Nothing much has happened today so there’s nothing much to write about. Except Chris Waddle, that is. You know Chris Waddle. Brilliant footballer (apart from THAT penalty) and decent radio pundit. He’s now an expert on Brexit.
Lest we forget, Waddle had a glittering football career, playing for such great clubs as Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Worksop Town and Marseille. Oh, and England. In fact, Waddle was idolised when he played in France for his brilliant skills and technique. Many believed that he actually improved as a footballer by playing abroad and the same goes for other players who have made names for themselves in different European countries. However, Chris doesn’t want the current generation to enjoy the same rights and privileges he had.
Chris wants a hard, no deal Brexit, an even harder version of Brexit than the nonsense Theresa May hasn’t had the bottle to put before parliament. He thinks we will do perfectly all right, for reasons he doesn’t go on to explain.
I’ve had plenty of this idiocy on my social network timelines recently from people who seem to be under the delusion that a no deal Brexit will mean things just carry on as normal once we leave the EU. The open borders will be closed, except where they remain open. The end of free movement will not affect those who want to live, love, study, travel freely and retire in EU countries, apart from those who lose their rights to all the above.
It’s all right for Chris and those of us of a certain age whose best years are behind us. He will not be seeking lucrative contracts to play and live in the South of France anymore, so he wants to make sure today’s generation can’t, either. This will literally be the effect of a hard no deal Brexit. But, as he points out, we will be fine, except in those areas where we won’t be fine.
Things most certainly will not carry on as before with any kind of Brexit, but a hard one will make a cataclysmic difference to our lives. We will not regain sovereignty because we never lost it. We will not regain control of our money because, the last time I looked, Gordon Brown made sure we never joined the Euro. We maintained our borders because every time I leave or come back to the country I go through passport control. And it will make very little difference to immigration because we were always able to reduce the numbers of EU citizens coming to work here, but in the interests of our expanding economy the then home secretary and current PM (at least at the time of writing) Theresa May decided not to bring in restrictions. And anyway, the majority of migrants these days come from outside the EU.
Chris Waddle is entitled to his point of view on Brexit. I merely point out that his hypocrisy is no different to other Brexiters who enjoyed freedom of movement throughout their lives but now seek to deny it to younger people including their own children. He only supported freedom of movement when it suited him. Just like they did.
