It is day four in the Big Brexit house.
I had hoped after Friday’s absolute catastrophe of a day that the country might somehow magically rally over the weekend. I mean, when you plunge your country into possible ruin on the promise of a golden future that will allow it to rise like a phoenix from the flames, you have a plan, right?
As it turns out, you don’t. The only person that seems to have any plan at all, and be acting on it rather than just spouting meaningless Churchillian rhetoric is Nicola Sturgeon, and I can’t even vote for her.
I was distraught and angry on Friday. I had hoped to feel better by today. Instead I am running on barely controlled rage and getting more enraged by the moment.
Here are a few things I am furious about:
Firstly, leave voters telling me to calm down. I’m sorry, many of you are my friends and family but you do not get to say this. I’m not angry at you individually. I’m angry at where we are and more, I’m incandescent at the way we got here. I have a right to be angry. I’m in the boat with you and I don’t like where we’re going. I have very little option with regard to getting out of the boat, and I’d feel happier if someone was actually steering it, but they’re not. I’m sorry if my anger makes you uncomfortable, but you have the choice to not to speak to me, or unfriend me if you feel better doing that. Please do, because I don’t think I’m going to get any less angry for quite some time.
Secondly, people telling me that this is democracy and I have to live with it. You know what? The referendum vote was simply one part of the democratic process, and as I keep mentioning to those who conveniently forget it, it was ‘Advisory,’ not legally binding. The vote itself is not ‘democracy’. Democracy doesn’t happen on one day for one vote and then go away again. Democracy is an ongoing process in which we are free to express ourselves however we see fit as long as we do not descend into hate speech (which I haven’t). Democracy is part of a process and is happening all the time. I have the democratic right to fight against decisions made on my behalf that I don’t like, and I don’t like this one, so I am fighting it every step of the way. Do not throw the word democracy in my face. It is not a trump card.
Thirdly, people telling me that what we have to do now is ‘pull together’ to ‘make this country great.’ Not one single person who has chastised me with the ‘pulling together’ line has actually answered me when I’ve asked how they’re going to do that. Unless you’re a millionaire or a business owner, or a politician, there are very few ways you can ‘pull together’ unless you’re going to get politically active. Like the term ‘democracy,’ it is being used in a way that is actually meaningless. Mostly, as far as I can see it is being used as short hand for ‘Don’t blame me. Don’t ask me. Don’t question me. I need to feel better about this and your questions are stopping me doing that.’ Sorry, not buying it. Tell me how you’re genuinely going to help our country ‘pull together’ and I’ll listen. Otherwise please shut up.
And I am doing something. I have joined a political party. I have joined the electoral reform society. I am attending a solidarity rally tomorrow for our city. I have signed petitions, however futile they might seem. I am taking action. I am attempting to get us out of this shit. I am reading everything I can find across every media source I can get to educate myself about what is happening to my country. I’m not cherry picking what I want to see and turning a blind eye to everything else.
What are you doing?
Fourthly, to the people who have actually said: ‘Enough now. I’m bored of this.’ Did you really think it would all be done and dusted by Friday tea time? As I said in my last post, this is the beginning of something that is going to have seismic repercussions for our country for years. Prepare to be bored witless, and frankly, don’t complain to me. I don’t have time to be bored. I’m too busy being horrified and upset.
Fifthly. Please, please don’t repeatedly tell me we are ‘Free’ now. We are not free. We are still in the EU, and with nobody willing to pull the trigger on article fifty, we may well be there for a good deal longer. Even if we had done it on Friday, please tell me how much freer you are, in real terms. If you can’t point to anything, please feel free to shut up. And what are you doing with that precious new freedom? Please enlighten me.
Sixthly: I am watching, over the last few days, in absolute horror as the far right start to move out of the shadows and back into centre stage again. My time line has been pinging with people reporting hate crime. There’s even a Twitter feed for it where they are gathering information in order to report it. It’s appearing in reports on my community Facebook page. It’s in my daughter’s school. It’s like someone took the lid off Pandora’s Box. Don’t tell me I’m exaggerating. Don’t tell me that reports can be twisted. Maybe they can, but it’s being taken seriously enough by everyone that matters and it is tabled for discussion in the House of Commons this week. It’s not as if they haven’t got other things to talk about. It’s happening and I’m appalled but sadly, not surprised.
Apropos of this, please do not tell me: ‘I’m not a racist’ if you voted leave. I get that, but I said that it would open the door to the far right, and it has and to pretend it hasn’t, and to not look or think about it is cowardly. And to say ‘I’m not a racist,’ is to imply that I’m making all this about you. I’m not, but I have a right to get angry and upset about the consequences of a decision you were a part of, however noble your intentions.
Seventhly, to the people who are saying we are now able to govern ourselves and we are free of the unelected shackles of Brussels dictating to us. Farage is unelected. Gove/Boris or whoever takes over from Cameron will be unelected. The House of Lords is unelected. The queen, who keeps being wheeled out as a symbol of our great democracy for reasons I cannot understand, is unelected. You are being taken into the future by largely unelected fuckwits who have already lied to you and broken every promise you gave them power for. Do not talk to me about the shackles of Brussels.
Eighthly gets several paragraphs because it’s such a clusterfuck.
Our government has imploded in on itself. Cameron made one, cowardly speech on Friday and bailed on us. Now most of the conservatives are too busy fighting about who is going to be the inheritor of the steaming turd bequeathed by Cameron to do anything useful for us.
