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What Brexit means for Britain and the EU

Fiona Hill, director of the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings and a senior fellow in Foreign Policy, discusses the decision of a majority of voters in Britain to leave the E.U. and the consequences of Brexit for the country’s economy, politics, position as a world power, and implications for its citizens.

      
 
 




britain

What Brexit means for Britain and the EU


Fiona Hill, director of the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings and a senior fellow in Foreign Policy, discusses the decision of a majority of voters in Britain to leave the E.U. and the consequences of Brexit for the country’s economy, politics, position as a world power, and implications for its citizens.

Show Notes

Mr. Putin (New and Expanded)

The "greatest catastrophe" of the 21st century?

Brexit and the dissolution of the U.K. Brexit—in or out? Implications of the United Kingdom’s referendum on EU membership

EU: how to decide (Anand Menon)

Thanks to audio engineer and producer Zack Kulzer, with editing help from Mark Hoelscher, plus thanks to Carisa Nietsche, Bill Finan, Jessica Pavone, Eric Abalahin, Rebecca Viser, and our intern Sara Abdel-Rahim.

Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on iTunes, listen in all the usual places, and send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu 

Authors

Image Source: © Neil Hall / Reuters
      
 
 




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Britain: incompetence, hubris, and austerity – Tory mistakes are murder

A recent shocking report by the Sunday Times demonstrates the fatal errors made by the Tories, whose incompetence and inaction have led to thousands of avoidable deaths. Workers and youth must fight to overthrow this rotten regime.




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Britain: the capitalist press – “a great keyboard on which the government can play”

This article was written before the coronavirus pandemic, but with the press spending weeks subjecting the Tories to nothing but uncritical “wartime” coverage, and now fawning over the establishment-friendly Labour leader Keir Starmer, the points it makes are more valid than ever.




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Britain: Starmer’s opposition – forensic flip-flopping

Lauded by the establishment for his ‘credible opposition’, Keir Starmer is also under pressure from workers to oppose reckless Tory measures. Instead of compromising with the government, Labour should be taking them to task.




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Britain: bosses’ pressure mounts as end of lockdown looms

The bosses are pushing ever harder for workers to return to work. And the Tory government is giving them free rein to restart the economy without the necessary safety measures. The labour movement must organise a fightback.




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Britain doesn't have enough salad to go around

Severe flooding in Spain has led to shortages so bad in the UK that some supermarkets are flying produce in from the United States.




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Definition of irony: Britain hit by CO2 shortage

It's also affecting everything from meat packing to crumpets.




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Sneak peak: Britain's cute new baby!

Move over royal baby, there's an infant two-toed sloth in town.




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Prince Charles Saves Britain's Apples

We have applauded Prince Charles before for his willingness to spend massive amounts of money on green causes. And now HRH has done it again. He has purchased 1,000 of the rarest British apple varieties. So have Geoffrey Anderton, who owns Lochnaw




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Op-Ed: Britain needs an economic model to guide the lifting of the coronavirus lockdown

Covid-19 has forced epidemiology and economics to become intertwined as never before.




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Britain could quarantine incoming travelers for 14 days, report suggests

Britain is to introduce a 14-day quarantine period for almost everyone arriving into the country to avoid a second peak of the coronavirus pandemic, The Times newspaper reported on Saturday.




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Britain's NHS shuns Apple and Google as it rolls out coronavirus contact-tracing app

The NHS app is based on the government's "centralized" framework instead of the tech giant's "decentralized" technology.




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Coronavirus app U-turn? Britain's NHS pays Swiss firm to investigate Apple and Google model

The NHS's digital innovation arm is paying Zuhlke Engineering £3.8 million to investigate the "decentralized" framework developed by Apple and Google.




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Britain was led by Churchill then – it’s led by a Churchill tribute act now

With coronavirus lockdown subduing VE Day, contrasts with 75 years ago were many and varied

Somehow the quiet made it louder. By rights, marking the 75th anniversary of VE Day in the midst of a pandemic that has confined us to our homes – forcing us to keep our distance from one another, denying us the right to gather in crowds – should have muffled this commemoration. A celebration in private would surely feel like no celebration at all. Katherine Jenkins singing to an empty Albert Hall, streets with no street parties and the pubs all shut: how could that add up to anything other than a damp squib?

And yet Friday’s marking of the end of the second world war struck a deeper chord than it might, had it been just another sunny bank holiday. Yes, the usual rituals had to be suspended. There could be no wreath-laying at local memorials; instead, Prince Charles and Camilla laid two small wreaths on their own, in a crowdless corner of Balmoral, watched by a lone piper. There could be no veterans’ parades, no reunions for those who had served, no grateful handshakes from the politicians: 102-year-old former staff sergeant Ernie Horsfall had to make do with a Zoom call from Boris Johnson. And there were limited opportunities for silliness: the Winston Churchill impersonators were all dressed up with nowhere to go, forced to perform their cigar-and-V-sign shtick online.

