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Wednesday 3 April 2019

Parliament stripped naked




A silver lining in the Brexit debacle has been the way it shines a highly unflattering light on Parliament, political parties, the adversarial system, first past the post, the mainstream media, a host of individuals and the electorate.

How did it happen? It cannot have been planned, not even by the EU. Maybe it happened because the main actors do not understand a digital world which is changing the way we view their games. They seem to misunderstand how exposed they are on this strange new digital stage. Otherwise they would have behaved differently.

Theresa May and her inner circle do not seem to have understood how impossible it was to negotiate a version of Brexit acceptable to both sides of the debate without being found out. Neither did they foresee how furtively transparent the whole sorry mess would be. Neither did they foresee that it would be a mess of this magnitude, impossible to hide in a global theatre where nobody dictates the narrative.

Virtually nobody comes out of it smelling of roses and this may be the Brexit silver lining because such a glaring degree of naked exposure is surely healthy. Although that thought should be approached with care hem hem.

How will it pan out once the dust settles? Impossible to say as usual. Predicting the future is a mug's game but the Brexit mess seems almost certain to change a host of political perceptions.

Seismic political events do not necessarily initiate sudden changes and often it is only with hindsight that we even see the change. Yet we have wandered around backstage, seen the actors without their makeup, heard them squabbling about trivia, seen them forget their lines. It must surely make a difference to the way we view future performances. Eventually the performance itself  may have to change. Let us be optimistic.

4 comments:

Sam Vega said...

Good point about technological developments. Part of it is probably due to the instantaneous reporting, so that doing deals and then presenting us with a fait accompli is no longer possible. And then we have access via the internet to many other opinions about what they are doing. Strange, isn't it, when for all the fancy decor and arcane ritual they are shown to be far less intelligent than a dozen random people blogging from all corners of the country.

The crisis of political legitimacy we are experiencing will certainly lead to changes. Let's hope the revolution will not be led by the next group of upcoming radical tossers.

James Higham said...

Seems to me it’s highly orchestrated.

wiggiatlarge said...

Everything you say is true, BUT will it change anything, I fear not much, UKIP when they became a threat were slaughtered as being rascists nazis and anything else that was in vogue by the heritage parties and the MSM, that won't change.

Whilst a two party system is shown to be moribund it will take a charismatic figure leading a new party to change anything, even in countries that have a third choice look how the same treatment is meted out to them even when they gain some power, and the EU will if they continue ban all so called far right parties, ie anything that challenges the status quo, over ther they are prepared to take to the streets, here ?

A K Haart said...

Sam - Jordan Peterson also made the point that the internet is much more permanent than old style media. The information stays around and is easily linked to newer information as it arises.

I certainly do hope the revolution will not be led by the next group of upcoming radical tossers. That possibility is quite scary. We are not short of radical tossers.

James - seems more like incompetence to me. I'm sure the intention not to leave was orchestrated in the sense that this was the plan, but after that incompetence took control.

Wiggia - I agree about that charismatic figure leading a new party, but will people vote for such a person?