Remembrace Sunday. Different Brexit Perspectives. Sunny Sherlock Sunday

Kings Cross Station Remembrance Day

Over 18 million military and civilians were killed in WWI. In WWII it rose to 60 million people  killed, which was about 3% of the 1940 world population. The Armistice that came into effect on 11th November, 11am, 1918 was commemorated in 1919 at Buckingham Palace and became to be known as Remembrance Day, in honour of the fallen. The first two minute silence was observed in London, UK in 1919. The wearing of (real) poppies became associated with the event by 1921 and linked to the charitable work of the Royal British Legion, which promotes the welfare and interests of current and former members of the British Armed Forces. In 1939, the UK moved the event to the nearest Sunday to the 11th November, which became Remembrance Sunday. In the 1990's, there was a campaign to reinstate the commemoration of Armistice Day on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Nowadays, both Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday remember the fallen in conflicts since 1914.

The UK psyche has been deeply affected by the death of nearly half a million in the UK and Commonwealth in WWII (Wikipedia)

Continental Europe, was even more affected by the death and destruction of WWII, with an estimated 15 million deaths in central and Eastern Europe (Russia suffered an  additional estimated 26.6 million),(Wikipedia).  At the end of the war, tens of millions of refugees moved within Europe. The  European Coal and Steel Community was established in 1950 to unite European countries economically and politically, in order to secure lasting peace and prevent the conflicts that had marked Europe for centuries. The development of the European Union followed.

This is all relevant in the current apparent impasse in the Brexit negotiations. Britain does not see itself as part of the political EU program and wants to determine its own future politically and economically. Most of the other 27 countries in the EU might be concerned about the economic impact of Brexit, but overall, the benefits of unification in terms of 70 years of peace in Europe are an equally strong argument. Of the dominant EU players, Germany is still deeply aware of its shameful role in WWII and the Holocaust and France still remembers the trauma of the conflicts fought on its soil. Unity therefore overrides plain economic arguments of temporary pain due to Brexit, especially as the EU economy is faring much better than the UK.

The UK government is in a delicate balance between remainers and brexiteers. The Tory party is in turmoil, with Johnson and Gove pressing May to follow their Brexit route, and an increasing number of back bench MP's looking towards May's removal. It is at a disadvantage in negotiations, where we in the UK are a $2.6 trillion economy (5th largest)  negotiating with a remaining $14 trillion economy that is still the second largest in the world after the US ($18 trillion). Blinking first and moving towards the EU position in the current stalemate would be political suicide in the UK for the current Conservative government. Not making concessions leads to delay and more uncertainty.

A hard Brexit has never looked so likely.

A cold but sunny day, I had a late start before Jane and I went to visit L & S for a Sunday lunch, an enjoyable round of The Sherlock Holmes Master Detective Game, followed by a spiced apple cake and tea.