Broken Britannia

Be Britain still to Britain true, Amang ourselves united; For never but by British hands Maun British wrangs be righted! No! never but by British hands Shall British wrangs be righted!

- Robert Burns

And so it is done! The British exit from the European Union. It’s only been half a decade and yet it seems that this debate, if it could even be reasonably called that with the insidious interests playing their petty plots of debaucherous deceit and deception, is finally over. We’ve left after all. There’s nothing more to it.

But if that were really the truth, then why does division still ripple through our nation? Indeed while the ‘Remoaners’ have carried their arms home and probably soaked out their sadness in their own salty tears, (I know I have anyway), the tension of disagreement and disenfranchisement has inexorably discombobulated our national conversation.

I've often held Brexit as symptom, rather than a causation for this egregious divide. While there has always been the ebb and flow, the push and pull of ideas and political philosophy throughout our history, Brexit seems to have inexplicably torn through the very fabric and foundation of the nation, not unlike how a 5 year old would approach their presents on Christmas day.

In essence, the question of Brexit: Remain or Leave, I would posit, is actually on the periphery of a much greater question about who we are. What does it mean to be British? Disappointingly, all my fan mail to my MP regarding this central question has had nary a reply and so I’m forced to use my own limited brain capacity that is not devoted to medicine to ponder the answer.

May 8th, 1945 the year of our lord as it was known then, should probably be ringing the bells of any true patriot as it is VE day. Britain had hurled herself into the horror that is war, with the grit, determination and somewhat uniquely British nonchalantness that has come to be revered as part of our national values in the modern era. And while victory was achieved in totality, and the world had all of 1 second to enjoy it before pointing their spears at each other again (The Cold War of course, keep up), Britain had to settle into a modern era where it found that while victory had seemed total and complete, it was more Pyrrhic then the battle of Asculum (279 BCE) which the term actually originates from.

The country was a shell of the imperial glory it has once subsumed itself with, and so had to dismantle the empire that had given her a foremost place among nations. Lord Harlech, the ambassador to the US in 1962, told the New York Times then: “In the end it may well be that Britain will be honoured by historians more for the way she disposed of an empire than for the way in which she acquired it.” And while the acquisition was ‘questionable’ to put it mildly, the disposal was certainly not honourable. After all, the majority of the modern world’s conflicts could probably be brought back to some stuffy old white dude with a classic Napoleonic beard with unruly side-burns drawing an arbitrary line across a piece of paper.

And so, finding herself in a much different position than she was used to on the world stage, from starring role to ensemble, Lady Britannia kept calm and carried on, basically what she did best, while internal conflict about the central question of identity and role in the world bubbled beneath the surface.

Now unlike Britain, Germany had had a time of it. In the words of Henning Wehn on Would I Lie to You? “We give everything a go”. At the same time as Britain was ungraciously divesting herself of her empire, Germany was wrestling with the actions of its past and I don’t think I need to dissect the horrors that their nation had to come to terms with. Since its conception in the mind of the then Minister President of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck and consequent inception in 1871, Germany had its foundations in Prussian militarism (Furor Teutonicus), which the maxim from Bismarck himself succinctly describes: “Blood and Iron”. However, multiple government forms and 2 world war defeats later, Germany was forced to reckon with that all important central question: What does it mean to be German? And while I have no idea whether they actually have an answer or not, I’m not German if my flowery English didn’t make that blatantly obvious; It certainly seems they are closer to their answer then we are to ours. After all, the stats speak for themselves, Germany outranks us in most metrics despite having started in a more devastating position at the end of the War than we did.

Brexit is over. At least for now, and we will have to deal with the consequences as they come. But more importantly, if we are to succeed in this century and not fall into the oblivion of history books like so many other civilisations before us, we must embark upon a new national conversation, centred on our own national identity and vision for the country. Being of the liberal mindset (Yes I’m a libtard, sue me), I believe in a progressive nation, and that is the vision I have for the country I love. And so we come a full circle, to the seemingly prophetic words of Robert Burns: “No! never but by British hands Shall British wrangs be righted!”