RIDING A FLAMING DUMPSTER OFF A CLIFF INTO AN ACTIVE VOLCANO

by Bob Walsh

OK, that might be a SLIGHT exaggeration, but it might not be. At the end of this month Brexit will occur. Ready or not.

In a broad sense there were two ways of going about this. The British government could have taken advantage of the two years and planned carefully and minutely about all the known problems, and created a body to deal promptly and effectively with the issues that they KNOW are going to come up no matter how carefully things are planned.

The second way is to jump off the diving board, as high and as hard as you can, and then look down to see if there is enough water in the pool and if there is a comforting absence of alligators.

Britain went with Plan B.

The people of the U. K. voted by a very modest margin (4%) to get out. The power structure of the U.K. was very much OPPOSED to the moved. So, it is hard to say how much of this is a big FUCK YOU from the political ruling class and how much of it is ordinary incompetence, either active or passive.

There is not now an infrastructure, either people or physical, to deal with customs at all the ports now. There just isn't. Some of the imports are critical, like medicine which is not produced in the U.K. Some of it is just nice, like body bags and chocolate.

A real problem will without a doubt occur at the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. Right now the border is functionally only a line on a map. When it again becomes an active, enforced border there is a genuine belief that the old nastiness will come back, including using the border posts and people in them for target practice.

Brexit Preppers are stocking up on canned goods and European imports that might be unavailable, at least for a while, after the break. (I wonder how many people over there still have valid passports?)

There is right now no way to stop this, at least no legal way. Even if they wanted to do a re-vote there is no time to do so, and apparently no political will either.

I have a hunch this is one of those things that is going to be amusing to watch from afar but not so much fun as a participant.