It's the end of the line for the Britain we know

Nick Cohen in The Guardian muses on the lack of coherent opposition to a Brexit going off the rails. "Where are the heroes who will lead the Brexit retreat?" he asks. Cohen observes:

There are deeper reasons for the breakdown of politics, which makes less comfortable reading. Labour MPs from northern England and Wales and Tory MPs who campaigned for Remain are not backing Leave now because they respect their leaders. Nor have they converted to the view that Brexit will enrich their constituents. They can see what liberals have missed: despite inflation and the fall in living standards, support for Brexit remains resilient. Until the polls move towards Remain with strides rather than baby steps, the politicians won’t move. And by the time they move, it may be too late.

It is a most curious thing. There have been some attempts from Steven Kinnock and Chuka Umunna (among others on the left) to constructively engage in the issues. The problem, however, is that the left is having a personality crisis and is indulging in political navel-gazing.

The Labour party is notionally led by Corbyn and McDonnell fronting Momentum which could not be less interested in Brexit. Meanwhile, left wing voices worth hearing have gone AWOL. The Labour brat back has nothing to say for itself. There is nothing it can usefully add to the debate.

Insofar as the Labour machine does have any thinkers, I might venture the name James Bloodworth, but his name does not pop up in Brexit debate. It could well be that Nick Cohen is the closest there is to an adult on the British left. Albeit a supercilious, smug son of a bitch. 

Meanwhile, being a creature of the right I would have noticed if there were warning sounds coming from the Tories. But for the wails of Anna Soubry, there are no vocal Tory soft Brexiters making their names known. All the while as EUreferendm.com describes, the media has totally lost it.

Collectively our political machine doesn't know how to handle something like this. This is well outside of its comfort zone and it turns on a level of detail that simply cannot command their concentration. We are, therefore, in a very peculiar limbo, much like the election where Brexit just doesn't rate.

Much of this has to do with the uncertainty and not having any greater clue as to the direction of Brexit than we did over a year ago. Having exhausted itself churning over the same material for months on end the media is drifting back toward business as usual as though nothing ever happened. There is a serious under-appreciation of the dangers ahead and should it slide off the rails entirely they will not know what hit them or why.

Those of us attuned to the consequences are in a state of utter dismay. I know my opposite number on the remain side, Mike Galsworthy, is equally bewildered and dismayed. Unlike the good doctor and Mr Cohen, though, I am not in the least bit surprised. Brexit did not unleash this. We have been on this path for a long time. To understand it you have to track the cultural decline in politics. Take a look at this very short clip...

You know what that is right there? That there is an adult. One with dignity and gravitas. Say what you like about her politics and her legacy but that is an adult declining to debase herself at the whim of the media. Now fast forward to 2014...

You know what they look like to me? Dickheads. And you know why that is? Because, objectively, they are dickheads. These people do not command respect. There is no bandwagon they will not jump on and no virtue they will not signal. And look at the company they keep...

And it degenerates into...

Folks, we have simply forgotten what serious politics looks like. I've been pilloried for suggesting that our society has become shallow, infantilised and decadent but how am I actually wrong? I have alluded to the fact that we might very well be deserving of the WTO option, but looking back over the last five years of politics and I'm actually willing on a giant meteorite strike.

I can't say exactly how it happened. This is one of those chicken and egg scenarios in that our politicians and media are locked into a terminal feedback loop and a total collapse of politics is really the only possible destination. It just isn't capable of delivering good governance. Idiocracy is now.

But as much these morons like to wag their fingers at us these are people who actively despise us. The condescending snobbery from all quarters of the remain camp gives you some indication why the public would reject all the warnings and vote against the status quo.

As much as policy and governance has degraded, our political culture has sunk about as low as can be tolerated. The politicians and the hacks would prefer to drop Brexit and resume their moronic posturing but I sense there is a mood afoot where the public are no longer willing to tolerate this asinine circus. We are tired of being treated like infants by our media and political establishment. The public show far greater wisdom and maturity than they. 

If Brexit goes the way in think it's going to go then it is going to be pretty much an economic 9/11. I'm still doing what I can to avert it, but with politics being in such disarray I think we are probably pissing in the wind. I think we started something that cannot be controlled and cannot be predicted. I think this has to play out to its depressing conclusion because it is the only thing that will bring minds into focus.

Whatever happens next is less to do with Brexit than the fact that we are at the fag end of the post World War Two political settlement. We have rinsed this about as far as it can go and it is desperate for renewal.

The current order is unwilling and unable to deliver change. There are too many vested interests in the status quo. Academia does not want to be disturbed, political incumbents want to stay on the gravy train. The haves only pretend to care about the have-nots. They have said it clear as day. They think the lower orders are ignorant and racist and really shouldn't be allowed to vote.

Well, we've heard them on FM. Message received. So when faced with a stark choice between a fresh start or maintaining the order upon which these loathsome creatures depend, you can't be surprised if we plebs are happy to let it all slide into the sea. You're not all right, Jack.