{"id":356155,"date":"2025-08-19T06:48:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T06:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/356155\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T06:48:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T06:48:18","slug":"new-book-mutiny-chronicles-a-bittersweet-brexit-homecoming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/356155\/","title":{"rendered":"New book Mutiny chronicles a bittersweet Brexit homecoming"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2017, photographer Merlin Daleman set out to explore the economic north of the UK, retracing parts of a country he had left behind decades earlier. Having spent most of his adult life in the Netherlands, he returned seeking to understand the deep divisions that were exposed, and indeed widened, by the Brexit referendum. By turning his lens on those caught in the middle, Daleman invites us to confront the forces that have shaped modern Britain.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the book\u2019s origins, Daleman says, \u201cAfter the Brexit vote, I didn\u2019t fully understand how the UK had reached that point. Living abroad, I was seeing the headlines but not the everyday reality behind them. So it began as a way to try and understand things for myself, to go to the places behind the statistics and see what life there actually looked like.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MarketMarket visitors in Beverley, October 2017. All images \u00a9 Merlin Daleman\/Gost Books<\/p>\n

Driven by confusion and curiosity, Daleman journeyed to over 60 towns and cities \u2013 from Aberdeen to Bangor, and from Blackpool to Skegness. Starting in areas with the highest Leave vote percentage, he moved quietly through streets lined with boarded-up shops, graffiti-scarred walls and rain-slick pavements. He stopped by caf\u00e9s, canals and colourful seafronts; took in amusement arcades, community centres and local pubs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to see what those places looked like, to understand the mood behind the decision,\u201d he explains. \u201cBut it quickly became clear that I also needed to visit areas that would be hardest hit by leaving the EU. That shift gave a fuller, more honest picture of the country\u2019s state. My approach is simple: I walk, I observe and talk to people, to try to capture the moments that I feel are important or tell a story.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stories in Mutiny unfold against a backdrop of profound regional inequality. As economic geographer Philip McCann notes in an essay by journalist Niels Posthumus featured in the book, the UK\u2019s wealth is concentrated in London to an extent rarely seen in other European nations, with the capital\u2019s economy surpassing that of the next 14 largest British cities combined.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Women<\/a>
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\n\t\t\t\tWomen playing a board game by the seaside, Skegness, July 2019
\n\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Two<\/a>
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\n\t\t\t\tTwo boys on a bike, Southport, June 2024
\n\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Two<\/a>
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tTwo women in a shopping mall, Romford, June 2019
\n\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Man<\/a>
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\n\t\t\t\tBus stop on the seaside boulevard, Morecambe, November 2019
\n\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"A<\/a>
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\n\t\t\t\tDriver\u2019s hand, Glasgow, May 2023 <\/p>\n

For many in the north, this imbalance has bred feelings of disenfranchisement and marginalisation \u2013 an undercurrent that the Leave campaign successfully tapped into during the referendum. And yet Daleman\u2019s images, while unflinching in their depiction of economic decline, also capture moments of humour, warmth and resilience among the people he met. He might possess an outsider\u2019s eye, but he was guided above all by a sense of empathy and familiarity.<\/p>\n

So what, if anything, had changed from Daleman\u2019s perspective? \u201cStrangely, I noticed very little change, it felt like time had stood still,\u201d he says. \u201cIn contrast to the sense of progress I saw in the Netherlands, the UK felt stuck. Looking back, I think that\u2019s a result of policies made in London that were designed to benefit the capital, with the assumption that the rest of the country would follow. But it didn\u2019t. Instead, many places were left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ABoat ride, Skegness Pleasure Beach, July 2019<\/p>\n

The discontent created by this growing divide is what gave Daleman\u2019s book its title. But while the word \u2018mutiny\u2019 might evoke civil disobedience or rebellion \u2013 a forceful, even violent overthrowing of authority \u2013 here it manifests as something softer, more bittersweet. A form of defiance that, in many ways, has proven to be self-defeating. \u201cI wanted to show the parts of the UK that haven\u2019t shared in the wealth and growth seen in London and its hinterland. The resilient UK,\u201d says Daleman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope the book helps some people to see and recognise this other part of the UK. The places that are so often overlooked. What\u2019s stayed with me is a kind of wish: for the country to feel more united again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mutiny is published by Gost Books; gostbooks.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2017, photographer Merlin Daleman set out to explore the economic north of the UK, retracing parts of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-356155","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115054098158965486","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}