Brexiters don’t mind freedom of movement – as long as you’re rich enough to pay for it | Zoe Williams

Legatum founder Christopher Chandler campaigned for leave but has now bought Maltese citizenship. Was making open borders an elite privilege the idea all along?

It’s an advert by an ancestry-DNA company, meant to be funny, in a trolling way, but actually quite tear-jerking: some Swedish fishermen singing in charming baritone; a French lady peeling potatoes; some rugby players from Ireland, all singing Rick Astley’s Together Forever. It’s mainly the unbearable sweetness of the 80s pop hit rendered by regular human voice, but also the message: we may be leaving Europe, but the average British person has 60% European DNA. So we’re always welcome.

Brexit emotions tend to conflict: you can’t laugh at Tory disarray while simultaneously worrying about the sheer scope of their incompetence. Even the cognitive gear shift involved in opposing Brexit because it is stupid, and wondering whether it’s legitimate to oppose a stupid thing when it’s what other people want, I’ve been finding a little difficult. So “ineffable sadness” and “detached satirical scorn” have barely had a look in this week, the mood of which has been set by the citizenship arrangements of one Christopher Chandler.

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from The Guardian http://ift.tt/2nvyJHl