Jesus this column is much worse than I thought. Almost every line contains something false, a non sequitur, or something bigoted.
"At the age of 20, in June of 1975, I became one of the young people who voted to confirm our membership of the European Union. In 2016, my generation voted to bring us back out. Why did we change our minds?" The claim to false authority as an ex Remainer.
"There are several reasons, but the main one is simply our loss of sovereignty." Failure to properly define sovereignty, what it yields the author, or to recognize the lack of it flowing from alternative frameworks for striking political and trade agreements.
"Remainers have enjoyed depicting Leavers as little Englanders and rightwingers, but there are also impeccable leftwing reasons for opposing membership." False, unjustified accusation that remainers were depicting anyone as anything for fun.
Oblivious to the arguments within the Labour Party, involving Remainers tackling Lexiters and explaining why what they were seeking was a bad thing.
Fair circumstanial evidence that the author has no idea what is prohibited by way of state aid / industrial policy by EU / single market membership, viz no attempt to define what it is he wants that he can't have and why that would be a good idea.
"I also remember that the Scottish nationalists were against membership, perhaps because it was obvious to them back then that being governed by an unelected government in Brussels was even worse than being governed by an elected one in Westminster." ....
Contradicts himself, which claims [false] authority over changing his own mind. Vague unspecified repetition of 'sovereignty' point using a change of word 'governed'.
[Appropriate to interject at this point that much of the single market design was a UK initiative and negotiating success against continental opposition].
"In any arranged marriage a couple sometimes makes the most of a bad job by working hard at pretending to be in love." Ah, the logical fallacy of the analogy which is supposed to lend weight to an argument. This one anyway vacuous. Mervyn King liked 'the tennis club'.
"Even after I perceived the deception" No evidence presented as to who is deceiving who about what.
"I was arguing that we needed to be part of something that could counterbalance the US and the Soviet Union." Not content with using the 'I used to be a Remainer but' once, he tries another, impossibly vague repeat. 'Counterbalance'?
"My parents had campaigned to join but became sceptical long before I did." Who gives a shit what anyones particular parents think, in an assessment of the case for Leaving. Appeal to false authority.
[And also a third 'remainer but' in the form of 'they used to be Remainers but].
[Sorry we are not even half way through this yet].
"This was because they had not anticipated such things as the damage to our fishing industry." At last something specific [fishing]. But oblivious to the miniscule size of fishing, relative to everything else economic [well you did bring non-sovereignty things into it]....
.... and seemingly not au fait with what happened to the fishing industry, and why, and how it is going to get better with alternative unspecified extra-EU provision for fishing.
"they felt outraged at having endured two world wars only to end up being subject to laws not drawn up by our own parliament." Now into gross bigotry/ ignorance of process of designing and implementing the [unspecified] laws [with unspecified effects] we agreed as EU members.
"It was easier for continental Europeans to compromise on democracy because they do not have the advantage of being protected, as we are, by the mere fact of being an island." Obvs racism and 6th form level history here.
"I increasingly developed a sense of the vastness of the sacrifice, and therefore of how sacrilegious it would be to erode our democracies." Non sequitur here. And seemingly oblivious to the main historical point of evolving EU collaborative structures.
"I once took my father to visit the battleground in Italy where nearly all his comrades were wiped out in one heroic and doomed attack; 20 tanks destroyed in five minutes. It was a war for the right of nations to self-determination." Non-sequitur internally, and wrt Remain/Leave
"Since reunification Germany has become the hegemonic power in Europe; in view of what happened twice in one century, is it unnatural that some people are wary of this?" Bigotry, unsubstantiated, ignorant.
"I used to think that one day we would have a proper European parliament. Now I realise that, small-minded as we are, many people would only ever vote for a candidate from their own country." [Remainer but again]. Unsubstantiated. Incoherent.
Eg - such a Parliament would involve almost entirely candiates standing locally in local constiuencies, so that would be the only kind of candidate most would vote for. And - you want elections, but don't want their outcomes?
"Like a lot of people who are still Remainers, I had committed a category mistake. I thought that loving the EU was somehow the same thing as loving Europe." [New Remainer but: 'I used to commit a category error but...' also false appeal to authority as a former sinner].
Also, unsubstantiated 'like a lot of people.....
"Now, in part thanks to Islamist terrorism and Angela Merkel’s quixotic humanitarianism, the Schengen arrangement may have to come to an end;" Racist Islamophobia by way of lack of substantiation, and contrast with the now clearer tones of 'European' used earlier.
