Those of us who were listening properly to the Brexiteers knew this would come to pass. All our lives are being affected by the bullish and totally unfounded shouting of Britain is Great. They seem to believe that waving lots of flags and blubbering partial sentences, using as big a word as possible in it, will magically make everything okay. I find it unbelievable that there are so many people out there who believe that Britain is a world leader. When was the last time Britain took the lead in something? In all my adult life I only remember them hanging on the coat tails of bigger Countries or Unions while claiming to be leading.
Britain is well and truly bankrupt in more ways than one. We were once internationalists. Sharing our expertise with others and embracing others expertise to help us achieve good outcomes. By alienating others, we will become isolated. The Westminster government has bullied and insulted people who they now know are essential workers. The final insult to truck drivers was please come back to help us till Christmas then we will throw you out again. The plus side is it has highlighted the terrible working conditions of the trucker. I knew they lived in their cabs and did long trips but had no idea how long and that there were no facilities for them. No wonder we have difficulty finding a layby on long trips to take a break. Why would they ever want to come back here?
I am fed up hearing the UK government saying that we want to grow our own essential workforce from our own people. Why were we using so many foreign workers? My recollection is that rather than pay people a living wage, employers looked elsewhere, like Eastern Europe where the economies were struggling. People were happy to come here as the wages were higher than at home and allowed them to live frugally, save and return home at a future date. Inevitably some found love, married and settled. This was not a one-way process. Many Brits are living all over the world having done the same thing.
Now we have a government turning its back on us. Removing all Covid supports in one fell swoop. Businesses that were clinging on will now fall away or make many staff unemployed. People will be unable to meet their rent backlog and will be homeless. People will be unable to meet rising costs for everything and will be going hungry and cold. The phrase ‘winter of discontent’ has oft been used, I have a feeling this may indeed be the case for many as we now hear that government departments are not speaking to each other and in some cases are openly hostile.
Fear not though. Our glorious (NOT!) leader is away on his autumn holiday while his cabinet falls apart. Has anyone told him yet that we are the laughing stock of the world?
Excellent article- I think the problem is that most people can’t conceive of thinking the way the tories do about caring for people.
It’s the mentally of the WW1 officers sending their men over the top and complaining that none of them come back !
Hopefully we can follow a more humaine path towards the future.