George Osborne, who only came out of hiding this morning and said ‘the economy is strong.’ This is not borne out in the annuities market crashing, RBS and Barclays suspending trading and the pound dropping like a stone, again. So for all those of you who smilingly told me that everything was fine and it was all over by Friday tea time, what say you now?
And I reiterate. This is only the start.
Boris finally emerging yesterday. His statement was not a statement, it was an article he wrote because that’s his job, and he got paid £5,000 to do it. He has admitted that he wants to stay in Europe, however Europe will have him. This means that we go to the single market or EEA. This means, for those of you who don’t know by now, that we pay the same amount into the EU as we have done previously in order to trade with them. It means that we still have to comply with all their trading regulations. It means that we still have to allow freedom of movement across borders. The one thing it doesn’t mean is that we get to keep our veto. So we have gambled everything for less. None of the things the leavers want will happen, but we will also be much worse off in almost every conceivable way. This basically means that what the leave campaigners fought for and won, was Boris’ ambition to run the country, not the ‘freedom’ of the nation.
Daniel Hannan, a major player in the leave campaign who voted to be ‘tough’ on immigration, has now back tracked on his promise and actually left twitter for a month because he’s exhausted from campaigning. How convenient. I already covered the lies about the £350 million, which have become more and more byzantine as the weekend has progressed.
Then there’s the implosion of the Labour party under Corbyn with MPs resigning in droves from his cabinet and a vote of no confidence expected any moment. I have seen both sides of the argument on Twitter and I am ashamed of them all. It smacks of fiddling while Rome burns.
In the meantime, Farage has suggested that the sensible thing to do would be to sack Mark Carney, the head of the Bank of England because he was too partisan before the referendum. Mark Carney, as far as I can see, is the only thing standing between us and having to wheel our pay home at lunch time in a barrow, and spend it before tea time to cheat devaluation. The only reason the markets rallied on Friday was because he’d stashed £250 billion down the sock drawer and waved it around a bit. It wasn’t because the markets had confidence in us, it was because he showed them the money.
And they are playing at this. None of them are making decisions. None of them are doing anything. Our country is a laughing stock, our economy is in free fall and our government has washed its hands of us in favour of stabbing each other in the back.
I’m glad to say there is no ninthly and tenthly, but at the rate we’re going, there will be by tea time.
Katyboo1's Weblog 
As usual, you have said everything I wanted to say, but more succinctly. Thank you.
Feels somehow wrong to like this Katy … well said however xxx
Love you, lady. xx
Couldn’t agree more. Thank you for articulating what was swirling around in my head.
I would say it’s a pleasure, but you know what I mean. x
I’ve shared your post on my FB page. I can tell you, you have hit a nerve.
Thank you. xx
Yes…and shared! And just to put my oar in I’m one if the 40% of old’s who voted remain. I’m fed up with a)being embarrassed to be British and b) young folk thinking its our fault!
Well, I’m delighted you voted remain. And yes, it’s awful to be ashamed of being British isn’t it? x
Yes, yes and yes. Everything you have said. Sadly.
It is so very sad. x
I have no idea who you are or anything about you but I know that you’ve summed up everything I’m feeling and more. Hopefully you won’t mind if I share this on Facebook
You are welcome, Tim. Thank you for reading. x
Everything you say is so true and the rise of the extreme right is the thing I fear most. I too am so very, very angry. Sadly, this was all so predictable.
I am genuinely gobsmacked by those people who did not see this coming and those who are still clinging to the England will be great again, this is just a temporary blip fantasy. As for the racism, well, It’s the worst thing to come out of this whole sorry mess as far as I’m concerned.
Wow! Just wow!
I’m slightly in awe, someone has managed to pretty much sum up the way I’m feeling without sounding like a bitter idiot! I’ve tried and deleted so many posts , I’m usually quite good at reasoned ranting ,but not this time, thank you!
One last point, to anyone spouting about Churchill , just remember he envisioned a day when people would consider themselves a citizen of Europe first but also a citizen of their country of origin.
The typical rock ape who uses this kind of crap hates (and I’m mean really really detests) having their own “hero” disprove the validity of their argument
Keep up the campaigning, keep up the petitioning, keep hope!
I will do my best. You too. x
If only this horrible mess were a nightmare dream I’d had….I WANT TO WAKE UP NOW PLEASE.
I think practically every remain voter wants to wake up NOW including me Libby
Yes.
Yes, Libby. It’s exhausting and horrible and I can’t stop looking and hoping that when I do somehow it will be different. It’s all so awful. x
Ok I agree with you here Katy and I’d also like to say that my reactions to the leave vote winning (although it looks more like losing to me if you get my drift) are a mixture of anger, disappointment but most prominent of all is fear, fear for my future, an 18 year old’s future which from the way the £ is plummeting and how fast the United Kingdom (which doesn’t seem so united anymore) is descending into chaos is looking pretty bleak.
Another note to make is that I will never calm down from this because it was a referendum and not a general election, if it was a general election I’d just bear with it for 5 years till the next election but this; this is done and will never happen again as once we are out we are OUT.
What REALLY scares me is how the other day the EU was saying that Britains decision to leave the EU is not an amicable divorce and wants the negotiations sorted and finished ASAP suggesting that once we finally leave the EU could very well turn around and say that they don’t want to have anything to do with us.
Finally all I can say is that unless the petition for a re-referendum is successful then we’d better spend the next 2 years preparing for some very tough times ahead when we finally leave the EU.
I wish I could disagree with you on any of this Lewis. I’ve apologised to my children for this. My seventeen year old wants to work on organic farms in France next year after A levels. God knows how this is going to pan out. While I’m here I will apologise to you too. I wish we could have done better by each other.
