Hard to disagree with this…
|
|||||
|
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] Authors
Arts, Tech & CultureCivil Liberties
Commentary
EconomicsPoliticsSpecialistTech |
Brexit: a revolution betrayedJune 23rd, 2026 |
17 comments to Brexit: a revolution betrayedLeave a Reply |
Who Are We?The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling. We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe. CategoriesArchivesFeed This PageLink Icons |
|||
![]()
All content on this website (including text, photographs, audio files, and any other original works), unless otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons License. |
|||||

We never got the independence we voted for – we got “Brexit” which means whatever our rulers want it to mean.
Northern Ireland was held hostage (still under E.U. law – supposedly to defend the Belfast “Good Friday” Agreement – which handed Northern Ireland to the IRA) thus tying the rest of the United Kingdom to E.U. law (or the “border down the Irish Sea” which Prime Minister Johnson promised would not happen, would get worse) – but even leaving that aside, there was the “Trade and Cooperation Agreement” which tied the rest of the United Kingdom to the laws and policies of the European Union.
Mrs May was very much an establishment figure, but it was not just her – it was everyone, the entire establishment, the officials and “experts”. Even Nigel Farage appeared to be more interested in “Brexit” (a word he still uses) rather than actual independence – he is not a “details man”, which appears to mean he is not interested in elected people actually-making-policy – so would things have been any different had Mr Farage been Prime Minister? I do not know – I just do not know.
I am not interested in “Brexit” I never have been, because it was obvious (from the start) that this word was being used to obscure the basic question – this question being, is the United Kingdom going to be an independent country or not? And it is clear that “Brexit” means continuing rule by the European Union and the rest of the International Community (note that the Belfast Agreement and the “Devolution” Acts in relation to Scotland and Wales all cite international law and agreements – the agenda is obvious).
We voted for independence – not for “Brexit”.
Mark Steyn (yes he is still alive) has a good discussion (link on X) on the failure to gain independence – a discussion with Ben Habib, Kate Hoey and other people who are interested in “the details” – rather than the meaningless play acting of “Brexit”.
The destruction of such things as traditional Scots Law and Scottish education since “Devolution” is not accident – the destruction of Scottish traditions was what “Devolution” was really about – it is about governance in line with the fashions of the International Community. The Belfast “Good Friday” agreement is about much the same thing – in law, in education, in everything – because the IRA (“Sinn Fein”) is NOT an Irish Nationalist movement – it is very much a supporter of the International Community.
England, Wales and Northern Ireland have suffered the same fate – rule, governance, in line with the fashions of the International Community.
None of this is about “devolving” power downwards (any more than local government “devolution” is about devolving power downwards – Regional “Mayors”, i.e. Governors, govern in line with the fashions of the officials and “experts” – who follow the fashions of the International Community via various agreements) – “Devolution” was always about destroying traditional differences and customs (including in law and education) and shoving everywhere in line with the fashions of the International Community.
Do you never tire of posting specious crap like this? Our pockets are sopping with Tory piss already. YOUR miserable Establishment party betrayed Brexit, filled the nation with third world moochers, pushed Net Zero, grew the state and lied about all of it. And now you try to accuse Farage of not really caring about independence FFS!
Marius – I can also use bad language.
You have said that the truth is “crap” and I will reply by telling you to go fuck yourself.
I repeat – I do not know whether Mr Farage would have been able to overcome the officials and “experts” who would have controlled everything he got to see and hear if he had been Prime Minister – many people who have worked with Mr Farage for years have said he would NOT, but it is possible that they are mistaken. It is possible that he would have become a “details man”.
A big part of the problem was that there were different reasons that people had for Brexit, not all of which were compatible:
Some wanted freedom from the EU restrictions on state aid, and wanted to take the UK in a more overtly socialist and interventionist course (part of the Red Wall Labour is about this); others wanted freedom to resist EU mission creep on bureaucracy etc, and were more motivated by a sort of radical classical liberal political tradition (which is where I am); and you had those who were worried about the lack of democratic accountability of the Brussels policymaking machine in general and how this was causing more bitterness over time. Some Brexiteers were fans of hard money and disliked central banks and all of that; others were Keynesians who resented the euro-zone’s apparent restrictions, etc. It was never an easy coalition and the type of Brexit we had would demand a lot of willpower in making it work as it could. More needs to be done on free trade, and my preferred option would be to press on with removing all tariffs – even unilaterally – and introducing sunset provisions on European-derived regulations, requiring them to be only re-introduced after a parliamentary vote.
Beyond all this, Brexit was, for me, only one step in an attempt, however naive that might sound, to push for smaller, less intrusive government. But it was a necessary, but not sufficient, one. The major claims made for it are arguably overdone. Many of the things that have gone wrong in the UK aren’t the fault of Brussels. Outside the EU, the UK political class, and the wider electorate, have to take full ownership of what goes on.
My two pence.
Paul:
Back in 2016 I do not think Nigel Farage had any idea of what he was up against. He walked away from Ukip because he “wanted his life back”, naively trusting the establishment to deliver “Brexit”. As we know, the establishment then spent three years trying, and almost succeeding, to overturn the referendum result, aided by traitors such as Jon Bercow and Keir Starmer.
So while I agree that Farage is not by nature a details man, I can only hope he has learned his lesson. I am heartened that Danny Kruger, who is a sensible figure, is working on developing policy, not something that Farage would be able to find the time to do.
