Great Britain has much to be proud of and just like every other country, much not, but I really resent anyone who says ours was a shit country before we joined the EU.
That is disgraceful and so disrespectful to all of those Brits who have given so much to the world.
What happened between 1945 and 1972?
Ah yes.
Rationing. That initally got worse after the war ended, and didn't end until 1952.
The 1950s were grim for a huge number of people.
Rebuilding the country with America aid - not our own money, from our own economy.
With the use of immigrant labour from the Carribean and Indian Subcontintent.
The loss of many of our colonies.
We had slums throughout the sixties.
And lots holes in the ground where we'd been boomed. Years and years after the war had ended.
Sure we had the swinging sixities, but you are rather rose tinting it.
Then we had a referendum. Cos we were looking for opportunities and building relations with Europe cos it was rather a smart move at the time. Cos our economy was in a bit of a state and at some point the US money would run out.
Then the seventies were characterised by a general strikes, blackouts, a mass dip in the economy were we struggled to compete with global markets (outside the EU). Then we had the miners strikes.
And it was all rather shit by a lot of measures. We had a different sense of community but thats gone, not because of the EU but because of longer commuter times and the internet.
So Margaret Thatcher - yep lets not forget who it was - said in order for us to thrive as a country, we needed to work with Europe. (Of course there are some parts of Labour who have never forgotten who this was.) And hell I'm no fan of Thatcher.
And she did this speech in Bruges in 1988.
www.margaretthatcher.org/document/107332
The speech has many many elements that die hard conservatives are explicitly going against. The very people who worshipped her as the most sucessful and best prime minister ever, have thrown one of the main legacies of her tenure out the window.
There are also parts that resonate with leavers, I know too - and with a sound basis and fair criticism.
The speech encapulates a lot of things that our current politicians are not articulating. From both camps. The rewriting of history is a problem that dooms our future.
The more we fail to acknowledge the struggles and problems of the 1945 - 1989 period, the more problems we will unnecessarily create for ourselves going forward.
Europe is not perfect. It may not be the thing that Thatcher envised it to be. However the UK is also not the glorious power it was pre-1939. The war ground us down. Our legacy from the war period has run out - Thatcher had the foresight to realise this and that the loss of Empire required us to throw our lot in with Europe to be able to compete internationally in the long term. Especially with the foreseeable rise of China and India. (And else where).
This is what pisses me of more than anything.
The disingeous crap about the future based on re written historical bullshit. And the lack of acknowledgement about the roots of our current political problems.
This comes from every political angle. Its not just Brexiteers who are guilty of this, though the yarns they spin are spectactular in the audicity. Its also the lack of vision and reluatance of parts of the remain camp to address how they have ignore long standing domestic problems. Its also how many parts of the middle classes and / or older generations are completely oblivious even now, to the reality of daily life that so many face. The 'alright jacks' don't give a damn about the wider national interest nor prosperity. They are not restricted to either leave nor remain camps.
Honestly, we are so busy gorging ourselves of political and historical fallacy and are so blinded by out political blindspots that we will have a catatrophic exit from the EU. And frankly we probably deserve it because of our utter, utter arrogance.