Mexit, Hexit, Brexit

The United Kingdom, last couple of weeks, was in an 'exit' mood. It is not the 'exit' that Jean Paul Satre thoughts  in his 1944 play 'No Exit' rather it is the exit that Tom Stoppard, a British Playwright  thought as 'Every exit is an entry somewhere else'.

Meghan Markle, an American actress, with a passion for humanitarian and feminist causes married to Prince Harry. BBC news says 'their romance was catnip. Here a golden couple, who were able to draw vast crowds, speak the language of younger generations and sprinkle royal stardust on any cause.' Soon it was clear that the royal couple wanted to do things differently. Their married life brought with it new titles - the Duke and Duchess of Sussex - and a new home at Windsor in Frogmore Cottage.

On 6 May 2019 Meghan gave birth to a child, named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, seventh in line to throne and the Queen's eighth great-grandchild. Throughout Meghan's pregnancy the press had been told there would be no information about the birth, beyond that it was happening. We have observed some sort of battle between press and the couple. Such scrutiny and pressure proved to be a struggle for the newly-wed Meghan during her pregnancy and in early motherhood.

When the Prince Harry opened up about his mental health, which was under constant management, it appeared that the couple were not happy.  He added in an interview that "Part of this job is putting on a brave face but, for me and my wife, there is a lot of stuff that hurts, especially when the majority of it is untrue". It has also been suggested the scrutiny of Meghan has been greater because of her African-American heritage.

The couple's frustration with some sections of the press has gone from being a matter between the palace and editors into the full glare of the public spotlight. Meghan sued the mail on Sunday over a claim that it unlawfully published one of her private letters and Harry filed proceedings at the High Court against the owners of the Sun, in relation to alleged phone-hacking.

At the end a dramatic year came to a close, the royal couple took an extended break from royal duties over Christmas, taking Archie to the Canadian province of British Columbia. Meghan decided to go out of the royal family first and hence the word 'Mexit' (Exit of Meghan) was born.

Prince Harry had a meeting with the Queen and decided to leave behind royal duties and royal purse. Hence the word 'Hexit' (Exit of Harry) was born and hopefully these words will be added to the Oxford dictionary in due course. Both Meghan and Harry hope that their next chapter will be to spent in North America as well as the UK, together with baby Archie and make their own path to the future.

'Brexit'-the word first uttered in a House of Common debate by the Tory MP David Nuttall on April 3, 2014. According to the House of Commons report, it was used on nine occasions in 2015, 2600 times in 2016 and nearly 9000 times in 2019. Overall it has had 24240 mentions.

I travelled most of countries in Europe and have noticed that Europe is different from Britain. For instance, if one visits France, Germany, Austria, Belgium and other European countries then they will notice that their windows open inwards, but in Britain window open outwards. Obviously this is not the reason for Brexit, this is just an observation.

I ask a British on the street and they reply, 'Britain is a proud island. For centuries we stood alone. Now we stand alone again…other countries are queuing up to get what we have to offer, whether it is music or a mild cheese.' Some says 'we behave with common sense and treat each other with polite good manners.' On the other hand a remainer of the European Union said 'we are stronger together'.

If we think about Britain's EU membership in number we can get the following: on 1 January 1973 the UK joins the European Economic Community under Prime Minister Edward Heath. 67% of the population said yes to the result of 1975 referendum on whether UK should remain in EU. 73 British MEP sat in the European Parliament.

In 2016 Brexit referendum, 52% votes to leave and 48% vote to remain in EU. When Britain joined the EU, the number of EU countries was 9. When Britain left the EU number of countries left behind is 27. Currently 3.5 million of EU nationals are in living in UK and 1.2 million of UK nationals are living in EU countries.

In 2018 Britain paid 8.7 billion to the EU. However, on 31 January 2020 at 11 PM (which is midnight Brussels time) UK membership of EU ended after 47 years. On the same day Chancellor has published a fifty pence coin that says 'Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations'.

Current timeline for different actions in relation to brexit is that-this week UK Prime Minister set out his aims for post-brexit trade talks On 25 February EU ministers will meet to agree their negotiating stance.

Expected date for launch of formal negotiations is 2 March. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is planning to Visit USA for UK-US trade talk in March this year. UK government will publish their immigration white paper setting out post-brexit visa rules in March. I have been informed that the UK will consider people before passport.

This means that from which country somebody wants to come is not a matter rather who wants to come in UK is a matter. Further summit will be held in Brussels in 18-19 June. In July future fisheries and financial services arrangement will be decided, as promised by the EU. There are two further Brussels summit will be held in October and December and on 31 December 2020 midnight the post-brexit transition period will end.

At this moment there is a separation anxiety exists among the British public. This is also the case in academia. How research grant will be managed and EU student will react to this exit from EU is uncertain. Fisheries and finance, immigration and Gibraltar are some of the important issues.

In case of fisheries two sides need to reach a quick agreement on how EU trawlers will do fishing in British waters from 2021 because fish do not understand rules and regulation about where to go. Access of European financial market by the City of London is an important issue.

Trade talks with non-EU states are important matters. UK needs to start new visa rules in place on 1 January when EU freedom of movement rules expires. Spain has a plan to force Britain to accept some form of shared sovereignty over the territory of Gibraltar. At this moment Gibraltar it is a British foreign territory, but they want to stay within EU.

Above all, Britain has put her leg outside the boundary of European Union. What reality Britain will face in the future remains uncertain. Sociologist Michel Foucault in 1966 argued that when the concept of humanity arose alongside the rationalism and democratic radicalism, intellectuals from several disciplines stopped trying to describe reality by making list of things, and instead looked for their inner dynamics.

British humanity is not just one inner species sitting on an isolated island rather political will should understand the inner dynamics of the European Union. Time will tell how this inner dynamics will react.

The Writer is a UK based Academic, Environmentalist, Columnist and Author