Edinburgh Haymarket / reflections (#1138)

Taken from the Haymarket tram stop.

I had approached visiting Edinburgh with some hesitation. It has a reputation as one of those cities that is literally overrun by tourists, and from what I had read I expected to find it very tourist-oriented. The latter was true in some sections but luckily, visiting in winter with rainy and cold weather, I didn’t encounter a lot of tourists. Also, staying in Haymarket was a lucky choice since it is not in the midst of the tourist sites. Overall I enjoyed my visit, the people I encountered were friendly and courteous, and it was fairly easy to find interesting and reasonably-priced places to eat. If I go back, I’ll focus on using Edinburgh as a base for exploring non-touristy areas in more depth.

One goal of the overall trip was to try to get some understanding of the Brexit vote and the related rise in right-wing populism. As I’ve noted elsewhere, one reasonable assumption about the spread of nationalistic populism is the volume of people who feel ‘left behind’ by contemporary culture. Just exploring around Edinburgh, I got a sense of a population that was the opposite of feeling ‘left behind’ – of a population that was healthy, involved, and financially secure. Given that the vote in Edinburgh was 74% for Remain (remain in the EU), my quick and ad hoc assessment appears to be right.

Edinburgh Brexit vote: www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/politics/eu-referendum-edinburgh-votes-three-to-one-for-remain-as-uk-heads-for-brexit-1-4162652

(Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)