Brexit Metaphor 1 of 161
161 days to Brexit: an Advent calendar of ignominy
Banksy self-shredded one of his artworks (Love Is in the Bin) on October 5, supposedly in jest.
Britain started shredding its economic prosperity and international influence in earnest on June 23, 2016 and has been stepping up the process in the ensuing political chaos.
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| Photo credit: Eoin O'Callaghan, People's Vote March, London, October 20, 2018 (Creative placard resembling the half-shredded Banksy artwork) |
Brexit can be described as harakiri or self-flagellation. However, shredding is a more apt metaphor. Harakiri requires a single sword and leaves you dead; self-flagellation is done with a whip in self-denial or out of remorse; while shredding renders the object unrecognisable from its former self and is done with a machine with tiny razors. Britain will not disappear with Brexit but every strand of its economy and society will be impacted.
How many are the razors in the shredder, you might ask? At least 35: the 35 chapters of EU law (acquis communautaire). Even areas where the EU has little jurisdiction, e.g. education or healthcare, will be impacted significantly, e.g. by cutting off the access of British students to Erasmus scholarships, isolating British universities from EU research networks, or making it more difficult for the NHS to hire medical personnel.
Britain's international isolation is starting to show. But the biggest humiliation will take place when any small EU member state, as small as Malta or Cyprus, decides to veto any future UK-EU trade deal or other agreement, simply because it can. If you are not at the table, you are on the menu.
Solutions? How about a double metaphor:
Shred the shredder!
Or simply put, stop Brexit.
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