Viswanathan K's Thoughts

Brexit is proving to be extremely messy. PM Cameron resigned; but suggested he might hang around for 3 months. That, of course, made the EU frothing mad: with nobody in power for 3 months, who’d they negotiate with? The UK government has to invoke Article 50 of the EU treaty, a formal notification to leave. With Cameron a lame duck, who’s going to that? Besides, the referendum is non-binding: so in theory , the government could choose to ignore the result altogether. Which, by the way, is exactly what many petitioners for a re-referendum want! Weirdly, even 2.3 million who voted to leave say they have changed their minds! Already? The phenomenon’s being called Bregret. Scotland’s representatives at the EU Parliament repeatedly pointed out that they had voted to stay; and the EU should keep that in mind. A thinly veiled hint that Scotland intends to secede and would want to be a part of the EU. Whenever Article 50 is activated, it would just start the clock on a 2-year...

It’s that time of the year, when people ( not TV channels) look back at the year gone by and, well, have regrets. At the bad choices made. About the road not taken. On missed opportunities. Countries like the US, however, never have regrets about actions taken. Or so my friend said (note we’re talking about US, the country, not individuals). Sure, they do look back but only to learn what to do differently the next time. Or for political mudslinging. But neither of that is what we call “regret”. Thus, post-World War II, they didn’t impose a harsh Versailles style peace treaty on the losers. They might have changed their usage of nukes policy but they don’t have any regrets about Hiroshima or Nagasaki. That’s a done deal. Contrast that with how Germany continues to behave about its Nazi past. Sometimes (note I say sometimes, not always) not having regrets can be a good thing for individuals too. After all, most things cannot be undone, so what good comes from beating your...