
Daniel Hannan: Coercion may be working in Catalonia, but it won’t work here
EU leaders – encourage by a rump of British Europhiles – are pursuing the fantasy that if they bully us enough, we might change our minds.
Daniel Hannan is an MEP for South-East England, and a journalist, author and broadcaster.
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The tiniest quantum of goodwill would have solved – indeed, might yet solve – the problem. But neither side is willing to display it.
Just as the MPs of the 1970s realised the need to understand economics, the MPs of the 21st Century must understand how we think, and why.
Nor will the eventual separation from the EU see a sudden break. Rather, this will be a gradual and partial divergence.
Behind his languid exterior lay a man of unusual principle, to whom all Conservatives have cause to be grateful.
The underlying motive for this tradition, though now often dressed up in quasi-medical language, is as much aesthetic as sanitary.
Most people in both camps are interested in getting the best outcome starting from where we are. Here’s how.
A comparison with its neighbour, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is stark.
The left cries “Growth not austerity”. Seriously, comrades, if it were that easy, don’t you think someone would have done it by now?
First, that Leave had won dishonestly. Second, that the country had become more racist. Third, that the 52 per cent had wrecked the economy.
Deep down, Corbyn regrets the outcome of the Cold War. Even now, when the full horror of its legacy is clear, he can’t bring himself to renounce Marxism.
Nor should we indulge the murderer’s view of himself as being motivated by ideology. He was evil, and his final act was to spit in the face of God.
It’s sad in a way, but the quicker Labour is eclipsed and a new leftist party emerges, the better for everyone.
Jefferson may have had the better lines, but Hamilton got the big calls right – and now he has the more stirring verses, too.
One virtue of democracy is that it does not give special prominence to the loudest people in judging the mood of a crowd.