Brexit: Chris Johns on Britain’s lazy, jaw-dropping act of visceral self-harm
Ireland and Britain have stronger links than many realise, and it’s not all economics
‘The arguments of the Brexiteers are anti-intellectual, lazy, populist, xenophobic (if not racist) and utterly inward looking.’ Photograph: AFP
October 1st found me sitting in an Irish bar in Cambridge watching a replay of the All-Ireland football final. I’ve lived in Ireland since 1988 and have tried to develop an interest in GAA but have to admit I don’t get it. Never mind, my sports-mad Irish son was starting university and I was happy to be spending time with him after delivering his gear to his new college. I spent most of the match reading the newspapers which were full, as is usual these days, of Brexit-related articles and commentary.
I needed a drink, having just shelled out for fees which, in England, run at just over three times the cost of an Irish university. Before the referendum that would have been roughly four times Irish fees; such are the effects of sterling’s devaluation. Sterling is the single most important barometer of unemotional Brexit opinion, one that is sending a powerful message that the Conservatives are happy to dismiss as just another expert opinion.