The Year in Brexit, as Seen Through British Tabloids
If Britain’s biggest right-wing tabloids spent the first half of 2016 pushing hard for the idea of Brexit, 2017 was the first full year they had to cover the reality of it. It was a period that kicked off negotiations between the U.K. and the EU over the terms of their divorce, and one that included a surprise snap election in which Prime Minister Theresa May lost her majority in parliament after gambling she could expand it.
It was also a year of stalling, confusion, and bureaucratic jockeying in Brussels. Whereas advocating for Brexit offered opportunities for sensational headlines about “The Deadly Cost of Our” or pun-inflected appeals to patriotism like “,” the negotiations themselves have presented different challenges. What, after all, is sensational about the U.K. and EU’s modest goal this year to achieve “sufficient progress” on certain issues for the next round of talks to start?