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Once again a battle-scarred Britain must find a new role in the world

We celebrate VE Day with the need to forge new trading relationships and with the grotesque economic burden of the coronavirus

In making his landmark post-Brexit speech in February under Sir James Thornhill’s baroque painted ceiling in the Royal Hospital, Greenwich, Boris Johnson believed he had found the perfect setting to paint his own picture of Britain charting a new course as a free-trading, independent, open and liberal nation.

Like the painting above him, eulogising the triumph of William and Mary over the popish and tyrannical French, Johnson’s speech was an optimistic and patriotic piece of work. It offered a distinctive vision of British prosperity and diplomatic superiority.

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Travellers to Britain to face two-week quarantine

Britain is to introduce a 14-day quarantine period for almost everyone arriving into the country to avoid a second peak of the coronavirus pandemic, The Times newspaper reported on Saturday.




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'Harvesting' is a terrible word – but it's what has happened in Britain's care homes | Richard Coker

Epidemiologists use the term to describe tragic excess deaths – but for Covid-19 it seems to be the de facto government policy

There’s a term we use in epidemiology to capture the essence of increases in deaths, or excess mortality, above and beyond normal expectations: “harvesting”. During heatwaves, or a bad season of influenza, additional deaths above what would be normally seen in the population fit this description. Harvesting usually affects older people and those who are already sick. Generally, it is viewed as a tragic, unfortunate, but largely unpreventable consequence of natural events. It carries with it connotations of an acceptable loss of life. It is, in a sense, what happens as part of a normal life in normal times. But the word also has darker connotations: those of sacrifice, reaping, culling. As such, while it may appear in textbooks of epidemiology, it doesn’t occur in national influenza strategic plans or national discourse. The concept of harvesting is restricted to epidemiological circles.

But what if politicians promote the notion of harvesting (while declining to use the term) where it is not a “natural” consequence of events but a direct consequence of government policy? What if the medical and nursing world do not accept harvesting in these circumstances? What if a policy that results in harvesting cannot be articulated because it is unacceptable to the broader population? This is where we have got to with the coronavirus pandemic. Nowhere better exemplifies this tension between a policy and its popular acceptance than the effects of coronavirus in nursing homes.

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Gangs take bigger risks to smuggle drugs into lockdown Britain

Consignments are being moved in bulk across borders as Covid-19 cuts off normal routes, say police

Organised crime groups are taking increasingly audacious risks as they attempt to smuggle large quantities of drugs into lockdown Britain, senior police figures say.

Analysing the latest operations of transnational criminal networks, the National Crime Agency’s head of drug threat said that police were making more significant seizures during the pandemic than normal.

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Britain’s economy set for a ‘significant decline’, says ONS

Statistical agency warns of increased volatility in official data due to virus challenges




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Britain's tanker dispute with Iran

What are the factors Britain and its allies need to consider as they weigh their response to Iran's seizure of a British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz? Barney Jopson discusses the difficult waters Iran and the west must navigate to avoid a further escalation with Andrew England and Najmeh Bozorgmehr

 

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Britain and the baroque garden

An exhibition at Tate explores grand, ornate houses and gardens à la Versailles




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Britain demands EU give ground to save talks on future relationship

UK officials urge Brussels to move on three key areas ahead of crucial June meeting or risk breakdown




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Brussels and Britain clash over climate conditions in trade deal

EU push to incorporate Paris agreement adds to tension over post-Brexit relationship




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Britain considers bringing China on board with HS2

Political sensitivities could be outweighed by workers’ construction expertise




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How testing fiasco exposed Britain’s flawed virus response

Boris Johnson’s government was focused on Budget and Brexit — until disease took a grip




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Britain's Brexit gambit, Thiam ouster

Matthew Vincent and guests discuss revelations about the UK's opening gambit in seeking a deal on 'equivalence' with the EU, Tidjane Thiam's ouster from Credit Suisse, HSBC's delay in choosing a permanent chief executive, and challenger bank Starling's fund raising. With special guest Ann Boden, chief executive of Starling Bank.


Contributors: Matthew Vincent, regulation correspondent, David Crow, banking editor, Stephen Morris, European banking correspondent, and Nicholas Megaw, retail banking correspondent. Producer: Fiona Symon

 

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Writing Britain: how landscape shapes art and literature

From Dickens’ London to Wordsworth’s Lakes via the painter George Shaw’s suburban “edgelands”, the British landscape has long permeated writing and visual art. On the opening of the British Library’s exhibition Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands, Jan Dalley talks to the poet Owen Sheers; the exhibition’s curator Jamie Andrews; and FT art critic Jackie Wullschlager. The travel writer Robert Macfarlane is on the line. Plus, Faber's 1998 recording of Harold Pinter reading his poem “Joseph Brearley 1909-1977” © Faber & Faber Produced by Griselda Murray Brown  


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Mid-life financial MOT, credit card debts and Britain's growing tax gap

Do you find yourself stumped by questions about how much to put towards your mortgage payment versus your investments? It may be time for a midlife financial MOT. Presenter James Pickford talks to FT reporter Lucy Warwick-Ching about why advisers are targeting people in their forties and fifties. Next, we speak to a woman who cleared credit card debt to the tune of £16,000. And finally, we discuss what's behind Britain's growing tax gap. 

