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I’ve stopped making fun of those English immigrants in Spain who live in an old fashioned British time bubble in english pubs with English TV, because in a weird way...
...as a liberal & remainer I’m actually becoming...like them.
- A small thread on a strange phenomenon -
...as a liberal & remainer I’m actually becoming...like them.
- A small thread on a strange phenomenon -
2/
We’re familiar with that immigrant cliche. The, for example, Turk who moves to Germany becomes more & more German and yet retains, cherishes a Turkish idea of himself & the land of his youth even as Turkey becomes modern...& then when returning “home” doesn’t recognize it..
We’re familiar with that immigrant cliche. The, for example, Turk who moves to Germany becomes more & more German and yet retains, cherishes a Turkish idea of himself & the land of his youth even as Turkey becomes modern...& then when returning “home” doesn’t recognize it..
3/
I’ve noticed a strange thing happening with me & Britain.
I’m British. I’m English.
I never even bothered to think about.
But the referendum.
& more importantly the post brexit tragedy following it, didn’t challenge my European identity - it, for the 1st time, confirmed it.
I’ve noticed a strange thing happening with me & Britain.
I’m British. I’m English.
I never even bothered to think about.
But the referendum.
& more importantly the post brexit tragedy following it, didn’t challenge my European identity - it, for the 1st time, confirmed it.
4/
So what’s happening is the English part of me is becoming slowly separated from the actual existing UK reality.
The UK that had Brown or Major as a PM, where most MPs at least made a pretense of decency & where nationalism was considered negative rather than our only policy.
So what’s happening is the English part of me is becoming slowly separated from the actual existing UK reality.
The UK that had Brown or Major as a PM, where most MPs at least made a pretense of decency & where nationalism was considered negative rather than our only policy.
5/
So increasingly those English things I cherish belong to the past. Or are timeless like shepherds pie or the countryside.
Maybe I’m a bit like that 60
year old
bloke in Alicante who’s ideas of 
are 30 years out of date & whose idea of London is based on Minder.
So increasingly those English things I cherish belong to the past. Or are timeless like shepherds pie or the countryside.
Maybe I’m a bit like that 60
year old
bloke in Alicante who’s ideas of are 30 years out of date & whose idea of London is based on Minder.
6/
Maybe us remainers are as nostalgic as Brexiters.
Nostalgic for a time when Yes Minister seemed the worse politics could get.
Musing over this it becomes clear to me that rejoining is no longer about the EU.
It’s about trying to protect some of the things we are losing.
Maybe us remainers are as nostalgic as Brexiters.
Nostalgic for a time when Yes Minister seemed the worse politics could get.
Musing over this it becomes clear to me that rejoining is no longer about the EU.
It’s about trying to protect some of the things we are losing.
7/
But then I wonder:
If constant shameless scandal, the mainstreaming of fascism, collapse of BBC & complete rejection of any sense of propriety in public life is the new normal..
...then maybe I’m just like that immigrant - dreaming of a homeland that no longer exists.
/ends
But then I wonder:
If constant shameless scandal, the mainstreaming of fascism, collapse of BBC & complete rejection of any sense of propriety in public life is the new normal..
...then maybe I’m just like that immigrant - dreaming of a homeland that no longer exists.
/ends
