Britain has just experienced a kind of political earthquake, with many aftershocks. In May 2015, a triumphant Conservative Party was returned to power under the leadership of Prime Minister David Cameron, who looked all set for a full five years in office. Now, barely 15 months later, he and most of his close colleagues have all been swept away, caught in the slipstream of the Brexit "rebellion."
Both leaders and commentators now talk about "a clean break," the challenges of a divided society, the protest of the poor against the rich, the North of Britain versus the South, the working class against the privileged "toffs," unacceptable inequality as between struggling wage-earners and overpaid financiers, about the comfortable urban elite wanting to remain in the European Union, and happy with plentiful migrant inflows, against the rest of Britain who feel left out in the cold and oppressed by excessive immigration permitted by EU rules.
It is a colorful picture, easily described with plenty of embellishments. Unfortunately it is all based on generalizations and much of it half true at best. There are plenty of poorer areas in London and the south of Britain, and there are many prosperous areas in the north. Many lower income areas voted to remain in the EU, and many better-off folk voted to leave. Scotland and Northern Ireland, both of which have their share of deprived areas, voted solidly to remain.