Saturday, June 25, 2016

Well, here’s a how-de-do. Anxious emails washed ashore more or less simultaneously yesterday from Greek Helen’s husband, who works for the Black Sea Trade and Development bank in Thessaloniki; and my sister in DC, worried about her investments. And I am distressed by your distress, Knitlass.

But, although Archie&I voted Remain, I am not entirely sorry about the outcome. A favourite writer, AA Gill, defending Remain, asked in the Sunday Times recently whether we had actually noticed any diminution of sovereignty. My answer is yes, although my examples – you’ve heard about the bees – are all from the countryside. And I am afraid I am rather enjoying the sight of Mr Cameron getting his come-uppance – he knows he will be remembered in history as the Prime Minister who needlessly took GB out of the EU and thereby broke up the United Kingdom. The Lord North de nos jours.

I am sanguine about the loss of the EU. I don’t like its undemocratic secrecy, or its itch for a United States of Europe. But I will deeply regret the loss of the United Kingdom, which now seems inevitable. I don’t think Mrs Sturgeon will make Mr Salmond’s mistake of sailing into a referendum on independence without having thought out the question of currency. Will she offer us the Euro? Maybe there’s hope after all.

It is a very odd situation, unparalleled in my experience – having a parliament forced to act against its wishes. Normally, its will is sovereign – it has been called, with some justice,  an elected dictatorship. But now it will be forced to do something the majority of its members find repugnant.

Well, we shall see.

Knitting

I continue to move happily forward with the Hansel shawl. I have finished with Contrast Colour 3 and, sure enough, needed a very small contribution from a second ball of yarn. I have now moved on to CC2, for which I will presumably need a little bit more.

KayT, I know absolutely what you mean about rushing to deliver-in-person-rather-than-having-to-post-it. My sister will be here next week (she'll find it cheaper than she would have the week before) and I could almost have the shawl ready to give to her: her grandson being the baby involved. But I am a couple of weeks short of that being possible. The best I can hope for is that I will be knitting the edging by the time she gets here, and she can see the shawl gradually being released.




Aine, yes, and thank you – that’s the sweater I was admiring on Andy Murray last weekend. How well the sweater fits the man, as well as the cables fitting the sweater. 

7 comments:

  1. The thing that is distressing me most is the turning from an open society, to a closed one. Many students come to study here from other EU member states - what of them? My Irish friend, a UK tax payer her whole adult life reduced to a shaking wreck. The legitimacy that brexit has given to the disaffected to now turn on the 'others' in our society. The black, the brown, those who speak polish and German and Spanish freely in our streets.

    The EU is democratic, it is made up of political leaders that we elect directly. The Commission is made up of politicians nominated by heads of state. It might seem secretive and far away - but that could be because our press is more interested in Kate Middletons lipstick than the important work that goes on in Europe to promote workers tights, uphold environmental standards and direct investment to European poorest regions.

    I am ashamed that we could let this happen. That we could let a jingoistic anti migrant right wing elite frame the EU as the guilty party in relation to jobs, immigration, austerity and the NHS. All of these problems are more to do with the UK government than Europe.

    And now I and my dear children have to live with a weaker currency, devalued investments, higher prices and the loss of those opportunities to study, work and live in the EU that were guaranteed to us as citizens of the EU.

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    1. thank you, knitlass, for that emphatic response - I so agree with you. not everything the EU politicians have done is great - but I haven't yet seen any government that only churns out perfect legislation for everyone - that is simply not possible. I think that this brexit is going to be the beginning of the end for all of us in europe - it will wreac havoc for a great many of us (being german in ireland I have thought about this a great deal!) - and achieve nothing much for those who so blindly followed certain right-wing politician's empty promises - that they started to take back minutes after the result was made public:(

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  3. I wonder if it will really happen - NF et al now seem like a dog who was chasing cars and finally caught one. What do I now? I fear most for what it may foretell on this side of the pond. Knit on.

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  4. Re Brexit - We all know young people who are working in Europe, making the most of those opportunities. So, migrant working has never been a one-way process. I was interested to see that the 18-24 age range were polled as voting Remain, whereas the over 65s seem to have gone with Leave. But imagine a government led by the Leave campaigners...
    Mary Lou, I think that you could be right, after all the hoo-ha has died down.

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  5. What´s the EU without the UK? I really connot imagine it. And I always had the strong suspicion the "regulations from Brussels" are just a cheap excuse for our German politicians to implement rules or laws nobody wants.
    But maybe I will now be able to buy British products for less € ...

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