Future Echo

Some of the criticism of the EU from people against it is that it has a central ruling elite who are disconnected from the everyday population. This makes it sound like an empire but is it actually a valid criticism? And what is the gulf that separates the UK and the European Union? Throughout the ages we have had empires from the Chinese, Roman, Ottoman, British and a plethora of others. The point about an empire is that its population is ' culturally and ethnically distinct from the imperial (ruling) ethnic group and its culture '. It is contrasted to a federation, which is a ' union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ' or a community which is a ' social unit that has something in common, such as norms, religion, values, or identity '. To consider the European Union some form of imperial empire one needs to consider it from a phenomenological point of view. I would argue that the approach i

Brexit has made me think a lot more about politics than I ever have in my life and about how following in the footsteps of the Messiah relates to politics. I think it has made me realise that I had become complacent with the status quo and more than anything that the direction the English speaking world is taking is definitely not the way of Christ. Historically we have used a left <-> right scale that have had Christians scattered across the line. The reason for this scattering is that there are other dimensions and some Christians have desired those other attributes of the related party and then assumed because of that almost everything with the party must implicitly be Christian. The left <-> right labels of  Democrat vs Republican or Labour vs Conservative I find particularly unhelpful. This is even worse when one tries to translate between America and the UK with these terms. When I saw the political compass I thought that was a really useful addition. Especiall

If it's on the side of a big red bus... does it have more credibility? Broken democracy? The Brexit referendum in 2016 cut across the traditional Conservative and Labour politics of the United Kingdom with a result that was 51.89% in favour of leaving the EU and 48.11% in favour of remaining in the EU. A less than 2% swing would have reversed the decision. The campaign was vitriolic with accusations of lies on one side and projected fear on the other. That has continued and there is no sign of 'the country coming together again'. Voting pattern of those eligible to vote in the 2016 Referendum  Though some Leave voters argue the referendum was clear, I do not believe one can really argue that it was an overwhelming result either way nor what the desires of those who did not vote are, one can only say that just over one third of those allowed to vote wanted to leave the EU and just under one third wanted to remain in the EU. It appears to me that there was s