We made the right choice to leave. We will not suffer economically in the long run unless people who have yet to exhaust their credibility insist on talking the country down, and the gullible believe them. The evidence is already there in the stock market: and even as Europe buckles, because of its failed economic policies, and sterling rises once more against the euro, other countries will still pile in as investors. The losers should accept they have lost, and grow up. If they can’t, they should shut up. They don’t see how ridiculous they look to the millions who feel better about Britain now than they have done for decades. The only way is up....
We’ve made the right choice, now let’s stop talking the country down
Simon Heffer
9 July 2016
The Telegraph
A man holds a banner during a demonstration against Britain's decision to leave the European Union, in central London, Britain July 2, 2016 Credit: PAUL HACKETT
We British once cherished the idea of the good loser. Michael Gove exemplified it in his gracious speech of defeat last Thursday. Sadly, the concept has bypassed a small, but vocal, minority whose outrage at the exercise of democracy by those they hold in utter contempt is boundless. In the fortnight since a majority chose to leave the European Union, we have witnessed catastrophism, hysteria and absurdity to a comical degree. The news that Richard Branson – who so loves this country that he lives in the Caribbean – came to London to see Theresa May and demand a re-run of the vote exemplifies the hubris, arrogance and divorce from reality of an elite astounded at being disobeyed.
Denial may be first stage of grief, but enough is enough. It began with talk of an early election to “validate” the result, and then, inevitably, a second referendum, as if the 17.4 million who voted Leave were joking. Would there have been a new referendum, or an election, had we done as we were told? We know the answer.
Then, as the reality of our disobedience sank in, the grief-stricken became more militant. There has been sinister talk of a legal challenge. Accusations have been made repeatedly that Leave won only because its participants “lied”. It hurts Remainers that they cheated and lied and still lost: the £9m of taxpayers’ money blown on a mendacious leaflet; the extension of voter registration by two days because a computer failed for an hour and three-quarters; serial breaches of purdah; threats of a third world war and an emergency budget; and, most appalling, attempts by prominent Remainers to link the terrible murder of a Labour MP with Brexiteers, something for which they should burn with shame.
These people hope to infect the public with their idiocy. They have had successes. Hysterics ring phone-in programmes and write to newspapers to speak of a Britain awash with racial attacks, hate crimes and random acts of bigotry; isolationist, xenophobic and inward-looking; doomed to remain divided indefinitely and to tear itself apart; its destiny decided by the ignorant, the uneducated and the vicious; and above all, that has betrayed its children by choosing poverty and ruin rather than prosperity.
On the last point, a particularly insidious aspect of the hysteria is the determination of those who should know better to talk down the economy, and country. They include politicians, officials, fat cats, so-called intellectuals and a ragbag of celebrities. Their positions give them access to the media, where (because it is largely in the hands of aggrieved Remainers) their views are broadcast with a prominence hugely disproportionate to their significance. This, in their spectacular arrogance, they think is only just, since their opinions are so much more valuable than those of little people. Having predicted disaster, they are doing all they can to breed failure and the fulfilment of their prophecies, so desperate are they to be proved right.
A high priest is Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, a failed Canadian politician who continues to preen on public platforms and talk down our currency and our economy. Having the air of a minor actor in an American soap opera, Mr Carney’s increasingly convincing impersonation of Corporal Jones – vacuously yelling “don’t panic!” yet encouraging people to do just that – makes him more like a sitcom character. Financial markets are all about confidence: Mr Carney seems to be doing all he can to torpedo it. Pending his sacking, if he can’t resist the lure of the cameras, he might care to give the other side of the story.
Britain's secession from the EU means the EU is to lose 40% of its military capacity
We were told investors would flee after Brexit, but anyone with a teenager’s grasp of economics knew that was rubbish. And so it has proved. The stock market is higher than before the vote. This country is a bargain basement thanks to a fall in the currency caused by panic and not because of poor fundamentals in our economy, and which will be temporary. Tata Steel has put on hold the closure of its Port Talbot works. Steinhoff, a South African investor, bought 1.3m shares in Poundland the day the result was announced. Qatar Airways and Standard Life are considering raising their stakes in the company that owns British Airways. US businesses and private equity firms are poring over the accounts of numerous FTSE 250 companies and buying up shares in them. To say Britain is open for business is putting it mildly: and the Indians and Chinese, as well as the Americans, have shown by their enthusiasm for British shares in the last fortnight that they couldn’t care less if we are out of the low-growth EU.
Mr Carney and his fellow hysterics and propagandists might also like to consider what is going on in the organisation of which they were so desperate we should remain members. We are on the verge of a banking crisis in Italy that will destablise the whole eurozone. The French economy and banking sector are on their knees. Worst of all, mighty Germany is not immune: the €29 billion Bremen Landesbank is reported to be on the edge of collapse. Deutsche Bank’s share price has dropped by 75 per cent in five years. This makes the problems in Greece look like a tea party.
We made the right choice to leave. We will not suffer economically in the long run unless people who have yet to exhaust their credibility insist on talking the country down, and the gullible believe them. The evidence is already there in the stock market: and even as Europe buckles, because of its failed economic policies, and sterling rises once more against the euro, other countries will still pile in as investors. The losers should accept they have lost, and grow up. If they can’t, they should shut up. They don’t see how ridiculous they look to the millions who feel better about Britain now than they have done for decades. The only way is up.