 

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Pensions tax relief, Winter fuel allowance and Britain's house prices

Is time running out for pensions tax relief? Chancellor Sajid Javid is reported to be considering a major shake-up of pensions at the Budget in a months time. The FT's pensions correspondent Josephine Cumbo talks to FT Money editor Claer Barrett about what form this could take. Next up, we debate the value of the Winter Fuel Allowance for wealthy pensioners. And finally, our resident property guru James Pickford on how the next property cycle could turn out. 

 

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Why is Britain so disenchanted with its politicians?

Matthew Engel tours Middle England in search of the root of voter disillusionment




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The foreign states that own Britain’s railways

Train travel in the UK now combines the worst features of capitalism and socialism




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How Britain fell back in love with the railways

A pledge to roll back the Beeching cuts has rekindled a strange national obsession




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EU increases pressure on Britain over Irish Sea customs border

Brussels sets out tariffs proposals aimed at reducing risk of smuggling into bloc




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The Brexit hopes of Britain's 'left behinds'

Many of those who voted to leave the European Union live in deprived towns and cities of the UK and were disillusioned with politics. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation teamed up with a think-tank, UK in a Changing Europe, to find out what policies they would like to see to improve their lives. Andy Bounds discusses the findings with Anand Menon, one of the report's authors. Read Andy's article here


Contributors: Andy Bounds, Enterprise Editor and North of England correspondent, and Anand Menon, Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at King's College London and director of the UK in a Changing Europe. Producer: Fiona Symon

 

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Britain’s electricity demand falls by a tenth in lockdown

Decline leads to a drop in wholesale prices as businesses close




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Now Britain must overcome the fear factor

The government needs to address concerns over the return to normal life




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Britain and EU are negotiating at cross purposes

Once the UK accepted trade friction, everything changed




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Britain after Brexit will not be alone, but it will be lonelier

The UK is entering a new world, going its own way while superpowers dominate




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Britain needs to be crystal clear about its virus strategy

After blundering, the government must admit that the lockdown will not be over in three weeks




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Realpolitik for post-Brexit Britain

The UK needs a hard-headed assessment of how to safeguard the national interest




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Britain cannot rely on a special relationship

Boris Johnson stood up to Washington over Huawei, but he badly needs a US trade deal




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Great Britain ice hockey triumph over Romania in 4-3 thriller

Great Britain took their first steps towards the next Winter Olympics when they emerged from the opening game of their qualifying tournament in Nottingham with a hard-fought 4-3 victory.




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Great Britain ice hockey 7-1 Estonia: Winner takes all clash with Hungary now awaits

Great Britain set up a winner takes all encounter against old rivals Hungary in Nottingham on Sunday when they took another step on the road to the Beijing Winter Olympics by beating Estonia 7-1.




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Great Britain's hopes of reaching Winter Olympics dashed with 4-1 defeat to Hungary

Great Britain's hopes of reaching the next Winter Olympics were dashed on Sunday when they were defeated 4-1 by their old rivals Hungary in a winner takes all clash.




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Great Britain legend Alex Danson-Bennet retires from hockey because of long-term concussion

Former Great Britain captain Alex Danson-Bennett has retired from hockey after failing to fully recover from a 'life-changing' head injury.




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Great Britain win silver in men's team sprint race at the Track World Championships in Berlin

It was left to Jason Kenny to add to the family's cycling silver after wife Laura defied doctor's orders but could not defy the odds.




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Louis Smith to represent Great Britain for first time since London 2012 triumph 

Louis Smith will represent Great Britain for the first time since his double Olympic medal-winning performance at London 2012 after being named in the squad for the European Championships.




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Japan win gold in men's gymnastics team final as Great Britain miss out on a medal at 2016 Olympic Games in Rio

MARTHA KELNER IN RIO: It is a sign of how far gymnastics in Britain has advanced that an Olympic medal was expected when the men's team took to the competition floor in Rio on Monday night.




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Katarina Johnson-Thompson relishes Rio 2016 showdown with Olympic champion and Great Britain team-mate Jessica Ennis-Hill

Rising heptathlon star Katarina Johnson-Thompson is relishing the prospect of a future showdown with Olympic champion and Great Britain team-mate Jessica Ennis-Hill.