letters@prospect-magazine.co.uk
Referendum rumbles
Prospect is without doubt the magazine for informed opinion. However August’s edition was an aberration that has already been overtaken by events. Almost all the major contributors on Brexit: Anatole Kaletsky, Lucy Wadham, Jay Elwes and Rachel Sylvester, hysterically bewailed the vote and proclaimed the instant collapse of the UK’s economy, institutions, and morale. They were evidently writing soon after the result when everything was wobbling. Now things are settling down, and their declarations are looking very silly. Even the decline of the pound could work out in our favour. It is unwise to form instant judgments on earth shaking events. Not for at least five years will we be able to make any objective assessment, and my hunch is that the British will, as usual, rise to the challenge. Roger Scruton made the wisest statement: “It is true in politics as it is in biology, that the failure to adapt is the prelude to extinction.” Brussels take note.