Don’t worry about it, you voted to remain that’s all anyone could have done, even before this catastrophe
First time I have read this blog – well done for encapsulating the thinking person’s horror at all this so well.
We are only at the start of this cataclysm as you say, so today I was up early to liquidate most of my pension fund (due in 6 months) into cash and was fortunate to have been able to do so by just after 8. It really is every man for himself in what looks likely to be a chaotic disintegrating state over the next few years I fear, especially with small state sociopaths seizing control. They have cut back the police severely so any breakdown in order may be hard to control without resort to the military – remember London a few years ago when a much bigger police force just about held the line?
And all the time the relentless and non-negotiable biophysical events of climate change are ticking – look at the huge rainfall events in West Virginia, Belgium/France/Germany and Japan, the heatwave in India, the melting glaciers and icecaps. And the new Tory boys and kippers are mostly paid up climate deniers you won’t be surprised to hear.
I too have been doing what I can but in a small village with lots of flag waving numbskulls posting pictures of crusader knights and two fingers to Europe on the web it’s hard at times. Collective madness seems to be the order of the day.
No, it is not surprising to hear the climate denying thing sadly. I’ve been aware of how worried parties like Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace are by what this could mean to them. Collective madness does seem to sum it up. x
Just a couple of corrections: Gove and Boris (the Borogoves?) are both MPs and as such were elected by British voters. The choice of PM is the MPs’ choice but this is also via a voting mechanism. The Queen being wheeled out probably refers to her willingness to divest power to Parliament, but you are correct that the whole Royal Family is unelected (but incorrect in the inference that she somehow rules over us in any practical day-to-day sense).
Yes, I know they were elected MPs, but I guess my point is that generally we elect a party and expect the head of the party we have voted for to stick with us and not bail on us, so we actually voted for a party led by Cameron, not by Gove or Boris or Theresa May. MPs votes, to my mind don’t count as being representative of the country given that they have their own axes to grind and the whips to contend with. I didn’t mean to infer the Queen had any ruling power. It’s just that I’ve met a few people who have directly attributed her return to power and sovereignty as a key part of their desire to vote leave. If I mention Charles I, I am generally met with blank stares!
What about ninth being the farce that was parliament today where the former PM ducked most of the questions put to him saying that the decision would be down to the next PM and they all seemed to be having a jolly good laugh while the country collapses around their ears. I am sure you could write something very eloquent about that.
That was appalling.
This ship you are on, where was it going?
Poo island at this point unless someone learns to navigate very quickly. I thought you might approve of me carrying on Cameron’s nautical metaphors from his resignation speech!
In case no-one else mentions it – I keep hearing that 52% of the British Public voted to Leave. This is untrue. Considering a percentage of the British Public eligible to vote did not, then only 37.5% of the British Public VOTED to Leave.
Yes, not a majority by any means and had the vote gone the other way Farage would have contested it.
This is the phrase used in voting parlance and it means that it’s the percentage of people eligible to vote, – Who Voted.
Brilliantly articulated – thank you
Thank you for commenting.x
A well-written piece. I know you are angry, but you have managed to articulate the reasons in an entertaining but passionate way. I share every one of your opinions (though luckily I chose to live in Australia 45 years ago) but I hope that isn’t the only reason I enjoyed your article.
Thank you. x
Awesome summary.
Then (ninthly?) just to cap it all England are bundled out of a rather different European Club, far more swiftly and decisively, by Iceland.
It was, as the French who now play Iceland in the last eight, would say ‘a coup de grâce’.
I saw that! I also read that our England Manager has resigned, as is the fashion of the day. That should save us £4.6 million per year for a start.
Absolutely brilliant blog post, thank you so much for articulating what I feel!
On the point of how many people voted
Of the eligible voting population:
– 37.4% voted to leave
– 34.6% voted to remain
– 28% either chose not to vote or were prevented from voting (eg because of delayed postal votes or travel problems on the day).
Of the total population of the UK and Gibraltar, but excluding other overseas voter populations because I couldn’t find figures on them:
– 26.7% voted to leave
– 24.8% voted to remain
– 20% didn’t vote
– 28.5% were ineligible, including children, teens and non-voting immigrants who will be hugely affected by this decision but didn’t get a say in it.
That means that 73.3% of the total population did not vote to leave.
Populations figures from Wikipeidia, the rest’s from the BBC.
Thank you for the figures. How depressing. x
“The vote itself is not ‘democracy’. Democracy doesn’t happen on one day for one vote and then go away again.”
Unfortunately with party politics dominating, that’s EXACTLY what happens. We vote, and then we follow.
Except we do have means to enact change as long as we’re prepared to make our voices heard. I’m shouting hard!
Sheer brilliance….you have taken all the words I want to say and poured them on the page….I applaud you. I wish you hadnt had to say any of this, but you have summed it up and now I must share it on my page. I too cannot speak to friends and family that voted Brexit, I think I may never, ever again wish to speak to them, they made their choice, which is now mine, though I never wanted it. I will have to cut my Brexitfriends free…as we can never be friends again, who can like someone who has ruined their life?
Amazing. Thank you for writing this. It’s exactly my thoughts.
Hey snowflake you lost. By the strongest vote in UK since 1992
You don’t really grasp statistics do you?
I agree to everything you say….. i tried to have a conversation with a leaver and all he could end with was “we are putting the great back into Great britain”..right i think the rate we are going that will be the little, back in England (or possibly split further come to that “little Devon”).
