Kath Viner meets Ad-Rock.

Ah,”The Guardian’, which imagines that its readers exist in a world of a Woolworths style ‘Pick n Mix’ democracy, one where they believe in democracy, of course they do do, but only up to a point. And that point is when the democracy they cherish so very much, interferes with how they want to live their lives. 

This was perfectly summed up in yesterdays headline, “ ’Confined to this little island’: Britons criticise rejection of EU youth mobility deal”, because it was tailor made to bolster their never ending sense of entitled grievance about Brexit. 

‘Hundreds voice dismay at Sunak and Starmer, accusing them of misreading UK attitudes towards Europe. Last Friday, the prime minister rejected the post-Brexit youth mobility deal, which would have allowed Britons aged between 18 and 30 to live, study or work in the EU for up to four years, after Labour declined the offer the previous day.’

Never mind that only an incredibly small proportion of people aged between 18-30, would have, I’d wager, the necessary qualifications, skills or experience that EU employers would want for this to become a reality. Never mind that one of the EU’s fundamental principles, the free movement of people, which was one of the reasons why the majority of Britons for voted for Brexit, would be reinstated were this deal to go ahead. 

“This scheme seems like a no-brainer – I cannot think why anyone would disagree with it,” said Elena, who works in the healthcare sector in north-east England.” Doesn’t say she’s a nurse or junior doctor, care worker or ambulance crew does it though? ‘Healthcare sector’ reads to me like deliberate obfuscation, to conceal the fact that she has exactly the skills that an employer in the EU would be invested in.  

‘She dismissed concerns that people could end up trying to overstay and settle in the UK permanently. I have friends who have taken advantage of such schemes with Canada, Australia and New Zealand and none of them ended up moving permanently to those countries.”’

Only someone so wilfully obtuse could be unaware of the utter irrelevance of this reasoning. English is spoken in all of those countries and whilst English might well be spoken at some levels of European society, it is far from universal. In the Netherlands, you’d be fine but good luck to an  English person who can only speak English trying to to order a drink in Toulouse, to get help from a shop assistant in Palermo or to order a meal in Koblenz. 

“I suspect the resistance from the Tories and Labour is based on a belief that a sizeable chunk of the British public would balk at the idea of eastern Europeans freely crossing our borders again.”

And there we have it, the belief never far from the mind of a ‘Guardia’ reader, that everyone who voted for Brexit was to some extent xenophobic, if not actually racist. 

Because the idea that perhaps concerns about increasing pressure on already struggling public services and the NHS might be more of a issue doesn’t accord with a negative narrative. Instead of viewing doubts over the ability of schools and the housing sector to cope with rapidly growing demand as a positive, which it is, it is much easier to dismiss them as somehow rooted in racism 

As I’ve pointed out many times before on this blog,, “The Guardian’ has managed to monetise the saying ‘I’d rather be a hypocrite than be the same man for ever.”, by pandering to its readers unbelievably selfish notion that that their anger over Brexit has greater value than anyone else’s feelings on the matter, and to that end the staff at Guardian at constantly run stories that will bolster that narrative.

“Improved mobility did not just appeal to graduates and their employers: scores of people, many of them parents of sons and daughters in their teens or 20s, said such a scheme could restart the funnelling of young baristas, waiters and au pairs into countries on either side of the Channel”

See! Not only can foreign workers have McJobs here, but British nationals can have McJobs in Europe too. And it fulfils one the EU’s primary objectives, that of lowering wages for businesses whilst increasing the financial obligations of the state.

Oh, I’ll just point out once again that I voted to Remain, but, you know democracy, losers consent….