By Yascha Mounk

In the winter of 1950, a young parliamentary candidate by the name of Margaret H. Roberts made a big promise to her would-be voters. Her country, the 24-year old political newcomer complained, had become weak: its economy was in tatters, its government too hesitant to exercise its might abroad. After years of decline and incompetence under a Labor government, it was “time to make Great Britain great again.”

In keeping with the fashion of the times, the future Mrs. Thatcher wore a hat through much of her failed first campaign—though she does not seem to have had the wherewithal to emblazon it with her catchy …

In 1975, the United Kingdom voted on quitting Europe for the first time—just two years after it had joined the European Economic Community. A flip in power from the pro-European Conservative Party to the more Euroskeptic Labor Party led to a nationwide referendum on whether Britain should continue its EEC membership or stage a “Brexit,” severing its ties. The question posed to the British electorate was simple: “Do you think that the United Kingdom should remain part of the European Community (the Common Market)?”

The “yes” vote won by a sizable margin—67 percent “yes” to 33 percent “no”—but the referendum was itself a sign of persistent problems in the U.K.-Europe relationship. Last month, following …

By Anand Menon

The shorthand term “Brexit” is a snappy, media-friendly term suggesting a potentially abrupt historical moment, a milestone break with one reality and embrace of another. But the truth is far more ambiguous. Regardless of where voters stand on the question of the United Kingdom’s continued presence in the EU, the June referendum is unlikely to provide a tidy resolution of the issue, instead stirring up layers of further uncertainty.

No one really knows what a British exit from the EU might mean and anyone who says otherwise is lying (or, more likely, campaigning). What we can begin to discern, however, are the factors …

By Lewis Reynolds

“You’re abroad then?”
“Well I’m in Berlin. I’m an hour and a half away.”
“We can’t put you up for a job when you’re abroad.”
“What if I was in Newcastle? Edinburgh? … Shetland?”
“Fine.”
“But they’re further away than Berlin. I can be in London in an hour and a half!”
“You’re out of the country.”

My acting friend, Ryan, has a British agent and a German agent because he pursues his career in both countries. That’s a typical conversation with his British agent. If he’s not “in the country,” he laments, they don’t put him up for jobs. Here’s one with his German agent: …