My mood of sadness increased through the day yesterday, and is not much lifted this morning. I m not one who hankers after the “greatness of a by gone glorious Britain that strode the world stage”. Please don’t interpret what I now express as a desire to go back to that; I don’t.
However, following our lost role as World Leader, probably at the end of WW11, we drifted along pretending to have some influence but incidents such as Suez and McMillans “Wind of Change” heralded significant and obvious shifts. Despite our position on the UN Security Council and being a member of NATO, we were a declining force on the world stage.
Then came Europe. We could have again played a central role; we could have lead in Europe, we could have had influence. We were never quite sure. We seemed to me to always be the “semi detached” member, and now we are not even that. Now we have opted out of any influence anywhere. We will no longer be a part of a team that negotiated on the world stage, we have opted for “cul de sac” politics, where our opinion, our influence will mean nothing to anyone, We are now in the same league as Finland or Botswana or …..you name it…. ( no offence intended to either of those fine countries) and I find that desperately sad. I have always wanted our culture to be shared, to be appreciated and beneficial to others; that may be attendance at our universities, which despite everything still retain some meritorious teaching; it could be our art and science, our knowledge base; it could be our sport ( having given most sports to the world perhaps we could have given cricket to the main land of Europe ) I wander….
but the main thrust of this is that we have opted out of trying, it seems to me, of trying to be a force in the world ( in my book a force for good) A force of tolerance and mutual understanding; a force for openness and democratic rule, a force essentially for good shared practices. Why? Because the nation has been conned, duped lied into believing that somehow “they” are to blame, they being Europe and foreigners and all that implies.

We now have to set about renegotiating trade deals across the globe, which will inevitably be less advantageous than they currently are, with cost of living rises as a consequence; we need to rethink who and what we are, and want to be ( perhaps the Leavers think we are now what we want to be….isolated, exposed and insignificant?) Are we happy in the cul-de-sac or are we about to discover some way to re enter the world and contribute ?

What is the role, what is the purpose of my country now?

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