Brexit

For all the bluster, Johnson and the Brexiters still have no realistic answer to the ‘Northern Ireland border’ question.

— Professor Chris Grey’s Brexit analysis looking backwards and forwards from the Northern Ireland elections, and why Boris Johnson and the Brexiters can’t supply the realism needed.

Brexit

Brexiters are losing the post-Brexit narrative.

— As brexiters implicitly or explicitly admit to the failures of the Brexit they agreed or supported, whilst denying or ignoring that the cause is the Brexit they agreed or supported, their admissions are accompanied by deceit and denial about the causes of what they bemoan.

Environment

A fracking review suggests the UK has softened the precautionary principle since leaving the EU.

— Despite banning fracking in 2019, the UK government’s decision to soften the fracking moratorium could pave the way for regulatory decisions which prioritise potential financial benefits over the risks to the environment and public health.

Brexit

Six years of failure.

— Professor Chris Grey looks at some aspects of where these years have now led us.

Analysis

Sinn Féin could become the biggest party in Northern Ireland on May 5 – What it means for power-sharing.

— Northern Ireland is preparing for a potentially seismic election on May 5: Sinn Féin could become the largest party for the first time in Northern Ireland’s history.

Brexit

Sometimes, “We told you so” is all that can be said.

— When will Boris Johnson and his many adjutants take responsibility for their lies about Brexit? If ever they do, and until they do, Brexit remains their responsibility, their mess, their guilt, their shame, and their legacy.

Brexit

Post-Brexit Britain is going rotten.

— The moral rot of Boris Johnson’s conduct is part and parcel of a deeper malaise in which Brexit and ‘Brexit COVID’ have created a country that is literally and metaphorically rotting away.

Analysis

British voters want lying politicians to face consequences.

— Does it matter to people what consequences there should be for politicians who break rules or mislead parliament? Yes, they want ministers to be kept in constant check by parliament, courts and the public at large.

Brexit

Peek-a-boo Brexit.

— Professor Chris Grey on how the current travel chaos and the impending decision on import controls show how Brexit impacts fragile complex systems and how the Brexiter denial of complex reality doesn’t make it disappear.

Long-Read

Confusion abounds.

— Professor Chris Grey on the confusion of Boris Johnson with a national leader, confusions on all sides about P&O Ferries, confusions in the CBI’s attempts to get behind Brexit, and the different kinds of Brexit failure that shouldn’t be confused.

Brexit

Is Brexit being ‘cancelled’?

— With the war showing its pointlessness, and none of its promises delivered, most supporters of Brexit are falling silent. That will not make Brexit go away, though, so what might it lead to? Professor Chris Grey’s analysis.

OPINION

Reason Johnson is unfit for office number 9,999.

— Boris Johnson comparing the agonies of Ukraine with Brexit, claiming that both are examples of standing up for freedom, is a crass insult to crassness.

Long-Read

Performative politics is gaslighting post-Brexit Britain.

— Professor Chris Grey looking at last week’s events in terms of the blurring of truth and lies that is in part a legacy of Brexit, and has strange parallels with Putin’s ‘spy’ mindset.

Long-Read

Ukraine and Brexit: Reminders, lessons and hopes.

— Of all the things to discuss in relation to the horrors of Ukraine, Brexit is low on the list. But there are multiple linkages, which Professor Chris Grey discusses as a series of reminders, lessons and hopes.

Brexit

The dogs that caught the car.

— Professor Chris Grey’s analysis on Rees-Mogg’s early stumbles, a discussion of Solvency II as a case of post-Brexit regulatory change, and Ukraine.

Brexit

Mugged by reality.

— Professor Chris Grey’s Brexit analysis on Brexiters demanding concrete results while their slogans get exposed by reality. With discussion of financial services, gene editing, CE marks, alcohol duties, ‘Making Brexit Work’, and lashings of Jacob Rees-Mogg.