BRITAIN'S CAPACITY FOR CIVIL DISAGREEMENT HAS DETERIORATED SINCE BREXIT,...

Writer Elif Şafak has described a marked shift in British political discourse since the 2016 Brexit referendum, stating that people who once disagreed respectfully now regard opponents as enemies. Şafak, who moved to England nearly two decades ago, recalled attending a debate on British identity in London where two speakers with opposing views on colonial history in school curricula conducted a heated but courteous exchange. After the session ended, the speakers shook hands and went to a pub together, an interaction Şafak said illustrated Britain's distinctive capacity for civil disagreement despite deep political divisions.

Şafak draws on her experience living in Turkey and the United States to contextualise her observations of British political culture. She spent approximately five years in the US after 2001, observing what she characterised as deepening divisions between liberal university campuses and conservative small towns. She noted that during her earlier years in Britain, people from opposing political positions could nonetheless find common ground and maintain cordial personal relationships, contrasting this with the polarisation she had witnessed in other countries.

In a piece marking the tenth anniversary of the Brexit vote, Şafak argues that this defining British characteristic has been "sadly shattered". She cited a conversation with a local man near the Hay Festival this month, in which he described the current state of Westminster as a battleground and characterised the period as "a time of war". Şafak suggests that the country's ability to disagree rationally and calmly has diminished substantially in the decade since the referendum.