I was heartened today by seeing a picture on Twitter that showed
a Yorkshire flag on the left a Union flag in the middle and a European flag to
the right. The caption read "It doesn't have to be either or."
Indeed it doesn't.
I woke up this morning with stiff knees and said to my
husband: "Bugger Brexit. I need to
live somewhere warmer. Let's go and live in Spain."
However, I'm not sure that's what I actually want. I love
the more highly-marked changing seasons in northern Europe. I love the rich
culture in Great Britain.
For the last ten years we've lived near Manchester and having
spent our youth living near Birmingham, we appreciate being near a big city again.
Technically, we live in Greater Manchester but our little town used to be
postally described as Lancashire. (Apologies
to my like-minded friend who put the Yorkshire flag up on Twitter today.) That Manchester voted Remain, with a very
respectable majority, is a bonus. Becoming Mancunian does not negate my time in
the Midlands or the thirty years we spent living on the south coast. We've also
lived and worked and generally spent a good deal of time in other European
states. All of these places have influenced who we've become.
But here's the thing. Manchester is part of Great Britain,
that is still currently part of Europe – in fact is still will be even after
Brexit – and Europe is part of the world. When we finally meet the inhabitants
of other planets, we'll do well to recognise that Earth is part of the
universe, not something separate from it.
So if we follow this set theory through, Remainers can
cheer. Brexit will make things dammed awkward but it can't undo this bit of set
actuality. We are all global citizens whether we want to be or not. Our
overarching set is that of the citizens of everywhere.
As I said recently, maths has never been my strongest
subject, but set theory I understand well. Much of it applies to languages and those
I know about. Beats me how certain Oxbridge educated individuals are failing to
see this.
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