[SystemSafety] Off Topic

[Peter Bernard Ladkin]

On 2016-06-24 09:42 , Andreoli, Kevin (UK) wrote:
> "As ye sow, so shall ye reap"
> 
> Hollande, Merkel and their predecessors sowed intransigence and have reaped yesterday's vote in the UK.

Intransigence in not being ready to change the founding documents, the Treaties of Rome and
Maasstricht, on the basis of a request from one member out of 27 signatories? I would hope so.
That's the role which founding documents are supposed to play.

In any case, if it's true that their intransigence led to yesterday's vote, then both of them should
be celebrating wildly, because they no longer even have to listen to the request.

But the champagne corks are not popping in Paris and Berlin.

The factoid making the rounds in Bielefeld today (in and out of academic circles) is that UK Google
searches for "Brexit" remained low until late last night, and then spiked. The conclusion people
draw is that Britons voted, and when they got home they looked up what they had just done. That does
not bode well for the tenor of exit negotiations. Neither does the sight of British football
hooligans trashing Marseille (again), shouting "f*** you, we're out" and two weeks later having that
happen.

The other conclusion being drawn is something learnt in Germany 80 years ago, and whose current
constitution expressly forbids. Don't "decide" major political issues by referendum. You can't plan
for what you'll get, voters often don't know what they are voting for, and you have to act on it
right away. Also, referenda enable power distortion. Farage can't get elected to parliament. But he
can get the Prime Minister to resign, change the course of Britain's economic development for at
least the next twenty years, and (wait for it) break up the Union.

According to the stats, it would not be amiss to put the result down to selfish old people who don't
care a fig about the young.

It is amiss, though to put the result down to Tory "Little Englanders", as Martin McGuinness did and
Tim Farron hinted. 44% of McGuinness's populace voted for Brexit and obviously none of them are Tory
"Little Englanders".

PBL

Prof. Peter Bernard Ladkin, Bielefeld, Germany
MoreInCommon
Je suis Charlie
Tel+msg +49 (0)521 880 7319  www.rvs-bi.de





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