London grows on you and I felt it had a major growth spurt this past month following the election (I'm not trying to rub it in your face; I would have all my family and friends move here in a heartbeat). Opinion is split and the future is uncertain but I can't help but wonder: Is the UK the last vanguard of liberal democracy in the world, led by the nerdy by uncharismatic human right lawyer, Sir Keir Starmer?
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A Front Garden Outside in Bromley
Let's back up. I write this from a nation in what is considered "the old world," cultures who have weathered a lot more history and types of government just due to geography and plain old age. The meaning of the two world wars is much more visceral and visible here than the USA. In Britain, poppymania reigns in November. You see men and women wear red silk and paper poppies afixed to their jackets. This is honor of Remembrance Day, November 11th (Veterans' Day in the USA) when the Armistice was signed at eleven in the morning on 1918. At that hour, the bells toll and a two-minute quiet contemplation ensues when pedestrians stop dead in their tracks. Poppies grew gangbusters in the fields of Flanders where rotting corpses provided ample fertilizer for the symbolic flower. It should be duly noted that the red poppy is treated with controversy if not contemplt in Ireland where British soldiers committed atrocities against Catholic families in the north. Regardless, the British self-view is that they "stood alone" against Nazi fascism, saving the continent in the process. Whereas in America, we always remark on the halcyon days of the postwar period with its attendant new prosperity, new suburban homes, and new kids on the playground. In battle, America was able to swoop in muscularly at the last moment leading to the poignant (but unsubstantiated) observation by Winston Churchill that "Americans will always do the right thing, only after they have tried everything else."
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Fountains in Trafalgar Square
So what does it mean for me to be ensconced in the Old World? Well, London is a good place to adult. It is calm and genteel and fairly uniform. Like the rest of Europe, London looks towards tradition and history for guidance. People put in the effort to dress well and maintain decorum on the tube. Careerism and bluster are generally frowned upon while chatter and bonding at work is placed at a premium. Seeing oneself as the hero or major character in your own life is deemphasized. Brits don't even like sharing their first names; it's a curious cause for blushing. Like Boston in some sense, hushed voices are expected and loud volume in public is considered rude.
One Christmas Tree outside Charing Cross
I read a figure that ten percent of Brits have an Irish grandparent. This lucky lineage caused a deluge in applications for Irish passports following the Brexit decision. There is considerable cultural crossover between Ireland and Britain. I intuit that my people back home view me as a traitor for living in enemy territory but this is a clumsy perception. In fact, having a dual Irish citizenship and an Irish passport is considered the golden ticket since the Irish have one foot in the EU while being a member of the Common Travel Area. The CTA, an administrative agreement signed in 1922, allow citizens of the UK and the ROI to travel, live, study, collect pension, etc., to live in one another's domicile without paperwork. It is an agreement that survived Brexit and it allowed me to attend my post-graduate course hassle-free (note my nana was from Sligo which made my own dual citizenship possible). Brexit was a reluctant decision for 48% of UK voters; the other twenty-seven members of the UK were sad to see Britain go.
With my Irish golden ticket, I was able to reunite with long-lost cousins. I have extended family in Lancashire and Scotland; we have yet to meet up but we have been corresponding regularly—straight out of a Henry James novel. My cousins, kin of my nana, Celia Mullarkey, emigrated to England in the 1950s to work on the railroads. This is why I am a big proponent of both legal and (look the other way) illegal immigration. A nation's general industry is a proper way to sweeten the hive and attract worker bees. For freedom of movement is the sweetest of all the freedoms. There's nothing wrong with people seeking a better lives for themselves and their families. Imagine if citizens and politicians alike saw their home countries as prime destinations. What a badge of honor! Today is the day to turn the argument on its head.
A Rainbow Christmas Tree outside Charing Cross
Ireland, always worried that it will catch a cold if its largest trading partner sneezes, actually saw remarkable growth in shipping, banking, and trading following the Brexit decision. A few new passenger and cargo routes opened up between Ireland and France, bypassing the British ports of Holyhead and Liverpool, evading new onerous paperwork. Still, the Republic of Ireland, found itself disoriented immediately following the application of Brexit but was in the position of forging new alliances with the remaining twenty-seven EU members. Brother nations in the Baltics are seen as good partners. Ultimately, the Republic of Ireland is quite happy being in the EU (I liken it to the Irish being comfortable within large families!).
