Philip Stephens - Britain Alone: The Path from Suez to Brexit
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- Опубліковано 11 лют 2021
- In this address to the IIEA, Philip Stephens offers his analysis on the role of a post-Brexit UK in the world. He reflects on his latest book Britain Alone: The Path from Suez to Brexit (2021), which draws on decades of personal contact and interviews with senior politicians and diplomats in Britain, the United States and across the capitals of Europe. The book has been described as “a profoundly perceptive survey of Britain’s post-war role on the global stage.”
About the Speaker:
Philip Stephens is an award-winning journalist and chief political commentator at the Financial Times. He was previously director of the Financial Times editorial board. Throughout his career, he has had unique access to foreign policymakers in Britain and around the world. Mr Stephens has won the David Watt Prize for Outstanding Political Journalism; the UK Political Studies Association's Political Journalist of the Year; and Political Journalist of the Year in the British Press Awards. He is the author of Politics and the Pound and Tony Blair.
Recorded on the 12th of February 2021
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Making money is important, keeping the money you make is even more important.
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I think that one of the most interesting views comes forward in the answer on the first question: All continental countries had a reason to join the EU. Britain didn’t. The British people and their PMs behaved like a short sighted book keeper. If you spend more money than you get in return, then you start “asking your money back”. This is the mindset of a book keeper, not of a president of a big company or a PM. It lacks the vision needed to govern. If Coca Cola would act like Britain, Coca Cola wouldn’t advertise. Advertising would be a terrible waste of money: paying to a magazine? Magazines don’t buy your soft drinks! It is the people who have to pay for our soft drinks, not us paying to magazines! Any notion of the possible existence of secondary benefits was completely absent in all British governments. While all the continental coutries were seeing the vast amounts of secondary benefits of their memberships and accepted their contribution, the UK knew nothing better to do than grabbing the calculator, counting the pennies and ignoring the whole idea behind the EU: peace, stability, growth, building a huge power block being able to compete with China, and so forth. Penny wise, pound foolish !
This is absolutely true, and I am posting this actually since the ref in 2016.
That the only value Britain ever knew was money, money, and only money. They joined to get more out than they put in, and they left because they were to small-minded to do the sums properly.
The viscous slaundering, continuous lying and blaming because it was easier that to face up to te facts, and a press that can be bought to provide cover, did the rest.
. If you spend more money than you get in return, then you start “asking your money back” --- but was that actually happening?
Yes, very true. Sadly enough there is kinda tragedy in Britains politics since WWII.
@@lowersaxon Britain is not in WW2 anymore? When did that happen?
@@YouD0ntSay Bonus points for quick wit.
The first 20min explains the event before the poisoning was taken given by Murdoch
Combined population of Aus & NZ = 30 million
Combined population of EU = 500 million
Minimum distance UK to Aus = 8,500 miles
Minimum distance UK to NZ = 11,000 miles
Minimum distance UK to EU = 20 miles
Anyone see any potential issues with this?
More or as important than these is the GDP. Compare that and you will see that Aus and NZ are even worse matched to replace the EU. Combined, they have much less GDP than Germany alone. Much less.
Yeah well they ain't Commonwealth innit? Bloody foweners who speak funny languages.
@@deannilvalli6579 you will find out that most people in Australia and New Zealand share your reasoning, one would have to be foolish to think that CANZUK can replace EU’s GDP and be as powerful as the EU. It is only the English who believe in their sunny uplands and pink 🦄. When they turned their back on us back in 1973 to join the EEC, it was the best thing that happened to Australia. We started trading with our neighbours. Consequently, our top 5 exporting countries are: China (30.6%), Japan (13.1%), South Korea (5.9%), USA (5.3%), India (4.9%). Greetings from friendly 🇦🇺
@@villakaty2206 Good info!
Then why are your masters so worried , and worried they most certainly are
The war didn't bankrupt you personally, but, even before your birth, you felt yourself umbilically connected to Great Britain.
Born in 1961, now knowing the history of which you speak, but as a person who went to a council estate comprehensive, met his wife there, and got a free-of-cost-or-debt degree in Arabic and German at university in London, I never felt that the United Kingdom was MY country. It belonged to other people.
The first thing I needed to do was get the hell out of the UK.
I did this, having married my childhood sweetheart.
37 years after our marriage and 35 years since having arrived and bought a house (at age 24) on the Mediterranean coast of France, with a down payment of £250, we have NO SENSE of being British.
We are HAPPY, and applied for French citizenship as soon as the referendum was announced.
We are intellectuals but don't speak with RP accents.
"We are back to where we were in 1962". We both had our first birthdays in that year. Who cares? Not we....
We are French citizens and proud to be citizens of a great nation, but no longer feel like citizens of the UK, a small-brained, small-minded country where the mouths are as big as the knowledge is small.
Marvellous, that a working-class couple has been able to do that. Our armed forefathers in Burma, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Flanders/Passchendaele and Operation Michael in March 1918 would be proud of us.
The UK is dead to us.... It's gone.
France was in the same position as the UK in shedding its colonies after WW2. Also France had been occupied for four years during WW2, followed by the tumultuous defeats in Vietnam in 1954, Suez in 1956 and Algeria in 1958. France had 22 governments between 1946 and 1958 until DeGaulle came into power. The French, unlike the British, were under no illusions about their reduced position in the world and as a result the French business and political elites have been more sensible than the British elites.
