With the EU referendum looming, the campaigns are in full swing. What do you think of the show so far? Rubbish, says Sarah Tucker.
The ex-sufferer on the web put it well. “It was hard getting over my addiction to the hokey cokey,” confessed Sparkles (for ‘twas he), “but I’ve turned myself around and that’s what it’s all about.”
If only some remedy would emerge for our current obsession with the political hokey cokey of the day: in or out of the European Union. Instead, the weeks and months of shaking it all about have left most of us in a fearful spin, dizzy with deception and drained by contradictory claims.
The lords of the dance – the politicians, opinion-formers and business leaders who call the moves, many of whom I wouldn’t trust with my toothbrush, let alone the destiny of the land – have largely eschewed reason in favour of the power of fear. On both sides, economy with the actualité has been liberally employed. To put it rather more bluntly: they’ve lied.
Call me a cynical, wild-eyed conspiracy theorist – go on, you know you want to – but something tells me that this dance of the veiled truths is a put-up job; a deliberate attempt to blind the populace with dubious science in a bid to make us sing the right tune. Go ahead, people, say the two rival crowds: shake it about as much as you like – but save the last dance for us.
Even the travel and tourism industry is joining in. I recently interviewed a spokesperson from ABTA which, from a purely travel perspective, has come out in favour of ‘Remain’. Politely and carefully he took me through the findings of an ABTA report, with its wonderfully scientific predictions: how Brexit could bring unconscionable delays at airports, spell disaster for the exchange rate and consign the UK to an eternity of wandering in the wilderness, grasping frantically at the hem of civilisation in a desperate bid to staunch gaping wounds.
As a travel journalist, and the owner of a property in France, I have been told by numerous colleagues that they expect me to vote to stay in. But why? Would French law change in the wake of a British departure, so as to disadvantage English people with homes in France? Would a hail of arrows come raining down upon my apostate head each time I stepped out onto the lawn?
I don’t know. Nor does anyone else. We are in terra incognita. Even if we stay in the EU, there are no guarantees as to how long the status quo will last.
As for possible hindrance to mobility, this is something of a non-issue from a tourism point of view. Long before the EU was conceived, British people travelled around Europe. Even Napoleon caused only a temporary halt to the progress of the traditional Grand Tour. Me, I have witnessed little change on the continent, either as journalist or holidaymaker, since the creation of the Schengen Area. And anyway, the UK is already outside it.
And what of President Obama and his fraternal advice – or, if you prefer, darkly inappropriate threats – on the subject of trade? The UK, he said, would find itself “at the back of the queue”. At least, with queues, he was talking our language, even if the actual words were not to everyone’s taste. But then, the Special Relationship has never been as special as all that: the last penny of our extortionate WWII loan from the US was paid back less than 10 years ago.
The truth is that, in or out, we have only the haziest grasp of what the consequences may be. Nor will that change before June 23.
So what will happen? I suspect that we will vote to leave – a hunch based on an analysis no more nor less sophisticated than anyone else’s. For June 23 coincides with that annual festival of youthful exuberance known as Glastonbury. And, since the young are reportedly more pro-EU, the fact of a distraction on the day may just swing it for the Brexiteers.
Unless, of course, it happens to be raining or The Great British Bake Off is on – in which case it is possible that no one will vote at all. In the EU hokey cokey, knowing what it’s all about is one thing, but predicting the steps is just a midsummer dream too far.
If you want read more opinions on the debate, check out our interview with former MP Sir Vince Cable and continue to stay informed with the latest news from our website.
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