21st Century Folly

by Paul Nunn

Tuesday 31st January 2017 11:06 pm

On June 23^rd the people chose

They chose to leave the club

They chose to stand alone

And they chose to snub.

They snubbed the whole of Europe

They took their toys and turned

They turned away from commonsense

And forget all that they’d learned.

They turned inward and gazed

Stared hard at their navels

Their children’s futures narrowed

As the parents turned the tables.

Debating now just how to leave

Do we still have the right?

The rest will surely boot us out

Then we’ll begin the longest night.

Comments

<Deleted User> (13762)

Wed 1st Feb 2017 23:12

Hi Paul, thanks for taking my comments in good spirit. As you say, long may those sentiments continue. All the best, Colin.

Paul Nunn

Wed 1st Feb 2017 12:51

Thanks for your considered comment Colin.

It is a pleasure to read thoughts - albeit from someone with a different view - that are well reasoned, rational and positive. In the end, although I would have chosen a different course, I am very much of the opinion that we have to move forward, and that we now need to do that positively as the UK. This little conversation does at least underline the benefits our society affords us in being able to speak openly and freely. Long may that continue!

Thanks again, Paul

<Deleted User> (13762)

Wed 1st Feb 2017 08:42

Yes we left The Club. No we didn't snub Europe. Brexit might yet turn out to be one of our greatest political moves, that's of course if the remainers stop whining and get behind Brand UK.

I was just reading an excellent article by the BBC's Europe editor Katya Adler in the Radio Times (how very British of me) entitled Sink or Swim - the EU could tear itself apart in 2017. It's worth the cover price to read or catch the documentary Thursday 9th - After Brexit: the Battle for Europe.

Two quotes from the article.

"Anger against the establishment had spread across Europe well before 23 June last year. Brexit can't be blamed. But the 2008 economic crisis and other pivotal developments can.... Governments and the EU appeared to bail out bankers while leaving ordinary people to struggle with financial instability and loss."

"...In much of Western Europe, the same political parties have been in government since the end of the Second World War. Sometimes centre-left, sometimes centre-right, but all of them - in the eyes of many Europeans - privileged, complacent and beholden to big business and to Brussels."

The problem is, we love Europe and all its diverse nations and cultures, and they love us too. But I have yet to meet anyone who loves the EU as a project or government. It was born out of the ruins and insecurities of WW2 but, like an overladen donkey, it has limped across the millennium and collapsed, exhausted and without purpose or relevance.

My apologies that my comment does not include any element of critique for your poem Paul. You have every right to post. I guess I'm just a little frustrated at the endless stream of anti-Brexit rhetoric that fills pretty much every corner of the internet and drowns out sensible reasoning and debate from the 'other side'.

My last blog entry here on WoL was an attempt to redress this balance and looks forward to a possible new world order. Okay, it was light-hearted and I'm no soothsayer, but other possibilities do exist if we can allow ourselves to think outside of the EU box because the EU no longer does what it says on the tin.

Can it be fixed? Personally I doubt it very much. Katya's article finished with these prophetic words: "Our thorny national debate about Brexit could turn out to be irrelevant. Sooner or later the EU as we know it may no longer be there for us to leave".

With respect,
Colin

Juan Pablo Lynch

Wed 1st Feb 2017 00:14

I really enjoyed this poem...I don't know if I am reading fiction or non-fiction though because June 23rd doesn't ring a bell to me; I am not into modern news.

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21st Century Folly

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