What sort of state Britain will be in if Burnham imposes “Manchesterism” on us for three years is anybody’s guess. It may well be that the economy has really been “crashed” by then, not the fake “crash” that the establishment contrived for poor Liz Truss. She too never had any idea of what she was up against. She knows better now.
Johnathan Pearce – the problem was that the powerful people, the officials and “experts”, did not want smaller government – quite the reverse. As for the European Union – it is (like the British establishment) part of the International Community – and follows the same fashions.
JohnK – you may correct, and you certainly are correct about Liz Truss.
Perhaps the various people who have worked with Nigel Farage over the years are mistaken and he is (or has become) a “details man” who actually will roll back the state – get rid of the Bank of England (or at least its powers – which are not that ancient, many of them only date back a few years) and the rest of the “experts”.
I do not know – I just do not know.
But will Nigel Farage or Kemi Badenoch (who is more consistent than Nigel Farage) get the chance? Not if they keep attacking each other they will not – if they will not work together there is no chance.
One bizarre thing is that neither Nigel or Kemi will listen to Liz Truss – they are both correct to say that Liz Truss failed (the lady admits that herself) – but unless they listen to WHY Liz Truss failed, the power of the officials and “experts”, they will also fail.
Even if they get a majority in the House of Commons – and that may be three years from now, and that assumes that Kemi and Nigel actually start working together – rather than keep fighting each other, whilst the left laugh.
Recent by-elections, such as Aberdeen South, show that Reform can not win on its own – but, contrary to what Kemi says, neither-can-the-Conservatives-win-on-their-own.
Jacob Rees Mogg and the Father of the House of Commons, Edward Leigh, are correct – very clearly correct. But Kemi Badenoch, Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe are listening them.
There is a Restore Party house only a few hundred yards from me – I can tell because they are flying a Restore Party flag. But there is no cooperation with these people locally.
And Conservative and Reform Party people locally have to pretend to be enemies even though we agree on just about everything – and the Greens (quite correctly) laugh at Conservatives and Reform (and Restore) cutting each other’s throats.
The left are not doing that – for example the Greens stand down when the Liberal Democrats stand for a council seat, and vice versa. After all the left, the Lib Dems and Greens, agree on the basic things – such as getting rid of Jews (sorry “Zionists”) – very Hobson. So an electoral pact between them makes sense.
The left are acting like professionals (I have to admit that) and we, on the right, are acting like school boys fighting over which gang someone is in.
Most people in this town are on the right – but the left win and will continue to win whilst we mess about.
It is much the same in other places.
@ Marius
No he doesn’t!!!!
Farage really walked away from UKIP because it was taken over by nutters (of a kind who currently support Rupert Lowe, whose primary mission is nobbling Reform). And that is why Brexit Party & then Reform (Brexit Party v.2.0) are controlled rather differently to UKIP.
Nigel learns.
It’s all about the Deep State. Mencius Moldbug diagnosed the problem correctly a long time ago, except he called it ‘The Cathedral’.
Perry,
Unless there’s something im not aware of, Lowe was assassinated by Farage. I happen to agree with Lowe’s honesty and what he preaches. Those who have groomed children on an industrial scale need to be humanely euthanised. Their families deported. Watching clips of him in select committees, he appears to have the measure of civil servants.
The clip of Farage saying something is politically impossible says it all.
The most shocking part of the video was that I agreed with everything Tony Benn said.
The problem is simply that independence isn’t enough, you have to actually do something with the independence. So perhaps Britain is free of some of the European tyranny, but free for what? Free to impose some of the most horrendous home grown tyranny of their own. It is true that the people who loved to be fetted as European royalty are doing everything they can to reverse Brexit, but if you want to know the real genesis of the British malaise and decline they largely have nothing to do with the EU. It started with Covid and the ridiculous policies that they followed, which, unfortunately were largely at the same time as the divorce and so the divorce rather than the tyranny got the blame. But of course NetZero, the utter suppression of freedom of speech, the grinding growing regulation of unelected bureaucrats (bureaucrats even less democratically accountable than the highest ivory tower of the EU), the crushing of entrepreneurship, the mealy mouthed negotiation of trade deals and so forth are all home grown tyrannies.
And how convenient for the ruling class that they can blame all their failures on Brexit.
Let’s hope Nigel does something good. However, even the best doctor cannot rescue a patient who who has metastatic cancer raging through every organ in their body. Nonetheless, I wish him well.
One of the things lacking in politics and popular circles is principle.
I voted to leave the eu because I believe no one other than British people have the right to govern Britain.
Im happy to receive criticism of my belief.
The right is a mess in most Western countries – but it is a special mess in Britain, with Conservatives, Reform and Restore all cutting each other’s throughts.
The more I think about things the more I wish I had left this world in 1990.
Fraser Orr, 9.30pm: “So perhaps Britain is free of some of the European tyranny, but free for what? Free to impose some of the most horrendous home grown tyranny of their own.”
Compare Eritrea. Spent years trying to break free from Ethiopia, and when in 1993 they finally managed it, they promptly installed a regime even more repressive than the one they had left.
Today the Freedom House organisation rates Ethiopia as ‘Not Free’ with an unimpressive score of 18/100 … while Eritrea is also rated as ‘Not Free’ but with a truly dreadful score of just 3/100 (the same as North Korea). Frying pan, meet fire.