It wasn’t just Michael Howard who had a Malvinas memory recently.
I was in England in 1982, and I recall the war fever that gripped a lot of folk.
Moreover, I suspect that some of them probably voted Leave in the referendum last year.
My recollection of that summer was that ordinary English people were high on a “Britannia rules the waves” vibe.
The reality was more prosaic and much more instructive.
Britain could not have successfully prosecuted the Falklands war without logistical support from the USA.
For example, the Brits had exhausted their inventory of Sidewinder air to air missiles.
Uncle Sam stepped in, and the Harriers could still take to the air with these American manufactured weapons under their wings.
The Reagan administration also made sure that British commanders on the ground had satellite intelligence on Argentinian deployments around Port Stanley.
Therefore, the idea that this final hurrah of Empire was Britain doing it on their own is fatuous.
Since 1945 the UK has not been able to fight any major military operation without outside assistance.
In recent years the British Army has capitulated in Basra to an Islamist militia and were rescued from defeat in Helmand province by the intervention of the 82nd Airborne.
This piece forensically unpicks the myth of contemporary Britain’s putative military prowess.
Now Brexit fever has conjured up the intoxicating imperialist mirage that Britain can be great again.
A certain cohort in England is starting to feel good about themselves on the global stage.
“Empire 2.0” is not a Private Eye joke.
Apparently, some folk in dear old Blighty are actually getting off on this.
The stance of the political elite in Westminster and Holyrood couldn’t be more different.
In 1982 the British could deploy the Sea Harrier in the South Atlantic.
Today the Aircraft carrier F35 debacle is a cruel metaphor for a middling European state pretending that it is in the global big league.
Here my friend Robbie Dinwoodie outlines the farce with economy and precision.
Those are two qualities that have been largely absent from the entire procurement programme for that ill-fated plane.
In the meantime, the ordinary people of the UK are seeing the fabric of a decent society ripped up in front of their eyes.
The money allocated for aircraft carriers could have been spent on schools and hospitals.
However, that doesn’t do it for the Bullingdon boys who were reared on tales of the Empire at Eton.
In Scotland the Brexit thing no doubt gets a reflexive response from The People.
However, as regular readers will be aware, I am of the opinion that the home crowd at Ibrox is a cultural echo of old Scotland.
Their “song book” is a manifestation of the dying embers of an outdated world view.
It is an embarrassing kultural artefact from a time in Fair Caledonia when anti-Irish racism was mainstream and de rigueur for respectable folks.
As a resident of the Irish Republic, I have a legitimate interest in this unfolding Brexit clusterfuck.
There are many thousands of my fellow Irish citizens on this island who are about to be wrenched out of the EU against their will.
You should never waste a disaster, and Brexit has put Partition back on the agenda here in Ireland.
The Good Friday Agreement was brokered between two member states of the European Union with the Oval Office facilitaing the entire procedure.
There is nothing new in one sense from this Brexit craic.
The Irish experience in the past few centuries has been about major events in Europe having unintended and long lasting consequences on this little island.
So it is with Brexit.
It is the millennials of Britain that I feel for in this geo-political car crash.
Ukania leaving the European Union has, in part, been about the Suez generation stating that it was all a bad dream and that Britain will once more stand tall in the world.
Sadly, there is only one problem with this Grand Plan:
It’s bollox.
The EU negotiators cannot give the UK a deal that is better than membership.
To do so would be an existential threat to that supranational organisation of 27 member states.
The EU might well go the way of the Hanseatic League.
I put that point to some young salaried Eurocrats in Charleville in Cork back in 2009.
They were horrified at the analogy, although I thought it was possibly apposite.
Although I was merely speculating over dinner, Brexit is now real, and it is starting to take on a xenophobic hue in England.
The schism in England seems to be, in the main, one of age and education.
Sadly, the only advice that I can proffer to the young folk in that dysfunctional polity is:
“Brace for impact”.
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You persist in the rose-tinted view of the “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmoneee” EU, Phil.
Maybe it’s like that for the gilded youth you met in Charleville.