@PatchesRips 🤦♂️ (facepalm)
@PatchesRips Why should they give up these remainders of previous power without being forced to? However, they have less illusions about their current role. And they don’t pretend to be superior to Germany because they have won WW II.
One of the best analyses of why Britain/England Brexited. It is a pity that such good content has so few viewers on youtube.
No, its one of the most ingornant, backward looking - thats why nobody watches this garbage.elite talking to the elite
@@gerardburke2517
Reality
@@gerardburke2517 tsk, tsk , what IS the matter with you - just sour grapes and negativity ?! NO analytical critique from you at all - just lashing out with empty , hostile comments .
@@ckzf1842 The whole analysis of Stephen's is empty. When you compare the UK economically to its equivalent economy's on the Continent - it compares very favourably with France, Italy, Germany and Spain
@@gerardburke2517 so you are a nobody then, having watched it and fanatically commenting on it with baseless, fact less one liners? Good to know, then we don't have to take you seriously.
Excellent summary of how we got here. Many thanks to both gentlemen.
Suez Britain thought it was still a World Power.
Brexit Britain thought it was still a European
Power .
Neither is true .
At least Britain has been world power. Frankly being a world power is overrated, it's nothing but a pain in the ass.
Oddly, both are true and always were.
We never stopped being a world power. We merely failed to understand that this remained possible despite our no longer being an imperial global hegemonic power as well.
Nor did we stop being a European power. Either due to initial failure to join the EC or to the later decision to leave it. Many people have merely failed to understand that being a European power, a major one too, is simply what the UK is. An innate characteristic. Not something that requires we shackle ourselves to loathsomely alien institutions like the current EU.
Being now 70 years old I lived through this; quite a good summary, nothing surprising though...
Yes...me too and I'm 73.
Me too. We’re fucked.
With this background many arguments after Brexit are explained. Twenty years ago my British colleagues were shocked when I called myself European instead of Dutch. This insight makes clear now why that happened.
amazing talk! very interesting and insightful simplicity. this guy just states reasons and facts with utmost simplicity. i'll go get his book
you need to expand what you view, I look at all views and nothing 'amazing' in that misery fest whatsoever!
So the person who said that "Yes Minister" was a documentary was right after all.......
Looks like.
🤔 Great insight. My conclusion as a European. Never let them in again!
Who needs them?!
We don't want in again, so everyone is happy yes?
@@bobthebomb1596 Yesssssssssssssssss but then stop complaining about the Evil EU... 😁
@@cvb6089 Then stop behaving that way.
@@bobthebomb1596 Here you go again i quess the level of education in the Uk is really below average. What do they teach you? Btw i'm not the EU...
Towards the end when the interviewer asks why David Cameron, didn't really put his heart into fighting for remain.
I discovered recently that years before Brexit. Cameron used £millions of our money, to form a committee, to look into how much "red tape," being in the EU caused us. The findings were that being in the EU, actually reduced significantly the amount of "red tape," we had to deal with!!!!
He then basically hid the report (that we paid for) from us!!!!
The Brexit campaign would have been a great time for him to use it, but he chose not to!!!!
Given that one of Brexit's biggest talking points was Beurocrats, red tape etc. You have to ask why???
IMHO Brexit didn't win rather than remain lost!!!!
The remain plan seemed to be, yes the EU is bad, but we're better off in it!!!
My opinion is that given how much each party used the EU to blame their own policy failures on. They couldn't then point out how beneficial membership really was!!!!
That was a smoke screen, immigration was the issue
Thank you, Mr Stephens, for this analysis. We now find ourselves in the brown stuff, with no idea how to get out of it. I see no potential Prime Minister who can help, so we´re doomed for the next decade at least.
I'm not going to pretend that I understood everything Mr Stephens talked about, that's why I made lots of notes! I really enjoyed this Vlog.
Thank you. Key Philip Stephen statement is: the UK never was enthusiastic about Europe and joined the EU not to be left aside ECONOMICALLY. The UK never understood EU's real purpose: political stability, freedom of movement, sharing resources and a POLITICAL project toward INTEGRATION. The UK is looking for DIVERGENCE for quite some time so it is a natural result to end-up in border difficulties and bureaucracy. One of the 2 key reasons the EU was created, the other being Peace. The UK is discovering in 2021, what Europe felt back in the 1950: division, border hassles, currency change issues, lack of freedom to move, insecurity...). Better late than never.
Not a word about the failure of the Euro, Covid Vaccine fiasco, Immigration/Free Movement crisis etc
@@gerardburke2517 the euro experienced the ultimate stress test and it survived. Stop going on about the vaccine.. do you actually think historians will be writing about that in decades to come? It's a non story been clung to by brexiteers that have little else to be joyful about.
@@conor1077 Italy is really prospering inside the Eurozone, as is Southern Europe. And that's its future if it continues - deficits, mass unemployment and more de-industrialisation
@@gerardburke2517 Nonsense. Italy lacks reforms, Every country that adopted the Euro has grown, even those considered to be in crisis. For instance, Spain growing again in the past years, surpassing Italy as far as GDP is concerned. Countries that were struck by the crisis now have been recovering, whereas Italy still struggles. It's more a case that Italy has failed the euro.
