... the good, the bad and the ugly. What are the benefits, what did you vote for, what did you hope for. I don't think anyone knew how this would all pan out, certainly not the 'experts', but have any of the forecasts and promises come true. Whichever way we voted we shouldn't have a problem discussing it, voting to leave doesn't mean it can never be mentioned again . Some of the problems weren't even envisioned, like this ... https://inews.co.uk/news/world/bought-dream-home-sicily-post-brexit-rules-2431584
Oh oh, another thread I am going to get sucked into and make myself look an idiot, like the politics one For starters. I think we are a little old Island that needs friends. Europe is a wonderful place, mainly anyway, and I liked being part of a bigger team. A bit like when I went away matches back in the day, I liked to know the lads were there as well. I liked a lot what the EU offered in terms of research partnerships, particularly in science. I liked being able to pop in and out of countries. I liked talking to people in France particularly and spending time with them. I didnt want them to think we didnt much like them. I never believed it was possible to get a fair deal if we left, 1 against 20 odd in negotiations will never ever work. I didnt really fancy any 'special relationship' with America to be honest, I still feel sick thinking about where that has taken us in the past. Mostly, I wanted my kids to have opportunities in the EU. Never felt right for me to take away something that they were on the verge of benefitting from, potentially. Lastly, I wanted Farage to look more of a tit than we know he is.
It's like being at school and having some big lad who wants to be your friend and says he'll 'look after you' ... ... then you realise he wants to attack kids he thinks are weak and exclude some you quite liked which is bad enough. Then you get the impression he wants to play with your toys and interfere in your private life.
We kept the right to eat prawn cocktail crisps, whilst listening to bagpipes on double decker buses. The EU wanted to ban all these things
I voted to remain. I prefer cooperation to conflict and we were one of the big three in the EU with Germany and France. Unfortunately the two choices were to do something proactive and leave, or to sit on our hands and plod along in the EU with all its problems. The proactive choice had a jingoistic and racist element. Memories of the greatness of Britain and its Empire. The leavers were also ahead of the game with post truth. You can promise anything and tomorrow it will be yesterday’s news. Sadly it was discovered too late that Johnson was a narcissistic pschopath. I wasn’t devastated at the result. If we had plans in place it could have worked with a minimum of disruption. Unfortunately the tossers in charge were clueless. The brexiteers seemed to have such an inflated opinion of this great and powerful country that the negotiations were only ever going to be a fiasco. It will get sorted, but not in my lifetime.
I was never bothered about myself, I can cope quite easily with stay, leave or anything else. What's a massive shame is that my grandchildren have been consigned to an insular island mentality that belongs in the days of Empire, imperial measures and xenophobia. It's all a bit sad and Lord of the Flies.
Clever, competent politicians would have sorted it. Not surprised that they're incompetent. Am surprised at how incredibly uselessly jackrodwellesque incompetent they are.
I read and read for hours and hours for weeks before I voted remain. I simply could not see any set of circumstances where we were better off. Sadly, a lot of the votes were folk reading Facebook and having a completely uneducated and misguided idea that somehow immigration was the core of all evil in this country. Folk overlooked that Boris was completely anti Brexit until it looked like a quick win for the election. We are in a mess and it will take 20-30 years to sort out, if we can. The EU players even feted a sit down to say ‘what changes do we need to remain’ and it was ****ed off. We gave up a lot of liberty, a lot of allies and a lot of benefits. We gained Sunak, a massive cost of living crisis and a country filled with fear for the future. We ****ed it.
That's the biggest tragedy in all of this. Brexit, and therefore the public, was used by various politicians who really didn't care what happened as long as they benifitted. Cameron started the process with hypocrisy and Johnson ended it with more of the same. The Union Jack was used as a red rag to a bulldog and they chomped on it.
Probs a world where the prevailing (sensible) opinion was, it's different to before, some good bits some bad bits.
I just don't have a clue what leavers wanted and what the priorities were tbh ... ... no one has told me what their hopes were before or since tbh.
I voted for Scottish Independence in 2014. I voted for EU independence in 2016. I believe that smaller is good, smaller allows flexibility, innovation, entrepreneurialusm, democracy. I strongly dislike bureaucracy. And boy isn't the EU a huge bureaucracy. Brexit has been blocked and obstructed since the democratic vote to leave by the establishment and particularly by the civil service .... the bureaucracy again. By leaving we have decided to trade with the world on equal terms ... and the world is a far larger and dynamic trading opportunity than the sclerotic EU. I seem alone on this site with my views. But I do not regret voting to leave. And please don't talk about the bus. It was untrue, the money figure shown should have been even higher.
I personally think the biggest problem is the majority of the English public and I include myself in that didn't have a clue what was the best way to vote, we had to rely on the the advice of the politicians who would tell you anything to favour themselves. Blair and Co were telling you how bad it would be to leave the EU but these were the same people to told us it would be catastrophic if we didn't join the euro. Blair when he had the chance should have been more demanding, we should have been the main players along with Germany who were devastated when we left. Cameron should be jailed for using the referendum as a way to win his place at no10 then running a mile when the vote didn't go his way. This was one of the biggest votes in our history yet both sides exaggerated and lied about what the outcome would be. Had we been stronger as a country and demanded we had more control while in the EU I don't think the vote would have gone the way it did, I think a lot of people thought we were a soft touch or that was the view of the politicians that wanted to leave, as I've said the average Joe in the street only has the word of politicians and experts as to what will happen, when they can't tell it how it is how are we supposed to understand it
