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> If anything I think it is rather unfair to hear people from other EU countries treating this process as something along the lines of 'suits them' and 'they've

> If anything I think it is rather unfair to hear people from other EU countries treating this process as something along the lines of 'suits them' and 'they've made their bed'. From my perspective, it's more like "it was inevitable". The people pushing for Brexit would never give up. So the choice was either leave now, or keep talking for the following years/decades/centuries about how the evil EU oppresses the UK, and how everything in UK would be perfect if only... In some way, it reminds me of dissolution of Czechoslovakia. I was not happy about that either, but realistically, the choice was either do it now, or keep forever listening to voices on both sides about how all problems are caused by the other half and everything would be perfect (though probably disastrous for the other half) if only... Once you have a major fraction of your population -- and it doesn't make a difference whether it's 48% or 52% -- believing they are being oppressed, it becomes unfalsifiable. Every time something bad happens, you have an explanation ready, and it doesn't matter whether it makes sense or not, believing that it is all someone else's fault is always popular. If the lesson from Czechoslovakia applies here, at the end none of the prophecies of heaven or hell came true, both sides continue living their boring lives. The only change is that now when something bad happens, this one excuse is no longer available. So, my guess is that after Brexit, the life in EU will more or less remain the same, and the life in UK will more or less remain the same, with the exception that "everything would be perfect if only EU stopped interfering with our perfect country" will disappear from political speech.

tonyedgecombe 6y ago
"everything would be perfect if only EU stopped interfering with our perfect country" will disappear from political speech. That doesn't seem to be disappearing. My guess is we will be hearing a lot more about the EU for the foreseeable future.
- Viliam1234 6y ago
  One or two election cycles, but afterwards it will be too boring to hear the same excuses. Soon after dissolution of Czechoslovakia, people in Slovakia blamed Czechs for all kinds of things. (We had an agreement that neither side will use the old federal flag; they kept it. We had an agreement that the national treasure will be split proportionally; they decided to keep it all. Plus a few more things. I am sure the other side also had their complaints.) A decade later, after most politicians from that era retired, no one mentioned this anymore. People who were not yet adult during the federation simply don't care; it's ancient history for them, like complaining that your garden does not have nice flowers because dinosaurs once stomped on it. Yeah, but what did you do about it since then; you had enough time to do something, right? I feel like an old person just for mentioning the old issues. Similarly, ten or twenty years later, Farage will be just some uncool old grandpa no one cares about. It may be hard to imagine, but it will happen.
  - tonyedgecombe 6y ago
    Go and ask the people of Switzerland about that because my understanding is their relationship with the EU is in constant negotiation. >Farage will be just some uncool old grandpa Fortunately that has already happened.

tonyedgecombe 6y ago

"everything would be perfect if only EU stopped interfering with our perfect country" will disappear from political speech. That doesn't seem to be disappearing. My guess is we will be hearing a lot more about the EU for the foreseeable future.

Viliam1234 6y ago
One or two election cycles, but afterwards it will be too boring to hear the same excuses. Soon after dissolution of Czechoslovakia, people in Slovakia blamed Czechs for all kinds of things. (We had an agreement that neither side will use the old federal flag; they kept it. We had an agreement that the national treasure will be split proportionally; they decided to keep it all. Plus a few more things. I am sure the other side also had their complaints.) A decade later, after most politicians from that era retired, no one mentioned this anymore. People who were not yet adult during the federation simply don't care; it's ancient history for them, like complaining that your garden does not have nice flowers because dinosaurs once stomped on it. Yeah, but what did you do about it since then; you had enough time to do something, right? I feel like an old person just for mentioning the old issues. Similarly, ten or twenty years later, Farage will be just some uncool old grandpa no one cares about. It may be hard to imagine, but it will happen.
- tonyedgecombe 6y ago
  Go and ask the people of Switzerland about that because my understanding is their relationship with the EU is in constant negotiation. >Farage will be just some uncool old grandpa Fortunately that has already happened.