British Empire 2.0 (BE2.0)

The day has finally arrived and the UK has formally handed in their resignation from the EU. I never thought I'd see the day.When I was born there was still such a thing as the British Empire - just. It was falling apart but it still existed. I've got an Atlas from the period and it has places like Nyasaland and Rhodesia in it. Today they're Malawi and Zambia/Zimbabwe.

For at least 30 years I've been banging on about how Britain should get out of the EU. How could it be any good for Britain, you can see who's benefiting when you take a trip to Germany; the latter got a new country while the former got screwed over. It's as plain as the nose on my face.

Places like Australia and New Zealand have fared well after the Empire. But there's still that nagging in the back of the mind of an older sibling departed. What is the 'home' country? The UK of course. It still has the best universities, arts, invention. I know people in the UK and one recently said to me that two countries are still thought of by them as 'us' and that was Australia and New Zealand. I chimed in with what about Canada? And he said they were more like America Lite. Note that Canada, you're slipping.

It's funny to listen to the EU and commentators saying Britain must do this and it must do that. What Britain can do is say shove it. If you can't leave, what was the point in joining in the first place. I see no reason why Britain can't negotiate new trade agreements while organising their exit. If for some reason they cannot, then do so in secret. What is Germany going to do about it, go to war?

What we are talking about is a culture clash. The system was never going to work for Britain. On the continent, the German, French and other European elites run things. They're Count Von Wotsit or can trace their lineage. They act like that too. Brussels is there to entrench their perks. But in Britain, the pantechnicon drivers of the Midlands decide things and every British politician knows it. If you want to know where this all originates then study the Battle of Agincourt. What I'm saying is that in Britain, knights don't run the show, they're given status on sufferance.

So my advice to the UK is this; step up to the mark and lead again. The 'colonies' can do pretty well without you but we'd rather have you around to do our thinking for us, or at least the higher level thinking. Stop pretending not to be a superpower for goodness sake. Build your Navy back and start being Hornblower again (fictional character CS Forester wrote, good books). Not so much Flashman though, him we can do without.
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