Brexit is nothing but a great big fat lesson for our children. It plays out like the tale of “The Emperor who had no Clothes”. What would such a modern morality tale look like? Well, something like this:

• Once upon a time there was a Great Nation
• The people of that Nation worked hard 5 days a week and enjoyed their hard earned weekends.
• Every weekend the people headed to the beach, swam and bought ice creams
• The Ice Cream and Swim Suit industries got together and agitated to make the weekend longer
• They reasoned that longer weekend mean they would make more money and people would be happier
• For many years they campaigned to tell the people that weekends were good and work was bad
• People loved the idea of long weekends and easily believed all the stories they were told
• The idea gained political weight because so many politicians sold Ice Cream and Swim Suits
• The Politicians argued amongst themselves about how long a weekend should be
• Finally the politicians resolved to put it to an advisory Referendum
• The Referendum proposed that the weekend be 5 days and the working week 2 days
• Those who wanted things left as they were were called “Workers”
• Workers cried that a 5 day weekend could never work and everyone would be poor
• Those who wanted longer weekends were called “Weekenders” and they had their own political parties who became very powerful
• Weekenders said that a 5 day weekend meant they could take back control of their leisure time
• The experts told the people that the economy would crash with only a 2 day working week
• The Ice Cream Politicians said that was “Project Scary” and the people should ignore the experts
• The Ice Cream Politicians rode around the country in a big red bus with pictures of people swimming in seas of ice cream
• The people went “hmmmm.. ice cream..”
• 52% voted for a 5 day weekend
• 48% knew this would be catastrophic folly and voted to keep things as they were
• People who worked hard and wanted to keep the 5 day working week were assaulted on the streets
• Workers assumed that Parliament would do nothing – because the idea of a 5 day weekend is stupid
• However the Government declared they had a mandate for a 5 day weekend and set to work making it happen – because that was kind of what they wanted to do anyway
• Anyone who pointed out that the 5 day weekend was unworkable and stupid were derided as “traitors” and “saboteurs”
• The Workers took the Government to court to ensure that Parliament had a say in the process
• But Politicians were scared that they would lose their jobs to the Weekender political parties – so the Politicians did what the government told them to
• The Politicians told the people that they could have a 5 day weekend yet keep all the benefits of a 5 day working week
• However this was impossoble and the economy tanked because it wouldn’t work without work
• The currency crashed as foreign investors found that the once great Nation was no longer “great”
• All the factories and banks moved overseas because they couldn’t get anything done in the once great Nation
• All the other Nations laughed at the once great Nation and took away their Business & jobs for they were willing to work 5 days a week like normal people
• People had their 5 day weekends but found they had no money to buy Ice Cream and Swim Suits
• Nobody went to the Beach anymore – now they queued at soup kitchens
• The Weekenders blamed the Workers for not working hard enough
• Nobody won/everybody lost
• And nobody lived happily ever after
• Especially the Children who grew up under the folly of the grown-up’s mistakes
• When the children grew up they put back things the way they were
• Then everyone lived happily ever after – and much wiser for the experience