11 perfect reactions to a Brexiter’s lament for national pride
Economist Andrew Lilico is one of the very small percentage of his profession who make a positive case for Brexit. Although he writes for several outlets, including the Telegraph and the Guardian, it’s his Twitter account getting the most attention at the moment, after he tweeted a navel-gazing thread – or “nasal-gazing” if you’re Esther McVey.
I've lived & worked in many countries. Some are beautiful. Some exiting. Some exotic. Some dangerous. But when I was in *Britain* it was different. When I looked out of the window – in Chester, or Oxford, or London or wherever – there was…something there. It *mattered*.+
— Andrew Lilico (@andrew_lilico) March 3, 2019
+When you learned about British history – English, Scottish, Imperial, whatever – it *mattered*. It brought us here. Now. To this moment of decision & progress. We could do our duty, or we could disappoint. We could change things for the better. Or we could be selfish. *Now*.+
— Andrew Lilico (@andrew_lilico) March 3, 2019
+Politics mattered. If we screwed up, we could cost history & the future of the world something precious, that destiny or God had gifted to us through a unique thread of events – Providence or happenstance – that equipped *us* to make our contribution, our link in the chain.+
— Andrew Lilico (@andrew_lilico) March 3, 2019
+This afternoon, just for a moment, when I looked out of my window, I saw things differently – as I suppose Remainers or certain lefties must see things all the time. I just saw my car. Some trees. Radlett. Nowhere different from anywhere else in the world. Just a town.+
— Andrew Lilico (@andrew_lilico) March 3, 2019
+The place I saw didn't disappoint me or the world or God or history, because nothing was expected of it. It wasn't special. It had no duty. It hadn't been gifted anything. Its people had no task. No responsibility. They were just people, like anywhere else in the world.+
— Andrew Lilico (@andrew_lilico) March 3, 2019
+It was one of the saddest moments of my life.
— Andrew Lilico (@andrew_lilico) March 3, 2019
It’s quite something, isn’t it? He was probably in the top four in his debating society – definitely in the top ten. His piecemeal speech may not have had the effect he’d have liked, however, if the reactions are anything to go by.
1.
For an insight into the psychological roots of extreme nationalist sentiment this thread is like a case study.
A genuinely disturbing read, and unintentionally revealing on so many levels. https://t.co/Sfh9Y0YiqO
— Elinor Elliot #FBPE (@ElliotElinor) March 3, 2019
2.
"Alexa, I'm feeling especially racist but want to couch it in a Ladybird-book nostalgia, a bit like those fucking awful poems about women in kitchens. What should I say?" https://t.co/j1trbgqeZv
— G Rhydian Morgan (@grhydian) March 4, 2019
3.
When future historians are combing twitter to locate the source of Brexit, they will stumble upon this thread and read it, in wonder, until the very last tweet. Then they will have found it. https://t.co/EXDWLKV6H9
— Jonathan Coe (@jonathancoe) March 4, 2019
4.
This thread is worth a couple of minutes of your time.
Not because it’s relevant or particularly insightful, it’s just fucking hilarious. https://t.co/YLdeHC1CHm
— EssexBuccaneer (@EssexBuccaneer) March 4, 2019
5.
In which a man has, at seemingly interminable length, the realisation that no matter where we are, or where we're from, we're all still people.
And is depressed by it.
Because he's a twat. https://t.co/QJ2NhUOlya
— Philip (@Psychonaut99) March 3, 2019
6.
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Cricket, on the green at Chipping Norton. I watched as a vicar wobbled on a bicycle past a thatch-roofed pub. A picnic, with wasps. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain…"
— EffEvans #FBPE #FBR (@eff_evans) March 3, 2019
7.
Oh dear god, I’ve read some shyte in my time (I’ve written a fair amount of it) but this has got to win the Millenium Gobshyte of Shyte Award
You need professional help, urgently, and I mean that most sincerely
— (@zuluzim909) March 3, 2019
8.
It's easier to imagine this stuff scribbled in the back of the homework diary of a disordered 14 year old than to believe it came from the mind of a functioning adult.
— Bill Burke (@will_de_burgh) March 3, 2019
9.
https://twitter.com/RussInCheshire/status/1102324134594400256
10.
Jesus wept. I've read some senti.ental misguided tripe from Leavers in the last 3 years but this is beyond parody.
Jumpers for goalposts.— Bearded Folly (@MoonrakerXI) March 3, 2019
11.
Imagine tweeting this seriously…we don’t matter any more or less than any other country you bellend
— •lina• (@agirlcalledlina) March 3, 2019
Writer Otto English wasn’t as dismissive as most, and he had some sage words for Mr Lilico.
This is an extraordinary thread. It's Andrew Lilico apparently coming to terms with reality. Andrew seems genuinely knocked back by it but it's honest stuff and I salute him for that. No need to be sad Andrew. Life is a rollercoaster you just gotta ride it – as Keating once said https://t.co/isGFDEPzF5
— Otto English (@Otto_English) March 3, 2019
Others might say Andrew Lilico says it best when he says nothing at all.
