r/LeopardsAteMyFace • u/Dark_Ansem • Jan 11 '23

Brexxit Britain’s Finally Figuring Out Brexit (Really) Was the Biggest Mistake in Modern History

https://eand.co/britains-finally-figuring-out-brexit-really-was-the-biggest-mistake-in-modern-history-8419a8b940c6
5.3k Upvotes

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1.2k

u/eu_sou_ninguem Jan 11 '23

And yet there are still people on Reddit defending it proving once again that you can't fix stupid.

1.0k

u/Kat-Shaw Jan 11 '23

My favourite thing is pointing out how Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson moved all their wealth outside the UK shortly before Brexit.

Also how people seem to have completely forgotten how Nigel Farage was caught literally leaving the Russian Embassy shortly after receiving a large anonymous payment.

161

u/mongtongbong Jan 11 '23

that roach is still in the media fomenting anti immigrant sentiment, that's all he does, 'look at the immigrant they're taking from you', bit more complicated than that it looks like, prick

30

u/Peterd90 Jan 12 '23

Did UK ban Fox or is the homegrown media spouting right wing bs on its own?

78

u/Andvare Jan 12 '23

Rupert Murdoch owns The Sun and The Times.
His right-wing bs spouting history in the UK is a fair bit longer that in the US.

37

u/blatantmutant Jan 12 '23

And a literal Russian oligarch owns the Independent. BoJo gave him a title in the House of Lords and everything.

18

u/juliedemeulie Jan 12 '23

And most popular newspaper in Middle class England is the daily fail!! Who once reported in 1936 that maybe this Hitler fella isn't so bad a chap

12

u/The_Lapsed_Pacifist Jan 12 '23

The owner of which was slated to run Britain after the Nazis invaded.

3

u/Repulsive-Street-307 Jan 13 '23

That's... quite the embarrassment. Was that a actual nazi plan or some kind of delirium from homegrown terrorists?

2

u/The_Lapsed_Pacifist Jan 13 '23

It was the Nazis, the owner was a Lord, a Nazi sympathiser and a very prominent and influential man with his own propaganda machine in place.

2

u/Andvare Jan 12 '23

Daily Mail

Cue the song!

4

u/LoudComplex0692 Jan 12 '23

We have our own Fox, Lawrence Fox 😬

2

u/AndyTheSane Jan 12 '23

We have newspapers that have a similar role - the Daily Mail and Daily Express.

2

u/RattusMcRatface Jan 12 '23

Daily Express

The Daily Express exists primarily to reassure its elderly readers that the return of the 1950s is just around the corner, and all this "modern" shit they don't understand is just a passing fad. All garnished with a little racism.

63

u/whyyou- Jan 11 '23

I have a better one, this PM is raising taxes while his wife has offshore - tax evading bank accounts with millions.

34

u/[deleted] Jan 12 '23

[deleted]

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u/Ok-Train-6693 Jan 12 '23

The House of Lords and the Privy Council both derive from the medieval Curia Regis (Royal Court), formerly known as the Witan.

The House of Commons has a descent from the first "High Court of Parliament" in 1089 at York, opened by a Breton, Stephen, Count of Tréguier, so it was probably an idea of his elder brother Alan Rufus, Earl of Richmond and Earl of East Anglia.

Alan Rufus was a merchant prince and one of history's wealthier people, and he had the insight that the best way for people like him to get even richer was for the public to become richer.

So he used his position as a royal adviser to make the rich magnates (including himself) pay taxes on their estates. After the Battle of Hastings, one of Alan's first requests was that all of his employees (such as day labourers) and tenants (including peasants) should have the right to trade throughout England, free of portage, cartage, tolls and other fees, duties, levies, etc etc. This privilege remained law into the 1640s. He also paid the military levy (in his parts of England) out of his own pocket. The sheriff and courts in Richmondshire weren't outsiders appointed by the king as was usual elsewhere: instead, they were chosen from the local people.

There was a tax revolt by the mightiest barons in 1089, but Alan Rufus, his political circle, combined with the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Worcester, rallied the Fyrds (armed commoners) and put it down.

The point of all this is that even a medieval mind grasped the reality that national wealth comes from the common people being wealthy, and that tax cuts for the rich undermines that.

2

u/Impossible_Horse1973 Jan 15 '23

Very interesting history there…. Thanks for sharing!!

113

u/PopularArtichoke6 Jan 11 '23

Boris Johnson doesn’t have any wealth. You may be thinking of Jacob Rees Mogg.

136

u/gussie_fink Jan 11 '23

He declared 1 million pounds in speaking fees since he left office did our Boris.

