Jeremy Bowen and the 1/4 keenest to stay in the EU

There's a New York Times article that's been linked to again and again on my Twitter timeline in recent days. 

It's by Steven Erlanger, and it's headlined No One Knows What Britain Is Anymore, and I think it's safe to call it a 'jeremiad' about Britain in the wake of the Brexit vote. 

It paints a picture of Britain as "a modest-size ship on the global ocean" which, having vote to leave the EU, is "unmoored", "heading to nowhere" and "embracing an introverted irrelevance".

Among the many reactions to it, this one caught my eye today:

Garvan Walshe, CEO of Brexit Analytics, fist tweeted, "The reaction to this piece shows how divided Britain is. Half love it, half hate it. No prizes for guessing which half", then Sunder Katwala of British Future replied, "I'm sure division here will be *much* closer to 66-20 than 'half & half'. Maybe half/half among liberal graduates". 

I'm pretty sure Sunder is correct about that, and no less correct when he adds, "If you think most people agree with the NYT piece, its very probable that most people you talk to are in the 1/4 keenest to stay in the EU". 

And what of impartial BBC journalists? Well, here's Jeremy Bowen, giving the piece his seal of approval: 

"Home truths" eh, Jeremy? 

Maybe he should change his name to Jeremiad Bowen.