You can check out any time you like,
But you can never leave!'
The very moment someone said that we aught to leave the EU, those were the words that sprang to my mind! That, I said to myself, is the reality.
I was about 16 or 17 when we joined and even then, it seemed so obvious that this was a irreversible move.
Don't get me wrong - I'm as European as it gets. I would even do away with national governments and local nationalities altogether. The 20th Century showed us where national governments and silly little ideas about being British, German or French really leads in the long run. The EU was set up to prevent that madness ever happening again!
But the UK had an alternative after the War. It still had a Rolls Royce global trade and cultural infrastructure. You could study for UK A-Levels and a UK university degree almost anywhere on Planet Earth. Every consulate had a UK trade mission and we held UK trade events in every major economy every year. There were British libraries in almost every major city in the World. The BBC still had studios in every major city. Everywhere you went, the UK consulates and embassies were second only to the US in both size and importance. But that was back in the 60s.
We threw all that away!
We threw it away and threw our lot, our all in with the new project called The Common Market.
Great! Being half German, I was all for it! Who cares about trade with Africa or India, when Germany and France are right on your doorstep? "Los gehts, machen wir!" and after the army, I was living and working in Germany - and earning waaay more money than any Brit in my position could have dreamt about!
I once threw away a Mercedes O319 mini-bus that today would be worth about £50,000. I wish I had not done that, but had hung on to that bus - but I didn't! Like a native who throws away a black pearl worth more than his whole island, Britain threw away all those international links and goodwill, in exchange for Belgium cabbages and Danish bacon, rusty Renaults and leaking Fiats and visa-free holidays on the Costa del Vomit.
But we are where we are. Like any good businessman, we must face realities and not live in a fantasy world of 'If Only!'
This forum is filled with fools living in the world of 'If Only!' "If I only had this piece of equipment!' 'If only the landlord would agree to an extension!' 'If I only could get the funding!'
As Ayn Rand said "We can ignore reality, but we cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality."
The entire 'Leave' campaign seems built upon a foolish dream of 'If Only!'
"If only we would leave, we could establish trade links with X, Y and Z!"
"If only were were to leave, America would welcome us with open arms and give us all free access to her market!"
Well, you can't! African kids no longer routinely sit UK A-Levels and study for an external degree from the LSE. Our trade missions in nearly all counties are gone. The BBC has closed most foreign studios and relies on stringers from Reuters. America, China and Japan are more important to Australia, NZ, Jamaica, India, Pakistan and Africa than some lost island off the West coast of Europe.
Like my Mercedes mini-bus and that native's black pearl, we threw it all away.
We're good at that. We threw away all our oil wealth. We threw away most of our excellent educational system. Every time we have something good, we throw it away! Now we are throwing away our membership of the EU. We exchanged our global reach and position in exchange for membership of the EU - and like Jack who went to market with a cow and came back with a handful of beans, we are throwing that too out of the window!
So how's Brexit working out so far?
Well, in 2007, the UK's GDP per capita was $51,000 and Ireland stood at a dizzy $61,000. Then came the banking crash and those figures fell to $39,000 and $49,000 respectively. By the time the Brexit referendum was announced, the UK's GDP per capita had recovered to $47,000.
Today the Republic of Ireland has a GDP per capita of c.a. $70,000, one of the highest in the EU.
The UK has just $40,000. Some of the regions are almost half that. If we had kept pace with Ireland, we would have a GDP per capita of $59,000.
Those figures are what Edgar Allen Poe called "The exquisite horror of reality!"