@@gerardburke2517 strange that it is always english posters complaining about the Euro and the devastating effect it supposedly has on the southern economies, while here in the south all are happy to have a stable currency that isn't prone to devaluation, and happy we are part of a greater union that protects our interests as well. Without the EU procurement scheme and the solidarity of the EU members chances were that the smaller, less rich nation would be at the back of the que, being shoved aside by selfish countries like the UK. But you cling in to your vaccine "win", it is all you have had the last 4 years, and it is all you will have for the next 10 to 50 years (depending on which English politician you ask)
I don't know what year, my dad was a mine sweeper on the Suez canal , God Bless His Soul
Is that information relevant?
I am German - the book is absolutely great to understand british history since 1945. Great work MR. Stephens . He only made one silly mistake ...
Definitely on my book list. Very interesting.
City firms revealed in the final months of 2020 that they planned to shift nearly £100bn in assets to the EU, taking the total value of assets lost to the bloc since the Brexit vote to £1.3 trillion, according to a new survey.
The data from consulting group EY pointed to a last-minute push by firms before 31 December after the UK-EU trade deal did not offer concessions for the UK’s dominant financial services sector. It forced companies to move staff and assets to the continent in order to continue serving EU customers.
According to EY’s latest Brexit tracker, which covered the period from October 2020 to February, firms have shifted or declared plans to move approximately £500bn worth of those assets in the last two years alone.
Goldman Sachs was among them, having shifted around $40bn-$60bn (£29bn-£43bn) worth of assets to its Frankfurt operations at the end of 2020.
It has also emerged that JP Morgan Chase was planning to relocate €200bn (£173bn) worth of assets to Germany as part of its own Brexit preparations. It is understood that process is still going on.
London was dealt a blow last month after separate data showed Amsterdam had overtaken the UK capital as Europe’s largest share trading centre. That was due to EU rules that require shares traded in euros to be traded on EU exchanges or in countries with special “equivalence” status - which has not been granted to Britain.
Thank you for an informative assessment of recent political history in the UK and the development of the EU. I too have noted your book and look forward to reading it.
it is really funny to hear that the EU owes the single market to Britain’s Margaret Thatcher - we in the rest of Europe see it as a common project and a common acheivement and if any person should be mentioned then that’s Jacques Delors, the then president of the EU .... you come to the conclusion that even very sensible and thoughtful Brits like these two greatly overestimate the contributions of their own country and simply have no idea of what is going on at the other side of the channel. With this attitude it will be difficult for Britain to find its place in the current world as the empire is unlikely to come back.
Peter Bohren - The UK role is that of the great uncle that invented light, the rainbow and electric power and the world owes him eternal gratitude.
The UK will not come back to the EU, it will disintegrate. England will not be a full member for generations, it cannot have a voice until it is clear that it joins for the right reasons. It joined in bad faith, as simple as that.
They are Irish not British
History shows us numerous examples of both nations and individuals whose ride comes before a fall, which is the essence of an inflated self image.
For “be with the Americans” replace “tug my forelock to support feudalism”
Came here after I picked up the book on a whim. Very educational.
The clarity of the argument is outstanding, excellent. Send to your friends and thank you for posting.
Thank you Philip I have Read the book I recommend it ,i hope it is used by schools as background reading 🤗 sadly the current government are far to narrow minded 🤔
I think Alex Salmond hit the nail on the head when he referred to Cameron as
"a lucky guy whose luck ran out"
and don't we all know it.
Despite his top notch education he was, for lack of a better word, a thicko! I'd go further and say that on occasions you could actually observe the cogs turning. "Tim nice but dim" made real.
@Suðringa o The problem for Cameron is that he's a Tory and the Tories are all a bunch of lying, self serving clusterf*cks
The British alone, friendless, isolated, irrelevant, ignored and disregarded. Poor things!
What a ignorant comment. look at the failure of the EU in the Covid-19 Fiasco. When the UK is successful outside the EU, the pressure will come on the Irish elite hopefully.
@@gerardburke2517 You consider a death rate 1.5 times the EU average a Brexit succes?
@@gerardburke2517 I'm sure that over 100.000 covid deaths and counting is one of the UK's world records which no other European country threatens to take away.
@@Luna-nj9zd
117,000 deaths just to be accurate
@@gerardburke2517 are you a bot?
the only thing we received after the war -- was the bill we might even be still paying?.
@Suðringa o what about countries where investors pay for the govt. to look after their money, ie -1% interest.
?
@Suðringa o nl,be, f all have negative rates on govt. bonds. Maybe you are right though, uk in the same group as italy?
That was avery interesting talk! Any chance of publishing the follow up video? Thank you very much!
I think I need to read his book!
I think you mean, when India took back it's independence
Its
@@plweis7203 Which one is more important; the actual message we all can understand, or your Grammar corrections distracting from the message?
Even the so called enlightened Brit is still arrogant, so imagine the rest
Very interesting and eye opening, thank you.
Very interesting but shame the video was cut at the end regarding Ireland 😁
Have you checked the second video posting " Interview with Philip Stephens on Britain Alone"?