"the free movement that we all loved the most about the EU may be lost because of the threat to security that is built into it." Unsubstantiated 'we all' + now becomes a threat to security. Thinly disguised racism. And now he is a free-movement lover, [until next sentence]
"Free movement was a double-edged sword in any case. It was fabulous for middle-class families who wanted cheap nannies, gardeners and cleaners, but it alienated the working classes because their neighbourhoods were suddenly and radically changed." Where to start with this?!
1. 'I'm not racist, it's just the proles that are racist.' 2. Before it was free movemen was great and the EU spoiled it; now it's free movement is not great. Can't have it both ways chum. 3. No evidence. Actually most immigrant hostility in areas with least immigration.
"There is an area of Ipswich, for example, where there seems to be nobody but eastern Europeans, hanging about, smoking in little knots." 1. Argument by anecdote 'an area of Ipswich'. 2. Obviously stereotyping and racist.
"To many locals it looks threatening, even if it isn’t." 1. 'It's not me that's racist, it's the 'many locals'. 2. No evidence. How many is many and says who?
"In places such as Lincolnshire it became normal not to recruit from local employment exchanges, but directly from Romania. It is probably true that the indigenous British did not want to do most of that kind of work anyway, but it still sparked resentment." [Deep breath....]
1. No evidence. ['in places...' 'it is probably true that'... How big a problem is this?] 2. No recognition of effects of immigration in the round, and attitudes to it, nor of how people will find the post end of FoM conditions. 3. Policy design by not 'sparking resentment'?
[I'm overlooking the common racist and vague trope of 'indigenous' here, which may just be incompetent and clumsy].
[to be fair, I am not really overlooking it, fair comment].
"My daughter Sophie (aged 12) recently asked me if after Brexit Europe would be further away, as if we might be towed into the distance on a steel hawser. " Cute story, but still a very stupid straw man argument.
"What you can row away from is a troubled political and economic project that has never surmounted the difficulties left behind by the 2008 crash." [Deep breath, now embarking on more non sequiturs and ignorance...]
1. The Eurozone [note Eurozone, oh yea of very low IQ] has done a lot to surmount those difficulties: 'whatever it takes', the ESM, banking union, QE. 2. We faced very similar difficulties due to the crash, remember?!
3. The difficulties are not due to the EU single market, they may or may not be due to the Eurozone, which we wer not a member of, nor going to become one. Neither are the consequences of them for us avoided by leaving the EU. [FFS].
"Greece could have got out of its difficulties expeditiously if it had retained the drachma and been able to devalue." Hey, another specific policy claim at last!! Although a non sequitur [we weren't leaving the Eurozone, idiot]. And controversial, to say the least.
[Note Greece's previous difficulties managing its own currency, routed in the diverse, deep and historical causes of its dysfunctional politics, which prompted it joining in the first place].
Christ I am getting tired. Glancing down, the ratio of stupidity to text is rising rapidly. Break to make kids' now late lunch.
"You can row away from delusions, such as that the EU has maintained European peace, when it was very obviously Nato." 1. LdB seems unable to hold in his mind that things can have many causes. Maybe it was both the EU and Nato? 2. No evidence, [again].
[Also note the attempt to persuade by mock Churchillian rhetoric. Repeated use of the rowing metaphor. As though this means something. I suppose this is just vainglorious and not actually wrong.]
"or the delusion that we cannot rebuild our links with the Commonwealth countries we so shamelessly left in the lurch in the Seventies" What links did the EU prevent us having that these countries would want with us now, that would be worth leaving the EU and Single Market for?
"or make new agreements elsewhere quite quickly; after all, we will not need the unanimous agreement of 27 other countries." 1. Ignorant of actual speed of EU agreement formation. 2. Omits to mention benefit of being part of their heft.
3. Omits, probably ignorant of overall trade implications of leaving deep single market with near neighbour and replacement with shallow agreements with far neighbours.
"You can row away from an economic area that is not so much a free-trade zone as a protectionist one." Hard to discern mix of ignorance and falsehood.
"Although today the EU offers preferential terms to many developing countries, it has traditionally helped to keep the developing world undeveloped by charging low tariffs on raw materials, and high tariffs on manufactured goods." Read too many Dan Hannan tweets.
"That’s how the west prevents developing countries from industrialising and competing with us." 1. Not really true any more. 2. No argument for what development or trade policy LdB thinks is going to happen outside the EU to improve matters....
3. Seems to contradict earlier implied argument for industrial policy [which, although unspecified, will allow protectionist state intervention to help domestic industry at expense of those in developing world].
"EU is still encumbered by the CAP." At last something specific that is true!! Yet. 1. We will have less influence over the CAP outside the EU. 2. Tories are already talking about farming subsidies. 3. Unspecified policy for food and farming to replace the CAP.
"Euros pour into Germany but are not recycled to the periphery." To the extent which this means anything [which is not much] it won't be solved by us leaving the EU.
