2019-08-11_The_Week

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...and how they were covered


What next?


Is it really too late to stopano-deal Brexit? “Not necessarily,” said Sean O’Grady in The


Independent. When Parliament returns on3September, Labour is likely to call foravote of


no confidence, and with sufficient cross-party support suchavote could pass. Under the terms


of the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, there would then bea14-day period in which to find an


alternative government capable of securing the confidence of the Commons. In theory, a


government of national unity could be formed, headed byaRemainer such as Labour’s


Margaret Beckett or the Tories’ Philip Hammond. Legally, however, Johnson would not have


to quit during that 14-day period, and if no new administration were in place at the end of it,


it would fall to him to decree the election date.


Parliament hasn’t run out of options to stopano-deal Brexit, said Stephen Bush in the New


Statesman. The problem is that Remainers need to coalesce aroundasingle strategy, which is


something they’ve never managed. “The pattern of parliamentary votes has been very clear: big


majorities to deplore the idea ofano-deal Brexit, and slim or non-existent majorities to actually


prevent one.” Even if MPs did manage to cobble together some Remainer alliance, it’s hard to


see what they would do next, said Tim Stanley in The Daily Telegraph. They could delay Brexit


abit, but to what end? They could “call an election, but Boris might win”.


“Revolutions, once started, are hard to stop,” said James Kirkup in The Spectator. Brexit has


so subverted political norms that we’re at the point where Johnson’s aides are suggesting he


could defy convention afterano-confidence vote by squatting in No. 10, “effectively daring the


Queen” to sack him. That would trash Britain’s reputation and setaterrible precedent. These


threats may all beabluff, said Robert Shrimsley in the FT, but Johnson will struggle to back


down now. He has long maintained that the EU will fold at the last minute. “The worry, for


all but the true disciples, is that the EU sees notaBritish lion butapaper tiger, knowing it can


allowanodeal and make the terms of May’s agreementaprecondition to future trade talks.”


What the commentators said


Dominic Cummings is


reportedly planning to frame


afuture election asa“people


vs. politicians” battle, pitting


Leave voters against


Remainer MPs, says


Sebastian Payne in the FT.


“Johnson would hope to


attract most of the Leave vote


–limiting the impact of the


Brexit Party–while the


Remain vote would be split


between the other parties.”


But the success of such a


strategy, were the election


held in early November, soon


after ano-deal Brexit, would


rest on howano-deal Brexit


panned out. “If there is major


disruption, it could prompt a


backlash against [Johnson’s]


Government. Should it be


manageable, the Prime


Minster could say he has


proved the naysayers wrong.”


What next?


“Trump’s presidency has been leading up to this moment,” said Carli Pierson in The


Independent. He described the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville as “very fine people”. Atarally


in May, he asked of Latino migrants: “How do we get rid of them?” And he smiled when


someone in the audience yelled: “Shoot them!” Of course Republican resistance to gun


control is an underlying problem. But Trump’s normalisation of racism has had terrifying


consequences. There is nowaglobal white supremacist movement, said James Palmer in


Foreign Policy. The El Paso shooter seems to have chosen the anonymous “politically


incorrect” message board of the website 8chan to post his manifesto–like the perpetrator


of the Christchurch massacre. It isa“cesspool of anti-Muslim conspiracies and neo-Nazism”.


The copycat nature of these killings is very clear. “In general,” wrote the El Paso killer, “I


support the Christchurch shooter and his manifesto.”


What links many of the zealots isasingle “deadly” theory, said Rosa Schwartzburg in The


Guardian. From his manifesto, it seems that Crusius subscribes to the “Great Replacement”:


the thesis, which originated in France, that Western elites are deliberately replacing people


of European descent with non-white immigrants. That puts him in line not only with Anders


Breivik, the Norwegian right-winger responsible for the murder of 77 people in 2011, but also


with the Christchurch shooter, who entitled his own manifesto “The Great Replacement”.


Some way must be found to inoculate the vulnerable againstatheory that is “spreading like a


virus”. What’s extraordinary is how much this “violent paranoia” resembles that of Islamist


terrorists, said Brendan O’Neill in Spiked. All of them believe that they are under some form of


“siege”: that their identities are in danger of being replaced or wiped out. What all such acts of


savagery point to are the “dangers inherent in the persistent politicisation of personal identity”.


What the commentators said


Mexico has demanded


better protection for its


citizens and for all


Mexican-Americans in


the US. Foreign Minister


Marcelo Ebrard said his


government could request


the extradition of the El


Paso killer on terrorism


charges, and might also


bring legal action against


whoever supplied his


weapon. Some 80% of the


population of El Paso are


Hispanic people.


Prosecutors in Texas say


they will press for the death


penalty against Crusius. In


recent decades, the state has


accounted for more than


one third of all executions


in the US.


We’re good at beating ourselves up in this country. Wheneveranew


infrastructure scheme runs into trouble, our first instinct is to see it


as evidence of Britain’s unique uselessness atGrands Projets.An


efficient nation such as Germany, we assume, would never get itself into suchamuddle. But that’s


not true–asthe fiasco of the new Berlin Brandenburg airport amply illustrates. The project was first


mooted in 1992, got under way in 2006 and was due to be completed five years later. But the 2011


inauguration was put off until the following year, and cancelled again then, just three weeks before


the opening ceremony. Another five missed opening dates followed, thanks to bureaucratic foul-ups


and budget problems. Nowasecond terminal, added to the original plans, has been completed, and


we’re told the airport will open in October 2020. Alas, many experts think even that is unrealistic.


To printalist of the project’s recent problems, noted Henrik Böhme in Deutsche Welle last week,


would require the felling of “a medium-size forest”. Escalators were installed that turned out to be


afew steps too short. If the wind blew in the wrong direction, rainwater flowed into the ventilation


shafts.Athousand trees were planted in the wrong place and had to be dug up again. Around 4,


doors were incorrectly numbered. Monitoring devices installed six years ago reached the end of their


lives and had to be replaced. In comparison to this litany of failures, the budget


overruns and delays plaguing Crossrail and HS2 in Britain don’t look half so bad.


THEWEEK


Harry Nicolle


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