Conservatives Ban Foreign Scholars From Advising On Brexit

Apparently the ruling Conservative party in Britain has caught the same prion disease that has infected the American Republican party for the last few decades. One of the symptoms of this disease is willful ignorance and the refusal to accept any advice from so-called experts. Incredibly, the Conservatives have decided that scholars who may happen not to be British citizens are not worthy of advising the government. The government informed the London School of Economics that scholars who were not British citizens would no longer be allowed to brief the government or do any government work related to Brexit. Apparently, even dual nationals are similarly barred. The Foreign Office claimed it was worried about sensitive material being made public during the negotiations. I think the Foreign Office may need to talk to Donald Trump who can brief them on something called a non-disclosure agreement. There is some question as to whether this violates UK law on public procurements. In any case, it is another exceedingly xenophobic move by the government that follows on the heels of the proposal by Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, to force British companies to reveal the number of foreign worker they have in their employ.

It truly seems that the Conservative party is hell-bent on leading England toward becoming a truly insignificant power. French President Francois Hollande made it clear earlier today that the UK will pay a heavy price for leaving the EU. “Right now, Great Britain wants to leave, but not pay,” he said. “That isn’t possible.” This put even more pressure on the British pound which suffered a “flash crash” in overnight trading and it will put even more pressure on London’s financial firms as it becomes clear that they will lose their place of primacy as well as easy access to Europe. And the uncertainty over Brexit will be a huge drag on the British economy until the “divorce” is eventually finalized. These xenophobic moves by the government also won’t make it any easier for the economy as specialized talent will no longer view Britain as hospitable for work. And who knows how Scotland and Northern Ireland are going to react, but exiting the union is certainly a possibility. But I guess it will all be OK because, with these xenophobic moves, the Tories will have co-opted the UKIP voters and will then be able to maintain power in their diminished little country for the foreseeable future.