"You cannot, however, blame Germany for having the largest economy in the eurozone, and for finding other countries too exasperating to subsidise any further." 1. First the Germans are the hegemons barely distinguishable from the goose-stepping characters in 60s war movies.....
...and now you can't blame them for not wanting to subsidize any further. 2. Subsidize what? Not specified. 3. Contradicts later argument that LdB is revolted by what EU did 'to Greece'.
"The French, of course, will be delighted by our departure, because they will become correspondingly more important." 1. Racist, as this is not just arithmetic, which would mean everyone, not just the French, becomes more important. 2. No evidence.
3. No logical connection with overall argument that UK should leave. 'The fact that the French are delighted we should leave is why we should leave'??
"I bumped into David Owen last year." Leaving aside the revolting insinuation of self importance here, regarding just what kind of circles LdB moves in: false appeal to authority, that he is the kind of person who bumps into David Owen.
"...The former foreign secretary" ['In case my false appeal to authority was not strong enough let me remind you what David Owen's old job was and let's cover over the idiocy seen from a recent former foreign secretary who is now PM'.]
"a whole country [Greece] reduced to penury for years on end; a country that elected a government on an anti-austerity ticket and was instantly overruled and humiliated by Brussels." [Where to start with this?!]
1. Greece's problem was about its Eurozone, not EU membership. [But see preious point about difficulties of life outside EZ] 2. Greece is not helped by us leaving the EU. 3. Where is LdB arguing for some extra pro Greece UK policy that no-one was stopping us from conducting?
4. Incoherent with respect to previous argument about sovereignty: creditor countries sought to get repaid on behalf of their own electorates. 5. Probably no understanding of underlying resource conflict here.
"For people like me, with an old-fashioned classical humanist education, Greece holds a special place in the heart." 1. Quick theorizing on society rotting from the core due to lack of proper education. 2. 'you can't see things because you haven't read Plato [or something].'
"At one time Greece was the only country in Europe that still stood beside us in the second world war. Greece’s humiliating defeat of Mussolini was the beginning of his downfall." 'old fashioned classical humanist education' obvs did not include nuances and complexity of history
"During the second world war, the Third Reich looted Greece so thoroughly that they even collected up all the pianos, but, some few years afterwards the Greeks forgave the Germans their war debt." ....
1. Yes but contradicts earlier comment that you can understand the Germans [false generalization] not wanting to subsidize any more. 2. Historically dubious assertion that today's Germans should be held responsible for their ancestors' rulers' acts.
"Corrupt as Greece was, she deserved better than to be punished so severely for the crime of having been admitted to the eurozone before she was ready for it." Insulting stereotyping and simplification bordering on racism.
"[Boris Johnson] pulls impossible rabbits out of hats even as his detractors scoff." By now, convinced that this is not lying, LdB is too stupid to realize BJ simply caved on allowing a border between NI and GB, what the EU originally insisted on before May declined it.
"the next rabbit may be a decent trade settlement. No doubt this will be difficult, but it is evident that it only will be accomplished by someone who is positive enough to assume that it can be." 1. More ignorance of history of trade agreements and their depth....
2. Stupidity imagining that optimism has anything to do with it, rather than power and incentives. Probably doesn't understand EU incentives, given evidence of previous stated views.
"It has been increasingly obvious to me and fellow Leavers for many years now that the English would be better off on their own." Hard to fathom how much racism or stupidity inform this as benefits not specified. Certainly false. Contradicts previous stated views on trade.
"it seems ever more likely that Ireland can be reunified, because all the very good reasons for the North resisting this have gone;" Stupid beyond reason. Seems unaware of desires of Protestent unionists; nor implications of the WA for the NI/GB border.
Also unfathomable connection with the Leave argument. Ireland was essentially unified in economic terms within the single market, creating an equilibrium acceptable to most in NI.
[h/t @odtorson who spots possible racist trope referencing 'The English'. Who is that?]
@odtorson "the Republic is no longer a corrupt, backward country" Insulting, ignorant comment invoking national, verging on racial stereotypes. Especially by dint of lack of being unsubstantiated.
@odtorson "We are an important trading partner; if Ireland were being strictly rational it would also leave the EU and opt for an Anglo-Irish economic zone." Ignorant of RoI trade destinations, which mean Ireland is better off in the single market.
@odtorson "England has no good reason for wanting to cling on to Northern Ireland, or to Scotland either." FFS. 1. The UK has a duty to adhere to the Belfast agreement, which involves obligations to those in NI that don't want to join RoI, to ensure that that only happens by consent.