@@yordalyn No not yet! Thanks for the pointer Yorda : }
Excellent talk. Thank you
I see Brexit as a spasm of English nationalism, a symptom of post-imperial decadence. Other empires took centuries to accept their diminished roles. Maybe England will be the same. And because it is so large relatively, it has dragged the last remnants of its empire - N. Ireland and Scotland - after it on its own peculiar path with barely a thought. This was done so casually and mendaciously that even the empire’s greatest enthusiasts, the Unionists in NI, at least those who can bear to entertain doubt, must feel bewildered and betrayed.
"I see Brexit as a spasm of English nationalism, a symptom of post-imperial decadence. "
Er, not for me or anyone else I know who voted leave although I suppose a few English leave voters had nationalism as a motivation. And what about Scots, Welsh or Northern Irish voters who voted leave, are they having a spasm of Scots, Welsh or Northern Irish nationalism and deserve criticism too?
And surely Scots voting for Scotland leaving the UK are nationalist? They even have a party that goes by the name Scottish National Party.
@@billw7000 National, not nationalist. The distinction is important, as B. Johnson knows every time he gets the name wrong. The difference is the Scots Nats want to be an equal member of the EU, not an appendage of England - i.e. outward looking and in control of their own destiny, not obliged to follow the backward looking and self-isolating English.The Scots and the Irish voted to remain, of course. Brexit has exposed and sharpened the imbalances and contradictions of the UK, and it should be obvious by now that there is not, and never was, any satisfactory way of honouring the Good Friday Agreement while erecting a new border in Ireland.
@@robertjohnstone718 Of course I understand the difference in the name of the SNP which is why I used its correct name. But they are still a party doing what they believe is best for Scotland whether the other countries in the UK agree or not. Isn't that nationalism? Putting themselves above other countries? And the Scots Nats wanting to be an equal member of the EU (2% instead of 8% of the bloc) is outward looking but England (and the voters from the other UK countries who voted leave including Scots) are backwards looking because they want to forge new trade links and relationships with the WHOLE world? As for the border between RoI and NI it is the EU who want to erect a border not the UK government. If the EU want to put up a border that is up to them.
I notice you avoided the key point: And what about Scots, Welsh or Northern Irish voters who voted leave, are they having a spasm of Scots, Welsh or Northern Irish nationalism and deserve criticism too?
@@billw7000 Not everyone who voted leave was motivated by nationalism. Not all Scots voted remain. But the Brexiteers sound extremely nationalist to me, with their appeals to xenophobia, “sovereignty”, taking back control, unnecessary withdrawal from a range of programmes of international cooperation, etc. England has steadily diverged from the postwar consensus in a way that Scotland hasn’t. As the man said, it is still trying to find a role for itself, something the Scots seem to have less trouble with. I hope your optimism about trading with “the rest of the world” is well founded, but even if Brexit proves economically advantageous (which I doubt) it causes irreconcilable problems in Ireland, and starkly exposes how divergent are Scotland and England. When you voted leave, did you vote to leave the single market? Because B. Johnson said there was no question of doing that. As for the border in Ireland... what happens when you leave a trading bloc? How can you leave the single market and customs union and not have a border and customs? The failure to understand the disastrous consequences for Irish people of going backwards on the border is indicative of little the Irish and the Scots count in what was always an ill-considered scramble to preserve the Tory Party.
@@robertjohnstone718
You were perfectly happy to label the English:
"I see Brexit as a spasm of English nationalism, a symptom of post-imperial decadence."
But then backtracked when I pointed out that some Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish had also voted leave with:
"Not everyone who voted leave was motivated by nationalism"
Funny that wasn't it?
"But the Brexiteers sound extremely nationalist to me,"
The Scots Brexiteers too? How about the Welsh ones? The leave voters from Northern Ireland? Why were only the English were worth mentioning in you original post?
"their appeals to xenophobia, “sovereignty”, taking back control, "
xenophobia - entirely your subjective opinion.
sovereignty - you mean the thing you want to 'reclaim' by becoming an independent Scotland? I suppose that is different because you then want to give some of it to the EU.
'taking back control' - well we HAD given some of the control over the UK to the EU. So why can't we take it back? You want to take back control of Scotland from (as you see it) England. So make up your mind if it is acceptable for a country to take back a perceived loss of control over their own affairs or not.
"unnecessary withdrawal from a range of programmes of international cooperation"
The UK voted to leave the EU which necessitated leaving certain programmes. It was not unnecessary as it was a requirement of leaving.
"As the man said, it is still trying to find a role for itself"
I take it you mean England here? Why should we even have a role? Contrary to what remain voters like to portray, most, probably nearly all, leave voters aren't looking for Empire 2.0 and throwing our weight around.
"even if Brexit proves economically advantageous (which I doubt) "
I think you are going to be proved wrong on this. You doubt it, I believe it. Let's have a chat in 5 years or so and see who is right.
"it causes irreconcilable problems in Ireland"
Does it? I suppose if the EU accidentally closes the inviolable border and then quickly reopens it when they realise it made them look like mugs as it was such a big issue for them during negotiations then it does cause a problem. There will be problems if the EU want there to be.
"When you voted leave, did you vote to leave the single market?"
Absolutely. And Cameron said a vote to leave was to leave the Single Market and Customs Union and there was no going back. You can now waffle about other people saying differently but Cameron was the incumbent PM and the guy we all thought would be doing the leave negotiations. I listened to him as I am sure did most other people on both leave and remain sides.