We’ve made the right choice, now let’s stop talking the country down
We’ve made the right choice, now let’s stop talking the country down
Simon Heffer
9 July 2016
The Telegraph
A man holds a banner during a demonstration against Britain's decision to leave the European Union, in central London, Britain July 2, 2016 Credit: PAUL HACKETT
We British once cherished the idea of the good loser. Michael Gove exemplified it in his gracious speech of defeat last Thursday. Sadly, the concept has bypassed a small, but vocal, minority whose outrage at the exercise of democracy by those they hold in utter contempt is boundless. In the fortnight since a majority chose to leave the European Union, we have witnessed catastrophism, hysteria and absurdity to a comical degree. The news that Richard Branson – who so loves this country that he lives in the Caribbean – came to London to see Theresa May and demand a re-run of the vote exemplifies the hubris, arrogance and divorce from reality of an elite astounded at being disobeyed.
Denial may be first stage of grief, but enough is enough. It began with talk of an early election to “validate” the result, and then, inevitably, a second referendum, as if the 17.4 million who voted Leave were joking. Would there have been a new referendum, or an election, had we done as we were told? We know the answer.
Then, as the reality of our disobedience sank in, the grief-stricken became more militant. There has been sinister talk of a legal challenge. Accusations have been made repeatedly that Leave won only because its participants “lied”. It hurts Remainers that they cheated and lied and still lost: the £9m of taxpayers’ money blown on a mendacious leaflet; the extension of voter registration by two days because a computer failed for an hour and three-quarters; serial breaches of purdah; threats of a third world war and an emergency budget; and, most appalling, attempts by prominent Remainers to link the terrible murder of a Labour MP with Brexiteers, something for which they should burn with shame.
These people hope to infect the public with their idiocy. They have had successes. Hysterics ring phone-in programmes and write to newspapers to speak of a Britain awash with racial attacks, hate crimes and random acts of bigotry; isolationist, xenophobic and inward-looking; doomed to remain divided indefinitely and to tear itself apart; its destiny decided by the ignorant, the uneducated and the vicious; and above all, that has betrayed its children by choosing poverty and ruin rather than prosperity.
On the last point, a particularly insidious aspect of the hysteria is the determination of those who should know better to talk down the economy, and country. They include politicians, officials, fat cats, so-called intellectuals and a ragbag of celebrities. Their positions give them access to the media, where (because it is largely in the hands of aggrieved Remainers) their views are broadcast with a prominence hugely disproportionate to their significance. This, in their spectacular arrogance, they think is only just, since their opinions are so much more valuable than those of little people. Having predicted disaster, they are doing all they can to breed failure and the fulfilment of their prophecies, so desperate are they to be proved right.
A high priest is Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, a failed Canadian politician who continues to preen on public platforms and talk down our currency and our economy. Having the air of a minor actor in an American soap opera, Mr Carney’s increasingly convincing impersonation of Corporal Jones – vacuously yelling “don’t panic!” yet encouraging people to do just that – makes him more like a sitcom character. Financial markets are all about confidence: Mr Carney seems to be doing all he can to torpedo it. Pending his sacking, if he can’t resist the lure of the cameras, he might care to give the other side of the story.
Britain's secession from the EU means the EU is to lose 40% of its military capacity
We were told investors would flee after Brexit, but anyone with a teenager’s grasp of economics knew that was rubbish. And so it has proved. The stock market is higher than before the vote. This country is a bargain basement thanks to a fall in the currency caused by panic and not because of poor fundamentals in our economy, and which will be temporary. Tata Steel has put on hold the closure of its Port Talbot works. Steinhoff, a South African investor, bought 1.3m shares in Poundland the day the result was announced. Qatar Airways and Standard Life are considering raising their stakes in the company that owns British Airways. US businesses and private equity firms are poring over the accounts of numerous FTSE 250 companies and buying up shares in them. To say Britain is open for business is putting it mildly: and the Indians and Chinese, as well as the Americans, have shown by their enthusiasm for British shares in the last fortnight that they couldn’t care less if we are out of the low-growth EU.
Mr Carney and his fellow hysterics and propagandists might also like to consider what is going on in the organisation of which they were so desperate we should remain members. We are on the verge of a banking crisis in Italy that will destablise the whole eurozone. The French economy and banking sector are on their knees. Worst of all, mighty Germany is not immune: the €29 billion Bremen Landesbank is reported to be on the edge of collapse. Deutsche Bank’s share price has dropped by 75 per cent in five years. This makes the problems in Greece look like a tea party.
We made the right choice to leave. We will not suffer economically in the long run unless people who have yet to exhaust their credibility insist on talking the country down, and the gullible believe them. The evidence is already there in the stock market: and even as Europe buckles, because of its failed economic policies, and sterling rises once more against the euro, other countries will still pile in as investors. The losers should accept they have lost, and grow up. If they can’t, they should shut up. They don’t see how ridiculous they look to the millions who feel better about Britain now than they have done for decades. The only way is up.
We’ve made the right choice, now let’s stop talking the country down
