Brexit

A part of me has always been intrigued and in bewildered awe of the United Kingdom; England, in particular. How a small, nondescript island in the Northern reaches of the European continent could turn around years of pillage by the Vikings and dominance of the Romans and, then, transform into a feisty island of recalcitrants that embraced Protestantism in the wake of the much more powerful Catholics in Rome and Spain... it goes on and on because it is so well documented... the subsequent pushing of the frontiers of mathematics, astronomy, poetry, music and... the dominant dark side of Imperialism... all this history and all these achievements... leading to the moribund state of the sad display of how the political leaders of Britain has behaved in the past 2 years in the wake of the Brexit decision. I almost feel like I am a witness to how the Egyptians went from builders of the Sphinx and the pyramids to what exists today. Past glories don't count for anything when all the cards are on the table for the game that is on right now... this bit comes from a memory of a footnote in an undergraduate economics text written by Richard Lipsey.

So, here and now, we have a situation where the European Court of Justice comprising some 20-odd justices (how such a large number of legal personages can ever come to any decision is a high level art form) has ruled that the UK can unilaterally revoke its original invocation of Article 50. 

In one swift move, the UK has a chance to press on a button to stop the countdown. After that the UK can go for a fresh referendum to vote again on whether to exit the European Union. Here's a chance. Right here.

But mired in the miasma of the quicksand of ego and misguided myopia, Theresa May and her lemmings in Cabinet and some in the Backbenches, have confined themselves to playing the role of Alec Guinness's character in The Bridge Over The River Kwai, where having built the wooden bridge that would be of strategic logistical importance to the Japanese Army and, at great cost to the lives and limbs of his fellow Prisoners of War, he blows the whistle to the Japanese when he discovers evidence of a plan to blow up the bridge. The moral here, if it is lost in my crazy words, is if Theresa May and her coterie believes that the amount of time they have invested in a multitude of scenarios for Brexit justifies their refusal to consider the revocation of the original Article 50 invocation, then, they are on the wrong side of history.

The reason why the older Britons voted in the majority for Brexit was due to the threat of open borders in the summer of 2016 when droves of illegals traipsed freely through Europe in the Northerly direction. 

But, equally compelling is that the majority of the younger Britons, though not enough of them went to vote, wanted to remain in Europe.

The UK can and, should, engage the EU on the silliness of the open border policy. It is a naive policy as everyone can see by now. That is something that can be placed on the agenda. But remaining in the EU is the economically sensible thing to do.

Mrs May has the chance to correct an egregious error of judgment by the British public. The mood of a buyers remorse is now very clear. In any scenario, the UK economy without Europe is destined to shrink. That is a horrid legacy that Theresa May can avoid, if she has a sufficient sense of history and context.