There’s something *almost* reassuring about the fact that British politics are even more fucked up than our own. Americans did something stupid by electing Donald Trump. The Brits topped that by voting for Brexit a few months earlier.
There have been a series of votes in the House of Commons on Prime Minister May’s Brexit deal with the EU. The government keeps losing these votes and now supports an extension of the country’s departure date. It’s a giant clusterfuck, y’all.
The land that likes to picture itself as a David Niven world war two movie is in fact a look-away episode of The Jeremy Kyle Show. On close inspection, the “beacon of democracy” turns out to be a bin fire.
Jeremy Kyle is essentially the UK’s answer to Jerry Springer. I would hope you all know who David Niven was. This could be the movie Marina had in mind:
Notice that it had two titles. The second was the US title. It’s a great life after death fantasy film from the team of Powell and Pressburger. It certainly beats the hell out of Brexit, which is a right-wing nativist fantasy gone terribly wrong.
Hat Tip for the exact quote to my mate Neill Bayley.
David Niven was the only British star in Hollywood to go back to Britain and enlist. He participated in the Normandy invasion, and some interesting stories have surfaced about his time in the army: About to lead his men into action, Niven apparently tried to calm their nerves by telling them, “Look, you chaps only have to do this once. But I’ll have to do it all over again in Hollywood with Errol Flynn!” Asked by suspicious American sentries during the Battle of the Bulge who had won the World Series in 1943, he answered, “Haven’t the foggiest idea … but I did co-star with Ginger Rogers in Bachelor Mother!” On another occasion, asked how he felt about serving with the British Army in Europe, he allegedly said, “Well on the whole, I would rather be tickling Ginger Rogers’ tits.”
What I just don’t get is why May or someone else on the Tory side doesn’t come out and say, “You know something? The original vote on this matter was horribly tainted, and passed so narrowly it’s impossible to say if it is truly the will of the British people. Since that vote, it appears there was a great deal of foreign influence being exercised, some flat-out lies were told in support of Brexit, and any number of Brexit’s erstwhile champions have fled the scene in disgrace. Now that a fuller picture of just what Brexit entails and its effect on so many areas of life in the U.K. has become apparent, we’re holding another referendum vote on [some date certain, and this being the U.K., probably in April]. If the people reject Brexit, the U.K. will remain in the EU; if the first vote is confirmed, then we can be sure the people are casting an informed ballot, and we’ll go from there.”