"what happens when you leave a trading bloc"
The EU is NOT a trading bloc. That is the whole problem. If it was still the EEC and without political aspirations then we wouldn't have left.
"How can you leave the single market and customs union and not have a border and customs? "
It is only a problem if people want it to be. I have heard differing views that it contravenes or otherwise the GFA. But let's be frank here. If the the people of Northern Ireland are so fucking stupid that they choose to fight again over this then the EU can have them all and police it to boot. There is absolutely no need to start fighting and I don't think they are going to. You obviously do think they are stupid enough to do it. I patently hold them in higher regard than you.
"indicative of little the Irish and the Scots count"
Is this aimed at the English again? What about the Scots and Northern Irish who voted to leave? Do they consider themselves as counting less?
"ill-considered scramble to preserve the Tory Party"
It is actually called democracy. Cameron put the referendum in his manifesto because of support in the country for UKIP. If we had PR we would have had a large number of UKIP MPs. And yes, he was worried that whilst not being able to vote UKIP because of the failings FPTP that they still might not vote Tory. That isn't right but all parties adapt their policies to retain votes or to try to attract new ones. So 'ill considerd' is entirely your view and don't forget Labour got rid of Corbyn to preserve the Labour Party. The SNP would adapt their policies to preserve their party. And why wouldn't they? If people aren't going to vote for them there is no point existing.
You don't need to search for a role. Just start respecting others around you and stop playing that you are some special species.
If you manage to learn to respect, rather than looking down on others, then you will find your role --> being an equal member of a community.
If the British education standards were much higher, the UK wouldn't have left the EU. If most British people spoke a second language, as so many people across Europe do, the UK would have developed a very different relationship with the EU.
I'll look out for Philip Stephen's book. I was a little disappointed that the video came to an end just when the interesting points on the effect the referendum had had on the populations attitude toward the UK constitution were about to be discussed. No talk of the rise of English nationalism, for example.
A coule of years older than Philip Stephens and from a similar background. I have never met any Briton who grew up post Suez who believed "we won the war" and very few berfore that,. Every Briton I have ever spoken to about it - and I have an intesest in it so its not an infrequent topic of conversation - knows it would not have been on the winning side without the help of the USA and the USSR. Do not mistake many Briton's irritation if not outright rejection of popular American history and especially Hollywood and cable/internet TV history, which tends to completly sideline or denegrate the British contribution, with failing to recognise we were, from 1942 very much a junior partner in the alliance thate defeated Germany and Japan. Philip seems to frame all of his views with the idea that the UK only had one good choice post-Suez, to join the EEC. If you can only see things through that lens, then everything he says make sense.
So you have never heard the saying we won the war and saved France,never heard the expression we would be all talking German just now,oh their out their dying off but handed down there nonsense
Agreed. I have heard more mention of the empire from pro-EU types since 2016 than I've heard in the rest of my life. I don't know anyone who cares about the empire. Mr Stephens and others must suffer from a strange form of self-loathing that is only tempered by the thought of Britain being part of the EU.
Title of this piece says it all “Britain Alone” . Worst legacy of empire is the arrogance and superiority that it leaves. Let’s just work hard together with other countries, instead of looking down on them!
That's exactly it, in a nutshell
Great Interview. Thanks!
ignorant interview from an individual who despises the working class!
@@gerardburke2517 Brexit means uneducated, but not working class!!!
@@six-star-hotels5698 ignorant means not realising that there is both good and bad reasons to stay in the EU. Nothing uneducated about that.
@@six-star-hotels5698 people like Stephen's resents that 'uneducated' working class people's vote has the same value as his!
@@gerardburke2517 Just follow the statistics. Brexit supporter are by far less educated. That's simply a fact. Also it is true that Brexit is neither good or bad. But maybe that's why they are messing it up so much? Because they are a bunch of idiots....
The Soviets defeated Germany and suffered the greatest for their efforts. But the war was won by the USA. Why the British can tell themselves that they won it is beyond my understanding.
I am by no means a jingoistic Brexiter (I’m not even English), but the world should be grateful to the UK standing firm against Hitler. Had the UK sued for peace, the world would be very different today. The UK might not have won the war, but it did save the world.
wth. The conversation has nothing to do with WW2. Also, you don't understand the occult workings behind war. Nobody ever 'wins' per se. Perhaps on a cultural level. It's more about synergising the desire results for high finance.
Brilliant analysis. Very interesting.
Magnificent analysis
Excellent!
This could be the budget to have those big shifts in policy.
Well definitely will be buying this book.
Great insight, but such a pity it was cut before reply about Ireland?
A brilliant historical analysis!
Video ends just as it’s becoming interesting.j
brexit, the wee yappy dog that chased the car and unfortunately caught the car. for this to come publicly from someone in the american government to be was obviously brutally truthful but equally tragic, humiliating and utterly scathing.
The yappy dog is a good analogy ! The little fierce dog just mend to bark at the car to show he's not afraid...But accidentally got carried away trough the mud and dirt, and is now lost and alone in the cold wide world.😉
@Suðringa o Thank god we have people like you to tell us how little we know then..pfff 😂
After listening to that I think its well worth getting the book.
