January 30th

I made the unwise decision to check in on what is going on in Britain today and, whilst I imagine the weather remains most people’s concern (and helps put into context the 40 degrees plus heat down here), it quickly became clear that Brexit remains the defining political question to which there remain as yet no answers. I imagine some are envying my time away from all the Brexit fuss even more than the Australian summer. I realise, then, that writing about Brexit is fraught with dangers, not least utter boredom for some, so before I start let me be clear all I say from now on is in a personal capacity. It is interesting, though, to consider Brexit from the other side of the world. I have spent the last month outside both the UK and the EU and indeed will remain so for two more months. People do talk about Brexit, or make reference to it at least. At the start of an opera performance in Sydney on Sunday the host joked about how British politics was rather fluid at the moment – though it was in the context of the US, France and Australia itself all being in an even worse state. Many people I meet are keen to ask me what I think is going to happen (as if I have a clue!) but don’t really know much other than it is going on forever. But it doesn’t feel existential down here, and I can’t help thinking that whatever happens in the next few months it won’t change the world as fundamentally as events in China, or the USA, or even Venezuela will.

It is interesting to spend time in Dubai, Indonesia, Singapore and now Australia with friends, enjoying the company of people who are all in different ways British, all maintaining links back to the UK, all enjoying gainful employment and, of course, none being in EU countries. Everything seems rather trivial from this perspective, and a parochial discussion back in the old world. That’s not to say these friends I am staying with don’t care. My guess is that all of them would have voted Remain, and maybe some actually did. But I think that is because of how they see themselves – as modern, progressive, internationally-minded citizens of the world. Will Brexit, or no Brexit make any difference to them? Will today’s Ryde pupils not have the opportunities they have had if we leave or stay? I have stayed with four families: a British couple I met when working in Prague, now in Dubai, whose son lives and works in London; a British family living in Singapore whose children all go to international schools locally; a British man married to an Australian working in independent schools in Melbourne and an English man I knew in Greece, married to a Norwegian with children attending Australian schools but continuing some Norwegian education on-line. They are the epitome of modern, global citizens. And that is how I like to see myself. I identify with many values of Remain voters, but I also believe Leave’s argument that life outside the EU allows us to pursue a more global and outward-looking strategy than within. As a Leave inclined internationalist I know I am in a minority, but it is not a minority of one. The Prime Minister, on the other hand, voted Remain, yet in her policies on immigration and national identity she identifies culturally, I sense, with a large number of Remain voters.

We talk of tribes but those tribes are complex – as a white male over the age of 45 living on the Isle of Wight you can predict a Leave voter, as a liberal arts graduate in teaching you expect a Remainer. The majority but not all of my friends voted Remain; the majority but not all of my family voted Leave. I am both who I have become but also where I have come from. And so are we all – yet we were forced to make a binary choice in 2016 and it seems most of us have not changed our minds.I have taken a risk and drifted into politics because over the last few weeks I have started to question not my actual views on Brexit – like almost everyone I am quite sure I am right – but from where I am I wonder what the debate really is about and how important it actually is. So much debate about a trade treaty and market access? Really? And so I question whether the real problem is not who is right and who is wrong but rather whether we have made rather too much of all of this. Which is why I was really interested to hear of the so-called Malthouse Compromise emerging this week. The details are complex, but the interesting thing is the apparent coming together of people on opposite sides of the debate and one senses a British compromise emerging; just like the Elizabethan Church Settlement it won’t include the extremes – the Puritans and Papists of 2019 will be outside. And it is especially interesting that it should be happening today, January 30^th, as this is not a great date in History. It is the day Charles I was executed, Gandhi was assassinated and Hitler became Chancellor – lessons if needed of the dangers of political extremism and what happens when sensible people get pushed aside or surrender the political centre. Brexit has helped me understand better than ever before how countries fall into Civil War; January 30^thhas produced events that show how such divisions can end up. It would be really wonderful if in 2019 it marked the coming together rather than the pulling apart of political positions, and looking at it all from ‘down under’ doesn’t half put it in perspective. ‘Full of sound and fury, signifying….?’