So we have no plan , no policy, firms threatening to leave (i couldn’t blame them) johnson managing to put out something vague, the meaning of which is ridiculous. And the leavers think they have won- won what exactly.
I am writing a constructive email to my MP, signing petitions (some though are simply not worth it), before we start to really suffer (inflation, recession and those other things that evidently do not seem to matter)- some people are completely oblivious to what is happening, or simply do not care. Some have admitted they wish they had voted differently.
sorry i hope you do not mind, i am so angry and so bewildered at how this could be happening. I am also worried that this power vacuum, with Labour seeming to fall apart as well, is a prime breeding ground for the far right extremists to gain a foot hold, and it scares me too. I will not tolerate this one bit.
They lied in the referendum, think they can just dictate what they want to the EU for trade, ect and get what they want. sorry i just hope i’ll wake up and its all a dream.
Yes. I keep hoping to wake up too.
I was going to write a similar piece but your views so perfectly reflect mine (or perhaps mine reflect yours) that I don’t need to. Thank u for being as angry as I am.
I’d say it’s a pleasure, but you know what I mean! x
Thank you for articulating everything we’ve been thinking and feeling in our household since Friday morning. It’s a relief to know other people feel exactly the same and also that they want to fight on.
Thank you for keeping on fighting. x
Thank you!!! I am also enraged, and found this very helpful to read. I fell off the decency side of things earlier today when I photographed a woman who’d insulted me for wearing an IN badge, then posted it on social media. I think there is a wise balance to be found between feeling one’s anger, and taking informed action, and becoming intolerant oneself. So much wishing to stand for tolerance and well-informed argument. Fight on! I’m doing what I can too.
It is so hard to keep the balance, that’s the exhausting thing isn’t it. x
Well said Katy. Just that really 😉 to you 😦 to the situation
Thank you.
Utterly brilliant articulation of how I feel (and strangely cathartic). Thank you.
Thank you. x
Thank you. This is what I have been churning around in my head. I thought I would have calmed down now, and although the burning anger has been joined by a strange morbid fascination at the sheer chaos I am primarily still seething. I told my 4 year old not to stamp his feet and scream today- but could almost have joined him.
I think that would be good. I might try a good old stamp and scream today.
There is not a single thing that you mentioned that I don’t agree with. Having studied EU politics and history for the last 15 years, I am pretty sure the divorce won’t be amicable. They are afraid of the domino effect and they will try to play as hard as they can to make Britain a bad example for other eurosceptic countries. And it makes total sense. I mean ok Britain is the biggest economy in the EU but how did politicians think they will get out of it so easily? I am from Greece and I came in the UK two years ago. I know how hard Brussels can play and from what I can see this is only the start of the game… Get prepared for many other interventions from Brussels and other EU leaders about the political situation in the UK, which will, unfortunately, raise the pleasure of Leave voters and possibly the eurosceptics inside the UK. I just hope things will get better..
Yes, we’re not in a position of strength are we?
I ‘m afraid you/we aren’t.. Sorry for the delay..
No. We aren’t are we?
I voted for Brexit for one reason and one reason only – the persistant. 40 year + democratic deficit that the EU and the keepers of the flame of the EU project have deliberately and pointedly never addressed despite numerous opportunities.
Boris will be PM, and it will probably be a disaster, and then we can vote him out of the job. Had Boris got himself appointed as an EU commissioner instead, that would be it, he’d be accountable to nobody, elected by nobody and responsible to nobody but himself.
This year the EU is quite benign and it’s economically beneficial to be in the EU, but the EU is coming unglued, the Euro is economic suicide and at some point sooner or later the commission might not be benign, it might decide that we are Greece and need teaching a lesson…
So yes, there is a rational case for Brexit, but it’s not a this month or even this year thing, it’s long term. Also fixable by fixing the democratic deficit in the EU…
That’s terrific. Because since Friday at a conservative estimate we have lost the equivalent to fifty years worth of EU membership and we’re still going. To even the odds we will have to wait until my daughter is sixty seven years old, and that’s a conservative estimate.
And I’m not daft enough to think that it was going to be fixed overnight, but it’s a stalemate now and we’re hanging on by our fingernails. Every day we wait, every moment our economy tanks we have less to barter with. We are already not the fifth largest trading nation in the world and that happened on Friday.
And now Boris is talking about the EEA as an option. It costs as much as the EU to join. How are we being saved at all?
And given our appalling shower of a government, the democratic deficit is ours.
This seems to be some really ill-thought out process. Instead of benign entity that has produce laws that operate for the general common good, you’ve decided to vote to “free” us from that, and land us into the realm of insular party politics, led from the sides by the far right. Already one of the emerging front-runners is Theresa May who said in April that we should withdraw from the ECHR. What with that and her spying bill, I struggle to see where we are “free”. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/25/uk-must-leave-european-convention-on-human-rights-theresa-may-eu-referendum
The removing ourselves from the ECHR is one thing I am properly scared of David.
But is it benign? Ask Greece how benign it is? Let Greece describe what the practical implications of a democratic deficit can be when your unelected emperor decides you now are out of favour. And being shafted by a remote dictatorship that you cannot change isn’t, like a crap government run by convincingly lying muppets, something that you have to endure for 5 years until the next election, it’s forever. Which is quite a while. Or to quote George Orwell, “If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.”. What kind of country would this be now if that incredibly popular Mr Blair who won all those elections by landslides couldn’t have been voted out in 2010, whether or not he had been replaced by Gordon Brown in some internal coup. Imagine if Margaret Thatcher couldn’t have been voted out when her popularity waned, or if her messianic certainty in the fairness and rectitude of the poll tax hadn’t been tempered by her party’s realisation that it was electoral suicide to continue it. Imagine a world where the Tories were never wiped out in Scotland for test running the poll tax up there, because there were no elections to change the leadership there.
