I have come to realise that I mustn’t go on beating myself up about the result of the EU referendum vote. If I spend all my time agonising about the prospect of the UK leaving the EU, or reading articles by other people who are agonising about it I shall make myself ill.
It is time to look on the bright side. There must be some good that could come out of it. Don’t get me wrong, I still regard the prospect of our leaving the European Union with great concern. I still believe that such a move will reduce jobs and trade, reduce our influence in Europe and the world and put up the cost of living in the UK. But we shall survive. It feels as though someone has removed a wheel from our motor car. You can drive a car with three wheels. They used to make three-wheeled cars, but they have less space and less grip, they are less stable and you can’t avoid potholes.
Three wheels anyone?
So you can drive a car with three wheels, but why would you when you could have a car with four.
But, and here comes the good news, I have found a bright spot to cheer myself up; and perhaps, I hope, to cheer you up a little too.
For many years I have argued that the world would be a better place and a safer place if it were more equal, just as this country would be a safer, happier and better place if it were more equal. Others have put the case in great detail and with greater authority than I can, but a good place to start would be by reading ‘The Spirit Level’.
When I was discussing ‘Brexit’ with an American lawyer friend he said:
“Oh, I don’t know, it won’t be too bad, we shall just see the managed decline of the UK which has been going on for a hundred years or more.”
I realised that he is right. In global terms Britain has been declining in influence, power and wealth for many years. With the loss of empire and the loss of status of Sterling as a world currency, with the loss of food production, motor manufacturing, white goods and television sets, Great Britain is not as great as we used to be, or perhaps as we used to think we were.
Maybe in global terms that is no bad thing. As fuel becomes more expensive and our disposable wealth falls we shall learn to use less oil. In global terms that would be no bad thing. The tricky thing about equality is persuading the wealthy that they need to reduce their wealth a bit and that in so doing they will benefit everyone. So maybe the continuing managed decline in UK PLC is no bad thing. Maybe the loss of some of the finance sector to Paris and Frankfurt would be no bad thing.
So we need to cheer up. The world will not end. We shall be poorer, but maybe, just maybe, the world will be a little bit fairer.
Some challenges remain of course. If the managed decline of the UK makes the world a fairer place, what do we need to do to make the UK a fairer country? That is a massive challenge, and with the current state of our political parties I am not sure how we do it.
There is also the challenge of social cohesion and peace on our streets and in our communities. We have seen how the intemperate language of politicians has permitted (I would say ‘encouraged’ but you may feel that that is going to far) a rise in hate crime and racism. We can all play our part in standing up to this dangerous inflammatory behaviour. Do not remain silent. Do not nod your head or walk by on the other side of the road. We must all speak out when we see intolerance, discrimination or hate raising its ugly head in our communities. This, I acknowledge, is a massive challenge and others may have more to offer on the subject than I can.
And so, Dear Reader, Cheer up and Good Luck.
Charles West 