The phrase ‘Taking Back Control” is very much associated with Brexit: taking back control of our borders, our rights to govern, and our citizens rights to name just three.
Makes a lot of sense in theory, but step back and look at what this really means: we basically just give give a different set of elected officials control over our lives.
All of which got me thinking, and talking, over the last couple of weeks …..
Control is a funny old concept in my experience/view. Many say they want it, but in fact given the opportunity they often defer to others.
I have been debating two points of late: the bankers who caused the economic meltdown which led to the severe austerity measures, and many would argue contributed to the EU referendum and subsequently the Brexit debacle, and the gowing (pun intended) level of obesity and large (again pun intended) amount of white, wobby flesh I have encountered since we have been back in the UK (not least over this lovely recent Bank Holiday)
First the Bankers! I am no huge fan, but I have always felt that to blame them for the recession was at best an over simplification, and in all reality a poorly educated opinion. The world operates on the simple basis of supply and demand. Always has, always will. The banks are guilty of one thing and one thing only ….. servicing the demand. Just as a drug dealer (bad people) supply drugs to addicts (people who have lost control), the banks simply made it far too easy (supply) for people that had fallen for all the marketing messages (demand) and believed they couldn’t do without all the trappings of success thrust at them by the …… marketing men!
It’s the same with food and drink: it seems impossible for the British public to go more than an hour or 30 miles without a need to refuel. I was more than a tad surprised when we went to the theatre recently and people walked in with take away coffee, muffins etc. I mean the play started at 7.30pm and finished at 10pm so how difficult is it really to ensure you are sufficiently fuelled bere 7.30pm to last until 10pm?
Again, over the Bank Holiday we went to the beach with friends and took a picnic …. and stood out like a sore thumb as everyone else seemed to be purchasing and consuming the usual over priced, packaged junk that seems to be the staple way of life in the UK.
Two not particular associated discussions, with a common them …. and the point of this opinion.
In both cases people have lost control and are being dictated to by ‘marketing’ messages, which to cut a very long theory short, are driven by the Government (all parties) who are desperate for cash to flow into the economy, to fund the services that we are all told that we can’t live without ….. and who provides these services? The immigrants who we are repeatedly told are taking all ‘our’ jobs!!
So yes we should take back control, but not from the EU, rather from the governments who over the years have continued to tell us that what we need is in fact best for them, not for us!