Those whose mummies, daddies or grandparents could subsidise the internships needed for decent paying jobs (CVs – sorry, resumes – are nearly all, though possession of the right surname (come on down if you’re called Juncker, or Tusk) doesn’t harm).
And then there’s the ability to kiss the arse of the USA at each and every turn.
Of course there is no way that any of that applies in the real world.
Ask Enda.
The Gibraltar question is a non starter. Nothing there ,apart from extras from ‘El Dorado’.
The Falklands,however,had the only deep water port in the south Atlantic with a wealth of oil and natural gas in close proximity.
Self determination my arse.
Nothing there, it’s a strategic naval base at the juncture of the Atlantic and Mediterranean! Geographically it’s a priceless asset.
Full Ulster fry , a united Ireland should be a referendum for the whole of Ireland ,I doubt if it would pass muster Dublin simply wouldn’t want it nor afford it ,where as the poeple of Gibraltar overwhelmingly voted to stay British, Iam am a leaver and for an independant Scotland and have not been a fan of the eu for a long time , protection of workers rights in the uk have been eroded , and unions neutered by the minimum wage , why then have pension funds not been protected ,why are companies being ripped off by rogue chairman ,the Norman tebbit of get on your bike fame , is tame compaired to people having to move throughout Europe to find work ,think back to when the Lisbon treaty was voted down by Irish democracy ,then over turned until Europe got the answer they wanted otherwise it was” under their own rules “game over , if that’s the type of democracy you want why vote when the fix was in , how would the Irish react if Ireland defaulted and Eurocrats came in to run your country ,,, I think we all know the answer to that , the ordinary working class people have spoken through the ballot box and this must be upheld at all costs or its game over
There is plenty of evidence that the impact of the full English brexit will be severe, and will hit the most vulnerable hardest. Most commentators realise that the rise of austerity, a culture of deficit fetishism designed to protect the ruins of the casino banking sector at the expense of the poorest, has also driven the rise of right-wing ideologies… in hard times, simple and brutal solutions attract votes.
The existential crisis at the heart of the British establishment is that this drift to the right is also fuelling forces that threaten to break up the British state.. whether in Northern Ireland or in Scotland, and, it would seem, even in tiny Gibraltar. Nobody wants to stay in a polity which promises only more pain, apart of course from the sado-monetarists of the Tory right.
Phil’s analysis is harrowing, but I fear not as harrowing as the reality of a pipsqueak Britain attempting to claim a place on the world stage in the wreckage of a post-Brexit world.
Was at the world cup in Spain in 1982 at the height of malvinas, england fans rampaged across the country clad in the butchers apron
Well as the song goes “we’re on a road to nowhere” but what fascinates me is our inability to plan ahead as a collective, individuals no probs,.
Our actions and inactions collectively globally, have led us to this moment and we are simply lost in the darkness of uncertainty, willing to lash out at the first obstacle we encounter.
not a good strategy but it’s our instinct.
the union has been largely an abusive one sided relationship that’s had its day there is only so much before any relationship breaks beyond repair.
The EU on the otherhand is an egalitarian experiment in multiple relationships, a veritable orgy of rules and trade all very grown up and civilised but there is always one who doesn’t quite fit in, the UK,
Before we came to this party we the empire uk.gov was always fucking the natives but never in the missionary position it’s self so to speak, as is customary at any orgy we lubed up our channel tunnel in expectation of some euro trash and to our horror most of what emerged from that orifice was brown of varying shades, so a really long look in the mirror and a quick visit the doctor and we are told after divulging our full awful history “that’s what happens when you put your dick in unwanted places”.
A disease that has come back to haunt us, imperialism, in our youth we burned hacked, murdered and & pillaged our way across the globe, now we must resolve, attone and evolve or resist and slowly cease to exist in isolation, what do we need for this journey? a direction we can all agree on, a light to guide us and a map to follow, but again using reductionist thinking, and the image of taking the family in the car for a day out, where we ended up really depended on who was driving, ah well if only there was such a thing as a good, kind, wise, compasionate dictator to stop us getting it constantly wrong.
