Brexite: you either love it or (inceasingly) hate it

War of the Worlds style movie poster entitled “Brexit Do Die” starring Boris Johnson

One from my archives

Yet it's a potentially fruitful line of argument. Many of the UK's current problems stem from something most of us would prefer not to dwell on - Brexit. Depressed investment, low productivity, stagnant economic growth and living standards, the strain on the public finances and thus public services, food prices, the "Boriswave" of more than 2 million (legal) immigrants, increased red tape and border hassles for businesses, farmers and travellers... all can be traced back, to a greater or lesser extent, to 2016 and the EU Referendum. And who, as he reminds us again now, spent 30 years of his life campaigning for Britain to leave the EU? Farage. It is he, Farage, who 'broke Britain' with Brexit and is now capitalising on the vast damage he caused

“Farage “broke Britain" with Brexit and is now, outrageously, capitalising on the vast damage he caused”

Article argues there’s no need to mention Reform’s racism as the Brexit shitshow is failure enough.
But that had its roots in racism too. So let’s do both.
app.independent.co.uk/edition/uk.c...

“I would gently point out to Nigel Farage that before we left the EU we had a returns agreement with every country in the EU. He told the country it would make no difference if we left. He was wrong about that. These are Farage boats in many senses coming across the channel” 👏

PM Keir Starmer

Sir James Dyson says Brexit was worth it – even if it’s made people poorer.

Those nifty little personal guillotines could come in handy …

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

There is another country. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog discussing the thuggery, sanctimony and hypocrisy of the last fortnight, and how Starmer should lead in articulating an alternative version of patriotism to that of the far-right: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2025/09/ther...

The UK’s problems aren’t caused by immigration It’s not hard to see how so many came to worry about the issue. But the data isn’t there

The UK’s problems aren’t caused by immigration on.ft.com/46p3BPl

The Brits who beat Brexit: Gibraltar celebrates its return to Europe GIBRALTAR - Nine years after the U.K. voted to leave the European Union, over Gibraltar’s stringent objections, Gibraltarians have become the Brits who beat Brexit after all.

The Brits who beat Brexit: Gibraltar celebrates its return to Europe - originally in the Washington Post.

“The treaty as it is now is something we all dreamed of and prayed for.” ~AA

www.postguam.com/news/world/t...

Rip off Britain, about to get much much worse if fraudulent fascist Farage gets into power.

“Brexit was not an abstract shift. It was not esoteric. It was not a vague change. It has translated into measurable harm, counted in vacancies, waiting times, drug shortages, and most painfully, avoidable deaths.”

Duolingo German question. Translate this sentence [picture of Zari, a Duolingo character - a teenage girl wearing pink trousers, a blue top, and a pink hijab] "Wir sind EU-Bürger und brauchen den Pass nicht." Answer: We're EU citizens and don't need a passport.

That’s right, Duolingo, twist the knife.

(Am I still furious those rights were stripped from UK citizens in order to appease a gaggle of racist halfwits? Yes, absolutely. And that isn’t going to change until freedom of movement is restored here.)

Can we just skip straight to the Jacob Rees-Mogg and Liz Truss defections and get it over with

Brexiteers hate the world they created A rant...

Excellent from @writesbright.bsky.social

If you don’t subscribe yet I recommend him! Great analysis and scrutiny and news that you won’t read elsewhere.

open.substack.com/pub/writesbr...

Of course the Queen was Remain. You don’t sustain a hereditary monarchy by randomly pulling pins out of grenades for the lols at the urging of a cluster of snake oil chancers.

How many shopping days till Kristallnacht?

2025: Nigel Farage, "Our proposals will save tens of billions"

2016: Nigel Farage, "Brexit will save us £10 billion a year"

England’s swimming waters five times more likely to be polluted than in EU, research finds Experts warn country is in danger of becoming ‘dirty man of Europe’ as it falls to bottom of bathing water leaderboard

England’s swimming waters five times more likely to be polluted than waters in the EU, research finds.
Brexit fans will no doubt hail this “benefit” of no longer having to follow the EU clean water standards…
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Is this the kernel of the problem? Is it the unwillingness to acknowledge that Europe is a legitimate world actor. At this point, it's a hang-up

And is that reflex rejection what is actually stopping the UK moving towards Europe?

The history is interesting.

A 🧵

Left: Mailonline reporter points out that Labour have a £40 billion black hole in the public finances

Right: By sheer coincidence, Brexit costs the UK £40 billion a year in lost tax because we are outside the EU Single Market

Labour's 'make Brexit work' is literally making the UK poorer

How UK creative industries are navigating Brexit alone - UK in a changing Europe Kirsty Warner and Hussein Kassim explore the impact of Brexit on the UK creative industries.

Since 2016, Brexit debates have centred on trade, fishing, immigration, agriculture, with creative industries largely overlooked

From musicians to theatre companies, Brexit has brought shared challenges: reduced funding, restricted movement of people & objects, weakened access to EU networks

If Brexit were given the attention its damage deserved, it would be on everyone's lips and at the top of the news agenda.

It's only because politicians are too cowardly to draw the connections between Brexit and all the problems facing Britain that it's off the radar as a key issue (THE key issue).

I don't want to hear "we can't afford it" one more time from Labour.

Not while they continue to reinforce their Brexit red lines.

The amount of money being left on the table by not seeking to rejoin the EU is eye-watering.

The tax lost to Brexit would have paid for everything Labour needed.

Nine years ago the godfather of Brexit, Lord Daniel Hannan, predicted life in Brexit Britain in June 2025. Roll the tape…
(VO by @gavinesler.bsky.social. Part 2 below👇)

Dan Hannan's quote from 2016 portraying the 24th June 2025 as a day we will be marking its annual Independence Day celebration. Going on to list all of the countries that had copied the UK's trade deal with the EU. Final flourish, the UK now leads a 22 state bloc....

Happy #DanHannanDay to you one and all.
Behold the Prophet, the soothsayer, the Nostradamus of our time........ Oh, and he is a massive bellend.

So it's now 7 years since the vote to leave the EU. For a detailed account & analysis of what happened from the day after that, see my book, "Brexit Unfolded: How no one got what they wanted (and why they were never going to)" (2nd, updated, edition 2023): www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/brexit...

Predictions of £40bn hit to public finances from Brexit ‘correct’ Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast of a 4 per cent productivity loss from leaving the EU has been largely borne out, says top economist

🚨🚨 #brexit anniversary: Office of Budget Responsibility predictions of £ 40 bn hit to public finances has proven correct according to research by top economist @johnspringford.bsky.social . www.thetimes.com/article/346e...

YouTube video by Jon Danzig Putin and Brexit: The interference they tried to bury. The untold story of Russian influence.

This powerful new documentary reveals how Russia’s hybrid warfare infiltrated British democracy, amplified the Brexit campaign, and helped deliver a result that aligned perfectly with Putin’s strategic goals: 𝗮 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲, 𝗮 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗨𝗞, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝘁. youtu.be/7geWA0YYYaQ?...

I am so bored of these big budget American remakes of original UK content

Oooh, you mean it's OK to leave, realise it's a mistake, then rejoin? 😉

This is devastating, and brilliant, as usual. The “reset” that wasn’t.