Broken Britain?

This chap's looking appropriately horrified about the results of the Brexit referendum. I'd shown him the coverage in a Sydney newspaper I'd taken with me.

Needless to say, the Brtish newspapers (and TV news, and much personal conversation) were also totally dominated by the subject during our visit. We saw with our own eyes how the issue had 'divided families'and 'split friendships', just as we'd heard.

I'd tell them all what a good job Britain was doing keeping the whole world entertained, what with all the ructions and multiple plot-twists every day from both sides of politics. Both major parties experienced leadership resignations or rebellions. And neither seemed to have very clearly defined procedures for appointing new leaders. It was all being fought out in a very scrappy way, seemingly with rules getting made up along the way.

As for the Labour leadership election (ballot closes 21 September), registered supporters were being frantically recruited by supporters and opponents of the incumbent (proudly socialist) leader, Jeremy Corbyn. When I met up with four of my old uni friends for a get-together, it turned out that two of the four had just registered for the vote. Both were going to vote for Corbyn. One admired the man and wants him to run the country. The other supports independence party UKIP, and wants Corbyn to win because he's sure this will destroy the Labour Party!