That’s the EU as presently put together. And people have complained about this for 40 years, even as the EU has gathered more power to itself and broadened its reach repeatedly, and yet the problem has never been fixed, the deckchairs have been rearranged a couple of times, but the EU now has a president with real power and influence who came to power through a process that Kim Il Jong would recognise. Europe is currently engaging with and granting concessions to Erdogan, the man who has effectively wiped out and imprisoned the free press in Turkey, for tactical advantage via its ‘independent foreign policy’. Are you still happy that the EU is the guarantor of your human rights? What can you do about it if you aren’t?
The only reason there isn’t a Europe wide democratic presidential election (for example) is because the people with the real power in the EU do not want there to be, because increasing the power of the european citizenry dilutes or diminishes theirs.
It’s notable that the initial reaction in France to Brexit was ‘Let us hold an emergency summit of the founder nations to see if we can make the EU more democratically accountable’, because France has its Le Pen problem and there is a real risk of Frexit for much the same reasons, over many of the same issues that caused BrExit. Very quickly after, the Germans made it very clear that there would be no negotiations, no reform and that the English would be punished for daring to leave to encourage the others not to be so foolish. Of course proper democratic reform of the EU would help stop Frexit in its tracks, and Xexit, and the looming risk of Itexit, it might even give those suffering buyers remorse over Brexit a real justification and cover for a second referendum, Can you think of a reason why the Germans might be so keen to nip all discussion of it in the bud before it gets started? If you can think of such a reason, that reason is also reason enough to want out of the EU, however bad the short term pain it causes.
My reply goes to @Silicon Implant rather than you David since he/she mentioned Greece in his/her answer.
Well yes Greece suffers from the EU austerity measures, but has its own responsibility about the austerity measures imposed to the country. For the last 6 years, politicians sign memoranda and instead of making the reforms that are needed, they instead cut wages and pensions and raise taxes. Moreover, Greece is a member of the eurozone. Yes euro was a curency that was created only for the good times, without taking into consideration that bad times/recession will come. Euro constructions was ill founded, and Greece was only the first victim of the eurozone. Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Ireland, Italy followed.
If the EU has reacted more quickly on the first year, maybe things would have been better for Greece. Maybe the rest of the countries wouldn’t have faced a similar crisis. So please do not use Greece as an example to show how undemocratic EU is as you miss many pieces of the story. On the day of the BBC debate, I heard Greece being mentioned at least 3 times by the Leave campaign. Twitter was full of people mentioning why Greece entered the EU with false statistics. Well, I had to defend my country and specify that it did enter with wrong statistics but it was the Eurozone, not the EU. We entered the EU in 1981. At the end of the day, yes, the EU has a democratic deficit but even if you see EU as an enemy, it’s better to fight the enemy from inside with its own weapons.
Closing, if it wasn’t for the EU, I wouldn’t have been in the UK. Neither as an Erasmus student in Norwich back 13 years ago, nor as an employee in London under the Erasmus placement programme 2 years ago. Have a great week ahead!
Thank you for your very pertinent comment Anna.
Ninethly might be the loss of AAA credit ratings.
Yep. That’ll do.
There seems to be a depressing lack of a clear plan to get out of this mess – I have one. Prosecute Johnson, Farage and Gove for electoral fraud (as per Alistair Carmichael) on the basis of misleading the electorate. Declare the Referendum result null and void, and have another vote.
Meanwhile, ennoble Mark Carney – who is the one person who has emerged with any credit – and get him on the Front Bench. He is the only person with a clue what to do.
We probably need a wartime-style coalition to take charge.
I share your fury – I am heart sick at how the whole political class has decimated the life chances of the next generation through incompetence and wishful thinking.
Hamish
Yes to everything you say, particularly Mark Carney.
Brilliant article, posted on FB by a friend of mine. I don’t blame Cameron for leaving it to Boris. Cameron wanted to Remain. He can hardly be expected to get a good Brexit deal, and would take the blame for a bad one. As the deal is going to be either bad or worse, it’s only fair Boris cops the blame for the outcome. If you are looking for a ninth point, can I suggest the popular press, who I believe (I’m a Commonwealth observer of this disaster) only revealed the inevitable negative outcomes AFTER the voting closed. I gather their social media feeds are jammed with comments along the lines of “Now you tell us!”. Finally, is it possible Cameron and the EU are playing a game of brinkmanship, stoking up the public fears over the Brexit to a point where they can reject the result “in the National Interest”?
I really think we should look into taking a class action against these people.
Excellent rant! Wondering if you have thought of the (possibly) more far-reaching results: GB breaks up (becoming ineffectual ally); Trump gets elected (not Brexit, but an essential aspect in this future apocalyptic scenario – think NATO); Russia stops rubbing its hands in glee and starts invading; WW3 erupts; refugees flood England. Can you tell I live in Eastern Europe?
Yes. Sadly I have and it is horrifying. x
I’m happy, yes. Very happy.
Bully for you.
You have put into words everything that I have been trying to say since Friday. Very well written.
Thank you.
Wow… i’ve been saying the same thing all weekend. You just put my words in print.
What i do not understand is WHY do the current politicians seem more focused on their infighting than on trying to save the country from disaster.
