Opinion: Dissecting the Dreams of Brexit Britain

THE NEW YORK TIMES: I've traveled England trying to understand what drives the Brexit psyche.

The June 2016 Brexit referendum left Britain a divided nation. That much we know. But the referendum didn’t create division. It exposed something that was already there, latent. This was hard to see if you attended to people’s conventional political views about taxation or public spending; even the issue of immigration, by itself, wasn’t “it.” Nor was it to be found in something as vague as “feelings” or “emotions.” It lay elsewhere, in the realm of the individual political psyche, that blending of personal, family and nonacademic history, casually informed reasoning, clan prejudice, tribal loyalty and ancestor worship that forms the imaginative framework in which, as we represent it to ourselves, our lives relate to events in the wider world. Read on and comment » | James Meek | Mr. Meek is the author, most recently, of “Dreams of Leaving and Remaining.” | Friday, March 15, 2019

The Toynbee Take: No 10 Curses, But Britain's Illusion of Empire Is Over

THE GUARDIAN: The Syria debate has exposed the fact that, while Cameron wasn't looking, both his country and his party changed

Last night in the Commons a great switch was thrown in the national psyche and nothing may ever be quite the same again. This is not a left-right shift, but a long-delayed acceptance that Britain is less powerful and poorer than it was, weary of wars and no longer proud to punch above its weight. No more pretending, no more posturing.

Next week Rule Britannia will belt out loud as ever at the Proms in that partly ironic parade of cheerful patriotism. But the great game is over. Poor David Cameron has been the one left stranded when the music stopped, still singing as everyone else falls silent. From Number 10 came effing and blinding at Ed Miliband, calling him, as reported in the Times, a "f****** c*** and a copper-bottomed s***". But it wasn't Labour, it was Cameron's whole country who had changed while he wasn't looking. Cue last-minute key change in Downing Street's unconditional promise to the US, but he's still out of tune with a country that doesn't want to go to war.

As the true meaning of end of empire sinks in, great questions follow. Why continue to spend more than comparable countries on defence? Why do we (and France) still squat in UN security council seats? What is the point of Trident, dependent entirely on the closest allegiance to America?

Consider the breadth of opposition to a Syrian intervention. First come the British people, two to one against war, with YouGov finding opinion hardening. Outside the gates of Downing Street stand Stop the War demonstrators. Biting at the heels of anxious Tory MPs comes Ukip's Nigel Farage accusing Cameron of "his greatest misjudgment yet" and gloating that his anti-war stance is "the single most popular thing Ukip's ever said". Now add in warnings from the assemblage of military top brass (retd). » | Polly Toynbee | Thursday, August 29, 2013

Files Reveal Persecution Under British Empire
Long forgotten secret documents from the final days of the British Empire have been made available to the public. The controversial records detail crimes committed during the dying days of the empire, including the persecution of people by the British. It has also emerged that thousands more documents have been destroyed. Al Jazeera's Barnaby Phillips reports from London.

Plan to Give Europe to Nazis Revealed in Secret Files
THE AUSTRALIAN: A BRITISH amateur diplomat tried to stop World War II by offering Nazi Germany rule over Europe if the British Empire could rule the rest of the world, according to secret files declassified today.

James Lonsdale-Bryans, a well-educated fascist sympathiser, flew to Rome in the early days of the war to try to negotiate the deal with Ulrich von Hassell, the German ambassador to Italy.

The Security Service files reveal that the Foreign Office was aware of what Lonsdale-Bryans was up to and their unease about his actions.

"It would appear that Bryans may be taking part in unofficial discussions for the benefit of troops under the auspices of education officer,'' the file read.

"Bryans' idea is that the world ought to be divided into two parts.

"That Germany should be given a free hand in Europe and that the British Empire should run the rest of the world. Plan to Give Europe to Nazis Revealed in Secret Files >>> | August 31, 2008

Watch BBC video: Details have emerged of a solo effort by a British amateur diplomat to broker a WWII peace deal >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Australia)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback – Australia)