When the labour party called the EU referendum in 1975 and campaigned to leave the Union, the SNP were right there beside them on the ” leave ” ticket.
Were they all flag waving racists back then ?
The EU is crumbling and will be a shell in 10 years time.
It’s a strange phenomenon of all these referendums that although they are not democratic that when they do occur the 2ND placed never accept the outcome as the will of the people. Living in Scotland and a yes voter I would say that yes would have to have been in excess of 55% if it had gone ahead but had we one by one vote which snp would have taken we would have had unprecedented political turmoil for many years then brexit we forget the turnout in Scotland was relatively low ,miles less than the Indy1 and many of the yes voters followed the leader again , I now see the eu as the problem time to move on and yet again wonder how the hell I felt compelled to make comment on a Celtic minded site or am I in the wrong place
The last time the Russians ventured up the Clyde a fishing boat spotted them and phoned it in the MOD had nothing they called the USA and Norway for a plane to look for the rushkie sub they arrived two days later.by that time they were long gone.
The Britannia rules the waves are long gone they could not invade the isle of Wight.
Actually, on reflection your son’s comment may have been about Trump not Brexit. Imo the same issues apply.
Phil, maybe speak with a cross section of kids and get their feedback on this – I seem to recall you saying your son had an interesting take on Brexit, one that I and others share. Some might say your position on Brexit says more about you than about those who used the democratic process to vote that way.
Most ‘Remainers’ I come across, frothing at the mouth over the ‘stupid’ ‘racist’ ‘Leavers’ who ‘don’t understand the facts’, are spoilt, self-centred baby boomers who cannot see what’s going on around them. Incidently, these are the sort of English lefties, 60s and 70s hippies, who despise the Catholic church and the Vatican more than any political ideology.
Democracy’s a great thing Phil, many people in the North of Ireland were denied it for some time. It’s only when you lose it that you are will to fight for it.
People are willing to fight now for what the EU has been slowly undermining for some years.
Wow – you are carrying around a load of grievances.
Sorry to spoil your hyperbole with some facts.
Baby boomers – those born between 1946 – 1964 (aged 52 – 70) in 2016, As Phil has pointed out the 2 major demographics post Referendum studies have identified are:
Length of time spent in education – the greater the length of time someone spent in education sysyem the greater the more chance they voted Remain.
Age – the older the voter the greater the chance of voting Leave. Over 50’s were more liable to vote leave therefore Baby Boomers as a group were more liable to vote leave than remain.
As negotiations could well take several years before a final agreement is hopefully arrived at there is a reasonable chance that due to demographics that there will be more Remain voters alive to deal with consequences of Brexit vote!
JP – another Remainer who thinks he has access to reality when in fact he only has some arguable – some might say self-contradictory – statistics churned out no doubt by the liberal echo chambers such as the Guardian or Indy.
One has to wonder how so many supposedly well educated people are just so gullible about the EU. It’s of course understandable with the young and inexperienced who’ve been brain washed into believing that hating EU = hating Europe; it just doesn’t, they’re mutually exclusive things and for one will continue to spend summers in rural France.
And as has been alluded to below, it’s understandable if you are a middle-class beneficiary of the EU gravy train system why you might be pro EU, but if you are say, a poorly paid academic or journalist then perhaps not so much yet they are the highly educated types to which you refer – I meet them all the time and tend to avoid political conversations with them because whilst all for ‘free thinking’ and ‘anti authoritarianism’ on paper they seem to have an inability to tolerate any differing opinions and even tend to question the value of democracy when it goes against their liberal beliefs. Really, Ive heard old friends of this type saying that Brexit and Trump proves that democracy doesn’t work.
It’s like this: many Leave voters (actually, myself not included here) don’t live a privileged, cosmopolitan, middle-class life and don’t perceive feeling any kind of benefit from EU membership. They took a balanced view on what would be in their best interests and, despite the outrageous fear mongering by the Remain camp, opted that we would be better off away from the EU.