They are flouting their mandate and it’s infuriating.x
This is just how I feel. The rage is all consuming.
Yes, it is. It’s so difficult. x
Absolutely brilliant. Sadly you’ve managed to portray exactly the sense of despair and disbelief I’ve been feeling since Friday. I wish this would pass but I know it won’t for a very long time. Best wishes.
And to you. x
Thank you so much Katy. It’s exactly how I feel. I hope you don’t mind but I have posted this on My FB page. It says it all!
My pleasure. Please feel free to share.
I read this because a Facebook friend (an old pupil) shared it. I have now added your blog to my ‘Favourites’. Excellent, and I’m looking forward to more.
Thank you.
I don’t know you. Someone shared this on Facebook. It says everything I wanted to. Absolutely bloody marvelous. I will be quoting you a lot, particularly to people telling me to ‘calm down, get on with it, accept a democratic decision’ etc and bloody so forth. Thank you.
Thank you. x
Thank you Katy, you sum up my feelings perfectly. Will ‘they’ please stop saying the UK voted to leave, we didn’t, I didn’t. I think your ninthly and so on could be well directed at those leave voters now saying they didn’t want to leave but… and the guy who started the 2nd referendum petition, now with 3m+ signatures, who was actually a leave campaigner who was preparing for a remain vote and is now ‘very angry’ – join the club.
I thought that the fact that the guy who started the petition was a leave campaigner was hilarious. Serves him right! x
Brilliant article, makes me realise I’m not alone in feeling so angry with people telling me to “get over it” and “it’s a democracy”!!
Exactly how i feel, thanks
Thank you.
Reblogged this on laurahoneybee.
You have articulated your anger beautifully. The process I am in is grief at a loss, like the death of a close friend: we will eventually reconcile ourselves to the loss, but never lose that inner sadness. Thank you.
Yes. You are right. It is a grief. x
Very well expressed. Have you thought about standing for Parliament? Your thoughts are far more inspiring and articulate than anything I’ve seen from self-seeking MPs on either side.
I think I’d last a week before they threw me out!
Reblogged this on Armaitus on… and commented:
Again, an article articulated far better than I could.
100% covers my thoughts on Brexit at this stage.
Thank you. x
I’d call this brilliant but suddenly bloody everything looks tarnished.
It does. x
I’m up for supporting a class action against Boris, Gove, Farage and the others who chose to use blatant lies to woo the public with visions of a land of milk and honey.
Thank you for writing this …. You articulate it brilliantly, I just wish you hadn’t needed to.
I wonder seriously if we could.
Sums it up for me and I’ve always loved the word fuckwits. Shared. And shared.
Thanks. x
A brilliant piece. Can I just add that you should perhaps withdraw a little bit of your anger from (ex) Shadow Cabinet members resigning en masse from Corbyn? They are doing so because Corbyn pretty much single-handedly delivered the Brexit result. They are on your side.
Both Chris Bryant and Alan Johnson claimed yesterday that Corbyn’s office repeatedly intervened with the “Labour In” campaign. Finally, yesterday afternoon, Corbyn’s office confirmed this. Corbyn felt their proposed (unused) campaign was “too euphoric” about the EU. He would only back a campaign which was “balanced”, i.e. one which was critical of the EU and called for reform. In short, one that pushed his personal agenda.
Corbyn made no attempts, ever, to rein in the Labour Leave campaign run by Gisela Stuart. No “balance” there!
Corbyn spent most of the referendum “campaigning” to small audiences in out of the way places where he was unlikely to affect the decision in any meaningful way – for example, he spent the penultimate weekend of the campaign in Scotland, where a remain vote was always assured, and where Labour was dead in the water anyway. He refused to share a platform with any Tory remain campaigner. Most of his speeches were not about the EU, but about the need to register to vote: laudable, maybe. But something which would also benefit the Labour party for the future.
Corbyn refused to answer a direct question from Chris Bryant as to how he voted. Why? Unless he voted leave? His brother, Piers Corbyn, believes he voted leave.
That is why the (ex) Shadow Cabinet are now trying to bring down Corbyn. He has acted dishonourably, and forfeits the right to lead the party.
I hear what you’re saying Steve. x
Thank you so much for this Katy. I have been incoherent with rage at what I’ve seen unfold over the past days and am deeply afraid of what I see unfolding in times ahead. Your blog says exactly what I would like to say to people when I hear all their ‘buck up, it’s democracy’ nonsense. So again, thank you!
I’m Irish, so Brexit will not cost me my EU citizenship and my right to be part of a noble and brave project – probably the most noble and brave in history (albeit flawed and very human in many ways – and fixable!). However, my daughter does lose hers, as she is British and is unable to obtain Irish Citizenship. So my grief for her, over the loss of the opportunities that the EU offers, is profound. And for all the young people in the UK who can no longer be part of Europe and my dear English, Welsh and Northern Irish friends. Mostly, because I was actually born in South Africa and spent all my youth fighting apartheid and fascism in my country of birth, much of it in exile, I feel broken-hearted at the vile xenophobic and racist actions that some of the leavers are now indulging in across the UK.
Please keep writing and speaking out.
Thank you for your comment. x
Thank you for articulating all my anger and frustration so perfectly. Reading this has been like taking a couple of painkillers for a 4 day migraine. The figures as commented above make it all the more incongruous that this has happened. How on earth can such a monumental decision be made when nearly half of those who voted said remain anyway??? For something like this we need a clear majority and, as is becoming woefully obvious as lacking, a plan.
