NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Comment: Brexit plays out as a farcical tragedy

By Jill Lawless comment
Other·
17 Feb, 2019 09:27 PM7 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Anti-Brexit demonstrators stand next to a van with cartoonish portraits of UK politicians, from right, Prime Minister Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, David Davis. Photos / AP
Anti-Brexit demonstrators stand next to a van with cartoonish portraits of UK politicians, from right, Prime Minister Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, David Davis. Photos / AP

Anti-Brexit demonstrators stand next to a van with cartoonish portraits of UK politicians, from right, Prime Minister Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, David Davis. Photos / AP

It's said that history often repeats itself — the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.

Many Britons feel they are living through both at the same time as their country navigates its way out of the European Union.

The British Government awarded a contract to ship in emergency supplies to a company with no ships.

It pledged to replace citizens' burgundy European passports with proudly British blue ones — and gave the contract to a Franco-Dutch company.

It promised to forge trade deals with 73 countries by the end of March, but two years later has only a handful in place (including one with the Faroe Islands).

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Pretty much everyone in the UK agrees that the Conservative Government's handling of Brexit has been disastrous.

Unfortunately, that's about the only thing this divided nation can agree on.

With Britain due to leave the EU in six weeks and still no deal in sight on the terms of its departure, both supporters and opponents of Brexit are in a state of high anxiety.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Pro-EU "remainers" lament the looming end of Britons' right to live and work in 27 other European nations and fear the UK is about to crash out of the bloc without even a divorce deal to cushion the blow.

Brexiteers worry that their dream of leaving the EU will be dashed by bureaucratic shenanigans that will delay its departure or keep Britain bound to EU regulations forever.

"I still think they'll find a way to curtail it or extend it into infinity," said "leave" supporter Lucy Harris. "I have a horrible feeling that they're going to dress it up and label it as something we want, but it isn't."

It has been more than two and a half years since Britons voted 52 per cent to 48 per cent to leave the EU. Then came many months of tense negotiations to settle on Brexit departure terms and the outline of future relations.

Discover more

World

How a 13 year-old's strike against climate change exploded into a movement

17 Feb 02:43 AM
Editorial

Trump's wall a dangerous precedent

17 Feb 04:00 PM
World

Time running out to bring Isis fighters to trial

17 Feb 04:00 PM
World

Trump's wall: Political, legal hits continue

17 Feb 07:20 PM

At last, the EU and Prime Minister Theresa May's Government struck a deal — then saw it resoundingly rejected last month by Britain's Parliament, which like the rest of the country has split into pro-Brexit and pro-EU camps.

May is now seeking changes to the Brexit deal in hope of getting it through Parliament before March 29. EU leaders say they won't renegotiate, and accuse Britain of failing to offer a way out of the impasse.

May insists she won't ask the EU to delay Britain's departure, and has refused to rule out a cliff-edge no-deal Brexit.

A billboard is displayed as part of the campaign for Britain to remain in the European Union, by the "Led By Donkeys" group.
A billboard is displayed as part of the campaign for Britain to remain in the European Union, by the "Led By Donkeys" group.

Brexit has clogged the gears of Britain's economic and political life. The economy has stalled, growing by only 0.2 per cent in the fourth quarter as business investment registered a fourth straight quarterly decline.

Big political decisions have been postponed, as May's minority Conservative government struggles to get bills through a squabbling and divided Parliament. Major legislation needed to prepare for Brexit has yet to be approved.

Britain still does not have a deal on future trade with the EU, and it's unclear what tariffs or other barriers British firms that do business with Europe will face after March 29.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

That has left businesses and citizens in an agonising limbo.

Rod McKenzie, director of policy at the Road Haulage Association, a truckers' lobby group, feels "pure anger" at a government he says has failed to plan, leaving haulers uncertain whether they will be able to travel to EU countries after March 29.

McKenzie says truckers were told they will need Europe-issued permits to drive through EU countries if Britain leaves the bloc without a deal. Of more than 11,000 who applied, only 984 — less than 10 per cent — have been granted the papers.

"It will put people out of business," McKenzie said. "It's been an absolutely disastrous process for our industry, which keeps Britain supplied with, essentially, everything."

Germany warns it will stop extradition of its citizens to UK after Brexit: FT https://t.co/zQcna8YVxb pic.twitter.com/Z0U2FiMP49

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 17, 2019

He's not alone in raising the spectre of shortages; both the Government and British businesses have been stockpiling key goods in case of a no-deal Brexit.

