That's a powerful and quite sad report! I would file it under the heading *managed decline*....We do the declining, they do the managing - which is essentially a combination of neglect and control and betrayal, to the point where the people in their resignation get landed with a government that does not follow or represent the interests of the British people as a whole. We are no longer outraged by decline and neglect, we adjust to it, we get used to it, we accept it, we expect it.
So let's break down exactly what is happening. We can see the neglect, read 'betrayal', of the fishing industry as an example of the UK losing sovereignty over its affairs.
Who is doing the betraying? It is the urban elite pursing their own interests, which are more often than not globalist, at the expense of national and local communities, devesting real local assets to reinvest in financials and global outsourcing.
The result is that ordinary people come to expect no better than neglect from their governors.... it feels almost feudal.
Perhaps this makes tactical sense in some way at the level of the ruling elite, but it is missing a longer term strategic opportunity for Britain. Instead of MBGA, we have neglect of our local communities, of the diversity of our economic interests, and most importantly neglect of our culture, in this case of Britain as a maritime nation.
1. Fishing as an example of loss of Sovereignty
It isn’t just economic, it’s symbolic too.
Control over our own waters.... (and beaches of course, ha ha)
Local industry is important, isn't this obvious? Or does the urban elite not care about further marginalising already marginalised communities? This sounds a little like the shutdown of the mining industry in the 1980s, or deindustrialisation more generally - selling real assets and reinvesting financial products and services.
Maritime independence is not just economic, it's part of our culture. We don't want that changed. We are a maritime nation.
Post-Brexit, many expected the UK to reclaim and rebuild its fishing fleet, but the reality has been neglect. With this deal we have lost the opportunity to enhance a part of our economy and our culture.
2. Metrocentrism and the Policy Class
"Metro centric" is a pretty damning term. It means policy is written by and for the urban elite, while regional voices like Grimsby, Hull or Fleetwood are excluded or simply forgotten.
The Whitehall bubble buys sardines from Lisbon, while British boats rot in harbour.
3. The Silent Acquiescence of the Voter
“The ordinary voters acquiesce” ... sad and tragic. society has become so fragmented that one community cares a little for another. Have we lost a sense of national identity?
Is there any anger, any fight, left in us? Or is it just complacency and resignation? We take to the streets, we are kettled and imprisoned. Where is the popular uprising? For that matter, where is the local reinvention? For all the independent press we listen to, where are the alternative political groups - what is the fishing lobby doing? Is Farage our only hope? Where are the bottom up alternative visions?
4. Strategic Industry, Wasted Opportunity
Fishing it is a national asset and could be a strategic national industry if properly mapped into a national strategy. Perhaps no longer economically very significant, but these arenot just strategic assets, rhey are our border communities.
The govt should be thinking about job creation and revitalisation in coastal communities.... Not just fishing, but hospitality and tourism, and I'm sure there are many other industries peculiar to the coast.
Fishing also falls under the remit of domestic food security. There's work in processing, canning, and export value-add supply chains.... It's a huge industry in southeast asia, for example, and it could be in uk waters, if they were kept for uk-registered fishing vessels, contributing to our own food security and the balance of payments surplus.
What does our government do? They put it on the table as a bargaining chip in EU trade negotiations.
5. Conclusion: A Betrayal of Place
Anyone who looks at this more closely would feel a genuine sense of betrayal.
An island nation that has abandoned the sea is a nation that has lost a policy battle, or never had one; but more importantly, it's a nation that has lost an entire layer of its cultural and economic identity, given away in exchange for elite interests in major industries. This is an abandonment and neglect of a community, one amongst many that make up the UK people.
What can we do about it? Seemingly nothing except for a few
shouty headlines in last week's papers. It is so obviously disrespectful of
democracy and the interest of the British people. We are left numbed into
inaction, despondent, resigned to the neglect and betrayal. What can we do about this?
In conclusion, the British coast is not a quaint tourist trail. It’s a national asset - and a strategic blind spot. If we can't build policy for our periphery, we will lose the centre too.
Metrocentrism is not just lazy. It’s lethal.
