Back in Britain, ready for another break

After a month of excitement in Africa and Asia, I find vituperation has broken out among the courteous people of my homeland

Sometimes you need a reality check to bring you back down to Earth.

In my case, a week in Senegal, three weeks in Beijing and a week in Vietnam was a dream trip, bringing exciting new sounds and sensations after months of toiling away here in London at the coalface of truth.

Almost the moment I opened my eyes on my return, it seemed like I had walked into a madhouse.

I left London at a time when politicians on all sides were gently limbering up for what everyone hoped would be a civilized debate ahead of Britain's planned referendum on whether to remain in the European Union or to leave.

Some chance.

By the time I got back, politicians of all hues were screaming abuse at each other in scenes reminiscent of the school playground.

Chief screamer and bully seems to be Boris Johnson, the erstwhile mayor of London, who in many people's eyes has put personal ambition above public service.

His problem is that in becoming the highly visible and somewhat buffoonish spokesman for the OUT campaign - I detest the word Brexit, by the way - he has allowed all the shadier elements in his past public life to be aired all over again.

It's a matter of public record that he was dismissed in the 1980s from the Times newspaper for falsifying quotes, and that he was sacked as a front bench spokesman by the then opposition leader, Michael Howard, for lying to him over an affair he had.

Former colleagues have rushed to print to claim that his reports from Brussels for the Daily Telegraph, when he was based there, contained a series of half-truths and myths. I make no comment.

But what did worry me was when, in one of his trademark bombastic and off-the-cuff speeches, he claimed the European Union shared something in common with Nazi Germany's Adolf Hitler - the desire to unify Europe by undemocratic means.

Despite what some of my younger friends may think, I was born well AFTER the end of World War II.

But I'm politically and socially savvy enough to know that raising the specter of Hitler, with his dreadful determination to exterminate the Jews, Communists, gypsies, homosexuals and anyone else who didn't fit into his Aryan dream, is an unutterably stupid thing to do, politically.

It's all very well to say that Johnson, described by the BBC as a classicist who therefore knew his history, was only making a point.

But my dear late parents, who along with millions of others gave up the best part of their youth to fight against fascism, would despair of the crass insensitivity being shown by Johnson and his fellow OUT campaigners.

There are issues with the REMAIN camp, as well. Commentators were right to criticize Prime Minister David Cameron when he warned that a vote to leave would expose Britain to the danger of war.

What the run-up to the referendum has brought is the sight of slanging matches involving people we Britons are supposed to look up to as our leaders. After all, we elected them.

Britain, and its government, whatever its political hue, have always respected the independence of the Bank of England and the professionalism of the International Monetary Fund.

Yet when leaders of both august institutions came out with dire warnings about the danger to the economy and in particular the national currency, their statements were dismissed with barely concealed contempt by politicians for the OUT campaign who surely should have known better.

I had hoped for a more rational debate rather than the "yah boo sucks" level to which it has descended in my absence.

And depressingly, there's still over a month to go.

I need a break.

The author is managing editor of China Daily European Weekly, based in London.

Contact the writer at chris@mail.chinadailyuk.com