In Much-Twaddle-in-the Marsh, the talk these days, when it isn’t about Liz Truss as the UK’s lost leader, is about the imminent collapse of the European Union. Those pressing the case do so with lip-smacking relish. Nothing would please them more than to see “Europe” sink beneath the waves as the goodship Royal Sovereign prepares to drop anchor somewhere between Singapore and Perth.
Each of the claims made has some basis in fact, which is what makes them superficially believable. But they are exaggerated in the manner of a political cartoon. The first is that Germany has totally lost the run of itself and is about to become the Sick Man of Europe. The second is that France has become ungovernable. The belief that mass immigration is rapidly turning Europe into a demographic colony of North and sub-Saharan Africa is claim number three, while, as icing on the cake, the contention is that in the midst of the Ukraine war “Europe,” as distinct from Nato, has been about as much use as a chocolate teapot.
