How the UK lost the Brexit battle
27/04/2019
The course of Brexit was set in the hours and days after the 2016 referendum. / It was at 6:22 a.m. on June 24, 2016 — 59 minutes before the official tally was unveiled — that the European Council sent its first “lines to take” to the national governments that make up the EU.
(Compare Hannan's claims in 2016 with the current reality.)
The regulatory superpower next door
17/04/2024
What, then, of the UK? Despite the UK technically being free of Brussels ‘red tape’, the EU remains its chief export market. That means British businesses have little choice but to follow new EU regulations – on packaging, due diligence, and much else – to maintain market access. And so, EU regulations become de facto UK ones.
Dare we think of a life without Brexit?
08/03/2024
Women know Brexit is toxic. On International Women’s Day, dare we think of life without Brexit – and make it happen?
The challenge posed by Britain leaving the EU gave the European Commission an opportunity to embed its values and its members’ interests.
Set in a dystopian post-Brexit Britain, a new video game follows the struggles of a bouncer of foreign ancestry in a world of xenophobia and immigrant camps, but gamers are divided over its message.
'Not Tonight has already been accused of being propaganda by enraged Brexiteers, but by fostering highly engaged community and turning the furious controversy against itself, Rose and Constant have something resembling a map of how to survive this new, uncharted frontier of politically charged satirical games.'
Pro-Europeans need to be bolder about Rejoin
08/02/2024
A look at what some pro-Europeans are saying about rejoining the EU - and a response.
Overseas voters’ decisive Brexit-fuelled shift from Conservatives casts doubt on government Votes For Life pledge
04/08/2020
Overseas voters abandoned the Conservatives in droves after Brexit but this shift in political allegiance could ultimately deter the government from keeping its promise to grant them votes for life, warns a new study by the University of Sussex.
Those who campaigned to 'take back control' did not appreciate Brexit might give more power to those seeking Irish unity
03/02/2024
The new first minister represents a party that does not acknowledge Northern Ireland's six counties as separate from the 26 counties in the Republic of Ireland. The historic moment has huge implications, David Blevins writes.
Even in the long, bedraggled and dishonourable retreat from certainty which has characterised the realisation that Brexit is not going to work and never could, this week surely marks an apostasy none of us could ever have expected.
In business, in life, we make mistakes. It’s inevitable, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with it. Make a mistake, see it, recognise it, try to remedy it. It happens all the time.
Solving the UK vet shortage
14/09/2023
Following the UK’s departure from the EU, the UK’s veterinary sector was hit hard. Now, shortages threaten food safety risks and delays at borders – so what can we do to change this bleak narrative?
South Wales-based wine importer Daniel Lambert challenged an MP to a radio debate on the benefits claimed for “pints of wine”. Will he do it?
In a nutshell, the consultation explores the possibility of removing the requirement to use metric units in some areas of trade and commerce. It is a deeply flawed survey over an unnecessary, wasteful and potentially damaging proposal.
With levels of Euroscepticism in Britain unabating and daily press declarations that the EU has banned everything from the Queen on our passports to old-fashioned tea rooms, is it time to question how much of this EU reporting is actually true?
A step back to the single market? Why the UK abandoning its plan for an alternative to CE is a significant step
14/08/2023
It might seem like a small detail, but it marks a serious blow to the push for ‘divergence’.
The imperial measurements fiasco is another sign that government-via-culture-war doesn’t work
30/05/2022
There are good reasons why imperial measurements, so long the favourite topic of a nostalgia-frenzy in the tabloid media, haven’t been brought back into general use. And it’s not because they are “illegal”.
A slow metric transition in Britain has led to widespread myths about metrication in the UK. Unfortunately, many (but certainly not all) anti-EU campaigners have also opposed metrication and have spread myths about metrication to attack Britain’s participation in the EU.
Today is one year since the “Choice on units of measurement: markings and sales” consultation closed. It is about Government proposals to remove the requirement to show metric units alongside imperial units in trade or allow metric units to be shown with less prominence than imperial units.
Brexit has wiped Britain off the map
22/11/2023
Brussels spares little time to think of the UK, and the waters of the North Sea really are closing over the British.
The UK Government has confirmed that it will withdraw from Euratom. But what does Euratom actually do? And what will happen when the UK leaves?
A Starmer government looks inevitable. And once in No.10, all the pressure on him will be to reject Brexit.