How Britain alone. 🤔
perhaps could you shine a light on how the whisky export is affected by brexit
because if i look at the online shops website there are a lot more sold out labels then i was used to and i mean a LOT more
You join Fintan O' Toole in writing the best books on poor old blighty. A wonderful talk, and I shall buy your book. Thank you.
yes I remember soon after the chunnel was built it was regard as the plug hole where all the talent left Britian
Well I got out in 1992 as I could see a far brighter future for my kids in the heart of the EU. So glad that I had that foresight
@Suðringa o for many people the UK is a big attraction because it is English speaking. Unfortunately Brits generally are not inclined to learn foreign languages. If on a social level you are happy because you meet plenty of English speaking people in Croydon, then it seems you have found your paradise. There has been a brain drain from the UK since the 1960s, to be replaced by substantial immigration.
@Suðringa o Your ignorance is staggering glad to see you left the EU. Btw not speaking the language of the country where you live is an insult to this country and a sign of your lack of intelligence... 😁
@Suðringa o Your explanation of the EU shows that your even less intelligent than i thought. Btw you don't know me or if i am (most probably) more intelligent than you. What i do know is that i'm capable of communicating in three different languages. Even with an unpleasant character like yourself... 😁 Btw so you know bragging is a sign of lack of intelligence...
@Suðringa o Read your own latest text again and than mine. You just proved my suspicions. Niet echt een slim manneke vooral vol van jezelf zo te lezen... 😁
Head on analysis and so well described!!! I have had the similar view but from the outside. This gives the whole and consolidated path. The civil service guy view on how Cameron view the world is so spot on...where you go on holiday!!! Hahahaha
Wonderful summary. What I find disheartening is that the intelligencia realise the folly of Brexit, wheras the politicians take populist actions. The referendum was not binding, but advisory. It should have given the UK the impetous and status to negotiate a truly active leadership role in the EU.
Idiot.
@@philcopson3900 Who? You?
The main thrust of the Brexiteer argument was that we would do better trading on the world wide stage. Liam Fox bravely set forth and found six hundred billion pounds worth of contracts. Eventually this dwindled down to one hundred and forty billion pounds worth of contracts. We were a thousand billion pounds worth of business from Europe. Now the financial centre has relocated to Amsterdam that's good bye to five hundred billion pounds turn over straight away. The market have consigned manufacturing to the third world countries leaving rust belts in the mid west states in the US and midlands and the north of England. Leaving alienation and unemployment in it's wake. All we've got left is the brexiteer dream of a great nation that doesn't exist anymore.
That
Mistake, its Englands struggle to find itself.
yep you're opening a can of worms by your comment.... something unresolved...
Did you not watch the video? That's what he is saying.
This video has 460 views , yet if UA-cam bad Europe it will have millions clicks 🤷🏻♂️
Does he means England alone is looking for its identity?
excellent
"we are back to where we were in 1962
Britain has lost an empire and failed to find a role"
SAD, GLOOMY, DARK, PITIFUL - yet true
@Suðringa o no benefit?! go ask british fishermen
@Suðringa o EU did NOT breach any TA on shelfish or anything else.you read murdoch's papaers and he licks bojo's boots who is desperate to put his own incompetence, impotence and stupidity's fault on anyyopne else but himself. dissagree? please indicate which section which point in the TA the EU breached. you can find ther TA here: eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv%3AOJ.L_.2020.444.01.0014.01.ENG
@Suðringa o you don't remember the 1970s.
I do.
The UK was stuffed, gone, finished. A basket case
Then it joined the European community, helped to forge that and found its place in the 21st century. The fifth largest economy in the world.
Then it committed economic suicide.
And we never learned the lesson of Suez.
@@wolfthequarrelsome504 . erm, UK is still the 5th largest economy in the world, and 2nd largest exporter of financial services and more . . . an enviable position for dozens and dozens of other countries . . . Can you please provide overview and examples of why the UK is now 'finished. A basket case'?
# BREXIT MANTRA
if you want to get somewhere fast - go alone
if you want to to far - go as a group
We stuffed ourselves?
Big time
We envy Great Britain. Greetings to our brothers and fellow Europeans in the U. K .
Greetings from Murksellandistan
Envy a delusional country? No, thank you very much.
@@cartmann227 Delusion can get you far. Everything starts from confidence.
Very interesting presentation. I really appreciated
What an interesting video.
Britain entered the common market out of envy, and it left out of envy. Because it didn't achieve its pervceived rightful dominance in the EU and rather had to be an equal among countries like Bulgaria, which hurt British pride and entitlement. Now britain projects its insecurity upon other nations and wants them to suffer the same uncertainty and problems it hoisted upon itself. From my german perspective, I was an anglophile, but after following Brexit and the arguments for four years, I am now an anglosceptic. Because if Germany would suffer and fall, millions of brexiters would have a party. And it's not only germany they hate, but others too. Denmark for example is a problem, as it is a very socialist but also successfull country. In the libertarian-Brexitist's worldview, such countries are communist and shouldn't exist or thrive, as it puts pressure on them to expand social services they hate. They also hate it that the EU which they are hellbend on destroying kept together and perceived Britain as the hostile nation it now is. It wanted an enemy, insults made it over the channel on a daily basis, and it increasingly got what it wanted, because if you villify for years, in the end you get and build the enemy you wanted. It wasn't always like this, European nations stood up for british interests as a quirky member of the club. But it was never enough to satisfy the entitlement and arrogance of retired fanatic europhobes in Kent. Brexit is an abdication of european solidarity, and thus Britain has no right to demand any any longer. The move from being the quirky member to being a hostile nation reflects my own germany from an anglohile to an anglosceptic and I have no illusions that things will get worse. My attititude towards britain is now: good riddance.
