JohnS 

As someone says in this article, the British really shot themselves in the foot. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/exclusive-britain-no-longer-top-10-trade-with-germany-brexit-bites-2021-09-08/

As they say, you aint seen nothing yet. It will get much worse before it begins to get better.

iq200 

As they say, you aint seen nothing yet. It will get much worse before it begins to get better.

Do you think most people think that or does half the country still think this was a great idea?

I think too many (old) people voted for Brexit hoping it would bring back the British wonder years. That was never ever going to happen.

SMCJB 

Do you think most people think that or does half the country still think this was a great idea? I think too many (old) people voted for Brexit hoping it would bring back the British wonder years. That was never ever going to happen.

The problem with human beings is that we by nature tend to make mistakes and sometimes just have to learn from them the hard way (if at all).

With regards to voting, I think there are different classes (I dont mean social) of people who voted for Brexit for different reasons. I can say that from experience I sadly, along with a lot of other people (and I have to say that I know of a lot more who did the same) naively voted for Brexit because we didn't do our own research and believed the lies from our govt. If there was a vote tomorrow I would vote to remain in the EU but for now and the immediate future we have to put up with what we have done.

I also totally agree with your last paragraph. That describes yet another class of people who voted for Brexit.

I myself believe that if people had been give the simple real truths there would have been a majority to remain in the EU.

Thanks @iq200 for the honest reply. most of the people I know that voted leave are still in the 'wait and see' camp, which I think is delusional. We can see, and we can see the wheels are falling off. My father was very much in the 'bring back the British wonder years' camp. I genuinely think he believed that Britain would return to being a dominant world power once they escaped the european overwatch. He's old though, so I'm not sure whether there was any foundation for that hope, other than he remembered a different time.

Time will tell...They still rank 3rd in World Soft Power.

It seems all my Liberal Friends are still waiting for a full Collapse from Brexit... Just like my Conservative friends are still waiting on the Full Collapse of Obama Care. Yet neither has happened?

Most things have there ups and downs and I'm sure the Brits will remain strong over time.

JMHO

From NYT market talk today

Exports to the Republic of Ireland from the U.K. mainland have fallen by almost a third following the latter's exit from the EU, according to official Irish data. Great Britain-Ireland goods exports fell by nearly GBP2.5 billion, or 32%, in the first seven months of this year versus the same period a year earlier, figures from Ireland's Central Statistics Office show. Meanwhile, Irish goods exports to Great Britain in the same period increased 26%. The figures come after retailer Marks & Spencer said it was scrapping 800 product lines from its stores in Ireland because of "excessive paperwork" and post-Brexit controls on goods exported from the U.K., prompting it to decide to use more Irish supplies, reports say.

SMCJB 

Thanks @iq200 for the honest reply. most of the people I know that voted leave are still in the 'wait and see' camp, which I think is delusional. We can see, and we can see the wheels are falling off. My father was very much in the 'bring back the British wonder years' camp. I genuinely think he believed that Britain would return to being a dominant world power once they escaped the european overwatch. He's old though, so I'm not sure whether there was any foundation for that hope, other than he remembered a different time.

Every country has had golden age/years in the past, its just shame that not all can be returned to that era at the same time. By nature only few can be rulers of masses, not all, its probably true for countries just as it is for people

AllSeeker 

Every country has had golden age/years in the past, its just shame that not all can be returned to that era at the same time. By nature only few can be rulers of masses, not all, its probably true for countries just as it is for people

That said, I would not count Britain out. It's just that you can't return to the past, and nostalgia about past glories is as unreal as any fantasy. No one can know where it, or any other country, will be and what they will be doing in ten, twenty, or thirty years, but it won't be anything we can predict very well today, and it won't be like the good old days. Those days never really existed, the way they are presently imagined, anyway.

Bob.

bobwest 

That said, I would not count Britain out. It's just that you can't return to the past, and nostalgia about past glories is as unreal as any fantasy.

This isn't aimed at you personally, Bob, but I don't think anybody in the UK was expecting a return to past "glories". Nobody under, say, 60 (maybe 70?), has any personal memory of the Empire: they account for a tiny fraction of voters in any election. Nobody I know hankers after some imperial past. It's as relevant to me, as a British person, as the Philippine-American War is to the average American.

The driving force behind Brexit was the desire to control and be responsible for our own affairs again, rather than contracting out ever-increasing swathes of our regulatory and political powers to a bureaucracy in Brussels. Our politicians may be rubbish, but no more so than the EU politicians, and at least we can vote out UK politicians. Why add extra layers of supranational control?

Do you think US citizens would want to sign up for a treaty that gave the citizens of 20-plus other countries an effectively unconditional right to live in the US? That gave those countries the right to make legislation for the US, whether or not the US wished it? That gave them power over the trade policy of the US?

I'd be happy to trade on good terms with EU member states but I don't want to be part of a political union to do so. The citizens of the UK weren't given a choice about the initial entry, or on subsequent major changes to the treaties, such as Maastricht or Lisbon.

At no point during the thirty years leading up to the Brexit vote did anybody ask me how I felt about ceding more and more power to a bunch of mainly European technocrats that I was unable to even vote for. At no point did anybody ask me how I felt about allowing any EU citizens who wanted to live in the UK to come here (whatever their background or credentials), resulting in enormous and completely unprecedented population growth in the UK.

Britain has survived and thrived since long before the US, France, Germany, or Italy even existed as modern countries. Despite being a small island on the edge of the Atlantic, we've always punched above our weight. Contrary to statements in the left-leaning media (e.g. the Guardian in the UK, or NYT in the US) the country has not gone to the dogs.

There has been and will be turbulence, but things are continuing pretty much as they always have. Notable exceptions include COVID (on the negative front) and wage increases for many blue-collar jobs (on the positive front) now that freedom of movement has stopped.

Yes, our economy is recovering as well as those of other developed nations. No, unemployment has not gotten out of control, and our exports to the EU have not plummeted - trade in goods is back to pre-Brexit levels.
Yes, we are being affected by the global chaos in logistics. No, the supermarket shelves are not bare, though driver shortages are affecting choice.
Yes, inflation is affecting us as well as other advanced nations, though less than some. No, we are not struggling to pay for food.
Yes, some Europeans have left the UK. No, there has not been a mass exodus - conversely many millions have chosen to settle here, including many of French, German, Spanish and Italian nationality. It's... it's almost as if life in the UK is not so bad after all, eh?

Really, guys. Don't waste your time worrying about the UK. We'll be fine.

Maybe I am too sensitive, but talking about "return to the glory of the history" , I remember:

1) Mussolini saw himself as a “New Augustus” reviving the glories of the ancient empire, and he wanted direct sightlines from the Piazza Venezia, where he gave his speeches, to the great Imperial icons. ... “We cannot destroy the relics of ancient Rome, but we cannot mummify the modern city, either.

2) Adolf Hitler said "Restoration of German glory to those in despair, Sieg Heil Victoria".

Above two was past, but...

3)Return to greatness "Chinese Dream"



Be carefully, dictatorship can revive because people have illusion to the real world, and the worst thing is they are trying to implement their fancy dream, this will cause tragedy.