It’s my binoculars’ birthday today – they are 41 years old. And they aren’t happy.
It isn’t just that they are feeling their age, it’s the fact that just over 50% of my fellow Brits and TM the PM have fixed it that it is on my binoculars’ birthday that ‘we’ trigger Article 50 for leaving the EU.
This is a bit of a shock for my bins as they have never known a world without the EU. They tell me they were made in what was then West Germany when the EU had just nine member states. They were thrilled when three, hot southern European countries (Portugal, Spain and Greece) signed up in the 1980s and were delighted when they saw the Berlin Wall coming down, the Iron Curtain melting away, and then a clutch of eastern European countries join the gang in 2004.
My binoculars have been birding in Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Latvia, Austria and Slovakia – as well as the UK – and therefore are quite experienced on the matter of the EU.
They ask me my we did it and I say that it wasn’t my idea, but one of the worst PMs that Britain has ever had took a massive risk with our future, out of political opportunism, and cocked things up mightily. But it’s really the fault of us, the electorate. We can blame politicians for lying or not quite telling the truth or being reticent about getting involved but it was a big decision and the UK voters screwed it up. We made the wrong decision and it doesn’t really look like there is an easy way out of it. So now we all have to take the consequences.
It is, of course, a bit difficult to know what the consequences will be – but they may include having to pay more for almost everything because the pound has lost value and we won’t get such good trading terms in future, the break up of the UK at the worst but a splintering of national unity at best, a watering down and dismantling of environmental standards and the cutting off of a foreign labour market that seems to underpin every service industry including the NHS. But at least we have our independence.
I’m not convinced by this independence argument – and as a result I struggle to explain it to my binoculars. I’m still going to have to hand over my money to, and do what I’m told by, a wide range of UK politicians in London and Northamptonshire and although I get a vote it rarely seems to deliver much that I want. Well, I feel a bit better off knowing that the rest of Europe seems better at electing good politicians and if I give them some of my money, and do what they say, then the world seems to be a better place. I cannot feel that the prospect of the party of TM the PM, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Andrea Leadsom doing what they want without having to look over their shoulder at Brussels really is a great step forward.
My binoculars suggest that it might not be as bad as I fear, and I agree. They also say that I shouldn’t be so glum on their birthday and since it is spring there might be Swallows or Willow Warblers around and we should go out looking for them. Agreed!
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Good blog Mark, I completely agree with your views, perhaps more so, as I think we are watching a disaster taking place. Fewer and fewer people will be able to afford new binoculars as this country becomes slowly but surely we will all become poorer and poorer with the pound having less and less value and imported goods becoming more expensive.
Under this Government our environmental laws protecting our wildlife are likely to be largely destroyed.
What a major calamity the previous PM was in putting political party before country and placing us all in this almighty mess.
To be honest, as part Scottish,I quite see Scotland’s point of view of not wanting to be part of it and I wish them luck. Perhaps at the end of all this shambles some reasonable wildlife protection laws will still be retained there.
It is all very very depressing.
I concur – with Mark, and Alan especially.
I too am part-Scottish and though I shall regret it if Scotland leaves the Union, I wouldn’t blame them.
This is a very sad day – yes, I am a Remoaner, but do we say nothing when we think somebody is going to walk off a cliff – and drag us along?
Your binoculars may have their own sad and Theresable message too:
Turn them round and see what our future could look like.
Well my Leica 8×32 Trinovids are near as dammit the same age as your Zeiss binos. Mine are more optimistic,yesterday they started off walking in the dark and then saw a glorious sunrise and then watched ptarmigan, feathers all puffed up due to the overnight cold warming themselves as the sun gradually rose.
Last week I entered my eighth decade as my binos entered their 5th. They will see me out.
Less gloom & doom Mark. It’s a wonderful world out there enjoy it while life lasts. It was great before we entered the EU it will get even better!
Off to climb some hills and I’m sure my bino’s will enjoy the day.