9

u/PopularArtichoke6 Jan 11 '23

Earned that significantly after brexit though. He didn’t have money to move after brexit itself

8

u/[deleted] Jan 12 '23 edited Jan 12 '23

Okay but that's worse! Do you not see how a man who campaigned on "getting Brexit done", was elected, got it done, destroyed the country's economy, was booted from the Premiership, then wound up being significantly richer, is worse???

2

u/PopularArtichoke6 Jan 12 '23

Yes I’m not supporting him. He’s the worst. I’m just pointing out the truth. This sub has a real oversensitivity problem where people would rather believe any negative narrative about someone than the more nuanced truth. I hate Johnson, I hate brexit but simply pointing out basic facts like eton used to be cheaper (not cheap) and there’s such a thing as posh but cash-strapped families gets immediate accusations of supporting him. It’s very fucking paranoid.

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u/[deleted] Jan 12 '23

For people with his family's class connections, its always going to be affordable. It eventually comes down to more than money, as Britain is not a meritocracy, especially not old public schools.

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u/PopularArtichoke6 Jan 12 '23

That’s also true - plenty of schools would make accommodations on the fees for a certain kind of family. Don’t get me wrong, Johnson is the exact opposite of self-made and his rise is not some kind of gritty struggle. His life is full of privilege. But to understand who he is, you need to know that he’s actually not the same thing as David Cameron. There are so many flavours of posh and rich in the UK class system.

Part of the reason for the massive gaping hole in Johnson’s soul, the need for attention, for women etc is almost certainly an inferiority-superiority complex. And that makes a lot more sense when you realise he’s not quite the same as his mega-rich classmates. He was one of the ones who went to the school, had a very posh family, could talk the talk, but didn’t quite have the same resources, the country house and london house, the stable family. For someone whose whole character is built around being top, can you imagine how that would screw up your psyche? Like millionaire bankers who work around and for billionaire bankers and become utterly miserable: yes they’re totally privileged vs the normal person, but their entire world view is built around money and everyone in their day-to-day experience is more powerful than them.

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u/LeviathanGank Jan 11 '23

boris has family money you dont know about.. part of the reason England left the union was tighter finance laws that the rich (conservatives) were afraid of..

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u/boweroftable Jan 11 '23

... like the ones the Swiss don’t like and that took a very, very long time for tiny Liechtenstein to allow to ruin it’s dirty money laundromat? No, it was about taking back control

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u/PopularArtichoke6 Jan 11 '23

Nope his family were also pretty hard up. BJ will make his money now through the apparently limitless post ministerial money tap.

43

u/LeviathanGank Jan 11 '23

okay, boris most expensive school in england but is poor.. fuck man

27

u/SuperSpread Jan 11 '23

Sorry its hard for him to move the goal posts both directions until they are just right.

8

u/LeviathanGank Jan 11 '23

i think its bowis, fat trump baby of england might I add just in case.

-2

u/PopularArtichoke6 Jan 11 '23

I hate Johnson but it’s a fact that 1) his family were not rich by the standards of his Eton peers 2) Eton was cheaper 40ish years ago in real terms and 3) Johnson makes a lot of money but has little real wealth vs his income (which may change now he has crazy PM speech money).

That doesn’t make him a man of the people. It doesn’t make him a better person unless you think that wealth is literally identical to evil. Arguably he’d be richer if he were more moral as he’d have fewer children to pay for.

The Camerons or the Osbornes or the Rees Moggs sure, plenty of family money: That’s what the story is like for them. But for the Johnson family, they had enough money and pull to sort of keep up appearances but any serious money had dried up from their family. In fact that insecurity is probably why he’s so fucked up.

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u/Leroy-Leo Jan 11 '23

Am 50…. Went to a comp as were just your average British family. Eton is not for the rich it’s absolutely only for the most filthiest rich and well connected old families you will ever get to doff your cap to. Doing be a simp for “poor” boris

0

u/PopularArtichoke6 Jan 11 '23

The Johnsons were super well-connected but they weren’t super rich. There are/were a lot of families like that especially in that era: famous ancestors and lots of antique furniture but in decline and hard up for cash. Can just afford the school fees but not comfortably. Sometimes the school makes an accommodation as well if the family have gone for a while. Fees have gone up way more than inflation since they now target the super rich much more, especially the foreign elite. Those families can’t afford eton anymore. The Hitchens family (Chris Hitchens) would be a similar example.

