Last night’s Czech Presidential debate, presented by TV Prima, was an offence to a mature democratic society. Whether it was down to lack of professionalism, or something more deliberate, is something I cannot judge, although many people have views. And maybe it is easy for me to criticise, having been brought up with the BBC. Maybe thanks to that upbringing, it isn’t difficult for me to identify 10 ways in which TV Prima let themselves, and the country, down:
Month: January 2018
The continuing mess of Brexit; Part 2
Before you Czexit, check out Brexit!
Czechs are apparently among the most Eurosceptic peoples in the EU. While the results in the latest Eurobarometer show an improvement in attitudes towards the EU, Czechs still appear to be far more negative than the Poles, the Slovaks or even the Hungarians. The reasons behind this deserve discussion in a separate blogpost, but the upshot is that certain politicians, particularly the far-right politician Tomio Okamura, have encouraged talk of a referendum on EU membership. So for any Czech citizens reading this who feel persuaded that Czexit might be a good thing, I urge you to consider the following insights from the Brexit referendum :
The continuing mess of Brexit, and what Czechs can learn from it (part 1)
Part One – why it is (probably) happening
Brexit hasn’t happened yet. 18 months on from the referendum, the British are hardly any clearer about what their country and their lives will be like after it leaves the EU; and this despite the fact that every single day, something to do with Brexit dominates the serious news channels.
At the very least, it has become clearer to many who voted for Brexit that the process of leaving the EU is far more complex than their political leaders had claimed. I doubt that on the day of the referendum more than 5% of the population could correctly state what Euratom is, or that the European Court of Human Rights is not an EU institution. Well, now they are finding these things out. Drip, drip, drip…the truth about Brexit comes out in little drips.