Metaphors for Brexit

Abstract

In the final chapter I discuss whether there is a master metaphor for Brexit. I consider some of the master metaphors for Brexit proposed in the press and then offer some personal reflections. If, as in the much quoted tautology `Brexit means Brexit', then perhaps Brexit itself is a metaphor for travelling back in time to the 1950s or 60s, a time when life was purported to be less complex, less driven by technology, social media and online hate videos. It is as if Leave voters wanted a return to the time when the world was thought to be simpler and kinder, when neighbours knew neighbours, and people left the backdoor unlocked because there was no danger of a thief creeping in. In this case one metaphor for Brexit would be `time travel'.