Sturgeon: "we are not proposing a referendum now - we are proposing to give the people of Scotland a choice once Brexit is clear but before it is too late"
That'll be never then.
That'll be never then.
Notable that the people complaining about ignorance are the people who didn't get the result they wanted.
Aside from that it's just a non-argument. Our membership of the EU was confirmed by referendum so it makes sense that potentially leaving is also subject to one. Of course there is ignorance in the public but that's an inevitable part of democracy and the argument that you shouldn't have a vote because of that doesn't hold water for me. Many people who vote in elections are ignorant so let's do away with elections as well. Or perhaps you should have to pass some sort of test before you're allowed to vote? The ignorance argument just doesn't work.
Which isn't to say the referendum is beyond criticism was set up well. I have a certain sympathy for those who felt a super-majority should have been required (although it would have been politically very difficult for Cameron to justify) and the lack of clarity about would happen after the result was fairly ridiculous.
Can you imagine in the UK the BNP having 19 out of 150 seats? Europe has a much larger problem on these issues than we do.
Sad start to the day today.
One of my customers is a German professor. He's lived here for years and brought up a couple of delightful kids in Southampton while he carried out cutting edge research. He's on several UK bodies including government advisory boards.
He's off. A large part of the reason is that getting funding is becoming more and more difficult with Britain leaving the EU.
Not a story that's going to be in the papers or that's going to be raised in parliament, just a tiny little corner of a world-class university losing a world-class mind. In future, credit for his work will go to a German university (and probably will be commercialised by a German company).
Still, it'll leave a space for all the unemployed British professors who have been kept out of their jobs by bloody immigrants, so David Davis will be happy.
Vin
And Mark Rutte hasn't moved to the right? The extremist side hasn't been beaten but the tide has been "stemmed." Making out there is some sort of huge victory over the "bad kind of politics" is not the way to go. They'll end up painting a picture of beating something and then ignoring the problem again.
In the UK the Tories move a bit to the right and it is disaster. In Holland Rutte moves further to the right (he said things last week that a UK PM would not dare to make) and it is victory?
What about if Fillon wins in France? Will that be victory or disaster? Is it just a disaster if it is the Tories?
I believe ultimate responsibility for the referendum lies with a Mr D Cameron. Last seen selling the rights to his memoirs and charging six figures for a one hour talk.With hindsight the voting options in the referendum should have been
a) Remain in the EU
b) Leave the EU but have access to the single market
c) Leave the EU but be part of the customs union
d) Leave the EU and single market.
That way, Remainers would have achieved the desired result. Where is the person who designed the 2016 referendum? Why did he not put these extra options in?
Indeed. He was also confident enough that a simple majority would be fine as it was never in doubt. So the idiot allowed a constitutional change to occur on a whim, a campaign which shouted 'don't listen to the experts', £365M allocated to the NHS which won't happen, and protest votes. Oh, and the rationing of a few extra immigrants which are necessary to keep the economy ticking over. It should have been a two-thirds majority requirement to leave the EU.I believe ultimate responsibility for the referendum lies with a Mr D Cameron. Last seen selling the rights to his memoirs and charging six figures for a one hour talk.
I have some time for that view (although nothing like that was included in the 1975 referendum) and it would have been very difficult for Cameron to do it. He was criticised a lot for not having the promised referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and if he'd held this one and decided to include a requirement for a super-majority he would have been absolutely slaughtered.Indeed. He was also confident enough that a simple majority would be fine as it was never in doubt. So the idiot allowed a constitutional change to occur on a whim, a campaign which shouted 'don't listen to the experts', £365M allocated to the NHS which won't happen, and protest votes. Oh, and the rationing of a few extra immigrants which are necessary to keep the economy ticking over. It should have been a two-thirds majority requirement to leave the EU.
It's happening but how prepared are our leaders? Despite the BTL commenters' claims, this is an unedited two minute clip of a car crash. Don't watch if easily shocked.
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Vin

Just that last point, the fact that UK citizens will no longer be eligible for the free EHIC health insurance card, is enough to make Brexit a non-starter. What the absolute **** have we done?It's happening but how prepared are our leaders? Despite the BTL commenters' claims, this is an unedited two minute clip of a car crash. Don't watch if easily shocked.
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Vin
Just that last point, the fact that UK citizens will no longer be eligible for the free EHIC health insurance card, is enough to make Brexit a non-starter. What the absolute **** have we done?
Exactly. A lot of people certainly couldn't have realised the full ramifications of a "leave" vote, or as you imply, didn't believe them anyway!That particular point was mentioned prior to the vote but everything was scare mongering apparently........
Among my thoughts thought when watching that clip was, "if only Hilary Benn were leader of the Labour Party".
ImpSaint - as our resident political expert (as far as I can see) why is there such a thing as Diplomatic immunity? seems crazy to me?
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39321568