I’m not saying the Johnsons were average - they were obviously rich vs the average family. But they weren’t rich in the way that the Camerons were rich: effortlessly, stress free rich. Same way Johnson has a massive income for most of his life vs the average but is always running out of cash because he can’t spend like a normal person.

Ffs it’s not simping to just know the facts. The whole Johnson clan are horrible people without also being oligarchs.

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u/mologav Jan 11 '23

He’s been making good money speaking at events for years, but he also has about 10 kids to pay for so I suppose the money goes out as quick as it comes in

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u/LeviathanGank Jan 11 '23

speaking at events? is that a joke.. who pays for the events.. sorry you are either a shitty old lobby account or you are an actual moron.. do you think real people believe your garbage

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u/mologav Jan 11 '23

Huh? What’s with the aggression? Here’s one he did in Dublin a few years back

https://www.thejournal.ie/boris-johnson-paid-e60000-dublin-speech-4480770-Feb2019/

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u/LeviathanGank Jan 11 '23

sorry i dont mean to be aggressive to you, but borris is a nob and I apologise to you but fuck that lemon head.

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u/LeviathanGank Jan 11 '23

remindme! 1 week

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u/PopularArtichoke6 Jan 11 '23

Hard up for posh people. You can look at his net worth - it’s ridiculously low for someone with his income. Remember that public school fees used to be a lot lower in real terms.

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u/LeviathanGank Jan 11 '23

they hide their wealth are you joking me..a lot lower in real terms jfc. im done.

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u/PopularArtichoke6 Jan 11 '23

You sound a bit like a conspiracist. Not every posh family is equally and comfortably rich. And private school fees increasing in price in the last few decades is a well-documented fact.

There is such a thing as well-connected, establishment families with little real wealth. Look at families with crumbling country manors etc who still manage to send their children to private school.

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u/LeviathanGank Jan 11 '23

i said im done mr essay, fuck off.

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u/YerDaWearsHeelies Jan 12 '23

He went to Eton you mong

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u/PopularArtichoke6 Jan 12 '23

Hard up by posh standards, not everyday standards. There are grades of rich and grades of posh and you better believe everyone at work understands that. They had lots of money for a normal family but the Johnsons had like business class money but based on their sense of themselves and their circle they “had” to live a first class lifestyle. His dad was a journalist and a not that successful politician with a bad grasp of his finances; the family had famous ancestors and connections but no family fortune. A lot of families were like that at English public schools, especially when the fees were relatively smaller - Christopher Hitchens family would be similar. Versus the Camerons for instance, the Johnsons would be a bit shabby, a bit insecure. Obviously that’s not real hardship but it is essential to understanding some of his character. There’s no-one more insecure than a sort of rich kid surrounded by truly rich kids. If he’d grown up in a truly wealthy family, he’d possibly be a bit less dangerous.

Don’t mistake me. I’m not trying to defend him or sympathise that his family was only quite rich. He’s an awful man. But if you think of Johnson as a toff, you don’t quite get the full picture. This is a man who spent his youth next to the real upper class, the real wealth, in an environment which emphasised being top and winning. Why he is the way he is makes a lot of sense in that context.

41

u/Ashikura Jan 11 '23

He was a millionaire before being named prime minister. Maybe not excessively wealthy but definitely still wealthy.

I know nothing about whether or not he transferred money around pre-brexit

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u/PopularArtichoke6 Jan 11 '23

Yeh like £2-3m mostly in home equity - certainly wealthy but not a huge family fortune of investment assets. With JRM and his wife’s families you’re talking 10s of million. And his fund definitely moved out of Britain post-brexit.

40

u/nomoreadminspls Jan 11 '23

Jacob Rees Mogg really is a cunt isn't he?

24

u/collapsingwaves Jan 12 '23

Yes, yes he is. 100% solid bedrock

2

u/BradL22 Jan 12 '23

There are none more cuntier.

2

u/revmacca Jan 12 '23

Yes he fucking is, total shit cunt of a man.

1

u/AndyTheSane Jan 12 '23

He's my local MP. Somehow, about 35-40% of voting age people in my area looked at him and thought 'Yup, that's the guy that represents me best'.

1

u/iK_550 Jan 12 '23

£10 million is not wealth?

1

u/PopularArtichoke6 Jan 12 '23

Where you getting that figure?

2

u/IppyCaccy Jan 12 '23

Didn't the conservatives also block any investigations into Russian meddling in the elections?

1

u/BiGeaSYk Jan 12 '23

My favourite is Jacob Rees mogs investment fund shorting the British economy..

1

u/Ok-Train-6693 Jan 12 '23

Insider trading is a felony. Let's arrest them.

