We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Samizdata quote of the day

There are many, many reasons why the UK economy remains skittish and the global recovery extremely patchy – and almost all of them predate not only this referendum campaign but even the announcement the UK electorate was to be given its first say on our relationship with Europe since the mid-1970s. Yet, while real investors fret about the prospect of another sub-prime style meltdown, a lack of genuine banking reform, the implosion of the eurozone, the lunacy that is negative nominal interest rates and now, we’re told, “helicopter money” – a kind of quantitative easing on steroids – it suits a wide variety of political and financial interests to blame every blip in the British and broader European economy on “the prospect of Brexit”.

Liam Halligan

15 comments to Samizdata quote of the day

  • The Wobbly Guy

    Just like climate change, is there anything Brexit can’t do?!?

  • DP

    Dear Mr Pearce

    In next week’s news: Brexit causes cancer.

    DP

  • Sam Duncan

    Comments under Sky News’s coverage of the Transit of Mercury: “Don’t forget if we leave the EU this wont ever happen again”; “Good job it’s happening this month. If it happened after we leave the EU it would crash straight into [the sun] causing a chain reaction that would destroy our solar system.”

  • Ljh

    I anticipate Cameron to announce the imminent slaughter of firstborn in the event.

  • PeterT

    No DP, you have Brexit confused with feminism.

    Cameron is finished regardless of the outcome of the vote. It didn’t need to be; he could have been a gentleman about it, or heaven forbid ensure that there was sufficient time ahead of the vote for voters to educate themselves properly, or even been clear about what terms of exit he, as Prime Minister, would try and secure in the event of a Leave vote. But no, a scorched earth policy was chosen in pursuit of a miserable status quo that pleases nobody except for politicians and bureaucrats. There will now be too much bad blood following the vote for him to remain a credible Prime Minister.

    The reality is that if we leave the EU, we are extremely likely to to join the EEA (Norway option), at least as a first step. Most Brits would be just happy with that, even if it won’t keep the Polish builders and nannies away.

  • Mr Ed

    No DP, you have Brexit confused with feminism.

    Challenge of the decade! 🙂

  • Cristina

    Feminism IS the cancer (Milo dixit)

  • In next week’s news: Brexit causes cancer.

    Actually, that was last week.

  • Paul Marks

    The sickening lies of “Project Fear” have no limits.

    We are told that is the very idea of leaving the wonderful E.U. (not Mr Osborne’s large budget deficit and the Bank of England’s wild monetary policy) that is upsetting investors.

    And we are told that the E.U. (not NATO) has kept the peace in Western Europe

    As I have said – the sickening lies of “Project Fear” have no limits.

  • Cristina

    Should the Brexit win the referendum, you’ll be invited to vote again and again by the EU donec perficiam

  • Nicholas (Excentrality!) Gray

    Here’s a good reason to stay- German might then become the Lingua Europa! People will forget Shakespeare! Mein Kampf would become a bestseller! Don’t do it!

  • Andrew Duffin

    @TWG: indeed.

    It reminded me of this: http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/warmlist.htm

    Always worth another look.

  • Johnathan Pearce (London)

    By the way, there is a story on the front of the Times (of London) newspaper (it is behind a paywall so I cannot and won’t link to it) stating that according to some US military fellow, the UK’s influence as a military power will be lower outside the EU. This says more about the calibre of person in the US military today than it does about the case for Remain. The UK was, from 1945-1973, not in an EU-like structure, and it managed to be an effective NATO power, and furthermore, from the early 60s through to recently, France, under Generale de Gaulle, was not in the NATO command structure. So it turns out that countries, for reasonable grounds or not, have at different times been able to be effective powers in terms of pursuing foreign policy goals without having to be members of certain alliances or transational organisations. This must come as a shock to thosew who, in this intellectually flabby age, cannot conceive of a country going alone, of breaking free. It is akin to an over-protective parent unable to think of a child maturing into independent adulthood.

    The institutionalised nature of those who literally cannot imagine life outside the arms of the EU is mirrored by those infantilised by decades of Big Government and the Welfare State. And the ideological assumptions involved in these cases are remarkably similar. I feel another blog post coming on……

  • Laird

    Johnathan, that last paragraph is very perceptive. I look forward to the follow-up blog post.

  • Julie near Chicago

    Andrew, that is a most impressive list! Gosh! I know at least one avid AGW Warrior who probably is unaware of just how many Awful Things have happened onaccounta Gorble Worming!