Yes, it’s frightening that planning is only happening now and it seems like it will be fire fighting rather than the long term strategy we need. x
I don’t feel quite so alone now, thank you,we must keep trying. Mike Cain.
Indeed we must. x
I also saw this shared on Facebook. You’ve perfectly captured my feelings. No, I can’t “get over it”; it’s not like I just lost the vote on which movie we see tonight, I feel that we’re imploding and may take the EU with us.
I don’t actually blame Cameron for walking. Although he lead us to the referendum, this isn’t what he wanted and those politicians who did need to man up and sort it out.
I fear the riots to come. At present I don’t know who that’ll comprise but that depends on what the politicians do next.
“May you live in interesting times” is an ancient Chinese curse!
We’re definitely doing that. x
Am so angry at people telling me to get over it. It’s not a fame that you lose and go get over it. This is the way of life that 52% of people have condemned me my children and my grandchildren to.
And it wouldn’t be so bad if it were really 52% but it isn’t. Only 52% of those who voted. xx
Absolutely brilliant. I have felt totally enraged since I heard the result. My Vote Out “friends” have said we won you lost now shut up and that the petitions flying around are all just “bad losers”. Only 37% of UK voters voted to Leave I don’t call that a majority. Oh….don’t get me started. Just really impressed that you have managed to write my views and that I am not the only one out there screaming at the TV. I now live in France and nobody has actually given us any real assurances about what happens to us now so feeling pretty sick and worried. All the French I have spoken to have been very supportive, they are not acting like those in the UK and treating us like unwanted immigrants.
So sorry to hear your frustrations. xx
Thank you,you spoke for me and all our family.As someone who has been shouting out loud since Friday morning that this is not a done deal ,what do we do now? In all my 73 years Inhave never felt so angry or despairing.What can we do ,please?
Not a huge amount but do write to your MP, they still have the power to veto this. Report hate when you see it, and if there are solidarity events, try to get to them. xx
How interesting to read the comments of a group of people who are clearly the fount of all knowledge, who are the only people to understand the issues of Brexit who label 17+ million people fuckwits but don’t understand the difference between ‘could’ and ‘would’ when misinterpreting the statement ‘could be used for the NHS’ as a promise. The pitiful cry of ‘We are on our own now’ without the crutch of the vastly corrupt EU also applies to 170ish other countries in the world, many of who have managed very well indeed without that crutch. It seems to me to be the cries from terrified Little Europeans rather than Independent internationalist Britons who are not afraid to stand on their own two feet.
How interesting to read the comments of a man who believes we are now free even though we are heading into an EEA agreement which gives us less power than before, still insists on freedom of movement over borders, and leaves us at the mercy of the EU laws that you don’t want, and yet costs us exactly the same. How interesting that you still believe that even though we are not now the fifth largest trading entity in the world and 45% of our trade comes from Europe, that we are in a position of power and liberation. Liberation from what? How interesting to read the remarks of someone who ignores the myriad evidence of the direct promises to pour money into the NHS, to deal with immigration that weren’t just a ‘should’. How interesting to read the comments of a man who cannot understand that the leave campaign promised to pour £111 billion pounds per year from a country that is £1.6 trillion in debt and rising at a rate of £5k per second, into the UK and who have no authority or money to do either. How interesting to hear the comments of a man who doesn’t take into account that we have already lost, since Friday 50 years worth of EU entry money, most of it from the annuities market which means your pensions are worth jack shit, and which has already plunged the construction market into recession in one day. How interesting you are that you are still refusing to believe evidence in the face of your jingoistic lies. Oh wait. You’re not interesting at all. Just deluded. Grow up.
I agree with all you say but I am in the fortunate position of living in Scotland and being VERY greatful that we have Nicola Sturgeon fighting for us. She has proved over and over again that she is the most effective politician in Britain. God help Little England, you’ll need all the help you can get!
She is brilliant. Good luck to you. xx
Absolutely spot on – exactly my experience of leaves – no ideas not direction and keep to blame remainers for not making it happen – whatever it is
If one more person tells me it’s not my job to have a plan, the government have to fix it now, I will scream
Exactly my thoughts, especially the bit about the referendum being binding, which, if I mention, I’m accused of being a bad loser. You didn’t mention the fact that it looks like the end of Great Britain too. One day of voting may have broken up relationships with other countries maintained for centuries. And who can blame them.
Yes and who could blame Scotland for getting out of this while they still can?
Thankyou for articulating everything I have felt but have been unable to articulate with any cohesion due to the fact everytime I try my blood boils and I want to punch someone. I can now point to this article and say ‘read that’ for your own protection! Thankyou Katy you have probably saved me from the inevitable public arrest :O) x
Thank you! xx
This expresses it all for me perfectly. I will share it but I know the only people likely to read it are the Remainers on my FB friends list who have gone underground, fed up of being told – or seeing me be told – to calm down & just ‘deal with it’ and that my fears are irrational, it will all settle down and come out in the wash. They don’t know and they Dont Want to Know. They want to keep their head in the sand believing it will somehow sort itself out – their ‘job’ is done now apparently and it’s time for us all to leave it to the proper people in power to negotiate over a nice cuppa. Yeah those ‘proper’ people – who led us to this disaffected state in the 1st place, continue to lie and are jumping like flies from from a steaming shit..
It infuriates me how they made the mess and are now walking away from it, particularly the leave politicians.
I share your feelings. Never before in my life have I gone to bed angry, awoken in the night angry, and got out of bed in the morning so ANGRY for days on end. Oh, and then at the same time feeling huge waves of sadness. You have articulated beautifully the suffocating reality for many of us.