I hadn’t thought of it that way before. I might have to think twice before taking my Zeiss 7x42s (who’ve lived here for 33 years) out of the country just in case they’re not let back in.
I suppose that today is symbolic in the sense that it is some time since we passed the point of no return but nevertheless it feels like an important point in our history. I voted for ‘remain’ and I still believe that as a nation we have made the wrong decision but that decision has been made and now we have to try to make the best of it.
We have to decide as a nation what kind of country we wish to be and I personally hope that we do not hurtle headlong down the route espoused by some of the more ardent brexiteers who envisage free market economics with minimal regulatory control of business and cannot wait to create a huge bonfire of legislation. In my view such a laissez-faire approach to the economy cannot ensure the survival of wildlife or the persistence of clean air and water and so we have to work hard to try to persuade our legislators to retain strong protection for our our environment (and, I would argue, for the health and safety of our work-force who, despite the continual pooh-poohing of ‘elf and safety’ by the likes of the Daily Mail, are much less likely to be maimed at work than they were before the introduction of the H&S at Work Act and related regulations).
I’m not going along with the decision. If the Brexiteers can campaign for forty years to reverse one referendum then I’m damn well going to make this fuck up be as much of a fuck up as possible and campaign hard for a return. If there is one thing the Brexiteers proved but hate being reminded of, it is that nothing is ever settled. I’m not “remoaner”, I’m a Returner. And the Daily Mail and the Empire 2.0 assholes can all go fuck theirselves with a splintery stick
With you all the way!
Me too – to the extent that I have become an activist for a party that will democratally do all it can to remain. Never been a party member of any party until recently but feel I owe it to my child and any future grandchildren I may have. We are still in the EU for the moment so remainers never give up. Voted for EU in 1975 as well. Without EU protection I fear for our environment even more.
Jonathan – your 1000th comment on this blog. Thank you very much for all your common sense and clear prose. It’s commenters like you, and many others, that make this blog a rich source of information and comment.
Thanks are due to you, Mark, for the remarkable achievement of maintaining a daily (sometimes more!) stream of well-informed, trenchant and thought-provoking posts on key conservation issues and stimulating (and hosting) the lively debates that generally follow.
Hoppy Birdy to your bins. Mine are not quite as old and are now retired to the study window. A younger Austrian model has taken over. My wife is worried that the Burmese cats and German Short-haired Pointers may have continued residential problems? The English Setters should be OK provided she doesn’t decide to enter any shows in the EU?
We have a Cairn Terrier. Hopefully, his caledonian ancestry will not lead him to seek independence from us as a result of Brexit. The whole thing could become something of a dog’s dinner…
Happy birthday to your bins and their owner. We share a 41st anniversary, it was that day that I moved to my present home. Just over half my lifetime ago!!
Richard – thank you.
My binoculars agree with Mark’s binoculars. Whilst not quite as old they still have made in West Germany on them. Mind you I did have to point out to my binoculars that whilst Cameron was one of the worst PMs ever, that the current one is trying very hard to be an even bigger disaster.
Mind you there are going to be a few pluses at leaving the EU. The Tories and UKIP are not going to be flavour of the month when the public realises what Brexit is actually like. Likewise the Tory Press is going to regret getting what it wished for. The Tory Press has had it easy, because for decades they’ve just blamed the EU for all our problems. When we’ve left the EU who will the Tory Press and the Tories themselves have to blame our problems onto. Having to take responsibility for everything is going to be a massive shock to their system once the old scapegoat can no longer be blamed.
I really don’t think either the anti-EU Tories or the Tory Press have any inkling how difficult they will find it when they can no longer just blame everything on to the EU and have to start taking responsibility for their policy failures themselves. They’re certainly going to regret whipping up anti-immigrant fervour, when the immigration policy becomes the sole responsibility of the Conservative government, and they can no longer scapegoat the EU.
With any luck it will make the lowlifes even more unpopular than after their last spell in office.
