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David Andrews
Malaga
Friday, 2 August 2024, 14:37
Lately there seems to be some kind of dissociation with the fact that actions always have consequences at some level or another. What we do, ... decide or support can have a very real effect on our day-to-day life, our rights or our general well-being.
Recently, I have seen complaints regarding the queues at passport control at Malaga Airport. Nobody likes waiting, but the implication is that there is something specifically wrong with Malaga Airport. On a recent trip, the line for passport control at Exeter Airport went out onto the runway (as you can imagine, Exeter Airport is not a large airport). The previous month, at Bristol Airport, the wait was more than an hour with screaming children (and parents) to add to the general sense of despair and frustration. I have been at Gatwick Airport with a group, unable to use the automatic gates, and seen the whole hall fill up with waiting passengers; in scenes reminiscent of the entry via Ellis Island in the 1890s.
Don't even get me on how long I have waited to get into the US, I think my record is six hours, including waiting three hours for a "personal interview" for the audacity of speaking Spanish to a colleague while travelling on a British passport!
When you enquire about the reasons for the long wait, the answers are normally the same: flights arriving at the same time, lack of staff, increased numbers of travellers in summer and, of course, stricter controls.
The UK's exit from the single market was always going to have a devastating effect on those British citizens who wanted to live, work, do business and retire in the European Union or those, who while living in the EU, maintained money, received pensions or inherited money in/from the UK and vice versa. But how could people possibly think that Brexit would not also affect holidays and short stays to the Schengen Area?
In the "good old days", when the queues at the passport control desk in Malaga started to build up, UK citizens would be ushered through quickly, barely showing their open passport page, and acknowledged with a kindly nod from the police officer. Those days are long gone and the situation has changed at all borders between the UK and the EU.
One decision can make drastic changes in a plethora of situations. When one asks in the UK today why people voted for Brexit; an embarrassed silence follows and then usually comments ensue about not receiving all the information, being misled or just not fully understanding the implications.
As Winston Churchill said, "Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." It's comforting to know that Nigel Farage and Reform UK received 14% of votes in the latest Westminster elections, 7% ahead of the Greens and 10% behind the Conservatives!
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