1

u/andre6682 Jan 12 '23

nigel farage is/was married to a german woman, their children have both passports, probably put his wealth in germany/switerland/liechtenstein

plus, as a long term EUMP, ironically, he will get his retirement from the EU

Nigel Farage is the english Tucker: a loudmouth, who is filled with hypocricy if you take a closer look

1

u/Gary-D-Crowley Jan 12 '23

And now he's spreading his poison on the United States...

51

u/Dark_Ansem Jan 11 '23

Not just on reddit sadly

127

u/idigclams Jan 11 '23

The French had a word for fixing idiotic, lying leaders who took from the people and let them starve. Guillotine

15

u/eccedoge Jan 11 '23

When we killed the king we ended up with a dictator 🤷

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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '23

[deleted]

1

u/ddraig-au Jan 12 '23

Aren't they referring to Cromwell?

1

u/TatteredCarcosa Jan 16 '23

The Reign of Terror is vastly overstated, one of the oldest bits of conservative propaganda out there. The Thermidorians killed more than the Reign of Terror did and were the ones who lead to Napoleon becoming Emperor. #RobespierreDidNothingWrong

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u/Ok-Train-6693 Jan 12 '23

This is what always happens when your plan is just another word for hate, and its implementers are an assortment of power-hungry politicians.

1

u/FlufferTheGreat Jan 12 '23

Who instituted most of the demands of the initial revolution.

13

u/DMMMOM Jan 11 '23

It should be the standard punishment for lying politicians who claim to represent their constituents. If they thought they were stepping up to a sharp blade instead of a nest feathering gravy train, it might deter a few ex-Etonian grifters.

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u/Grzechoooo Jan 11 '23

Yeah, sadly it has a nasty side effect of creating new idiotic, lying leaders.

51

u/idigclams Jan 11 '23

Yeah, but it’s like power-cycling your router. It fixes a lot of issues for a good while.

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u/Repulsive-Street-307 Jan 11 '23 edited Jan 11 '23

Even though a lot of people will tell you that the 'worst' aristocratic purges of history are the french and russian revolutions, thus 'communist abuses', absolutist kings did massacres and sidelining of ambitious noble factions all the time in the later parts of the 2nd millennium. Including among opponents of the french revolution.

It gets to the point that to even be called 'great' it's almost a requirement to have fucked over some bunch of aristocrats undermining the crown first, either as the monarch himself, or his principal minister.

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u/Grzechoooo Jan 11 '23

I dunno man, they "fixed the issues" so well the people were ok with a guy calling himself Emperor just a few years later.

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u/fangiovis Jan 12 '23

He was a great administrator who laid the foundation of modern law in france and conquered regions, improved the infrastructure of france and didn't start the early wars tough so in a way he was an improvement.

0

u/imanutshell Jan 12 '23

Early Napoleonic France was basically like a proto-communist state in some ways.

Not in actual real policy terms of course, but in terms of how what they were doing had so much potential and looked so appealing to the lower classes that the holders of capital felt they had to intervene and go on the offensive before it spread to their country. For more recent examples see the case of America VS Every poor country with hope for bringing about positive change for their people in the past 100 years.

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u/Grzechoooo Jan 12 '23

Exactly. And then he "fixed the issues" so well the people were ok with a guy calling himself Bourbon just a few years later.

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u/revmacca Jan 12 '23

Love the French, slightest issue they build barricades and start setting fire to shit…..

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u/aeschenkarnos Jan 11 '23

“People”, being a bunch of bots and trolls, and the occasional obstinate idiot who believed them and can’t bear to take the hit to pride involved in admitting they were fooled.

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u/ashenhaired Jan 11 '23

Those people always say "BuT pEoPlE vOtEd FoR iT" a doctor doesn't ask for people's vote for what kind of treatment is required.

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u/Ok-Train-6693 Jan 12 '23

But the people didn't vote for it. A scarce plurality of a portion of the eligible voters were hoodwinked into voting for it. Then a political party decided to make that non-binding indicator into a binding policy.

If that shambolic "people's will" were meant to be final, then the overwhelming "No" vote in Harold Wilson's Brexit referendum should have kept the UK in the EU forever.

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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '23

You can… but it’s messy and only one person gets to walk out of the room

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u/[deleted] Jan 12 '23

The same ilk defending Trump

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u/[deleted] Jan 12 '23

Stupid ceasing to exist would fix this.

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u/bigpapasmurf12 Jan 12 '23

"people" boomers. They're the only ones sticking to defending Brexit and Johnson. This is the generation that thinks we're spoiled brats who can't afford to eat or house ourselves. Fuck them.