Thread by @RKWinvisibleman

We need to talk about Eeyore:

Brexiteers keep describing people who are gloomy about #Brexit as Eeyores. Philip Hammond has been described as such ft.com/content/1315f6…

.@BorisJohnson has described my own employer's coverage of #Brexit as "making Eeyore look positively exuberant": ft.com/content/a1180a…

These are all based on the notion that Eeyore is nothing more than a depressed and gloomy character who sees the downside of everything.

That is a complete misreading of AA Miline's subtle genius in creating the characters in the Winnie the Pooh books.

All of the main characters are, it's clear, ultimately very different from the way the society of the 100-acre wood reputes them to be.

Winnie the Pooh, the bear of very little brain, emerges as being clever. Piglet, who sees himself as timid, is brave. Wise owl is stupid.

There's a deep inner sadness behind's Tigger's bounciness.
Which brings us to Eeyore.

Eeyore has a deep inner joy that eludes the other characters.

How would a merely depressed person react if his friends burst his birthday balloon and ate his birthday honey? He'd be sad.

Eeyore by contrast finds joy in taking the burst balloon in and out of the empty honey pot:

And, if Philip Hammond is Eeyore, this picture clearly shows him finding efficiencies can trim 100 basis points off the deficit:

Eeyore has a sardonic exterior. He plays a particular role in the society of the forest. He seeks sympathy through exaggerating his sadness.

He is unequivocally not merely gloomy and it's entirely wrong to say he is.

In the context of Brexit, where businesses have widespread concerns but we need to make the best of it, I'd say being an Eeyore isn't bad.

Let us recall, meanwhile, the after-effects of Tigger’s enthusiasm. He all too often ends up blundering into scrapes he doesn’t understand.

If only there were some political parallel I could draw about that last point...

My 10yo, incidentally, saw my writing this and started speculating about the effects of Brexit on the 100-acre wood.

He thought Pooh's honey was probably mainly locally produced (but maybe phyto-sanitary rules for beekeepers will change after Brexit).

But he did wonder whether the condensed milk was imported and how any new trade barriers might affect Pooh's ability to access it.

Anyway: tl;dr: while I speak only for myself, I don't find the accusation that the FT is like Eeyore at all wounding.
#EeyorePride

But maybe people just mean Hammond's a "Disney simplification of Eeyore". If that's what they mean, they should say it. Don't blame AA Milne

But I do keep thinking that @Jacob_Rees_Mogg comes across a lot like Owl. Is that unfair?