They are right because democracy showed them to be in the majority. Accept this. As an educated liberal you probably understand the concept of moral relativism that there is no ‘correct’ or that ‘progress’ doesn’t only go in one direction. You, God forbid, may take back the reins one day.
In the meantime, get used to the beautiful new reality your lesser have created for you. You’re now a part of it too!
Adrian – with the greatest of respect and ignoring pro’s & con’s of Brexit and personal opinions my point was the influence Baby Boomers had on the Referendum. The demographics clearly show that the Baby Boomers voted strongly for leaving the EU and much as you may personally dislike both Baby boomers and the EU it is factually incorrect to to come to any other conclusion.
It is also a fact that those who will have to live with the consequences of this vote the longest are the younger section of society who least wanted to Leave. Many of them feel that this is just another example of how they have been shafted by the Baby Boomers.
If you read Phil’s blog more carefully he is discussing the fact that there is an element of the more fanatical Brexiteers in the Tory party who appear to be developing a ‘Rule Britannia’ philosophy. A ‘Rule Britannia’ philosophy which, upon reflection, would find backing from a section of the Ibrox faithful no doubt!
John , you wrote-
‘The greater the length of time spent in (the) education system the greater the more chance (sic) they voted Remain.’
Thereby proving in one sentence how education is really just indoctrination, don’t you think?
Arch
People who have spent a longer time in education are younger,are liable to be more mobile and less frightened of immigration and have more to personally gain from the benefits of being an EU citizen such as freedom of movement.
On a more philosophical note history shows that all groups of human beings are susceptible to ‘group think’.
I do however think that education is one factor that can counteract group think because:
scientific principles taught properly enable people to evaluate evidence on a rational basis rather than emotional belief basis.
humanities education if taught properly will enable people to question societal attitudes & norms.
The evidence I give to support this:
a)the developments that science have enabled mankind to make especially since the Enlightenment often in the teeth of oppressive resistance from established bodies such as religious organisations.
b)Whenever dictators take power a main target of oppression are the educated intelligensia who are more liable to question the dogma being espoused by dictator.
If I can give you an example of group think from Brexit closer to my current home in Wales. Ebbw Vale has:
one of the highest rates of deprivation in UK
one of the lowest rates of educational qualificational achievement in Wales,
one of the lowest rates of immigration in UK
one of the highest rates of funding from EU in UK due to deprivation.
Ebbw Vale voted 62% to leave UK which confused many commentators and there has therefore been much research as to why the people of Ebbw Vale voted the way they did.
The overwhelming answer given by inhabitants of Ebbw Vale was immigrants taking local jobs. This was counter to all evidence of local circumstances.
The outcome of the Brexit vote of an increasingly jingoistic, financially neoliberal Conservative government which will probably be in power for the next decade was both foreseable and not in the interests of the inhabitants of Ebbw Vale.
Why do you think the people of Ebbw Vale exhibited such a level of group think? – I don’t think it was the Guardian or Independent, so beloved by my friend Adrian, but the manipulation of the Murdoch media, Mail and Express all owned by people who are muti-millionaires and whose main motivation is to maintain and enhance their power. History is littered with examples of individuals in positions of power manipulating popular opinion for their own personal gain.
Adrian, what’s the difference between remainers and leavers?
Remainers know that they won’t get what they voted for.
Leavers haven’t yet realised that they won’t get what they voted for.
CC – good point. Within days of the Brexit vote slippery Remainer MPs and the left wing press started up with this ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ brexit option. But there is no hard or soft brexit option – what we voted for, what everyone was voting for – was very clear, the Remain camp stalwarts such as Cameron, Clegg and Farron were at pains to point it out that Brexit meant leaving the single market. The electorate were told that clearly, knew its implications and the Leave majority voted for it.
Let’s get on with it.
You certainly don’t mince your words on the Falklands War my man and I myself definitely did not agree with it but your S.N.P gave Thatcher full approval. This is the same Mob who are going to have a named person for every child in Scotland. S. Nazi Party right enough.
Let’s all just calm down. Gibraltar, Scotland, Falklands etc etc are just buttons being pressed on both sides to stir up pre-negotiation pressure to advance small-minded agendas. Dull, sensible deals will be done by dull, sensible people in dull, sensible rooms to minimise mutual damage.
