Analysis & Opinions - Foreign Policy

Britain's Declaration of Independence from Reality

| June 24, 2016

There's nothing to celebrate in the United Kingdom's sovereign decision to do itself irreparable harm.

Haven't you heard? It's Independence Day here in Britain! Rule Britannia!

At 6 a.m. this morning I went for a long run around Hampstead Heath, a park that rises above north London, to suck in the air of my newfound freedom. Surreal is the only word to describe the experience: No headphones, no one else around, running with the knowledge that something was wrong with the picture perfect glint of the city skyscrapers below on this beautiful summer morning (here: look at my photo). This is not what Independence Day was supposed to feel like.

An Independence Day is supposed to come at the moment of victory, after the carnage. The hard part is supposed to be over, and now the sunlit uplands lie ahead. That was indeed the story of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, which closed decades of sectarian turmoil and civil war in England, and laid the foundation for the Bill of Rights of 1689, the Act of Union with Scotland of 1707, and the birth of Great Britain....

Continue reading (log in required): http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/24/britains-declaration-of-independence-from-sanity/

For more information on this publication: Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation: Simpson, Emile.“Britain's Declaration of Independence from Reality.” Foreign Policy, June 24, 2016.

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