There are two countries with rationing issues at the moment – The UK and that other merry theme park and monument to human happiness, North Korea. The UK is presumably muddling through with its issues. …And failing, badly.
The desert-like pictures of empty shelves in the UK tell a story everyone already knew. To be strictly fair, there is more to the shortages than politics. The massive drought in Europe everyone will forget until June and production, transport and distribution issues are also major problems.
Meanwhile, UK food exports are supposedly booming, when there are food shortages at home. Those food exports are mainly to Europe. Meaning that the entire food mess never needed to happen. Those exports would be worth a lot more and a lot more efficient without Brexit.
The other self-inflicted problems, however, are equally destructive. Farm labour shortages and the loss of EU subsidies due to Brexit don’t help production. A whacko distribution system routing goods through Ireland with much political angst isn’t much of a blessing, either.
The risk of panic buying and what seems to be a total lack of government response are the other issues. This is an extremely toxic cultural issue.
Since Brexit, absolutely nothing has been well organized in terms of managing situations on the ground. Not much has been coherent. Policies are to put it mildly bizarre. At one point, the mere mention of tax cuts crashed the pound and could have put the heavily indebted UK severely in the red. Even the future of the UK as a nation is in question on multiple existential points.
You’ve heard of the expression “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. This is more like “if it ain’t broke, don’t nuke it.” Whatever the tiresome outdated ideological positions, and dribbling rhetoric, this never needed to happen.
More to the point – Prior to the Brexit lunacy, this situation couldn’t, and didn’t, happen at all. Britain wrote itself out of relevance. It’s the mindset that’s causing the havoc.
Britain, now supposedly going it alone, seems to think it can ignore the fact that half of its food is imported. The British government apparently believes that crops can harvest themselves without foreign labour. That hasn’t been the case for decades. Equally interesting is the very-low-IQ theory that being deprived of billions in EU subsidies somehow benefits the UK agricultural sector.
This situation isn’t going to get better any time soon. Politically separating from Europe doesn’t mean separating from physical realities. The UK and EU are experiencing a historically horrendous drought. Food supplies will be seriously affected for the foreseeable future.
Politics won’t change that. Failing to manage the current simple bread-and-butter issues at this level doesn’t bode well for the future, either.
…Or should they bring back Boris and have him babbling about a non-existent two-dimensional pig for the next couple of years? A sort of eulogy in self-idolizing idiot form? Something sparkly for people with not enough food, basic services, or money to get through the day? The Brexit madness must end.
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
