The Brexit impasse in British politics that has continued for more than three years to its current grinding crescendo may be symbolic of something more. Observer columnist, Will Hutton, discusses the outcomes beyond Brexit in Britain and Trump in the US as the culmination and death of a revolution – a clearly failed experiment – that began more than 40 years ago. He covers the need for the UK Head of State to act politically in the absence of a written constitution when dire circumstances demand it – an act that can only be carried out once – and concludes that these times in Britain demand an elected Head of State accountable at the ballot box. He says that as the dying days of a rotten old order are upon us, we should rejoice. The UK Constitution dates back to 1689 and consists of eight words: “What the Crown assents in Parliament is the law” and that’s it. [“There are reasons to be cheerful. These are the dying days of the rancid old order” by Will Hutton, The Guardian online, 11 August 2019]
Woman for an Australian Republic, Adelaide Ironside, republican poet and artist 1831-1867
Self portrait 1855, Newcastle Art Gallery NSW
