One of my favourite expressions requiring no further explanation even for speakers of English unfamiliar with home-made Anglo vernacular is, ”getting your knickers in a twist.” A metaphore requiring absolutely no introduction other than an understanding of the word ”knickers”. The mother of all predicaments is easily and immediately recognized as being amusing, embarrassing and difficult in solving without causing further embarrassment.
Political one liners are usually not my favourites but this one has to be an exception. ”Britain has got its Brexit knickers in a twist.” It has been five years since the UK left the European Union and large numbers of people are realizing and a few politicians are admitting that the sunlit uplands as advertised in the travel brochure turned out to be not much more than a foggy bog. I shall not dwell on the well known turbulence of Brexit only mention something I heard recently. Apparantly having an Irish grandparent has become the envy of the young as it offers access to an Irish passport thus once again opening the gates to Europe so cruelly shut by you know who.
Good for them showing up the Brexit nationalists (the Irish bit must really be getting up their xenophobic noses) as well as showing more initiative than the Labour government suggesting that the knickers may be uncomfortable but will somehow be made to work by putting a left foot forward.
The rest of the country, with the exception of Brexiters who obviously prefer wearing their knickers back to front, want to put things right. There are suggestions that perhaps by stretching the material a little, might not only ease the pressure but be a step towards putting things right. Unless you are wearing a kilt where the problem would not have occurred in the first place, most enlightened people are aware that the solution to this predicament requires removing one leg after the other, aligning the knickers and then firmly replacing each leg in the intended place. The trick is to not fall over during the manoeuvre.
Will we be seeing brave political craftsmanship in the near future or do we have to wait for the kids with the Irish passports?
