The unfolding disaster of Brexit might be 18,000km away from us and the apron strings between New Zealand and Mother England are long severed but, as we know all too well in our sector, we are a trading nation and the UK and the European Union are in the top echelon of our trading partners.
So, the outcome will have an impact on us one way or another and one also has to feel sorry for the inhabitants of those isles, except for the fanatics who have long argued they are not part of Europe at all despite the best evidence of an atlas and the politicians who have been steadily working towards bringing the whole house of cards down on the country’s own head.
I have no idea whether we will benefit or be hurt by a Brexit whether it be a soft, hard or a no deal exit. Commentators say it will be a boon for us and yet meat marketers tell me the Easter lamb trade could be severely disrupted. I suspect there will be swings and roundabouts, winners and losers.
A great thing about this country is that we are quietly proud of our small nation and its achievements but there is little evidence of nationalism and long may that be the case. A party calling itself NZ First suggests we are not totally immune.
Nationalism is a modern ideology and holds that each nation should govern itself, free from outside interference. Being a long way from anyone else means we are left on our own. However, we are still enmeshed in world trading relationships.
But if you live cheek by jowl in Europe and particularly if you have been regularly invaded then it becomes more understandable.
Nationalism led to many bad things in the 20th century and was a primary driver of globalism and the EU itself. Indeed, Europe has functioned very well since the early 1950s when the early version of the EU was formed and for 60 years countries that spent centuries at each other’s throats have lived and traded in peace.
Nationalism has brought the UK to a type of civil war where the population is split right down the middle over this Brexit debacle.
There are plenty of other examples of an emergent nationalism.
Trump’s 2016 political campaign with slogans like Make America Great Again and America First fell on fertile soil. The United States is a country where the lines between patriotism and nationalism have become difficult to distinguish.
Elsewhere we have seen the rise of Duterte in the Philippines, Erdogan in Turkey, Bolsonaro in Brazil and, of course, Putin in Russia.
Putin’s likely influence in both the US presidential elections and the Brexit vote outcome and the resulting uncertainty and chaos show what a clever and dangerous bastard he is.
Demonstrating what a political tragic I am, I spent an interesting couple of hours last week watching the UK Parliament pull itself apart before the inevitable defeat of May’s government bill with 118 of her own MPs joining the opposition to heavily defeat the government’s policy by 432 to 202. That 230 vote loss is the biggest defeat in the House of Commons in history.
Usually, that would result in the collapse of a government.
May was quite secure in offering the opposition a call for a vote of no confidence as the one thing that unites her own party is the threat of a Corbyn-led Labour government and he has shown he, too, has no clear idea how Britain is to negotiate the mess it has got itself into.
For too long the UK blamed all its ills on Europe rather than looking to itself. Cameron made a play to secure his and his party’s future in a referendum he expected to win. May’s ambition overshadowed common sense and all the other lawmakers in that institution carry similar blame.
Clark, Key, Ardern and the others don’t look so bad now, eh?
