Pardon the title, but these days I feel undraped without a war metaphor to accentuate my shame.
On Radio 4's 'Today' programme I just listened to a borderline-murderous "discussion" between two senior and regular political commentators, Michael White (a Remainer) and Julia Hartley-Brewer (a Leaver).
This was on a day when a Conservative MP resigned, accusing Theresa May of "tyranny" (like "treachery", it's a big word, that).
Today's newspaper headlines suppurate and ooze with accusations of ... ah, treachery ... on account of the High Court's unremarkable ruling that the Government should consult Parliament - which is, after all, the seat of the nation's sovereignty and was until recently lauded as such by the Leave campaign - rather than invoke a pre-democratic Crown prerogative before triggering Article 50.
Meanwhile, a Quitter councillor - who I believe will have more supporters out there than we imagine - has proposed to make it "treason" to call for the UK to rejoin the EU after Brexit.
I've made many failed attempts to have - or even start - constructive debates with Brexit supporters. It's been a depressing experience for many reasons. I've found all but one of them incapable of explaining their views let alone justifying them - or even spelling them in their native language for that matter (with the notable exception of regular obscenities). Which is kind of worrying.
I admit that I'm prone to a bit of overstatement myself from time to time and that I sometimes try to be too smart-arsed for my own good. But I do at least try to have that debate. The question now is: is it worth it?
I know that until someone comes up with a good argument against what I think, I'm not going to change my views. (That's not, as some Quitters have said, arrogance: in fact I'm so desperate to be right that I'll be delighted to be proved wrong. They don't quite get that, you see.) And I'm equally sure by now that the "little people" (and my goodness, I never realised until recently just how little they really are - SEE, THERE I GO AGAIN) aren't going to change their views, regardless of whether or not I or anyone else comes up with a good argument against them. That, I flatter myself, is the distinction between the good and the bad - and why I'm happy being on the side of the angels.
There are now in this country two sets of people who can no longer debate in a spirit of mutual respect or even share a rough idea of what this country is or should be. Forget for a moment who's right or wrong. This is uncharted territory, a chasm which the two sides will soon lack not just the will but the ability to bridge. Our long-disunited kingdom has at last been burst open - and along more than one seam. What now?
Scary times - and they won't go away soon.The same is happening in the USA and may yet destabilise the European continent before we "Anglo-Saxon nations" have finished having our fun.
God help us: the slowboat-turning wheels of the world may be coming round again after all ...
On Radio 4's 'Today' programme I just listened to a borderline-murderous "discussion" between two senior and regular political commentators, Michael White (a Remainer) and Julia Hartley-Brewer (a Leaver).
This was on a day when a Conservative MP resigned, accusing Theresa May of "tyranny" (like "treachery", it's a big word, that).
Today's newspaper headlines suppurate and ooze with accusations of ... ah, treachery ... on account of the High Court's unremarkable ruling that the Government should consult Parliament - which is, after all, the seat of the nation's sovereignty and was until recently lauded as such by the Leave campaign - rather than invoke a pre-democratic Crown prerogative before triggering Article 50.
Meanwhile, a Quitter councillor - who I believe will have more supporters out there than we imagine - has proposed to make it "treason" to call for the UK to rejoin the EU after Brexit.
I've made many failed attempts to have - or even start - constructive debates with Brexit supporters. It's been a depressing experience for many reasons. I've found all but one of them incapable of explaining their views let alone justifying them - or even spelling them in their native language for that matter (with the notable exception of regular obscenities). Which is kind of worrying.
I admit that I'm prone to a bit of overstatement myself from time to time and that I sometimes try to be too smart-arsed for my own good. But I do at least try to have that debate. The question now is: is it worth it?
I know that until someone comes up with a good argument against what I think, I'm not going to change my views. (That's not, as some Quitters have said, arrogance: in fact I'm so desperate to be right that I'll be delighted to be proved wrong. They don't quite get that, you see.) And I'm equally sure by now that the "little people" (and my goodness, I never realised until recently just how little they really are - SEE, THERE I GO AGAIN) aren't going to change their views, regardless of whether or not I or anyone else comes up with a good argument against them. That, I flatter myself, is the distinction between the good and the bad - and why I'm happy being on the side of the angels.
There are now in this country two sets of people who can no longer debate in a spirit of mutual respect or even share a rough idea of what this country is or should be. Forget for a moment who's right or wrong. This is uncharted territory, a chasm which the two sides will soon lack not just the will but the ability to bridge. Our long-disunited kingdom has at last been burst open - and along more than one seam. What now?
Scary times - and they won't go away soon.The same is happening in the USA and may yet destabilise the European continent before we "Anglo-Saxon nations" have finished having our fun.
God help us: the slowboat-turning wheels of the world may be coming round again after all ...
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