10. Metaphors for Brexit

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’.