Canada never agreed to be part of the United States. Of course they would reject the authority of a foreign leader. But Great Britain voluntarily joined the EU. They weren’t subjugated.
This is the part of the Brexit campaign I find most flabbergasting. They talk as if they were invaded by the EU, not as if they willingly agreed to become a member. Fine, you want to revisit the original decision, you are unhappy with membership, fine, withdraw. But please stop talking as if you’re throwing off the shackles of an oppressive invader. It’s not fucking true.
But Great Britain voluntarily joined the EU. They weren’t subjugated.
Worse - they spent years, decades even, pressing to get in against the repeated ‘Non!’ of De Gaulle.
So, if it’s bad for UK to be joined to EU, why is is good for Scotland and NI and Wales to be joined to England? And why is it good for Wessex to be forced into attachment to London - let alone Essex. And why should Winchester be stuck with Hampshire? Badger Farm with Winchester? Falcon View with Badger Farm? Why must your left hand be subjugated by the vile arm - freedom for hands!
it will be interesting what Boris or whoever takes over will negotiate with the EU. Switzerland and Norway are not EU members and yet in order to have duty free access they have to pay as much as EU members --they also have to allow anyone to live and work in their respective countries. In any case the other EU members will certainly not be interested in a sweetheart deal with the UK rather the opposite.
They certainly don’t want to set an example for others to leave and get a better deal. Britain had the advantage of their own currency, and Thatcher did negotiate a deal when the UK joined, however all new members will now have to accept the EURO - since everyone gets a veto vote and Madrid insists on it. Madrid will also oppose Scotland in the EU as they are concerned about their own Catalan region separating. They don’t want to see a painless separation and re-joining of the EU. (Though the Euro was a bad idea given the disparate economies and no central gov’t with taxing authority, that should be reformed).
As far as the free movement that is more part of the Schengen agreement and Britain was not a signatory, however that was likely to end anyway given the large influx of refugees and the Brussels & Paris attacks and the pressure on the southern countries which bear more of the burden.
Note the “should”-- there’s no actual promise there. This like someone saying “sorry, I can’t go to the movies with you, I really should exercise more” (then he sits down and eats a whole bag of Cheetos while watching Sports Center.)
Talking swings of pendulums - is it time to bring slavery back? The pox? Druids? Ducats? Piracy? Feudalism? Droits du seigneur? Speaking French?
One swing that has certainly taken place - the ill informed masses have openly believed whatever shit was shovelled to them by all sorts of muck-peddling rags. And the shit turned out to be so unbelievable and unjustifiable that the speakers of it themselves have jumped back and cried “I didn’t do that shit!”
Y’all have a statistic authority? Dang. The US could use one of those. With more teeth than the UK’s one, obviously. “Yep, nope. We’re gonna need you to repaint all those buses by hand and spend millions of pounds telling everyone you were full of it. Oh, and also you owe me lunch. And not at Long Subs With Pitiful Toppings Chain™. Jeez.”
Yeaaaah but acknowledging it wasn’t a promise is pretty much like saying “Oh yeah, we’re full of it.” So that’s not going to happen. “Oh, it turns out we can’t because we have to use all that money for some other thing. No way we could have known.”
