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Robert Saunders @redhistorian
, 3 tweets, 2 min read Read on Twitter
Searing critique by @IanDunt of the "muddled thinking, desperation & fantasy" that constitutes the Brexit White Paper. The government "does not seem to have made any real progress in thinking through how its incompatible demands would operate in practice". politics.co.uk/blogs/2018/07/…
Another zinger from @IanDunt on one of the many hospital passes fired out by the White Paper: the appeal to "machine learning and artificial intelligence" to ease customs barriers.
"Where problems arise, the authors of the report either refuse to acknowledge them or are unaware that they exist." The government's approach to Brexit in a nutshell.
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More from @redhistorian see all

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The conviction that what the world really needs from Britain is "leadership" - indulged by a govt that can barely tie its own shoelaces - is a fallacy with deep historical roots. It has bedevilled British foreign policy since 1945 - & its relations with the EU above all. [THREAD]
2. After the Second World War, Britain's power in the world was severely weakened, but its commitment to global leadership remained undimmed. So govts turned to the Commonwealth as an organisation that "has only to develop its resources to match the power of the United States".
3. Yet hopes that the Commonwealth would provide a new platform for British power were swiftly disappointed, as it became less white, less "British" & less amenable to UK leadership. The result, on the British Right, was a backlash that anticipated later criticism of the EU.
Read 12 tweets
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Rule 1: a total ban on honours for serving Members of Parliament. The only honour to which an MP should aspire is being elected to Parliament by their constituents - and there should be no currency by which the front-benches can purchase their loyalty.
Rule 2: a statutory and muscular "conflict of interest" test. No honours for big party donors, people who have conducted inquiries into the parties bestowing them, or figures in quasi-judicial roles. Like Caesar's wife, honours given on our behalf must be beyond suspicion.
Rule 3: service to a political party, however admirable, is not the same as service to the country. If parties wish to honour chairmen, activists or donors, they should do so in their own way, from their own resources. (We might call this "Cameron's Law").
Read 8 tweets
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Of all the many delusions that have gripped British politics, this is perhaps the most destructive. It's what I call "The Tinkerbell Theory of History" - and it's carrying us down the road to ruin. [THREAD] 1/13
In the Boys' Book of History to which Raab and his ilk subscribe, Britain's glorious past can be traced to a single source. Not geography. Not empire. Not its natural resources or the immigration that birthed the industrial revolution. Just this: sheer pluck & determination. 2/13
Far from being nostalgic for empire, the dominant folk memory of British history is of "plucky little Britain", standing with its backs to the wall in the face of overpowering odds. It's the story of the underdog, hopelessly outnumbered but somehow finding a way through. 3/13
Read 13 tweets

Related threads

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I've been frustrated at the lack of info available on what #Brexit might really mean. Media is full of shrill, non-informative partisan rhetoric. This is the 1st of many info threads I will do on Brexit. I use 2017/18 data, unless the info is particularly insightful. EDUCATION:
Tsiligiris V., de Ruyte A. (2018). What the higher education Brexit debate has not covered. irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/3268… #Brexit #BrexitDebate #AcademicTwitter
Courtois A. (2018). Brexit and Universities: Toward a Reconfiguration of the European Higher Education Sector? International Higher Education 94 ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/… #Brexit #BrexitDebate #AcademicTwitter
Read 15 tweets
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It's always someone else's fault with #Brexit it's the EU or it's Theresa May or it's remainers it's never ever the fucking fault of those who obsessed 4 brexit 4 20yrs & didn't fucking realise Dover/calais trade is important Well you fucking won it you own it u brexhadi tossers
Don't you just love how brexhadis are often rightwing tories who love preaching personal responsibility to the poor & disabled but when it comes to themselves & their shit pile #Brexit dream everything is always everyone else fault & they run a mile from responsibility arseholes
And oh how apparently if #Brexit is stopped it will be a terrible betrayal but the fact that all the promises they made haven't got a hope in hell of being realised won't be a betrayal at all wankers
Read 9 tweets
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There is a lot that is very welcome & very good to see in the UK Govt #Brexit White Paper, from the point of view of Northern Ireland, North/South cooperation & @BelfastAgmt

Here's a wee thread of positivity

bit.ly/2LfeIQk

1/
There is repeated mention of the UK & EU 'meeting their shared commitments to Northern Ireland & Ireland', esp. in Exec Summary.

And it states the UK wishes to see a future UK-EU partnership 'honouring the letter & the spirit of the Belfast (‘Good Friday’) Agreement'.

2/
Evidence of honouring the letter of @BelfastAgmt comes primarily in relation to areas of north/south cooperation.

The Mapping Exercise of cross-border links conducted before the Joint Report of Dec'17 appears to be bearing fruit in the form of specific areas identified here.

3/
Read 11 tweets
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THREAD

I'm reading the #Brexit White Paper here. Its utter #cakeism. EU will say no.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…
This is incredible. So the UK wants a common rule book for goods, but not services, membership of agencies ...

Who's going to be the fucking arbiter then? If not the ECJ!?

#Brexit #WhitePaper
So we're at association agreement. Not FTA.
Read 5 tweets
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#Brexit White Paper is finally out

Thread

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…
1. The full U.K. solution to the Irish border will be rejected by the EU
2. A ‘common rulebook for goods’ - the EU could do two things: A) reject as cherry-picking parts of the single market or B) start discussing how much of this is doable under an FTA.
There’s a good chance it would be B, but it will have to be tweaked significantly
Read 5 tweets
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The forthcoming #Brexit White Paper - a Twitter User's Guide /1
Give it a while before logging on, the initial reaction will be largely noise. There will be three types of noise:
1. Leave commentators saying that it is a poke in the eye for Remoaners, a triumph for May and that the EU has been caught napping. 4 hours on, half of these people will be saying it's a surrender because Rees-Mogg will have denounced it as a betrayal.
Read 17 tweets

Trending hashtags

#Brexit #Chequers #CambridgeAnalytica #WhitePaper #Labour #PeoplesVote #HarryLeslieSmith #Hungary #xenophobia #RemainerNow #Remain #backstop #singlemarket #crossborder #FBPE #brexit #BrexitShambles #EU #underreported #BREXit #StopBrexit #2ndEUref #border #Remainers #GE2017

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