Thread by @tony_nog

1) #Brexit in miniature, and why reversal is so difficult for UK culture.

This is a classic Brexit story. A key EU agency is leaving the UK. For various reasons this move will cost £540M. The UK will foot the bill.

How will this be received in UK?

independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

2) well, 5 minutes reasoned thinking will lead to:
-Ok, obviously the agency must be in the EU
-We've chosen to leave the EU
-Someone has to pay, and if we're leaving it should be us
-It's annoying that the leasing contract was messed up but, well, someone has to pay

3) but how will the person highlighted in this thread understand it?
-He doesn't think we should pay a Brexit bill
-He doesn't know about, and wouldn't care about, the Medicines agency
-The Mail will tell him it's an EU stitch up, and he'll believe it

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4) he absolutely will refuse to understand why an EU based agency has to move to the EU and even if it does, it's the EU's problem not ours.
Because in his head the EU is an entity and not, ultimately, other taxpayers like him

5) our media will not inform him, normal civilised concepts of taking responsibility for your actions, fair play, paying your debts etc will simply not be applied.

I appreciate this may come across as Liberal snobbery, but it doesn't change the facts.

6) we've given a large section of the population the right to be abusive, selfish & dishonourable regarding our obligations & civilised behaviour, because it's just foreigners at the end of the day

7) we've made it OK (at the international level) to eat half the meal at the big Xmas party then walk out without paying because we made other plans during the main course.

8) something that would be ludicrous at a personal level ("yes, I signed a 3 year lease on the building, but I've found a new building after the 1st year so I'm not paying you any more") becomes somehow perfectly acceptable at the international level.

9) the media aren't going to inform us & neither will MPs. It's up to each individual to ask themselves in this case for example "is it fair for this agency to move and is it fair for us to pay the bill?"
A lot will simply reach the wrong moral conclusion, helped by the Mail etc

10) again, call it patronising, liberal snobbery, elitism, whatever...
If this story breaks there'll be a lot of voices saying it's ok to ask "why should we pay?"

And a lot of people who will be happy with that position

That's ultimately the issue with #Brexit

11) We've made it OK to take ridiculous, insular, immoral, self harming & dishonourable positions, because the other side are "just foreigners getting uppity"
and then we made it ok to take these indefensible positions as national foreign policy
End/