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> Brexit was a disaster not because it was an extremely silly idea, but rather due to saboteurs? The mostly likely things that has made Brexit not work, if it
by robertlagrant 2y ago
> Brexit was a disaster not because it was an extremely silly idea, but rather due to saboteurs?
The mostly likely things that has made Brexit not work, if it could ever have worked, and other than the people in charge being terrible at their jobs, are the enormous headwinds of Covid and the war in Ukraine.
- rsynnott 2y agoI mean, if anything, the invasion of Ukraine likely _masked_ problems for longer; continental Europe was far harder hit than the UK by energy deficits (most UK gas comes from the North Sea fields and Norway, and it also had LPG importation facilities on a greater scale than did, say, Germany on the eve of the war). Without it, the economic divergence would look worse, not better. Covid was largely in the rear-view mirror by the time the UK _really_ left; the really disruptive changes didn't start til mid 2021.
- robertlagrant 2y agoThe divergance might look worse, but - jealousy aside - the real measure is absolute improvement / decline, not relative.
- rsynnott 2y agoYeah, seems unlikely that Ukraine made any difference there.
- robertlagrant 2y agoIt's incredibly likely. Lots of money spent on weapons and helping refugees, which has to come from somewhere; huge amount of fuel prices going up, which drives most other goods up. Straight after Covid.