As a student of comparative British and American Politics, 2016 was an interesting year to say the least.
Like many people, I couldn't quite believe what was happening. It all seemed surreal, and I kept asking myself, why would people believe this nonsense? We subsequently found out that it was as a result of sophisticated manipulation of social media with large numbers of people being exploited through a campaign of lies and deceit with echoes of Orwell's 1984 or the 1930s.
I set out my own thoughts about Brexit, which on reflection now seem like Gallows humour, just before the result which I have reproduced below
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-have-immigrants-ever-done-us-marc/
As a student of British government and politics my initial reaction to Cameron offering a Referendum on the EU was that it was a shrewd political move that allowed the readers of the Daily Mail an opportunity to have a whinge, but with little risk of an actual decision to leave.
Let's face it, the Scots spectacularly failed to vote for independence, so what’s the harm?
Then it all got a bit hot under the collar and, at times, it looked like the leave side might actually win.
The debate has clearly polarized the UK between the tangible issue of the economy and a classic reactionary attack on immigration.
So, at the risk of introducing some more unwanted facts into an increasingly emotional debate, I thought it might help to point out a few of the more amusing ironies.
My favourite being that; should the vote call for an exit from the EU it might be necessary to obtain the consent of the monarch (whose Father was a German) to assent to various bills. Naturally this would require the parliamentary procedure of the phrase, “La Reine le vault” or the Queen desires it, being repeated in Norman French in House of Commons.
Having moved to the Republic of Ireland myself from the UK and given that it is the hundredth anniversary of the Easter Rising this year, I also can’t help but point out that the indigenous peoples of the British Isles were in fact The Celts and therefore the people potentially most entitled to express their views on Britain’s role in Europe are the Scots and the Irish since everyone else is technically a Johnny Foreigner.
So, as a reminder of how immigration has actually enriched the United Kingdom and in no particular order here are some quintessentially British institutions that simply would not exist without immigration:
The monarchy (German - House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha)
Bank of England (Dutch)
Marks and Spencer (Jewish)
The pound (Roman) - In fact this is a beautiful irony because a "pound" of metal was actually recognised across the Roman Empire and could be used for goods and services in Gaul or Italy - the first European Single Currency if you like.
The English Language is comprised of French, German, Latin, Danish and a whole host of other influences.
The 1959 classic car the Mini, was designed by Alec Issigonis, who was an asylum seeker. His family were Greek.
The National dish is the Curry, from India......
I could go on but I think you should get the picture.....
It seemed funny at the time, but increasingly that joke isn't funny anymore.
Now, we are about to reach the point of no return and as they say the "chickens are coming home to roost''. I actually found myself walking around a Supermarket recently stocking up on HP Sauce and Coleman's Mustard. You can take the man out of etc......
There is going to be disruption no doubt about it, and in our business, we have been preparing for the various possible outcomes for the last few years.
As an investor, our advice to you is always that you should ignore the crises du jour as I set out in my guide to Brexit sometime ago.
The purpose of this guide is to set out an alternative way of thinking about how Brexit might impact on portfolios in the future. Naturally, we don’t have a crystal ball and we are not attempting to discuss what form Brexit might take, if it is going to happen or how markets might be impacted...
view.joomag.com
The world is always lurching from one crisis to another and investors should try to ignore the noise.
This has actually been good for our business in the short-term with many Brexit refugees now becoming clients.
A big question for retail investors who were regulated out of purchasing non-EU ETFs by the PRIIPS regulations is what do you do now that a UK Investment Trust will now be a "complex investment" on many retail investment platforms.
