A Tale of Two Countries

Published by Rick on Tagged Uncategorized

Last week, I was at the local Tesco supermarket picking up a few odds and ends, but noticed both the produce and the meat sections were near empty. My first thought was this had something to do with Brexit, and our future ex-trade partners were giving us a dose of what to expect for the immediate future. There’s only so many foods actually grown in UK, but because of the UK joining the European Economic Community in 1973, we’re able to have corn, avocados, and most citrus fruits available in stores in December. I still remember when fruit and vegetables like those above couldn’t be found in many American markets between October and March.

So okay, the lack of produce and meats at the Tesco turned out to be just a minor blip and a problem with the distributors. Ultimately, what’s going on here is bigger than just what foods we’ll be able to buy at the corner market. Tomorrow marks a new era in British history, and not one I’m looking forward to. This is a change dictated by fear and a growing movement around the world that regresses back at least to the 1950’s, if not earlier, and Brexit is only a symptom.

OK, I don’t want to go full on doom and gloom…yet! Brexit means a lot of people’s status in UK is in jeopardy, but thankfully not mine. At the King’s Head in North London, where I’m doing my Brexit “tribute” DJ gig, one of the bar staff is already consigned to being deported, though it’s due to a technicality that’s always been there, but which Brexit has exacerbated. Because I’m American as opposed to Eastern European, my status here so far remains unaffected. What scares me is the prospect that, as UK moves away from its trade with the rest of Europe, they enter into a one-sided deal with the US. Given the two lunatics running the two countries, I think I have reason to be scared.

All that considered, I must remember that there are still some people in positions of power on both sides of the Atlantic that could keep the worst case scenario from becoming reality. My hat goes off to Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi in America, and a smattering of Labour MP’s in UK who keep the fight alive. I also think in particular about one of UK’s greatest assets, the National Health Service. The first time I was ever ill enough over here to see a doctor, I still recall the awe I felt after consultation, when I reached for my wallet, and the doctor said, “Oh there’s no charge.”  I was prepared to pay £100 at least. Now of course, the Brexiteers, led by Nigel Farage, possibly a more vile human being than Donald Trump, made the claim that with UK out of the EU, the £30 billion paid in annual dues to Brussels could be allocated to the NHS. Haven’t heard anything recently to back up that claim. If the UK has no one else to trade with other than US, the NHS looms vulnerable to being on the table as a bargaining chip, and I don;t even want to speculate what that could entail. Suffice to say that in about 24 hours, the UK goes through a metamorphosis which from where I sit seemed totally unnecessary from day one.

In America, an impeached president is now on trial in a miscarriage of justice that could make O.J. Simpson’s acquittal seem almost rational. And it’s not a coincidence that one of Trump’s defence team (Allan Dershowitz) was on OJ’s team as well. There looms the possibility, even with one of Trump’s former henchmen, John Bolton, ready to testify, that Trump will escape once again with his base even more emphatically behind him. It’s scary to see people tweeting things like “Best President Ever,” and while one remedy you might suggest is “Get the fuck off Twitter,” I’m intrigued by the counterpunches that are given to the lemmings/bots who post that nonsense.

I’m not sure where it metastasised, but I’ve talked before about how racism is back in full form, and it’s not just in US and UK. Leaders who lean far right are running the show in Hungary, Brazil, and Turkey for starters, with threats of similar movements in France and Holland, to name a few. Not that going far left is the solution, but I think I’d be more comfortable with that should there be a choice. Trump and Brexit have made people less afraid to espouse racist philosophies, and less afraid of any consequences that their words might inspire.

But back to UK. I think my sentiment was best summed up by a Facebook post I saw which stated, “On January 31, the number of countries France trades with goes from 31 to 30, while the number of countries UK trades with goes from 31 to 0.” I don’t want to make any predictions about what Britain goes through in the next 11 months, just that the nightmare David Cameron allowed to happen four years ago by saying in essence, “Sure, go ahead, no way it’ll pass,” and then having to step down with the words, “I was the future, once” should have never happened. But it did. I’ve been saying on stage since that fateful day in June 2016, that when the world was saying how dumb the Brits must be to vote for this, I knew the US would reclaim their crown a few months later.

Given the choices, I guess I’ll stay here. I think UK is resilient enough that it can survive Brexit, and that perhaps the US could even survive another four years of Trump, which is sadly looking likely, but it could only survive if the Senate is flipped to Democrat majority, for which there’s reason for optimism. If the current Republican Senators vote unanimously to acquit Trump, the ones up for re-election are gonna face a harsh reality. If Russia intervenes, also reason for worry, then America will have its first self-proclaimed king. Meantime, I’m gonna have to learn to like turnips.

 

 

 

January 30th, 2020



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