Brexit

"May you live in interesting times" goes the old curse, but man, it is fascinating having a front row seat to the whole Brexit thing.  I was reading today's development (Boris losing his majority in parliament after another Conservative defection) at work and had a thought that I would be remiss to not blog about this all while I'm living through it.

Knowing little about parliamentary procedure, it's been highly educational, but still a lot of the big events just blindside me (the PM can dissolve parliament?  Really?) and can only fully admit that I have no idea how it's all going to play out.

Obviously I'm on the Remain side, even more so than Marjorie who still wants to give Brexit supporters a fair shake.  I think even a "soft" Brexit (i.e. with a deal) would be painful for so many in Britain and add fuel to the whole sickening anti-immigrant crusade.  A hard Brexit could be devastating.  And I'm sick of speciousness of the Brexit arguments, which argue that the referendum (where the people voted for what was sold to them (dishonestly) as a soft Brexit, in a non-binding vote) now three years later means that the people want Brexit by any means.  Brexit supporters (we do know a few, though most friends and coworkers here are Remainers) seem to take every occasion to casually refer to Brexit as "the will of the people" based on this at every opportunity; this is the point where I've taken to stopping and correcting them before they have a chance to move on.

Our visa, by the way, is in no danger that I can see.  As we aren't here as EU citizens, we won't be kicked out as a result of any form of Brexit.  There is some danger that if the economy tanks, companies might leave the UK -- some already have, but it's not at all likely for my company, and if they did there should still be plenty of other jobs that I could probably land, as a result of shortages of skilled labor.  (The real effect on us here, though, will probably be because of the pound taking a beating.)

We watched some of the debate this evening in the House of Commons(?), which was fascinating.  Most American politicians wouldn't last a minute in this forum, as politicians on all sides engaged in a battle of wits, trying to rhetorically pin their opponents; failing in large degree, but even Jacob Rees-Mogg (the key Brexit supporting MP) responded directly and eloquently to questions that were coming thick and fast.  He was oily and evasive, but his answers at least sounded like they were formed in response to the questions put to him, and not just the prepared statements American politicians regurgitate when a particular subject is touched on.

Boris's losses today seem like the first good news in a long while, and I'm hoping for more in the coming days.  There's no denying it's history in the making, and it will be fascinating to watch.