Has political argument in Britain stopped?
I don't necessarily agree with every word of Nick Cohen's article,
Political Argument in Britain has stopped when we need it most,
but I do think his basic point that we have become much more tribal in our thinking and that this is potentially damaging to Britain has a lot of truth in it.
You can see it, for example. in the fury which greeted both the Prime Minister and her deputy when both in their different ways refused to recant of having voted Remain or provide the pro-Brexit side with the answer they wanted to hear, that they would now vote to Leave the EU.
Incidentally, of those of my friends who voted Remain, a larger proportion than I would have expected do think they would now vote Leave. and I respect their view as I respect the decision of the electorate, but I have no regrets whatsoever about having voted Remain myself.
The attempt from some people to almost bully people who voted Remain into saying they have changed their mind - as opposed to saying that they will obey the majority decision, which is not the same thing - has been something between weird and frightening.
The demands for Philip Hammond to resign or be sacked for trying to find pragmatic ways to make Brexit work are far more than frightening. At the risk of annoying some of my ppro-Brexit friends, IMHO if Theresa May were to listen to those who are trying to persuade her to sack Hammond the the words of Euripedes would come to be seen as a prophecy about her government:
And I think Nick Cohen is right on the money when he says that the possiblity of Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister makes it all the more important that those people on the left who can see the serious problems with the Corbyn faction of the Labour party and the way they operate should not be afraid to speak up and oppose them.
We are living in politically dangerous times and failing to debate the issues of the time or falling neatly into mental silos is not the way to navigate through those dangers.
Political Argument in Britain has stopped when we need it most,
but I do think his basic point that we have become much more tribal in our thinking and that this is potentially damaging to Britain has a lot of truth in it.
You can see it, for example. in the fury which greeted both the Prime Minister and her deputy when both in their different ways refused to recant of having voted Remain or provide the pro-Brexit side with the answer they wanted to hear, that they would now vote to Leave the EU.
Incidentally, of those of my friends who voted Remain, a larger proportion than I would have expected do think they would now vote Leave. and I respect their view as I respect the decision of the electorate, but I have no regrets whatsoever about having voted Remain myself.
The attempt from some people to almost bully people who voted Remain into saying they have changed their mind - as opposed to saying that they will obey the majority decision, which is not the same thing - has been something between weird and frightening.
The demands for Philip Hammond to resign or be sacked for trying to find pragmatic ways to make Brexit work are far more than frightening. At the risk of annoying some of my ppro-Brexit friends, IMHO if Theresa May were to listen to those who are trying to persuade her to sack Hammond the the words of Euripedes would come to be seen as a prophecy about her government:
And I think Nick Cohen is right on the money when he says that the possiblity of Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister makes it all the more important that those people on the left who can see the serious problems with the Corbyn faction of the Labour party and the way they operate should not be afraid to speak up and oppose them.
We are living in politically dangerous times and failing to debate the issues of the time or falling neatly into mental silos is not the way to navigate through those dangers.
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