UK In/Out referendum

[e-richard]

If you do nothing else, just watch this. Its 20 minutes of unadulterated common sense from a well informed and intelligent man.

https://www.facebook.com/UniversityofLi ... 974024537/

He illustrates why we should probably not even be holding a referendum. Why politicians should not be leading the campaigns and why the media are so poor at reporting FACTS.

[GRL]

Watched and shared - he makes a whole lot of sense without any political spin or attack on our potentially xenophobic tendencies. He brings important issues to the fore that have simply been ignored by others and that, if we leave, will have long and far reaching affects on Great Britain.

[pambon]

The public is being asked to vote on something that will have long and far reaching effects. No second chances if we get this one wrong.

And this is the frightening truth in a nutshell.

[Enaid]

I think I hate referendums. They become too emotional and nasty. In the Scottish in/out referendum, I really didn't want the Scots to leave, and was sad that as an Englishwoman I didn't get a vote, even though the outcome would change my country. However, by the end I was almost thinking - let them go, if they hate us so much I don't want them! It just got so vitriolic and hateful.

I'm beginning to feel the same about this one too. I know people - all good sensible people, some who are for remain, and some who are for leave, and are all debating the rights and wrongs of both. And there are things I agree with on both sides. But again, it's got so vitriolic and nasty. Scaremongering on both sides. People who are voting out, all being accused of being xenophobic racists when probably most are not. Remainers being scared of what will happen if we leave. People calling the ones with opposing views morons, etc etc.

I just want it all to be over, and just get on with things, whether it be in or out. If we are out, I hope it will be ok, and not as bad as the doom-mongers are saying. If we are still in, I hope the closeness of this vote leads to some things changing for the better.

[la vache!]

I always thought that the reason you voted for a government was so that they made the decisions for you.
The whole campaign has been horrible on both sides. Other European countries are watching everything, how easy will it be to negotiate with them now, regardless of the result, with all the Europe bashing that has been openly taking place?

[Moliere]

Impossible, but that's why referendums (referenda?) are so bad; Enaid is right, the sheer vitriol they engender is ultimately destructive. Even the Romans complained about them and they invented them!
I hope we never have another one.

Mols
(The man who put the "pleb" in plebiscite; tho' actually one of my ancestors - Incitatus - was made a senator by Caligula!)

[Marks]

I'm just working out which side has the most idiots supporting it and then I'll vote for the other lot

[GRL]

I'm just working out which side has the most idiots supporting it and then I'll vote for the other lot

That may take a while

[kevsboredagain]

I'm just working out which side has the most idiots supporting it and then I'll vote for the other lot

That may take a while

I thought it was immediately obvious

All lead by one buffoon who, as a journalist, was responsible for creating the image of the EU that the public now love to hate.

http://indy100.independent.co.uk/articl ... bkoHJPBuVZ

[Jimbo]

I always thought that the reason you voted for a government was so that they made the decisions for you. The whole campaign has been horrible on both sides.

But that only really works if you are able to trust your elected politicians to make honest decisions based on the best interests of the country as a whole, not their own narrow visions distorted by self-interest. And trust and politicians, as this referendum has clearly shown, are two words that are increasingly difficult to tuck up in bed together in the same sentence.

I remember Tony Blair saying repeatedly that he, as PM, knew things that the general public couldn’t – and shouldn’t – know. Therefore, we simply had to trust him to make wise decisions on the electorate’s behalf. Wasn’t the saintly Tony another self-interested politician who said that the public should distrust expert opinion and listen only to him?

If a government makes what subsequently proves to be a bad decision, and one that can be reversed by an incoming government, then well and good. But there’s no going back with leaving the EU (or going to war in the Middle East) – they are courses of action that have already or will have profound ramifications for years to come, long after those responsible have shuffled off into well-paid jobs in the corporate world, leaving the rest of us to suck up the mess that’s been left behind.

If nothing else, this referendum has shone a harsh and unflattering light on those who make decisions, usually hidden behind closed doors, on our behalf. So no, for me, with the big stuff, I’m happy for the public to adopt French practice and occasionally dump a trailer-load of manure on our rulers’ doorsteps to remind them that it will be us – not them – who will ultimately pick up the tab for their actions.

[kevsboredagain]

So ashamed of being British today. I can't see myself ever being able to return as long as I can cling on to my job here, which I only got due to EU freedom of movement.

[Emmy]

I'm ashamed too... I just cannot understand how we got to this. I can't see how it's considered ok for something as major as this to be decided in just one day, and in this way. I actually find it quite terrifying, what might unfold in the next decade. The world is changing so quickly, we've no idea where this will lead. I am stunned.

[French Cricket]

I feel exactly the same, and yes, the only word for it is ashamed. I actually cried this morning when I read the results.

Not only has the country of my birth become somewhere that I simply can't (and won't) identify with, but I fear the far right floodgates will open all over Europe.

A very black Friday.

[Bassman]

I feel exactly the same, and yes, the only word for it is ashamed. I actually cried this morning when I read the results.

Not only has the country of my birth become somewhere that I simply can't (and won't) identify with, but I fear the far right floodgates will open all over Europe.

A very black Friday.

+1
A good day for Les Pens

[Joanna]

So depressing - my kids want to move to Canada!