@odtorson 2. What does this have to do with Brexit anyway? Incoherent invoking of some 'if you see why Brext is a good idea, then it follows that' [what exactly?]
@odtorson "The English have noticed that their own nationalism is the only one that is routinely denigrated and despised, and that also grates." 1. No evidence. 2. Who are these English? What is the nationalism aspiring to that is being impeded by the status quo here?
@odtorson "The English should have reclaimed their flag and thought more about what Englishness is." 1. Who? 2. In order to do what? And how was this impeded by EU membership, or is being impeded within the UK?"
@odtorson "It [Englishness/flag] is at one level a love of landscape, a rubbing along of like-minded people, a shared language rich in dialect and figures of speech, a love (like the French) of the absurd." 1. Says who? 2. Evidence? 3. Stereotyping and racially exclusive.
@odtorson "The English have lost their sense of themselves as an ancient shared culture, however. " Well I wonder what he is invoking as the cause of this [vague and unspecified, and unevidenced assertion]??
@odtorson "They [the English] don’t know how much they don’t know, or how one thing connects to another." 1. Who? 2. No evidence. [Oh the delicious irony of the quote anyway, given the heaps of ignorance and fuzzy thinking in the column]
@odtorson "The English don’t even know their country geographically. Most southerners have little interest in what goes on Up North, and most northerners wouldn’t be able to find Guildford on a map." 1. Evidence? 2. Stereotyping.3.And this would be fixed by Brexit and ending the union?
@odtorson "How the Scots would prosper without the pound, and outside the EU, with possible tariffs between us on the border, is anyone’s guess, but that would not be England’s problem." 1. Tariffs between 'us' [who?] and the Scots would be our problem, you ninny. 2....
@odtorson 2. what happened to that altruistic concern for other nations like Greece? Now the Scots are not England's problem. 3. What the hell is any of this got to do with anything? Seems to be Fast Show horribly drunk person's logic. 4. I thought you didn't like currency unions!
@odtorson "England’s attitude should be like that of any sensible lover: if you love me, stay; if not, I am better off without you." 1. matters of collective social policy decisions are not informed by baseless generalizations about pesonal relations. 2. That's it.
@odtorson "The English should shrug, and agree that it’s understandable that everyone should prefer their own mess to somebody else’s order, because, after all, that’s how we feel ourselves." 1.Says who?2.See above: collective social decisions are not well decribed by personal dilemmas.
@odtorson "And so at last..." Yes! We can see the end of the column is in sight!!
@odtorson "We are the rats that left the EU first, and we are probably not the last." 1. Unsubstantiated. 2. Implication that someone else leaving means we were right to, which does not follow.
@odtorson Reader, I just can't go on. It gets more vague and silly in its soaring concluding rhetoric. General self contradiction contained in summary 'we are a family, even though we are different, and we don't need trade rules, but we do [see rabbits out of hats earlier].'
@odtorson Now I need to lie down.
@odtorson You could teach most of a undergraduate degree based on the mistakes in that column.
@odtorson 1. How to construct an argument. 2. What does and does not count as evidence. 3. 20th century European political history. 4. Economics of trade, currency, immigration.
@odtorson 5. Contemporary roots and history of the Eurozone and the Eurozone crisis. 6. The ebb and flow of rational discourse as a guiding force in public affairs.
@odtorson 7. The media. Opinion pieces. Media as reflector and instigator in opinion and policy formation.
@odtorson LdB's column is like a photo negative of the body of tools and knowlege you need to grasp sometihng about social policy, history and economics. To be fair to him it is quite a body of work and no reason why a writer of frivolous fiction should be expected to know it.
[Incidentally, my surviving parent does not think any of those things, is drenched in reading about ww2 history, but so what? Does this lend my own thread any extra weight? No].
@odtorson @NME @gavinesler Like much of the pro Brexit discourse [and tbf a sliver of Remainer discourse], consistency, evidence, logic are beside the point. LdB articulates imaginary, felt, lived experience and pipes it out. To be taken seriously, not literally.
@odtorson @NME @gavinesler Abramson like threads of 487 Tweets dismembering line by line such tracts are, viewed from the lofty heights of Cummings level strategizing, a sign that the bilge is working, not a solution.
@odtorson @NME @gavinesler Responding to an awful column about a policy that is a fate accomplis might seem doubly futile. We lost didn't we?
@odtorson @NME @gavinesler However, the task of defining the UK's economic distance from the EU as non members is far from done. Some way of resisting using this tactic of a rhetorical departure from evidence and reality has to be found.
@odtorson @NME @gavinesler And aside from Brexit, if the goverment feels it can win by tilting at imaginary windmills with real lances, or real windmills with imaginary lances, it will try out the tactic over HS2, levelling up, NHS, education.
