Turns out that the neighbour you hated and complained incessantly about isn’t really all that bad and actually rather important to your personal growth if you had to admit it.
As Good as It Gets is a 1997 American romantic comedy film starring Jack Nicholson as Melvin - a misanthropic, racist, obsessive-compulsive novelist, Helen Hunt who plays Carol as a single mother with a chronically ill son, and Greg Kinnear as Simon, a the gay artist next door neighbour. These three New Yorkers, none of whom appears to have a chance in hell at finding true happiness, discover their fates intertwined because of the fourth complicated character in the piece, Verdell, a tiny Brussels Griffon dog. Melvin seems to have no friends or family, and he lives alone, working on his 62nd book. When Simon goes into the hospital after a brutal mugging, Melvin has to take care of Verdell, and the dog actually warms Melvin's cold heart -- to the degree that he sets up unsolicited medical care for Carol's son. Eventually, Melvin is cornered into driving Simon and Carol to Baltimore, and during a hotel stopover, Melvin confesses to Carol, "You make me want to be a better man." The trip becomes an odyssey of self-realization for all three.
Last week’s rollercoaster result from the Brexit referendum, was quite an extraordinary, quick and incisive journey. A shot in the arm, jolting the majority into shock, others into a Vardy- like burst of energy going for goal. Few remained unaffected by the outcome of the vote, especially amongst the political class, where the Prime Minister David Cameron resigned the same day the result was known, Jeremy Corbyn faced a revolt from his shadow cabinet and the MPs behind the Leave campaign were thrust into the centre of the game, struggling to come up with the driver for this new programme.
In Brussels too, fear of impeding contagion drove them to a frenzied panic as they sought to lay down the law and shut the door after the horse has bolted.
After the fray began to calm down, a slow realisation emerged of two good friends parting who until now thought of each other in very little more regard than forced room-mates.
What emerged was the truth about Boris Johnson’s media diatribe in the past which had shaped the negative perception of the European Union in England, the blank page he now had on his screen and the failed coup by David Cameron to win the argument on the EU by putting it to a vote.
Across the channel, they pulled down the hatchets and ordered an evacuation at the first possible moment. Since you sent out a distress signal, it is now up to you to bail the ship said Juncker – and you have to do that before any rescuers come your way because you sent out the signal so whether you like it or not you have to disembark.
The double standards are also clear. In 1992 the Danes voted to reject the Maastricht Treaty. The Nice Treaty of 2001 saw the Irish reject it and again in 2008, they rejected the Lisbon Treaty. But the EU continued with business as usual and held a second referendum. Why then is there so little wiggle room with the Brexit referendum? How insecure are they if they cannot allow this long overdue tantrum to play out until everyone will kiss and make up?
The problem lies with the fact that those who speak for the European Union are speaking for themselves and not for the organisation they head or represent. They have appropriated it and take any criticism personally, becoming mortified and overly sensitive. In the film mentioned above, Simon was actually quite jealous when he saw how Melvin had bonded with his own dog Verdell and he was very reluctant to accept Melvin’s offer to drive him and Carol to Baltimore. One of the reasons why Verdell chose Melvin over Simon, on his return from hospital, was the diet of crispy bacon he had been enjoying in his new residence. A simple change from the usual boring diet of dry food.
Ultimately, this famous mantra of change that the EU has been evoking at every point of confrontation or challenge, has landed right on their lap. Brexit is the perfect opportunity to show some of the compassion that is sorely needed to mend the perception of the EU in its members’ mind of a rigid corpse, detached from reality and always looking to its own narrow interests, rather than the good of the whole body.
Nobody is denying that the UK did vote to leave or that there aren’t still many people who did vote to exit who would repeat that vote again, should there be a second referendum but it is also clear that regrets have been expressed, the plan to create a new order is half baked and it is now up to the Parliament to decide on the way forward. In this respect, the EU would do well to see in this an opportunity to be above the below, to show true leadership by allowing the UK to review their choice and decision calmly and to confront any other member state’s call for a referendum with humility whilst re-designing its priorities in a way that include rather than exclude, that build rather than cast out and most of all by listening to the people who experience on their own skin the austerity, the joblessness, the foreign intrusion into their neighbourhoods and the lack of control over it all.
The UK decision to leave is now having repercussions on the economy, the global power of England, its prospects and the real cost of losing access to the EU especially for the young and for all the communities and businesses that were in fact beneficiaries of EU grants to the tune of millions. Their cricket buddies from India and Australia and their rugby friends from South Africa and New Zealand are not going to be able to plug that big hole that will be left when the banks pull up their stakes and move to some other EU country. The same with the motor industry and steel factories in Wales.
It is indeed extremely important that England re-structures its industry and modernises it to compete with the new power houses. But leaving the European Union will not contribute in any real positive way to this happening. On the contrary, it is by staying in that they as a country must commit to the whole of England and provide a more forward thinking project for renewal. Leaving will lead to years of recession and uncertainty and possibly a collapse in essential services beginning with the airline industry.
Likewise, the European Union must now take stock of its Free Movement policy with so many more countries having joined the EU and wanting to find work in the UK, who have had to deal with sudden and high influxes of foreigners who enjoy equal rights when they are in the UK. This is a priority and should also be part of a new focus on immigration from outside the EU. The subject cannot be put off any more. The world has changed and in the same way we have given up our normality when travelling, having to ditch our water bottles, take off our shoes and belts and even had to suspend Schengen, so too, a moratorium on Free Movement may be necessary when some host countries exceed reasonable immigration figures. Germany was so generous in meeting Turkey’s demands for controlling its borders, why can’t it extend that same spirit to fellow EU states?
The UK is important to the EU, not just economically but also philosophically. However backward and inward looking the Leave vote appeared the day after the result, there is more than an element of truth to the underlying problem. The EU should never become that organisation that replaces sovereign states. Common laws are needed in places like the environment where one country’s failures affect the others’ or in crime and fighting terrorism where it is clear that a close cooperation is needed to combat the threat or catch criminals who can move from one place to another or even in the financial market where globalisation interlinks everyone. But what laws apply to VAT, to workers, to social benefits and who qualifies for them, to who stays and who goes from a host country and in so many other areas where the EU has been ever more prevalent, it would be time to take a step back and to come up with a new paradigm which includes the citizens at the centre and their governments in front.
Time is crucial and also words and attitudes. It can be a make or break story not just for the UK but also for Brussels. The UK has put itself out there by bringing this referendum. It may yet turn out to be the straw that broke the camel’s back in the case of the EU or the messenger of change that has been long wanting to happen. It is up to both parties to step up and sort themselves out.