You think your binoculars are unhappy? Pity the ones owned by the members of the current Govt, they must be heartily sick of always being used to looked through the wrong end.
Ernest – your 500th comment. Many thanks for them all.
500 comments – 1000 typo’s!
I really should proof read, and probably get my eyes tested. You are more than welcome Mark!
My binoculars aren’t as old as yours Mark, but their birthday will always be memorable as they arrived in my possession at the RSPB Radipole reserve, hours before news of 9/11 broke. They’ve travelled throughout Europe, have been very active in Scotland, and most recently visited Costa Rica seeing birds they’d never seen before. They are rather sad today though, because they’re concerned that our environment won’t be as safe or protected post-Brexit. Looking to the future, they agree with me that the children and young people who ARE our future have been short changed by a load of old codgers who voted to leave. I’ve explained to them what it was like growing up in the 1950s and what austerity is like. They’re not too keen on the prospect of that and are hoping they might be cheered by a few final sightings of local birds here in Texas, where they’ve been staying with my family, ahead of boarding the plane taking us home to Brexit-b*****ed Britain later today.
Joyce – birding in Texas! Yeeeha!!
Maybe somebody can help me out, but I’m struggling to find the upside to all this – stacks of risk, no benefit. Reinforced by the continuous stream of ‘it’s decided, you can’t object’. Led by the daily mail, which as Steve Bell pointed out today doesn’t have a terribly good record – it backed fascism in the 1930s, and that the arguments then were far more finely balanced than we are allowed to believe today is conveniently brushed under the carpet. We just got it right in 1939. We’ve got it totally wrong this time. As the song said ‘Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose’. That’s Brexit, that’s article 50 and as a thoughtful German said that letter isn’t final – when we get far enough down the road to realise what we’ve done the generous Germans are ready to simply tear it up.
As a farmer said to me earlier this week: “Brexit would marginally less worrying if there was even the slightest acknowledgement of the risks involved from the Govt”. As a HNV farmer who is reliant on tariff free access to the single market and income from pillars of the CAP, he speaks as someone with much more to lose than most.
My binoculars have emigrated. Sort of. We completed the purchase of our flat in Edinburgh today. Mind you, they are going back to France next week, just to be on the safe side.
My Opticron binoculars (mere sprogs at only 14 years) peer into the gloom and doom and agree that the whole Brexit mess is not a cause for any rejoicing. However, looking at the past, I also remember previous times when gloom prevailed – the gulf war, SARS, swine flu etc. All seemed bad at the time, but their effects have all faded to a greater or lesser degree. And compared to the world war that began only 72 years ago this situation fades into insignificance.
I think the key is not to give up. Keep fighting for nature and for the environment. Speak up for kindness and tolerance towards others. The 48% who voted for remain can a pretty powerful force to mitigate the effects of Brexit. The effects of Brexit have not happened yet and attitudes can change when reality strikes home. There is still a hope that we can work with our European neighbours to build a better world.
I am most encouraged when listening to the majority of younger people who want to stay in the EU and who seem to be more interested in the environment then their elders. So long as they don’t start reading the Daily Mail then maybe things won’t be so bad.
My one ray of hope is the possibility of retaining individual EU citizenship – this petition has >300,000 signatures – https://www.change.org/p/eu-offer-european-citizenship-to-uk-citizens/u/19350809! Though it would be poor compensation for the combined horrors to be inflicted on us after the dreadful Brexit (ugly word, ugly process). Small-minded, mean-minded, ignorant, mind-boggling hubris of the Tories. Even using my wonderful bins, I can’t see any credible opposition on the horizon either – unless by some miracle a Green/Left/Centre coalition emerges from the fog. Then we could really whup their ass.
“ass”
That would be “arse”. Let’s make gratuitous British vulgarity great again
He-he – ’twas meant in American drawl. Don’t know why really – greatly prefer the Anglo-Saxon.