Confusion prevails

from The Independent…

“The latest annual British Social Attitudes Survey found that sixty per cent of people in the United Kingdom now describe themselves as working class… the same level as in 1983… and concludes that contrary to the claim of many, ‘we are clearly not all middle class now’. The researchers found that even where people had what they considered middle class jobs, they were still frequently likely to identify themselves as working class depending on their educational and parental background. In fact, half of those in professional and managerial occupations said they were working class, according to the report. If they feel working class they are more likely to be anti-immigrant in their views.”

I am not alone, surely, in finding this relevant in the aftermath of the Brexit vote. And from the perspective of Munich I feel quite sure that this kind of truculent anti-establishment self-identification is a uniquely British affliction. I simply cannot imagine Germans ‘in professional and managerial occupations’ describing themselves as belonging to the Arbeiterklasse.   

Anyway, we now have a British populace thoroughly confused by the situation they now find themselves in… the situation they have through the blunt instrument of a plebiscite unwittingly brought about. During the campaign they were bombarded with intoxicating half-truths, groundless predictions and downright fibs… and now there is a horrible hangover. And it could last for quite a while.