The British people – well, the English and the Welsh people’s decision to leave the European Union must be respected. The EU big shots have called on the UK to leave the union as soon as possible, but others, Malta included, want a more orderly withdrawal to allow the country to find its feet and figure out exactly how it is going to do this without causing even more untold damage.
Things have most certainly changed, but the wheels will keep on turning and the world will eventually make sense of what has happened and continue with its usual business. Whether or not that works out for the United Kingdom is a different story.
For as Brexit became a reality, a hidden monster began to rise from the deep and rear its ugly head – hate.
Just how Brexit and intolerance and hate became intertwined has gotten lost somewhere, but it is now becoming increasingly clear that the foundations on which the United Kingdom was built are starting to crumble.
The UK is a multi-racial, multi-faith, open and liberal society. Or it was. Until Brexit happened. It is very easy to making a Freudian typing mistaken and write the Untied Kingdom, but that is what is happening.
Scotland is very likely to hold a second independence referendum tied to application to join the European Union and the province of Northern Ireland looks set to cast aside decades of sectarianism to push for a unified Ireland and by default, EU membership.
What a shambles. But while many think of the UK as an extension of London, it is not. The voting patterns in provincial England showed a very different picture. Because while the UK is painted as this very open society, in reality, it is not. Things are very different in Northumberland, or Wearside or Bradford than they are in London.
The chants in the UK last week “to first get the Poles out then get the gays out” are something which no one would ever have thought possible. Britain First and other extremist groups were looked at with disdain in the past, but the rise of intolerance and xenophobia is worrying, to say the least. Polish people (whose kids are English) are being intimidated and hate messages have been left at their community centres.
Religious centres have been firebombed, and uncouth awful youths are targeting anyone foreign for abuse, even Germans and United States citizens. Britain needs to take hold of the situation and it needs to do it fast, before things spiral out of control.
One of the main issues that made people vote to leave the EU was the lack of control on migration laws. But what is going to happen now? Are the chavs of Britain going to bully people out of the country, are they going to harass each and every person who does not have fair skin? Is each and every foreigner going to be bullied and assaulted?
If things are not brought under control very soon, then yes, that is what is very likely to happen. The UK does need to get its house in order, and it must do it before it is too late.