Scan barcode
A review by andrewspink
Wankel koninkrijk: Hoe ik Groot-Brittannië door Brexit heb zien veranderen by Tim de Wit
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Because I grew up in the UK, I followed the Brexit very closely. It was an unbelievable story, with all sorts of twists and turns. Just when you thought it could not get even more unlikely, even more bizarre things happened. Parliament being suspended to prevent it voting on a specific matter was something I would never have believed in a million years could happen. Tim de Wit has done a marvellous job of summarising that strange period in a very readable and entertaining book. There was not a lot of new information in it for me, but, for instance, I hadn't realised just how corrupt Johnson's government was until I read that chapter.
What made it even more interesting is that he allowed himself to step aside from his role as a neutral journalist and give his own opinion on a number of matters. He leaves us in no doubt that Brexit has been a major disaster for the UK on many major issues (even if his journalistic training compels him to point out a few minor benefits). "The Uk changed into a sort of Monaco, but then with bad weather" (Het vk verandert in een soort Monaco, maar dan met slecht weer). Incidentally, he mentions the rain several times, which is a bit odd, seeing on the East side of the England and Scotland, the rainfall is actually very similar to the Netherlands.
There are a couple of aspects in which I felt he did fall a little short. Firstly, like much of the UK press, he has a very London-based viewpoint. Although he does have separate chapters on Ireland and Scotland, he barely mentions the North (and West) of England and Wales is ignored. His analysis of the Labour strongholds in the north are very much from a Southern perspective.
He also has less historical perspective than I personally think is necessary to give a full picture. For example, the Labour Party was always a little ambivalent towards the EU, but I remember in 1988 (so, in the run-up to the treaty of Maastricht) Jacques Delores (then President of the European Commission) gave a speech to the Trades Union Congres saying that the EU was the only body that would look after workers' and citizens' rights, because the Tory UK government certainly wouldn't. That has certainly proved to be the case in the decades after that. From that viewpoint, the failure of Labour to campaign for Remain and in that way protect its constituency is even more reprehensible. It is clear that if Labour had had a different stance, that would have had a critical impact on the result.
Nevertheless, those are minor shortcomings in a very well-written and interesting book.
What made it even more interesting is that he allowed himself to step aside from his role as a neutral journalist and give his own opinion on a number of matters. He leaves us in no doubt that Brexit has been a major disaster for the UK on many major issues (even if his journalistic training compels him to point out a few minor benefits). "The Uk changed into a sort of Monaco, but then with bad weather" (Het vk verandert in een soort Monaco, maar dan met slecht weer). Incidentally, he mentions the rain several times, which is a bit odd, seeing on the East side of the England and Scotland, the rainfall is actually very similar to the Netherlands.
There are a couple of aspects in which I felt he did fall a little short. Firstly, like much of the UK press, he has a very London-based viewpoint. Although he does have separate chapters on Ireland and Scotland, he barely mentions the North (and West) of England and Wales is ignored. His analysis of the Labour strongholds in the north are very much from a Southern perspective.
He also has less historical perspective than I personally think is necessary to give a full picture. For example, the Labour Party was always a little ambivalent towards the EU, but I remember in 1988 (so, in the run-up to the treaty of Maastricht) Jacques Delores (then President of the European Commission) gave a speech to the Trades Union Congres saying that the EU was the only body that would look after workers' and citizens' rights, because the Tory UK government certainly wouldn't. That has certainly proved to be the case in the decades after that. From that viewpoint, the failure of Labour to campaign for Remain and in that way protect its constituency is even more reprehensible. It is clear that if Labour had had a different stance, that would have had a critical impact on the result.
Nevertheless, those are minor shortcomings in a very well-written and interesting book.