bornintheuk wrote: Or is it just Eastern Europeans who kill and eat cats ?
Moliere wrote: Poland and most other East European countries didn't join the EU until 2004, and Romania / Bulgaria not until 2007. Is he sure it was them, rather than perhaps non-EU citizens that were causing his problems 20 years ago?
Mols and bornintheuk, I didn’t intend to imply that my BIL’s views were logical or factual but rather that they are impervious to (what I believe is) reasoned argument and counter facts. And that, in microcosm, seems to apply to a large swathe of the British public on the run-up to this referendum. The Leave campaign’s exhortations to 'take back control', the use of the immigration card and Gove’s appeal to ignore all expert views that favour Remain, no matter their provenance, have – if the polls can be believed – wide appeal to many people.
Ordinarily, this wouldn’t matter too much. If these views came from a family member and you wished to stay in contact, you’d likely ‘agree to differ’ and talk about something else. If they were held by friends or acquaintances, you'd probably see less of them in the future.
But, with the vote only a few days away, it currently matters a great deal. And perhaps many of us will find that democracy has a nasty sting in its tail.
Wasn’t it an American politician (with the unfortunate name of Dick Tuck) who said, when he lost an election in the 1960s:
“The people have spoken – the bastards!”