I voted Remain wholeheartedly as I did not want to side with racsts and xenophobe. I also have children who will suffer from isolationism. However, that does not means I am any great supporter of the EU. It is hideously inefficient, ineffective and heading in a direction that only a small minority of the self-interested really wants to go.
An institution that one must be punished for attempting to leave against the will of the leaders, in order that others wishing to leave will be deterred. That sounds like the kind of club everyone would want to pay to be in.
The EU and national governemts have singularly failed to design, position and promote a proposition that is attrative to the bulk of common people. The referendum vote showed how much pent up, reasonable public opinon had been ignored for so long. The UK voting to leave the EU is as much a failure of the EU as it is of the UK – and all will suffer in varying degree.
P.S. It’s a pain typing long comments in the comment pane – have you intentionally blocked paste (Ctrl-V) from other editors?
I wish I had written that, my sentiments exactly.
I was in Malaysia, so didn’t vote, and agree with your comments. The think that P”£”£d me off was a simple thing like scrapping duty free between EU countries. Although this made sence, no borders etc., EU Commissioners voyed to keep this little perk for themselves. 100% looking after the boys (without the h)!
Tito Gobbi, The Rock, being attached to Spain is very much part of Europe. There are several miles of Mediterranean Sea between Gibraltar and Africa. Phil your reminiscence of the Falklands War brought to mind the knight of the realm who was responsible for the dispute which begat the invasion, which culminated in the Task Force.
When the scrap metal salvagers landed on South Georgia to dismantle the whaling station it was not widely reported that they were sub contracted by Murray International Metals. If that fact did not prevent him getting a knighthood, I do not expect the EBT/DOS shenanigans will be sufficient grounds to remove it.
My friends were indeed surprised when I declared I had voted Leave in June 2016. They had clearly assumed I was of a different demographic to your average Leave voter………as a middle-aged, university-educated, Catholic, Scottish nationalist Celtic supporter with political views very much to the left of centre. However, whilst I had to pinch my nose as I voted due to the odious whiff coming from some of my “new mates” of the Johnson and Gove variety, I’m still quite content with my vote. The EU is, in essence, a very right wing institution which, to my mind, favours big business over citizens……….see TTIP and CETA for details. I’m also not in favour of uncontrolled open borders and this rush to create a European superstate is anathema to me. Indeed, quite a significant minority of my fellow SNP members voted Leave but tend to have been bulldozed by the blue and yellow flag waving that the party has embarked upon. However, whilst I know why I voted the way I did, a mere 10 minutes of question time these days shows the kind of right wing bile that the Leave vote has given a legitimacy to, and in this I must admit I find myself almost ruing my vote. The direction of travel of the Tory government and its Empire 2.0 rhetoric is just appalling………….but the main question I have is just what will it take for my fellow scots to vote yes? Is there no limit to the amount of UK government-induced pish that they are willing to stomach? To date, the answer is a resounding and embarrassing No. My only hope is that the two countries of Scotland and England are on such a different political trajectory that a fracture will ultimately become inevitable. I’m not laying any bets on it though!!!
Empire 2.0 is a fantasy of those stuck in Pathe news reels. If we must leave an EU that cannot be reformed to serve the common people over the needs of multi-nationals, bureaucrats and plutocrats – then so be it. But like the mardy teeager stomping out of the family home because it is “all so unfair” – there will be reaslities to face: bills, rent, phone contracts, washing up, cooking, hoovering, no fridge to raid unless you fill it, no lovely Sunday lunch unless you make it, and so much more.
The whole world will re-evaluate the UK and wonder:
UN permanent security member – why?
Global banking centre – why?
Major military power – really ?
Medium sixed country living on past glory – definietely!
Obvius location for car production – not anymore!
The UK is about to throw itself into the deep end of global economics – does it know how to swim in the 21st century. personally, I have total faith in BoJo, davis, Fox, Gove, Farage, IDS and May to f**k it up. Let’s hope the dull, sensible people can sort out their superficial woolly thinking.
