The Best least worst deal on offer

Pelagius doesn’t blog much about Brexit. It’s all too depressing, he says. But today he’s having a go.

Teresa May’s deal (“there is no other”) is, almost in her words, the best deal we could get from the EU, that is to say, the deal which would do the UK the least amount of damage when we exit the European Union. The only better deal we could get, then, would be to not leave the EU at all. Oh dear. Because if we do that, we will be betraying the will of the great British People, those who voted to leave the EU. Yes, those people who voted in their millions in order to be able to give the NHS an extra 350 million quid a week - allegedly.

Those people who were hoping that very soon after the vote all those awful immigrants, those immigrants who actually contribute more to society than they take in benefits, to say nothing of their role in keeping the NHS from collapsing altogether, would be quitting the country in their droves - and not just Poles and Romanians (such awful, awful people) but the darker skinned ones too, with any luck. They didn’t consider the problem of the Northern Irish border, because no one did. It never came up in the campaign, or if it did I certainly missed it. yet now it has turned into one of the most critical issues.

 A no-deal would be a bit of a problem in Northern Ireland. Some sort of special arrangement would be required to deal with a land border between the EU and a non-EU country. And don’t think the DUP will be of any help in solving that little conundrum. They are so committed to their views - as fundamentalist in their own way as IS, that I believe they would be perfectly happy to build a Berlin-like wall right along the 350 mile border, risking the wrath of the entire Republican movement and possibly sparking off a full-scale war. Oh sure, they want to be part of the UK, except in matters of gay marriage, access to abortion and a few other human rights issues we addressed long ago on the mainland.

Well they’re getting what they wished for already. EU citizens are indeed leaving en masse causing a burgeoning labour shortage - no matter - as long as we get our precious sovereignty back, right? Funny thing: you don’t hear the French, the Germans, the Italians, bleating on about losing their sovereignty, even though they gave up their Francs, Marks and Liras. They still, as I understand it, feel French, German and Italian and not part of some hideous Euro-polyglot.

It seems there are now 2 main factions abroad in society: those who are pushing for no deal- what the ‘fundamentalists’ want, regardless of the fact that it could see our economy shrink by 10%, with the predictable effect that would have on the most vulnerable in our society - and those who are lobbying for a 2nd referendum, with 3 choices on the ballot: no deal, Teresa’s benighted deal and- surprise surprise: staying in the EU. Guess which way Pelagius is going to go..