If you are interested in what is actually happening in Brexit...
I am working for HMRC on this and the change to declarations starting next week has meant my staff have been taking calls with people in tears because they can't cope with the paperwork and costs.
These are UK exporters and manufacturers. There is nothing we can do except try to explain what the changes are and why (?) they are needed.
Disgraced Prime Minister Johnson told NI businesses there would be no additional paperwork. He stated that if there was any paperwork then they should send it to him and he would put it in the bin.
Most companies we speak with say they will stop exporting/importing, relocate to the EU or are going to cease trading.
There are a lot of Brexit supporters on this thread but seriously? You think a cheese deal with Japan and some fishing banter will carry a country through a pandemic overseen by a corrupt government who promised £350m per week to the NHS?
Badgers you have my sympathy, and I share your frustrations, and I share your views on the honesty and competency of what we are pleased to call the current government - the problem is that this stuff, when positioned as
opposition to the UK being outside the EU, or leaving the EU as a result of a referendum with fairly high turn-out and therefore legitimacy, is that it utterly ignores huge issues of sovereignty, political legitimacy, identity and democracy and doubles down on what is in big picture terms, really small scale stuff, often in a way that looks pretty self-absorbed.
Would you argue the the moral, philosophical, and political points of, say, Scottish independence with an SNP supporter based on postage fees?
Would you argue the rights and wrongs of Irish independence on the basis that the Irish railway network disappeared, and therefore Irish independence was utterly flawed in concept?
No, I rather doubt you would - you would instinctively understand that to debate such huge issues on the basis of fairly minor technicalities would be pretty insulting to the other person and would get you absolutely nowhere, and you would debate them on these huge issues of political legitimacy and identity.
If you want to address this or that issue with the legalities and mechanism of this or that aspect of the trading relationship then fine - but it would be nice if those honking off about brexit also addressed the things they don't talk about: is this or that convenience worth being part of a proto-state with an executive, a parliament, a security and defence policy, a judiciary, an economic policy, and tentacles reaching into every other political sphere?
Or is it that you simply don't care about any of that because you have no forms to fill in, and it's easy to buy stuff off of eBay.de?
By all means support membership the EU, but be honest that it's not just a magic pill making it easier to this or that without paperwork, it's a full spectrum state with an identity and a political pathway that it is set on, and not a great deal of democratic oversight or opposition to what it does or how.
If you want others to be open, honest, nuanced and self-reflective, you need to do it yourself.
