I’m not the only person watching the countdown to Brexit very closely. On the other side of the Channel, Annette Dittert, the ARD‘s correspondent in London and author of “London Calling: Als Deutsche auf der Brexit-Insel” is providing regular updates on her Facebook page as well as making frequent appearances on the evening news.
This morning she released a video containing three very interesting interviews. The first of which left me shaking my head in despair. Staff and customers in a London café complain that the UK should have been out of the EU by now and is not leaving quick enough, and they are somehow under the impression that “they need us more than we need them”, rejecting the possibility of “no deal” leaving the country poorer and without trade deals.
The second interview does not really inspire much more hope either. A restaurant owner is offering their customers a 25% discount if they e-mail their local MP to support a second referendum and bring a printout of the e-mail with them. A lot of people think it is a good idea, but few actually take up the offer, a phenomenon not unknown in local politics in Germany.
The final interview contains a prognosis of what is likely to happen at the end of March.
Meanwhile, the Mayor of London has warned that leaving the single market will damage the city for “decades to come“, and says that the effects of a no-deal Brexit will be felt “immediately”.
Considering the amount of paper work that I’ve already been through since the referendum, I’d say I’ve been feeling the effects for some time now.
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