UKIP have stirred things up, and it isn't all bad

This is why I never get anything done on Sundays.  I have just been on Twitter and read a link to an article by Diane James about the EU’s latest initiative.  They are proposing a common curriculum, or at least that is what I assume.  She naturally interpreted it as an attempt to push pro-EU propaganda in the schools.  Equally naturally, I think she has totally missed the point.

Who Is To Blame For Making Brexit Divisive?

It is a remarkable coincidence that the Sun and the Moon are the same size in the sky.  As a result we have solar eclipses that are extremely dramatic.  There are enough stars around that the Earth is probably not unique, but it must nonetheless be pretty rare.   There is a similar remarkable symmetry around the current state of opinion on Brexit.   A study of public opinion in the UK suggests that at the moment around 35% of the population are firmly committed to the idea of leaving the EU.  And around 35% believe strongly that we should stay in.   Neither opinion is particularly surprising, but to have such even support for both is one heck of a coincidence. 

Brexit Is Like Giving Up Smartphones

We could do without smartphones.  Everything they do can be done by somthing else.  It makes sense to use the phone as the conduit for a lot of services that really fit being in the palm of your hand.  But if we chose as a society to do without them nothing much would really change.   Once everyone had got rid of their devices, all the software had been rewritten and all the jobs that are currently created by the smartphone infrastructure redirected to alternative platforms, nothing much would be different.  We’d just have a very slightly less convenient life than we have, but not so you’d particularly notice.