It’s 6 months to go until B-Day, the day Britain leaves the political union that is the EU. Remember, you can’t actually leave a continent.
Since the EU Referendum over two years ago I have been collating a special collection of Brexit-related posts and article, which can be found by clicking here. It’s a section of the site that has been a little quiet of late, as much of what has been going on has very much been sideways movement not worthy of me spending time to write about it.
However, it is in these final months where more and more details will be revealed and the impacts, good or bad, on UK fenestration business will start to make themselves known. So, in that spirit, I am pleased to announce a new special series of posts on here, called DGB Brexit: The Interviews.
The format
The idea is simple. I am to conduct written interviews with some of UK fenestration leading business owners to find out how they expect Brexit to affect their own companies as well as the industry as a whole. I want to find out how they voted, what they expected the result to be and their reactions when the result was announced.
I want to know what plans, if any, they are making to help transition from EU membership to being an ex-member. What they think of the negotiations so far and if they think it could have been done better, either by this government or another.
All in all I will be presenting ten questions, and they will all be the same for each business leader. I want the questions to be same so that we can see the direct differences in the answers between each leader.
I have already spoken to one or two leaders who have already confirmed that they would be happy to take part. So while we’re at it, if Brexit is a topic close to your heart, either for good or bad, and you own a company in UK fenestration and you wish to take part, please drop me a line at: info@doubleglazingblogger.com and I shall welcome you to the debate!
All being well I would like to post one leader’s interview a week for as many weeks as I can get MD’s and CEO’s to take part. I guess the whole point of this exercise is to find out if our industry is in shape to cope with whatever comes our way after 29th March 2019. Hopefully these interviews will shed some light on the real-world effects Brexit is having. But I would also like to explore the more positive side of things. The questions will be as balanced as I can make them, and I will be asking if those interviewed can see any positive opportunities both for their business and the UK as a whole.
What I don’t want it to be
Media coverage around Brexit has been uttlerly imbalanced, I don’t think many people could argue with that. Whether it’s the BBC, Sky News, Channel 4, ITV or any other outlet, it is clear to see from their reporting which way they lean towards the result. So those ten questions I pose to those being interviewed will be as balanced and unbiased as possible.
What those interviews won’t include are any of my own opinion. This will simply be me asking ten questions and then me publishing those ten answers. The opinions and statements published will firmly be that of the person being interviewed. At least that way I can’t be accused of loaded questions or agendas!
That being said, I do also plan to publish my own personal column post on Brexit, but this will be separate to this special series. I have a series of thoughts and opinions on this most important of matters, but I think that for the sake of the validity of this series it needs to be kept in a different part of the site. I will publish my own column on Brexit once we have a few interviews under the belt.
What I also don’t want it to be is to become a brawl in the comments section or on social media. You only need to look on Twitter or Facebook when Brexit comes up as a topic and it takes about 30 second for it to descend into chaos and insults, with people on both sides suddenly forgetting how to have opposing opinions and yet get on a function in life. So if you do wish to comment, be it on here or on social media, keep it grounded, keep it civil and keep it clean.
I hope to publish my first interview in the coming days, and hope that it will encourage others within the industry to take part and to help generate a good debate here on DGB.
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