The winds of change have come, bringing with them a staunch nationalistic flavour to British politics
I’m sat here writing this on the tube. Across from me is an ‘I’m in’ sticker at the bottom of the seat, by the floor. Unfortunately, this visual metaphor almost perfectly represents the weight of hopelessness that myself and the rest of the Remain camp feel.
An utter feeling of dread and destruction. There is very little I can take away from this result that is positive. Already we have seen the pound drop to its lowest rate in 31 years. If that’s not a foreshadowing of economic meltdown, I don’t know what is.
Neither side of the campaign was effective. That’s the cold hard truth. It was fear versus fear. However, it appears that the fear of the ‘other’ is what won out in the end. The psychological concept of the ‘other’ in the form of immigrants has essentially been spoon-fed to the British public by the media for years now, and yet many do not even perceive this influence.
Therefore, it appears that nationalism and xenophobia were victorious in the end. I simply do not accept the smokescreen of ‘sovereignty’, as it merely hides the underlying racism and dislike of foreigners inherent in the majority of ‘Brexiteers’.
Thus, it appears that we now face economic and political uncertainty. Within the next few months, we’ll have a new Prime Minister and Cameron’s futile ‘compassionate conservative’ legacy has in essence been obscured. We’re advancing a right-wing agenda and it will be difficult to reverse this trend.
Maybe it is therefore fitting that Donald Trump arrived in the UK last Friday — possibly a symbol of an emergent and strong right-wing ideology in Britain.
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Emilie Cunning
Emilie is a university student who is keenly interested in the political world and believes that the current state of political apathy in Britain today must be reversed. Emilie's particular areas of interests in politics are American politics, British politics, Environmental politics and the role the English language can play within politics. Emilie would describe her political views as liberal.
