Firstly for Hubby, who exchanged his too-small gilet for one that fitted nicely, thus meaning I officially bought him a successful Xmas pressie (see previous blogpost).
And also for me, who had a letter published in The Times on New Years Eve. Always an ego-boost!
The muse this time was Brexit – no surprise there then – in response to the slew of Remoaner letters in The Times on the 30th. I know “Remonaner” is an insulting term and that we Brexiteers should be magnanimous in victory, but these letters were undeserving of anyone’s magnanimity, which is a polite way of saying they were pathetic.
Two of the letters obviously came from box-ticking professions who wanted, “a series of goals by which the success of Brexit could be assessed by the electorate. These should be specific, measurable and time-bound”, and “a daily Brexit cost/benefit chart”.
Just can’t let the red tape go, can they.
Another contributor wondered how we were going to attract foreigners to help “broaden our minds”.
Well, the whole idea of Brexit is that we can now do what we want, when we want, how we want and, most important, with whom we want. In fact, why did we ever think we needed the EU (or EEC as was), when we were already a member of the Commonwealth of Nations?
Then we had the claim that our withdrawal from the Erasmus student exchange programme was symptomatic of “culturally and emotionally monoglot” Leavers.
But it’s being replaced with the wider and more diverse Turin programme, don’t-ya-know.
And someone had to play the “young people” card, “whose freedoms and economic prospects have been curtailed by this act of isolationism.”
Nothing like a carpe-diem antonym to demoralise the troops, eh?
And finally, the claim that “concepts of national sovereignty ultimately count for nothing in [trade] negotiations … the UK will always be smaller than the EU … be dancing to its tune for the foreseeable future.”
So how did we manage to secure a much-better-than-expected trade deal about a week ago?
I could have written to The Times, rebutting each and every point as above, but settled for a catch-all slap on the wrists, as follows:
What is so sad about the reaction in some influential quarters to the trade deal with the EU, mirrored in your anti-Brexit letters (“Optimist or pessimist, we’re all Brexiteers now”, Dec 30), is the lack of belief in the UK’s ability to succeed. If such opinions are voiced loud enough and often enough, then the rest of the world will have no confidence in us either, thus creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Critical optimism about our future is healthy and constructive; but defeatism and self-flagellation are not.
A happy, prosperous and glass-half-full year to everyone, Leavers and Remainers alike.
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