It’s only taken the government of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland ten years to catch up, not least with this magazine – but it’s now official: Brexit was a catastrophe.
Starmer, Reeves, Streeting, Lammy, Rayner and, most effectively, Sadiq Khan have all made it abundantly clear that the government’s position is no longer to “make Brexit work” but now to undo its damage as quickly as possible.
This week, I write why that realisation – so late coming and so frustratingly denied even when it was obviously so – is not enough.
And I also argue that the campaign to Rejoin is flawed. Campaigning to rejoin the organisation we voted to leave in 2016 is a route to more division and avoids answering the questions that led so many of our fellow citizens to vote leave.
The answer is not Rejoin, but Join. To work with the EU to create a new iteration of this community of nations that must now, more than ever, answer the new questions of our age.
The answer cannot be to look back ten years. It has to be to look forward ten years and ask what kind of power Europe can be in the world, with a strong United Kingdom at its heart – for the continent’s defence, economy, culture, its confidence and resilience in a world very different from that of 2016. Let the debate begin!
Also in this week’s magazine:
Do your civic duty and watch an hour of GB News (yes, really!) and tell us if it complies with Ofcom’s guidance on accuracy and impartiality.
James Ball meets James O’Brien, who brings the most astute analysis of the logic of Britain’s mainstream press: “They’d rather look ridiculous than admit they’re wrong,” he says. It’s a great read.
Alastair Campbell’s thoughts turn to mortality as he reflects on attending three funerals in one week.
Tanit Koch explains a disturbing case of pornographic deepfakes engrossing Germany this week – it’s an extraordinary story with big consequences.
Patience Wheatcroft compares Zach Polanski and Nigel Farage and finds an uncomfortable commonality between the two.
Paul Mason’s analysis of the challenges facing Rachel Reeves is also uncomfortable reading … but as ever with Paul he has constructive advice on how to steer Britain’s economy through the chaos.
Matthew d’Ancona examines Trump’s war on Iran and finds some sort of reasoning in the late, great French philosopher Jean Baudrillard.
John Kampfer – whose new book Braver New World we are excited to be promoting as a new subscriber offer next week – writes about Viktor Orbán, the man who broke Hungary (and seems to be trying to break the EU while he’s at it).
In Arts and Culture, David Quantick tells how he fell in love with K-Pop, Claudia Pritchard is at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam marvelling at a new exhibition based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses; Lucy Reade meets Liam Byrne and discusses his new book Why Populists Are Winning and How To Beat Them; Ian Winwood enjoys Alan Bennett’s latest diaries; John Bleasdale wonders what happened to narrative coherence in Hollywood; and the great Billy Wilder is our Great Life number 429!
Finally, our very own dilettante, Marie Le Conte, flies to America with her heart in her mouth. Why? Find out here.