Still, some Brexit-backers, such as former Daily Telegraph editor Charles Moore, relish the prospect of a clean break even if it brings short-term pain.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Perhaps it is time for a Brexit recipe book, like those comforting wartime rationing ones full of bright ideas for dull things," Moore wrote in the Spectator, a conservative magazine.

He added that he and his neighbours were willing to "set out in our little ships to Dunkirk or wherever and bring back luscious black-market lettuces and French beans, oranges and lemons."

Brexit supporters often turn to nostalgic evocations of World War II and Britain's "finest hour," to the annoyance of pro-Europeans.

The imagery reached a peak of absurdity during a recent BBC news report on Brexit, when the anchor announced that "Theresa May says she intends to go back to Brussels to renegotiate her Brexit deal," as the screen cut to black-and-white footage of World War II British Spitfires going into battle.

Irish backstop can't be changed for Brexit deal - Estonian president https://t.co/ocvNM6MHjt pic.twitter.com/VFX8vggvv2

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 17, 2019

The BBC quickly said the startling juxtaposition was a mistake: The footage was intended for an item about a new Battle of Britain museum. Sceptics saw it as evidence of the broadcaster's bias, though they disagreed on whether the BBC was biased in favour of Brexit or against it.

Some pro-Europeans have hit back against Brexit with despairing humour.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Four friends have started plastering billboards in London with 6m-by-3m images of pro-Brexit politicians' past tweets, to expose what the group sees as their hypocrisy.

Highlights included former UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage's vow that "if Brexit is a disaster, I will go and live abroad," and ex-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's pledge to "make a titanic success" of Brexit.

The friends dubbed the campaign "Led by Donkeys," after the description of British soldiers in World War I as "lions led by donkeys."

The billboards are now going nationwide, after a crowdfunding campaign raised almost 150,000 pounds.

Theresa May may not seek to reopen Brexit deal, cabinet minister suggests https://t.co/OIVLZE7g4v pic.twitter.com/y5uZiS71xB

— ITV News (@itvnews) February 17, 2019

"It was a cry of pain, genuine pain, at the chaos in this country and the lies that brought us here," said a member of the group, a London charity worker who spoke on condition of anonymity because their initial guerrilla posters could be considered illegal.

A similar feeling of alienation reigns across the Brexit divide in the "leave" camp.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

After the referendum, Harris, a 28-year-old classically trained singer, founded a group called Leavers of London so Brexiteers could socialise without facing opprobrium from neighbours and colleagues who don't share their views. It has grown into Leavers of Britain, with branches across the country.

Harris said members "feel like in their workplaces or their personal lives, they're not accepted for their democratic vote. They're seen as bad people."

She added: "I'm really surprised I still have to do this."

But she thinks Britain's EU divide is as wide as it ever was.

"There can't be reconciliation until Brexit is done," she said.

Whenever that is.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

- AP

Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

Secrets of Okunoshima: Poison gas island's hidden WWII history

21 Jun 02:20 AM
World

Australian sailor with genital herpes removes condom during sex

21 Jun 02:05 AM
World

Hundreds of US citizens fleeing Iran amid Israel conflict

21 Jun 01:45 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Recommended for you
Home scorched as hoarded goods that surrounded it go up in flames
Hawkes Bay Today

Home scorched as hoarded goods that surrounded it go up in flames

21 Jun 02:38 AM
Live: Brian Tamaki marching on Queen St against 'non-Christian religions'
New Zealand

Live: Brian Tamaki marching on Queen St against 'non-Christian religions'

21 Jun 02:21 AM
Secrets of Okunoshima: Poison gas island's hidden WWII history
World

Secrets of Okunoshima: Poison gas island's hidden WWII history

21 Jun 02:20 AM
Australian sailor with genital herpes removes condom during sex
World

Australian sailor with genital herpes removes condom during sex

21 Jun 02:05 AM
Graeme Dingle leader steps back after 25 years, will still lead Project K
Bay of Plenty Times

Graeme Dingle leader steps back after 25 years, will still lead Project K

21 Jun 02:00 AM

Latest from World

Secrets of Okunoshima: Poison gas island's hidden WWII history

Secrets of Okunoshima: Poison gas island's hidden WWII history

21 Jun 02:20 AM

The factory had produced 6616 tons of toxic gases by the war's end.

Australian sailor with genital herpes removes condom during sex

Australian sailor with genital herpes removes condom during sex

21 Jun 02:05 AM
Hundreds of US citizens fleeing Iran amid Israel conflict

Hundreds of US citizens fleeing Iran amid Israel conflict

21 Jun 01:45 AM
'We will not accept': Niger Delta chief's $20b demand from Shell

'We will not accept': Niger Delta chief's $20b demand from Shell

21 Jun 01:28 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search