BOB GELDOF aired his fears about the effects of Brexit and the rise of nationalism on The Late Late Show on Friday, saying the world is in ‘dangerous times’.
The Irish singer told host Ryan Tubridy that he welcomed patriotism, but felt that nationalism was a dangerous step, being manipulated by ‘evil men’.
Geldof said he admitted feeling uncomfortable in the Ireland he grew up in, but loves the “tolerant, pluralist open country” Ireland has become.
Returning to the country from ‘Brexit Britain’ was like exhaling, said the singer.
“Patriotism is entirely good, and healthy – a sense of who you are, who you belong to, a sense of place and belonging to something,” he said.
“[But] evil men, men and women of ill-intent, curdle that natural sense of place and belonging into a political philosophy that only leads to blood – that's my view.
“Nationalism is a very dangerous step.
“Trump in America, Erdogan in Turkey, Putin in Russia; Austria, Hungary, Poland – we’re in very dangerous times.
“And Brexit is largely being manipulated by English nationalists.
“Now there’s real reasons for it. The English feel disenfranchised by an idea of Britain, and as Britain doesn’t really have a cohesive sense anymore [like] when there was [an] empire, then who are we?”
On Brexit, Geldof described himself as a stopper rather than a Remainer and attributed the result of the Brexit vote to an ‘anarchic streak’ within the English.
“That’s what Brussels miscalculated about the English,” he said.
“What people forget is there’s a really wide anarchic streak running down the English character.”
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