Across the pond

with Mark Smith

Any observer of politics both here and overseas, has to admit that the events in Britain and the United States are far more interesting.

Like most others, I am glad that the political scene in Australia has seemingly become quite mundane. The Federal and State governments, on the whole, are working together, especially on infrastructure projects, to try to push the economy along in increasingly tough times. While there are some mildly engaging stories around, none of them rise to the level of Brexit, the UK general election, and Donald Trump with his usual shenanigans.

Firstly to Britain. Over three years ago, in June 2016, approximately 52-48% of the British people voted ‘yes’ in a referendum of whether to leave the European Union. Since then, the inability of the government to agree on a plan, or to leave the union, has caused a quagmire of argument, indecision and chaos. When the vote was put to the people, a clear exit strategy was never planned for. This was due to the incredible arrogance of David Cameron, the PM of the time, who didn’t even instruct his public service to design a blueprint in case of the ‘yes’ vote. Arguments can be made for both cases in the Brexit debate. That having been said, the people voted to leave, and the elected representatives should always carry out the wishes of the people in a referendum. The failure to do so has fed the argument that there is a massive split between the people and the so-called ‘establishment’. These elite types, as seen by the ‘outsiders’, are doing themselves no favours, only feeding the beasts that claim they are only there for themselves, telling the