The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

Menu

Navigation

Wretched Europe

by 35 Comments

For the first time since…

No – for the first time… I really don’t care how England get on at a major tournament.

The England team are not the problem, they’re actually quite good. Europe is the problem. Things are falling apart. I’m a “remain” voter and now I worry even more than I did before that a “leave” vote by the UK will spell serious social unrest and inflame existing divisions in other EU countries. Civil wars in the near future seem a genuine possibility to me now.

I can’t remember disruption and violence this bad at a European Championship finals or World Cup finals for a long time, if ever. It’s just not worth it. The real football fans who are there, with their face paint, spongy hats and good faith, must be very depressed. Unless they’re German or Spanish or Italian, of course, and have a realistic chance of winning the thing.

Wake me up in 2025 when the Apocalypse has blown over.

Anyone else feeling hopeless and vulnerable?

Referendums. In or out?

by 65 Comments

I shall be on leave in late June, so today I have applied for my postal vote. If there’s a vote to be had, I shall exercise my democratic right, as fought for by our predecessors.

I shall vote. But truth be told, on this occasion, I don’t think I should have a vote. Referendums just ain’t the way to do things. Every few years. the electorate gets the chance to vote for a parliament that should pull together a coherent plan that integrates policies in all those areas where a government exercises power. Once they have elected that government, they should leave them to it and should not have the chance to vote on one particular decision or policy. An electorate’s decision on one issue may be completely at odds with all other policies, with all the dysfunction that that implies. Put it this way, if you had a referendum on the base rate of tax, and then a referendum on free tertiary education provision on the same day, you can bet that the outcome would a mandate for a low tax rate that could not support the mandate for tertiary education free at the point of provision.

So, » Continue Reading.