Paulchen
I am sorry to say it but if you thought that voting leave was a protest against right wing politicians and organisations you were niave and have little understanding of history. You also did not look at the political hue f those groups backing the Leave campaign.
With regard to Scottish Independence I do not understand your logic. The only circumstances that would help Scottish Independence were a UK leave vote with a majority Remain in Scotland as has arisen. If you live in Scotland I therefore fail to understand how you could vote Leave to further Independence?
British military might didn’t do too well against the couple of hundred brave volunteers of Óglaigh na hÉireann in the backstreets of Belfast & Derry and the ditches and boreens of the Auld Sod…. as I recall
that one sure went to the penalty shoot out of history….
empire is SO last century….
Nick
I think if the UK were to bow out gracefully from Gibraltar then Spain ought to do the same in Ceuta and Melilla, otherwise they alone will control the gateway to the Med.
I must agree with Phil on the xenophobic hue in England. I am not English but I live there and there is definitely a schism based on age and education.
While 51.89% voting to leave the EU represented a majority, it is not – as I am sick of hearing – ‘the will of the people’. It is too close and therefore contentious. More thought is needed but I fear we have crossed the Rubicon.
Worrying times indeed.
Totally agree with the assettions in this piece . Its time though that any mention of song books must lookat ” our” songs .
Scotsmen and women singing about dear ol Ireland , about the Bhoys of the Ra fuel the hatred and dishonesty our club faces
Fraser, I’ll never apologise to anyone for being the offspring of Irish immigrants. If others find my heritage to be distasteful then so be it. Nor will I ever apologise for singing songs which celebrate my heritage. Again, if others find this distasteful, so be it. I am not of the mindset of previous generations and therfore feel no need to apologise to anyone for who I am. This is not a difficult concept to grasp. Good day.
All a matter of relevance for me. Are these songs appropriate for a modern multicultural Football Club? In fact any Football Club or match? All seems a bit insecure in terms of perceived identity, if you ask me.
Who would ask u to apologize for your heritage? Singing about the IRA singing the Irish national anthem yet booing the Scottish anthem is ridiculous. The mindset of thoses that do are deep in secterian hatered . Denied by the majority who do so .
Fraser, I pride myself on being neither racist nor sectarian. I don’t think I can make my point any clearer than I did in my previous comment. Some people are offended by Irish culture whilst most people nowadays thankfully are not.
Fraser it’s certainly not the same club I supported as a youth. Unfortunately.
Jim, is the implication that there appears to be more Irishness on display now at Celtic park ? If so I find this encouraging in a modern society. The fact that it had not been displayed to the same degree in years previous and by previous generations in general was due to a prolonged campaign against such displays at that time in Scotland. This was effective through threats and intimidation both direct and indirect. Younger generations do not hold the same fears and feel free to display their cultural identity more readily. Whilst Celtic is a club inclusive to all fans should never be ashamed nor scared to display their cultural identity. Again, if this bothers people then so be it.
It’s the exact opposite am talking about. Don’t know what age you are but when Rebelism was sung in my day at Paradise it was meant .Think al leave it at that .
I was born in the early 70’s Jim if you’re implying i’m some teenage ned who doesn’t know the difference. Am not here to argue, Jim only to express my thoughts, feelings and opinion. I also appreciate and respect the relevance of yours. Have a good day.
Speaking as a Brit, the Comedy of Embarrassment surrounding our current rhetoric on Gibraltar would strain the self-awareness boundaries of Alan Partridge and David Brent. Time to remind ourselves that the territory in question is essentially a big stone that’s pretty much in bloody Africa, and it’s time for us to bow out gracefully, as we have from all our other Dominions on that continent. ( Erratum: ‘gracelessly’ )
In the meantime, anyone finding themselves in doubt regarding the state of the British Empire’s military might, heading into the 21st century, would be well advised to read the excellent “Ministry of Defeat” by Richard North – a commentator few would characterise as a bleeding-heart pinko surrender-monkey. It makes humbling reading for the flag-wavers.