Most of my observations of the BREXIT debacle have been political in nature, but there’s more to it than that. I have to go with Dylan Matthews at Vox, as his source at Prospect Magazine seems to have disappeared:
So what happens if [British Prime Minister] May leaves [the EU] without that kind of deal [i.e., free trade]? That’s what Lis’s piece addresses. Here’s one of its extremely normal paragraphs:
4. Food will rot. We import about half of our food and feed, and 70 per cent of that comes from the EU. The bosses of Calais and Dover have warned of 30-mile tailbacks and possible infrastructural collapse. Experts have already warned that supermarkets will soon run out of supplies. (Hence the stockpiling.)
Stockpiling! A cursory look through the British press reveals that the entire nation of the United Kingdom is acting like a town on the eve of a massive blizzard. “Stockpiling is the talk of Britain!” the Economist proclaims, while raising doubts about whether people are actually piling up the food or just talking about it to be trendy. The Guardian asks readers, “What would you stockpile to prepare for no-deal Brexit?” and columnist Ian Jack observes, “As Brexit looms, stockpiling food seems the only sensible response.”
You get the feeling the Brits are about to find out what happens when amateurs are let into the cockpit. Hope they enjoy the ride. And, as May could have just ignored the referendum, this is all avoidable.
