Newspaper articles: discussion & analysis
Brexit, the most pointless, masochistic ambition in our country’s
history, is done – Ian McEwan
The Guardian, February 1, 2020
Context
- Day after Brexit was officially done A lot of opinion pieces
- Ian McEwan
o Writer
‘Saturday’ (modern fiction)
‘Nutshell’
‘Atonement’ (historical fiction)
o Respected figure in British society
o Quite clearly anti-Brexit
He thinks it was ridiculous from the beginning
Article
1. Conservative party won in December
o Did not want a second referendum
More people wanted a second referendum, and yet a political party
was put into office that did not want a second referendum Will of
majority not respected
o ‘Winner takes it all’-system
Do not need a majority to win election Party with biggest
proportion of votes wins elections
Not voted into office by majority; just relatively more than other
parties (more people voted for all other parties together than for the
Conservative party) They did not unite against Conservative party
2. Trudge: a difficult way of walking, a difficult path you have to take
o It will take the UK 15 years to make all of its trade deals back up where
they were when they were still part of EU
3. Campaign of Leave camp contained quite some untruths + Russian
involvement has been proven
4. You do not in fact need a majority to win elections in the UK
o Sth of this magnitude should have been supported by a big majority
5. How did sth advisory become sth binding?
o It was indeed not binding
o Will of the people was suddenly binding to politicians, but this referendum
in fact did not oblige politicians to act on it; it was merely advisory
6. Ian criticises opposition for not opposing Brexit hard enough
o Labour Party did not fight back until it was clear that Brexit would happen
They should have done sth earlier
o UK is considered to have a deep divide between right & left, between
Labour & Conservative party
Criticism: not enough cooperation between these two major parties
When it came to Brexit, there was a significant overlap
7. A score: many (technically twenty but here it means many)
o Britons were asked one question and they could answer yes or no There
were many more options that the Britons were not allowed to choose from
8. EU has shaped a lot of British culture, science, education (influenced it on
every possible aspect) Brutal if ripped out
9. Hard/soft Brexit
1
Brexit, the most pointless, masochistic ambition in our country’s
history, is done – Ian McEwan
The Guardian, February 1, 2020
Context
- Day after Brexit was officially done A lot of opinion pieces
- Ian McEwan
o Writer
‘Saturday’ (modern fiction)
‘Nutshell’
‘Atonement’ (historical fiction)
o Respected figure in British society
o Quite clearly anti-Brexit
He thinks it was ridiculous from the beginning
Article
1. Conservative party won in December
o Did not want a second referendum
More people wanted a second referendum, and yet a political party
was put into office that did not want a second referendum Will of
majority not respected
o ‘Winner takes it all’-system
Do not need a majority to win election Party with biggest
proportion of votes wins elections
Not voted into office by majority; just relatively more than other
parties (more people voted for all other parties together than for the
Conservative party) They did not unite against Conservative party
2. Trudge: a difficult way of walking, a difficult path you have to take
o It will take the UK 15 years to make all of its trade deals back up where
they were when they were still part of EU
3. Campaign of Leave camp contained quite some untruths + Russian
involvement has been proven
4. You do not in fact need a majority to win elections in the UK
o Sth of this magnitude should have been supported by a big majority
5. How did sth advisory become sth binding?
o It was indeed not binding
o Will of the people was suddenly binding to politicians, but this referendum
in fact did not oblige politicians to act on it; it was merely advisory
6. Ian criticises opposition for not opposing Brexit hard enough
o Labour Party did not fight back until it was clear that Brexit would happen
They should have done sth earlier
o UK is considered to have a deep divide between right & left, between
Labour & Conservative party
Criticism: not enough cooperation between these two major parties
When it came to Brexit, there was a significant overlap
7. A score: many (technically twenty but here it means many)
o Britons were asked one question and they could answer yes or no There
were many more options that the Britons were not allowed to choose from
8. EU has shaped a lot of British culture, science, education (influenced it on
every possible aspect) Brutal if ripped out
9. Hard/soft Brexit
1
