Watch the world burn

"Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it! You know... I just do things." --- The Joker, The Dark Knight (2008)

The clowns of UKIP and jokers of the Conservative Party got their Brexit vote. They're the dog who finally caught the car. Now they have absolutely no idea what to do with it.

It didn't have to be this way.

Mad Hatter Democracy

I'm a big fan of the Rolling Stone writer Matt Taibbi, but I think he's seriously mistaken in his recent piece on the Brexit referendum. He lays into commentators who say the result should simply be disregarded:

If you think there's ever such a thing as "too much democracy," you probably never believed in it in the first place.

Taibbi has a point. It would be stupid to pretend the vote never happened, and nobody in a position of real influence is saying we should; but he goes wrong when he tries to draw wider conclusions.

Cute Cat Friday 2016-06-24: Joni

Human governments rise and fall, but the cat abides.

On the Stupidity of David Cameron

Image credit: Spectator

(NSFW language below the fold. If it was ever called for, now is the time.)

Please Vote Remain

Houseboat next to Stourbridge Common, Cambridge, with a "Please Vote Remain" banner.

I hope Britain stays within the EU, and fear the consequences if it does not.

The effect of a Leave vote on our economy might be catastrophic, or it might merely be very bad. Independent, knowledgeable economists are agreed it would be negative.

In the face of clear warnings from people who have spent their lives studying this subject, the Leave campaign covers its ears and chants, "La, la, I can't hear you." Yesterday, Michael Gove compared these economists to Nazis, simply for expressing their professional opinion. Boris Johnson said he agreed with Gove.

To review: One side has sober, thorough analysis backed up by facts and data. The other has a floppy-haired ex-Mayor who is entirely too fond of Hitler comparisons; and it has a pattern of making things up -- or more bluntly, telling lies.

Maybe all of the experts are wrong; but is it really worth taking the risk? Our jobs, savings, mortgages, and public services are on the line. So is the inheritance of our children and grandchildren. Why should we take the chance?

Rule Britannia, Vote Remain

I am about to make a deeply unfashionable argument for staying in the EU: The UK is a good place to live.

I am defying the British tradition of grumbling about how life is a bit rubbish. For the most part, I like this tradition. It's a nice contrast to the chest-beating patriotism so popular in the USA. But right now, it is getting in the way of a clear-eyed view of the EU referendum.

Image credit: Dave Kellam on Flickr

Cute Cat Friday 2016-06-17: Joni

Sunlit cat.