Thanks for the mea culpa, George Osborne. As ever, you’re way too late | Rafael Behr

The former chancellor admitted on Newsnight that the case for the EU was belatedly, and badly, made. What good is that now?

Scientists working deep beneath the Swiss Alps notice anomalies in their data indicating the existence of a mysterious particle unknown in the laws of physics. Hundreds of miles away, in a BBC television studio, George Osborne admits to mistakes made during his time in government. The former chancellor regrets that he and David Cameron did not make a better case for British membership of the European Union. Maybe this unprecedented ripple of humility is the substance detected by researchers at Cern. Perhaps the hypersensitive instruments of the Large Hadron Collider registered the blip of Osborne’s conscience.

To be fair, Osborne was reputed to be more thoughtful than Cameron when they were in their pomp, although he came across as meaner in public. His face at rest bears the sneering grimace of a man relishing the smell of his own farts – but there is more to him than cartoon villainy.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2qmjl1U