Watching this I have to agree with you, looks like Europe dodged the bullet twice. Even here the sentiment is “The UK could have ruled Europe but we failed” . As a citizen of one of the smaller members I find a bit irritating that larger nations assume they are entitled to more then the rest. The UK has always been the largest proponent of that view. So like you said goodbye and please don’t come back.
@@dutchuncle3310 Yeah. Screw them and good riddance.
@@SunshineFromWithin That's because these pricks are dishonest in any perceivable manour. British politics and media is intertwined and rotten to the core.
I find it strange how EU fanatics take the UK leaving so personally. Like a woman scorned. We're just not like you. We don't want to be Airstrip One in the United States of Eurasia. The UK elites didn't vote for Brexit THE PEOPLE DID and our instincts are ahways right when it comes to creeping political tyranny. It might be OK for you, it's not ok for us. Why do you take it so personally? Do you think being in the EU is mandatory or something?? If it is so great then why do you feel the need to actively punish the UK (and that IS the case, denying it is pointless)? There must be some strange psychological syndrome at play. See a shrink ffs.
@@SunshineFromWithin Politicians are NOT THE PEOPLE. And remember Thatcher wanted to expand the EEC, the EU did not exist under her watch. She was pro trade, anti political union. And she was right.
Oh the benefit of hindsight!
Best analyses I ever heard about UK after WW2 politics.
not really, its full of holes.
@@gerardburke2517
You don't like reality
@@gerardburke2517 you are full of holes.
@@gerardburke2517 care to fill those holes with your knowledge so we can learn?
@@gerardburke2517 Just don't take part to debates you're not geared enough to contribute pertinently.
Or at least make an effort and bring a few facts that could substantialise your position.
the French and the English had 2 currencies ( Europe & World )
one blew both currencies
All very interesting but it didn't really address why we left.
Money in offshore bank accounts having to be reported.
great
The focus on him judging the UK on being a force in the world shows he really did not understand why most people voted to leave. It really is quite sad.
Fog in Channel, Continent isolated.
🤔 View from the continent. Nothing really there... 😁
Fog in the channel, Europe cut off.
@@deanmthomson Fog in the channel little island isolated and nowhere to go. Me, whatever, i just walk 8000 miles eastwards uninterrupted to Vladivostok... 😁
Exceptionalism means you get everything you ask for without putting in full effort or money.
That's not a real argument. I know EU enthusiasts like to view the English as 'exceptionalists' but it doesn't sound intelligent at all. It's just a phrase some midwits have latched onto. You'll have to do better than that.
@@giuliamalvassora2640 Because that's the correct phrase. I'm Swedish and if I live in Malaga when I retire, then I'm an ex-pat. 'Im-migrant' refers to a migrant who moved 'into' your country. Meaning that I'm an ex-pat in Malaga, but many of the new Syrian arrivals in Sweden are immigrants to Sweden. Don't you understand this? Immigrant isn't an insult. It's a term to describe somebody's migration status. Anyway, I think Spain has bigger problems than English tourists to worry about now, like their own government trying to sterilise them and make them homeless, perhaps. But I guess that's the fault of the English too?
I listened to the first 10 minutes of his monologue but that was enough .Ordinary people are not searching for their place in the world they no their place and that is to be one of the greatest nations the world has ever seen ,our time in history as one of the leading lights is diminishing and we know it is but we still have a lot to offer the world and there is no way we can do that yoked to the bureaucracy and flawed institutions of the E U .
Yeah he mentioned that you sad brainwashed dunces were the real cancer. You ignorant fool.
@ Hey Seán, nice to meet you here.
.I think the 'tensions', of which Mr Stevens writes, are problems of psychology. Our attitude to languages, to Geography and to culture was always subordinate to our national historicism and defiant of reality but this was not inherent in the peoples but rather endemic in what might be called The English residual establishment, echoed by a despicable media. We seem unable to relinquish the notion of being an island whilst not understanding that strategically our Island isolation was terminated by air power and inter-continental missiles. In the new dispensation with energy constraints, climate change, and the continental logistics of railways, all of which will be new determinants rendering our isolation will more acute, even tragic.
Whatever happened to all the gains from BREXIT? Where are all the trade deals? and why we have so many holes on the roads and a bad and expensive transport service with a declining NHS?
also we want a fair tax system so small businesses are protected against the big corporations
also we want a fair society with human rights respected by all state institutions
Theresa May said Brexit means Brexit....
She obviously hadn't heard of the West Indies lexicon..
Years ago, I remember a West Indies gentleman who sold glassware and china..
Whenever he spotted a clumsy punter, he used to say, just loud enough to be heard, you breaks it, you pays for it.
When he said breaks it, it sounded just like Brexit, in a West Indies accent..
You brexit, you pays for it.
Haha lol. How very droll.
Exellent title. One would think that the UK would have realized that the British Empire would never return after the United States spanked them over Suez (the French sure learned the lesson), but Brexit proved that no such lesson was learned.
