Tag: Brexit

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Delete? Sure? Really Sure?

October 9, 2019

October 31st is rolling around as we all knew it would. And the EU still hasn’t capitulated. A rare Saturday seating has been called for Parliament.

Deal. No deal. Soft Brexit. Hard Brexit. Who cares? What should be the topic of discussion is a second referendum, now that more facts are on the table and the British people have some idea of what they may be getting themselves into.

After all, when you try to click on “rename” but hit “delete” by mistake, your computer will ask you “Sure?”, then “Really sure?” before it actually carries out the command. The position that the first referendum, supposedly non-binding and by no means a landslide, amounts to a mandate, and that not implementing a self-inflicted wound amounts to a betrayal of the public will, or even treason, makes no sense. A second referendum, if it supported a no-deal Brexit, would be a mandate and then politicians could act accordingly, no matter what the economic and social consequences. The UK should seek a one year extension with the provision that a second referendum be held to confirm the first. If it doesn’t, best two out of three.

MOE

M.I.C.H – Modernity, Intelligence, Complexity, Humanity

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One Statement and Two Questions

August 31, 2019

From 1960 through 1985, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy in the world. Russia’s economy in 2019 ranks 12th, sandwiched between Spain and South Korea. Even adding back the other former Soviet states wouldn’t cause it to break the top 10. The past thirty years in the former Soviet Union have seen the greatest transfer, or disappearance, of wealth in human history.

Question 1: Where did the money go?

Question 2: Why are so many leaders in the West behaving like puppets with a hand up their back when asked simply to do what’s best for their countries and the planet?

MOE

Mi.I.C.H – Modernity, Intelligence, Complexity, Humanity

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Tory Negotiating Strategy

August 31, 2019

Having sold Brexit to the public on the basis that the slimy continentals have been eating the British lunch for decades, the best thing to do now is nothing. Simply wait until they come crawling back to the table with exactly the deal 10 Downing Street wants: all the benefits of membership with none of the costs or obligations.

After all, the EU wouldn’t let their chief benefactor, prime mark and choicest victim slip away. Would they?

Clock is ticking down, Tusk. Better hurry. Say Uncle!

MOE

M.I.C.H. – Modernity, Intelligence, Complexity, Humanity

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Dissolve the Senate!

August 31, 2019

BoJo = Genius. We don’t need no stinking Parliaments.

Minor miscalculation. The UK, it turns out, is not entirely an island. This complicates casting off lines and steaming away from the continent as planned. There is a land border with another EU member country. Who knew?

The solution is simple. Dig a moat between Northern Ireland and Ireland to make the geography more the way its was imagined by Nigel, Boris and company. Deep thinkers all.

MOE

M.I.C.H – Modernity, Intelligence, Complexity, Humanity

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Idiocracy Now!

July 21, 2019

As we wade evasively in the shallow end of a pool, the horseflies trying to eat our flesh and drink our blood in their unholy communion…

On both sides of the Atlantic millions now know what idiocracy – government by the very stupidest people a nation has produced – looks like.

To the east, a man aptly described by a colleague as “you stupid, dangerous oaf” stands poised to become Prime Minister. This in order to accomplish Brexit – something which, it has become increasingly clear over the past three years, should not be done. But the will of the people must be obeyed, even if it may not be their will anymore.

Vladimir Putin, an expert on democracy if ever there was one, has chimed in, insisting that if Britain retreats from Brexit, it isn’t a democracy anymore.

So imagine a car trip through the mountains. A route is decided on because it makes sense on the map at the time. But well into the actual drive, it turns out that a bridge over a gorge is out and there is no alternative route. While common sense declares that the driver reconsider, the passenger yells “gun it!” That is democracy. The route was chosen. Decisions made must be obeyed no matter what new information may appear in the field. Pick a new route? Vote again? That would mean a democracy is only governed by the most recent vote. Which is actually the case when you think about it.

Here to the west, the morning papers say that the trade war of choice declared unilaterally by our own stupid and dangerous oaf has now resulted in a nearly 90% decline in investment by a certain huge trading partner located on the other side of that other ocean. The asymmetry of percentages bears mention here. The percentage by which revenue can increase has no mathematical cap; but it can only decrease by 100%. And that point is near.

The above is no doubt well understood by the very stable genius in the White House, who claims to have graduated first in his class from Wharton and has therefore threatened to sue Penn if they release the information which would, presumably, corroborate his assertion. As someone whose father actually did graduate first in his class from Wharton, the writer is in a position to know one when he sees one. And Mr. Trump is not one; not even close. We leave open the possibility that he was first to exit the commencement ceremony.

MOE

M.I.C.H – Modernity, Intelligence, Complexity, Humanity