2019: An EU Space Odyssey


These photos were taken by me a few days ago at Space Expo at Noordwijk in the Netherlands. This exhibition is part of the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noodrwijk, which is the European Space Agency's main technology development and test centre for spacecraft and space technology. The European Space Agency (ESA) is an intergovernmental organisation of 22 member states - including the UK - dedicated to the exploration of space. ESA's work includes researching climate change and providing communication satellites that enable the GPS technology used in contemporary 'must haves' such as smartphones and Sat Navs.

As a committed 'remainer' in the UK's Brexit debate I have, nevertheless, become increasingly disillusioned with the shrill juvenile rhetoric of fellow 'remainers' which includes lampooning ad nauseam Theresa May and throwing milkshakes at Nigel Farage. A very recent example of this idiocy is conductor and Bach scholar John Eliot Gardiner lamenting that Brexit is a double disaster, because he doesn’t know how he will transport musicians and instruments back and forth across Europe once the UK is out of the EU. He then goes on to voice his fear of non-ecological and non-biological products from America, declaring ''A chlorinated chicken' from Donald Trump. This is a nightmare'.

Just a few seconds on Google reveals that in the future John Eliot Gardiner is happily travelling with his musicians and instruments not only to non-EU Brazil, but also - zut alors - to the nightmarish non-EU land of chlorinated chicken. If the 'remain' lobby had spent less time peddling this kind of fashionable nonsense and more time communicating the very real benefits of infrastructure economies of scale derived from EU projects such as the European Space Agency, the UK would not now be in such a sorry political mess.


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Comments

Mark said…
Hmm. In re shrill juvenile rhetoric, isn't (some of) this a case of the kettle and the pot? Whatever one may think of JEG - and I'd guess you're not a fan - the fact that he is to travel in the USA is quite different from not wanting US terms of trade to dictate UK food policy. Likewise, that he travels in Brazil has no connection with the fact that travel in Europe will henceforth be a matter of visas and suchlike where currently it isn't. A propos of which, I've already heard from US musicians that they may in future have to forego UK gigs when they tour Europe because the additional cost of visas and all that that entails may prove too costly to make the trip worthwhile.This isn't shrill juvenile rhetoric: it's simple accountancy.
7:11 pm
Pliable said…
Mark, I think we can amicably disagree over the emphasis placed by John Eliot Gardiner and other prominent musicians on the possible obstacles presented by post-Brexit visas for musicians performing in Europe.

But I am really more interested in your views on the main thrust of my post: namely that the 'remain' lobby has represented its case badly over the last three years and therefore must take its fair share of blame for the current mess.
8:20 pm
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