I am their leader....
There is a certain type of commentator who moves with the times. The ones who were once Trotskyists then Thatcherites, then Blairites and are now Brexit supporters. Or the ones who were Militant Tendency, SDP, New Labour and then Green. It doesn’t matter where they start or end up, they always have a well written 1,000 words on the topic of the day.
Their constant changes of mind never seem to do their careers or reputation any harm, in fact they create a career by spotting the zeitgeist quickly and serving it.
Which brings us to Brexit and the claims of the ultra Brexiteers that all is rosy in the new sunlit uplands of Global Britain. It is no longer, I feel, the zeitgeist.
It had a brief flowering but is looking tired and in need of dead heading.
When supposedly responsible Brexiteers claim that ramming asylum seekers boats is sensible or make jokes about the tragic death of 27 people; the mood of a few more people changes.
When farmers know food exports are plummeting and the Government boasts about its success, the truth dawns for previously devout believers.
When UK trade with the EU falls and it is put down to the collapse of the EU’s economy and yet no other country has seen its trade drop; a few more people wake up and realise what is going on.
I expect several mea culpas in the coming months as commentators change tack once again. The people’s mood is changing and patience is wearing thin. Commentators have made careers by being sensitive to such changes and always serve their readers.
“I am their leader writer and I must follow them” is their motto.
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.