Brexit Metaphor No 43
The EU had been Britain's milk cow for more than two decades: generating handsome returns for the banking, financial services, professional services and high-tech manufacturing sectors. However, to milk the cow the UK first had to feed it (budget contributions) and, even worse, the cow had to be allowed to live on the farm (freedom of movement). These conditions were ultimately deemed unacceptable via referendum.
To honour the popular vote, Britain decided to release the cow into the wild. Instead of producing milk, from now on the country's livelihood will be derived from growing snails for export to exotic destinations that have yet to learn to eat snails. In the meantime while trade deals with faraway lands are negotiated, leading Brexiteers will engage in entertaining games of snail racing in strawberry fields forever (i.e. painting bright snaily futures and competing with each other how to best shirk the responsibility of proposing any feasible alternatives to milk production). Yet, for lack of proper strawberry fields (as EU migrant works are no longer coming to Britain), strawberry scraps will be used to beautify the scenery for the snail racing.
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| Snail racing exercise, August 2018 |
Notes:
1. Timeline: This article is part of a daily #BrexitMetaphors series, with 118 more Brexit Metaphors to follow until Brexit day, March 29, 2019.
2. Disclosure: The author has a master's degree in European Integration.
3. Invitation: If you'd like to contribute to the debate, you are welcome to leave a comment below.
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