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When most Britons complain about not being able to change the EU Government, their complaint is that THEY and THEY alone can't change it. Which is as it should be. The EU Government, such as it is, is the consequence of numerous national elections, which, unfortunately for us, have been trending conservative for years, and are becoming even more hard line nationalist and conservative. We may not like the trend, but it has been, in part, driven by the UK and is a consequence of the democracy we have in Member States.
Meanwhile English nationalists give the Permanent Government in Whitehall a free pass. Rage at Brussels is no more than xenophobic chauvinism, narcissistic demagoguery, and imperialistic arrogance. It provides an outlet for class tensions within the UK bypassing the UK elite. The rest of the EU ends up having to deal with that shit. Economically it makes no sense at all, but perhaps politically, it has become necessary to save the EU. The UK as we know it, meanwhile, will disintegrate. Index of Frank's Diaries
But what many in the rest of europe do not realise are the resentments stirred up by Whitehall which are blamed on Brussels. On so many occasions we hear the bleats of the "patriots" complaining about some multi-volume set of mandatory regulations and procedures "imposed by Europe", that are in fact a Whitehall interpretation of short guidance note.
then the "patriots" complain that "they just ignore this in France and Italy, it's not fair". To which you could point out that, of course they ignore it in France and Italy, because it's a guidance note. But tbh, facts don't have much force against the emotive head of steam.
These people are British libertarian tea party types, all the prejudice but with no shred of ideology.
Really, they don't like any government at all. Europe, UK, even local council. They'll put up with UK conservatives who, to some extent share the same prejudices. But they're not in favour.
So, you'll always have people moaning about Brussels and making up stories about their controlling bureaucracy, because they made the same complaint when it was just the UK govt. But it was Whitehall then and it's Whitehall now.
And that's not to really talk about those who just don't like non-white non-English people having anything to do with running England. The people who didn't even like it when the last Labour Cabinet was largely composed of Scots. keep to the Fen Causeway
¯_(ツ)_/¯ She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
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