On the economic front, the FTSE 100 stock index (higher cap with many internationals) has rallied - by all accounts solely because investors realised that the invocation of Article 50 will take more time than expected and business will continue as usual for a few months. FTSE 250 (more UK-centric) remains pretty awful, and the less said about the pound, the better.
There is a real concern that once 'the City', (colloquial name for London's financial services centre, derived from the central area of the metropolis where many of the firms are headquartered) loses its ability to trade in euro-denominated securities, the financial industry will stampede to the Continent, which would hurt the economy considerably. Actually, that's another thing worth underlining: in contrast with participation in free trade zones, bilateral free trade agreements do not tend to be concluded in blanket, catch-all terms. They tend to go industry-by-industry, which is how advantages get extracted by parties with better leverage. The EU will be happy to trade freely in commodities and manufactured goods, where it has the upper hand, but not in financial services, the UK's domain.
The 'Regrexit' petition (cute hashtag if there ever was one) has gotten something on the order of 4 million signatures, and the US Secretary of State has made headlines this morning by saying that the vote could be walked back because no one among the country's leadership has any idea how to actually go about getting the process started. While that strikes me as cozy wishful thinking, it is telling just how quiet the leaders of leave have been after their victory, and how little planning for the consequences of that victory was apparently done. One American op-ed invoked the cliché of a car-chasing dog perplexed by having actually caught one, and it's kind of hard to argue with that image.
Scotland's special fast-track to the EU is indeed opposed by Spain and possibly other nations with restive independence-minded regions of their own, but Sturgeon is continuing her meetings with EU officials, and a new poll suggests that support for Scottish independence has been bolstered significantly from the 2014 referendum. As against that, the economic case for secession from the UK is far from persuasive. It is yet another one of the things that will take years to sort out.
And, on a sad note, a big rise in reports of anti-immigrant hate crimes and abuse has been noted immediately following the vote, about 57% according to the National Police Chiefs' Council.
My own dim opinion of Brexit aside, I suppose one thing that folks supportive of leave and remain can agree on, for the benefit of the American perspective which started this thread in the first place: succeed or fail, it's a pretty educational test case with some easy translations to American politics. Nativism and protectionism versus globalisation and international structures. Worth paying attention.
There is a real concern that once 'the City', (colloquial name for London's financial services centre, derived from the central area of the metropolis where many of the firms are headquartered) loses its ability to trade in euro-denominated securities, the financial industry will stampede to the Continent, which would hurt the economy considerably. Actually, that's another thing worth underlining: in contrast with participation in free trade zones, bilateral free trade agreements do not tend to be concluded in blanket, catch-all terms. They tend to go industry-by-industry, which is how advantages get extracted by parties with better leverage. The EU will be happy to trade freely in commodities and manufactured goods, where it has the upper hand, but not in financial services, the UK's domain.
The 'Regrexit' petition (cute hashtag if there ever was one) has gotten something on the order of 4 million signatures, and the US Secretary of State has made headlines this morning by saying that the vote could be walked back because no one among the country's leadership has any idea how to actually go about getting the process started. While that strikes me as cozy wishful thinking, it is telling just how quiet the leaders of leave have been after their victory, and how little planning for the consequences of that victory was apparently done. One American op-ed invoked the cliché of a car-chasing dog perplexed by having actually caught one, and it's kind of hard to argue with that image.
Scotland's special fast-track to the EU is indeed opposed by Spain and possibly other nations with restive independence-minded regions of their own, but Sturgeon is continuing her meetings with EU officials, and a new poll suggests that support for Scottish independence has been bolstered significantly from the 2014 referendum. As against that, the economic case for secession from the UK is far from persuasive. It is yet another one of the things that will take years to sort out.
And, on a sad note, a big rise in reports of anti-immigrant hate crimes and abuse has been noted immediately following the vote, about 57% according to the National Police Chiefs' Council.
My own dim opinion of Brexit aside, I suppose one thing that folks supportive of leave and remain can agree on, for the benefit of the American perspective which started this thread in the first place: succeed or fail, it's a pretty educational test case with some easy translations to American politics. Nativism and protectionism versus globalisation and international structures. Worth paying attention.