And just look at the hornets nest America created......as row upon row of headstones at Arlington demonstrate.
I read his book.
What I found truly appalling is that the language and assumptions used in Britain about Europe have NOT changed one iota between 1948 and 2021.
British attitudes and prejudices seem to have remained utterly unchanged by 45 years of EEC/EC/EU membership....
Or as an American friend of mine would put it; "Same Old Shit(SOS) every day!"
No need for further contemplation. The UK has left the EU, so its none of your concern.
@@jmccullough662
We share a LAND BORDER with the UK.
That LAND BORDER is also the UK's ONLY land border with the EU, with the minor exception of the Spain-Gibraltar border. The latter is a minor issue as Gibraltar is now part of the Schengen area....
As the UK's current, utterly untrustworthy, administration is busily refusing to fulfil the commitments freely entered into when it signed and ratified the Northern Ireland Protocol(NIP), your claim that "...its none of your concern" can only be described as oblivious, exceptionalist, nonsense...
@@gloin10 Protect your side of that border, leave Northern Ireland alone.
Outstanding analysis. A lot of perspicacity.
We prefer to ignore that we are a declining country for 70+ years, with rulers who spend their time and the wealth of the nation in plotting to protect their petty political interests.
The inevitable decadence of a pinch of haves in a protective bubble of obsequious servility towards them.
Meanwhile, more and more of our workers are queuing up in front of food banks, we are calling on UNICEF for help to feed our kids, 34% of which live in poverty, we have at least 500K homeless, and our economy is going tits up.
And unfortunately, those who support this system are the same people who voted overwhelmingly for Brexit. 50+ yo whitish babyboomers who had lived all of the glorious years after WWII.
These people are more attached to their little privileges and their nauseating memories of an empire that grew rich on slavery and that set up concentration camps in Kenya in the 50s than to the protection of the British people now.
What have we plebs done to deserve this?
Cameron was a fall-guy. Tragic really. Good discussion.
Not bad, but it's rather funny how successfully Stephens manages to leave Germany out in this analysis.
As for the expanssion of the EU and if something strongly run by Britain the main objection for it was probably to try to decrease German influence in the union.
I suppose some Brits today still believe Britain and Churchill represented the driving force in WW2 while all those three guys knew very well who was the weakest and also unable to defend the empire.
Fintan O'Toole is mentioned here earlier and I would indeed recomend him too.
"The Politics of Pain"
ua-cam.com/video/hA08SXJ8mAY/v-deo.html
Britain is an island and that makes for a different mentality. We were always outsiders, god knows the French didn't want us in for long enough.
But as we have recently seen, the UK Civil Service was overwhelmingly 'remain in the EU dominated', so the fact that the adviser could not understand that people did not share their views is not in the least bit surprising. Cameron led the Remain campaign and was endlessly on TV explaining why the UK should remain in the EU. He used UKG money to deliver a leaflet outlining why he believed this to every household in Britain. Mr Stephens is revising history to suit his own ends.
Don't you think that the failure to claim successes, but instead point out little deficiencies, may have been a kind of (possibly faux) humility and British understatement?
I disagree. I grew up in a white working class background and am the only member of my family who did not support Brexit. Given the general English attitude towards Europeans, it would actually be an embarrassment for the British government to admit to an anti-European English electorate that it had actually played a major role in shaping EU policy in key areas.
financially we lost the war. I think Germany got lot of rebuilding..
Britain also received vast amounts to rebuild and reconstruct. Qutters and EU xenophobes don't like to acknowledge that.
@@007JHS Why aknowledge? we're exceptional aren't we
@@007JHS Britain didn't get any money to reconstruct. The Marshall Plan didn't apply to the UK.
@@Ganymede559 Somewhat more aid per capita was also directed toward the Allied nations, with less for those that had been part of the Axis or remained neutral. The largest recipient of Marshall Plan money was the United Kingdom (receiving about 50% of the total), but the enormous cost that Britain incurred through the "Lend-Lease" scheme was not fully re-paid to the US until 2006.[4] The next highest contributions went to France (8%) and West Germany (12%). Some eighteen European countries received Plan benefits.[
UK pressing for the EU’s enlargement? When did that happen?
When they pushed for Eastern Countries application to go through despite the reluctance of other such as France!
The U.K. was in favour of Turkish membership. One of the most keen supporters of it.
Though they then used the spectre of Turkish accession to scare the plebs.
Despicable really.
@@gchelem Absolutely not true. France, Spain and Italy supported Romania’s & Bulgaria’s applications despite opposition from Northern European member states e.g. Netherlands and UK. Expanding the EU to 30 member states dates back to De Gaulle’s presidency and was a French idea. France were and still are against Turkey joining and for good cause.
@@luisfigointer whatever you say. Blair pushed for it that is a fact. Denying it does not make it less true!
@@luisfigointer The UK pushed for the inclusion of the ex-Warsaw and ex-Soviet republics as a means to try and isolate the Russian Federation in the post-Soviet years. As an EU member, the UK always tried to push US foreign policy onto other bloc-members and had varying degrees of success.
Sir ; This is the time for British to forge a bridge stronger than any you seening form the AECA is the KEY and fire the Prime Minister , he does not how his mess in which he involve the British Peolpe. Forge the Key , The Queen knows what iam talking about it , she is very wise.
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