuvers to snatch disaster from the the possibility of a better result.
If the various parties could step back from posturing and selling snake oil, and talk reasonably, it would present a more hopeful picture.
Good luck over there.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
