It's traditional to wish a happy new year in an opening post. I hope you do have one.
Despite that traditional greeting, I have a feeling that there are some very nasty times ahead.
I am trying to settle in Italy at the moment, and am dealing with the world's worst bureaucracy. That's not any kind of laughing matter but an example of the vicious contempt with which governments treat those they have subject to them.
I have been living there since November in order to try to retain my rights as a European citizen. They're silly little things like human, employment and pension rights and other trivial dignities that Theresa May has been determined to remove in Britain. Living in a country with a clear constitution, citizen rights and guaranteed rule of law suits me, but then maybe I'm just some kind of silly twit.
Given the crass utter shambles that the UK has made of Brexit, the UK's credibility on the continent and worldwide is shot. Nobody in politics or the press here on the European mainland now sees the UK government as anything other than a bunch of grossly arrogant retards who couldn't organise a V sign. From a previous position of respect, the UK is a pitiable laughing stock. Well done. Bravo. Clap clap.
Frankly, I don't care how the rest of this moronic Brexit shambles pans out. Britain's medieval parliamentary, electoral, diplomatic and other systems have proved unfit for the 21st century and need to be completely overhauled. Britain has a government that had a mandate from a mere 21% of the population, just one person in five. Go figure. But a thousand years of feudalism means that the populace in England just sits there and accepts whatever the establishment does to it. No gilets jaunes here.
Brexiteers now need to be held accountable for the mess that their gross ignorance, overweening arrogance, race hate and/or sneering malice is creating. They never had any coherent plan in mind, just destruction, like yobs. They have no credibility, honesty or shame. There's ample evidence now of foul play in winning the Brexit referendum vote, not to mention the government's steadfast avoidance of parliament in the process as much as it possibly could get away with. What contempt for the process of government, for law and for citizens! If the UK cannot agree a withdrawal deal with the EU, its main trade partner, for which there is a clear negotiating mechanism, how on earth does it expect to succeed in the far trickier and more protracted business of negotiating with other nations? That was the Brexiteer promise: better, easier, more advantageous trade deals all round. Yeah, right.
The stress of dealing with Brexit fallout on my work has damaged my health so I have closed my business, sold up, and am taking myself, my assets and my taxes away from that failing country and, as I no longer work, I will be spending the time damaging Brexiteer interests in return and actively fighting nationalism and racism. So many people have said to me "Brexit is bad for me but there's nothing I can do about it". This is what I am doing about it
As for Theresa May, the repellent Prime Minister, and her gang of incompetent, narcissistic ministers and supporters, their shamelessness, contempt and cruelty are unpardonable.
"But Sue," the reader starts to protest, "although I agree with all/some/none of the above, you write a transgender blog and what's all this got to do with being trans?"
The one apparently positive thing that May has tried to do is to make life easier for transitioning transsexuals, persuaded to do so by an openly lesbian former minister Justine Greening. The problem is that the association of trans rights with a government with an extremist and atrocious record does the trans community no good at all. I refused to participate in the consultation as I foresee a backlash when May is finally called to account. I think it highly probable that one of the first cuts in services as the economy tanks will be for "non-essentials" such as gender clinics and trans health services.
The other reason is that much of the wish to leave the European Union is bound to race hate, and that is linked to all other forms of xenophobia such as hatred for trans people. Soaring race attacks have been matched by soaring homophobic, transphobic and other crimes.
What a sick and evil mess.
Sue x
Hi Sue, I'm sorry you have had to post this, but I hope it is in some small way cathartic. I am a remainer and when the vote was in favour of Brexit I took up Irish citizenship as a matter of principle, never imagining that the UK Govt could make such a mess of things. I have friends and family who voted for Brexit, but get no sense from them of us moving towards the sunny uplands of ??? Each day is simply worse than the one before.
ReplyDeleteIt is now apparent (and increasingly voiced in traditional media) that the UK&NI have been held hostage by the tiny number of the right-wing of the Tory party and that others in that party are more intent on preserving the party in the short-term than any notional national interest. These self-serving shysters now try to blame the EU and individual countries within it for wishing to uphold the very recent legal agreement freely entered into by the UK Govt after many months of negotiation. They even lie to promote xenophobia - that's Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury. In the meantime Labour remains quiet, like a row of vultures waiting for the demented creature that is the Tory party to finish devouring itself in the hope that it will take over government (but be careful what you wish for, Jeremy). The final outcome may be the breakup of the UK with Scotland seeking independence and Ireland uniting.
You are right that it does affect trans people. I sincerely hope for the citizens of the UK&NI that Brexit will not harm the economy significantly, but if it does the blind hatred of tribalism will increase attacks on those that are considered outsiders and a rise in fascism. Trade prospers through peace ... unless your trade is in arms.
Thank you, Nikki, for your forthright comment. I am glad you have obtained alternative citizenship, which you may very well need. I too am disgusted at the malice, dishonesty and incompetence of so many our politicians and I can only reiterate that I see this all ending very badly indeed, for the country and for minority groups. I wish you luck. Love, Sue x
DeleteWhat does the dreaded B word have to do with being T?
ReplyDeleteWell, the insidious ride of populism and the push of the right wing, means of your anything but white and a man, it seems you're on someone's list.
I could go into the detail around the complexity of the modern world, what we gain from being a member, to human rights... But really, when you look at the list of those backing the exit camp, I know I couldn't stand near them.
I wish this mess ends well, but... I think we've f***ed things good and proper.
Starting to get caught up on my reading - after a long trip to visit the kids in the latter half of January.
DeleteWow, sounds like there are lots of problems on your end. I hope you can find the missing box, and begin to be as you wish again!
The UK isn't the only place in the world with issues right now. As you may know, there are serious problems here in the US, as well as in other countries around the world. I'm not sure what the answer is...if I knew that, I'd run for president. But if we all do whatever we can to assist, perhaps in the end everything will work out for the better.
Best of luck in your relocation...I'll be rooting for you. Please keep us up to date!
Hugs,
Mandy
Thanks, Mandy. I'm very upset at the behaviour of Trump and his supporters in the US. You do at least have a robust functioning constitution and limited terms for each administration, which is where the main reduction in harm can come from. I feel things will improve come next election. Sue x
DeleteThanks, Lynn. I wish I knew what one could do about toxic white masculinity and the brutalisation of anyone outside it. Toxic white males are actually very weak, stupid and incompetent, hence their dependence on aggression and bullying rather than any rational appeal. Shunning such people and refusing to co-operate with them seems to be the best answer to me, but I genuinely feel that our current national mess will eventually lead to violence. Given that Scotland will likely secede and you originated there, that might be your escape route. I have (I hope) found mine, not that the Med is exactly a bed of rational roses right now, but at least they have constitutional checks and balances that still function. Sue x
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