It’s so exhausting and miserable and frustrating. xx
You have put it so brilliantly. The saddest thing is that we were doing ok when we decided to commit this collective suicide as a country, though there was some very serious problems to solve globally. While we now spend every hour, every ounce of political effort and every penny sorting out the mess the British people have plunged us all in as a country, thousands of refugees will die, climate change will to untackled, poverty will raise, xenophobia and racism will also raise, and global instability will grow. And even worse, it has put project Europe in jeopardy which for me as a European leaving and working in England for 28 years is the saddest thing I have witnessed. I loved this country greatly for the welcomeness, openness and inclusion it showed to all cultures. I have a different feeling at the moment every time I go out. What a terrible outcome at every level! And after 28 years of being a tax payer and contributor to this society, I did not even get a vote. Who said this was democracy?
That is shameful. I really wish they had given people in your position and sixteen and seventeen year olds the vote. It affects all of us equally and yet the vote was not equal. x
Thank you thank you thank you! You have so eloquently put exactly what I am feeling. I got verbally abused in the street by a couple of leave campaigners before the vote. I won’t go into detail but it was personal and it was nasty. I too have been horrified by the hate that is spewing out and I too am devastated and worried about the future. I am clinging to the hope that it is only advisory and we can all write to our MPs to put pressure on them and that no one will actually dare to invoke article 50. Hope springs eternal….
Keep hoping my lovely. xx
Very well said. The ‘sour grapes’, ‘bad loser’, ‘you lost, get over it’ comments have infuriated me. This is not a game. I have seen many elections come and go, many of which did not go the way I wanted, and I have accepted the result (albeit grudgingly at times) but this is a completely different level of magnitude. I’m not going to sit quietly in the back of the boat as it heads towards the waterfall.
Yes. Exactly. I didn’t get my way in the last general election but was magnanimous about it. This is a whole different level. I don’t think many people realise how momentous this vote is and how much it will affect us all.
Like everyone else here, I would like to say thanks for being so articulate. Things appear to be in free fall with no leadership. Isn’t it terrifying how quickly our once stable nation has been turned upside down? The racist outpourings being reported are worrying – most of all that people think they now have licence to give voice to these totally unacceptable views in so public a fashion.
I’m sickened by this most of all. It’s awful. x
I am with you on everything you say x
Thank you. xx
Passionate, eloquent, accurate. Thank you Katy.
Thank you. xx
Brilliant article Katy. You’re saying what we remainers feel! Thanks for this
Thank you for commenting. x
Yes. You are right. It is a grief.
xx
to the one person who has said “I am happy” can you please follow katyboo1’s lead and explain why you are happy, then go on to explain what taking back our country really means now that you know all of the foreigners aren’t going to be kicked out, and more are going to arrive. The EU aren’t going to roll over and let the UK trade in the EU for free. The NHS isn’t going to be saved by the people who want to privatise it. I still haven’t heard one valid truthful reason for anyone to be happy about it. They have screwed over the country playing petty politics and none of them deserve the right to sit in Parliament.
Thanks.xx
Dear Katy, this is the best, most well articulated summary of how many of us feel and will continue to feel, it brought back the tears to my eyes which have never been far away since Friday. I am 66 and a passionate European. Until this, I thought that the Iraq war was the worst political crisis of my lifetime. Actually, this is perhaps even worse. Sharing on FB. Keep writing
Thank you Hilary. I too have been close to tears for days. x
Brilliant blog, you have summed up my feelings exactly. I feel like I could sob for a year. Are you free for the PM’s job or running England football team anytime soon?
I’ll do both if you like. I’ll take them on and then resign half an hour later!!
Thank you for this. It is entirely everything I want to say, succinctly and rationally written down. Also, fuckcluster – excellent work.
My pleasure. omnishambles ran it a close second!
Very, very, very well said. Thank you for writing – and thank you for articulating – all of the above. I am with you all the way. No more words at the moment – am I just as bereft as you, and so many other millions of people. What have they done?
I keep thinking this. It runs through my head the entire time.
One year on . . . what do you think now?
Still going down like a cup of cold sick.
Reblogged this on YllaCaspia and commented:
This is an excellent blog post, much of which is very close to how I, and I imagine many others, are feeling about the mess we are in now. Read it.
Thank you.
I voted Remain and agree with you about the consequences of Brexit, but just a point about who is to blame. We’re being told that it’s the fault of the oldies, who mostly voted out, but a huge number of the young didn’t bother to vote at all and since the young are mostly In voters, they would almost certainly have changed the result, so I think as much anger should be directed at them as with the Brexiteers.
I’m most angry with the politicians and the media who peddled the lies to be honest Joannie, but I see where you’re coming from.
The only mistake in this article was the rant about Cameron being elected and that the successor won’t be! You have parliamentarian rule in the UK, which means you elect a party not a leader! The leader is chosen by the elected party! Not the electorate! The reason for this is because the leader has no executive or legislative power whatsoever, unlike a president in countries run by presidential rule (Eg France, US, most of Latin America)! The prime minister cannot do anything without the backing of the government and the leading party, hence he is only a figure head and not elected! There is no need for him to be elected as he cannot make any decision on his own. Otherwise I agree with it all!
I know that Louise, but my point kind of is that when you vote in a general election for a party, they are represented in people’s minds by the leader of that party and it feels like Cameron should be doing this. He got elected in on the promise of a referendum which united his split party. He needs to deal with it. I know he won’t and as a remain supporter I can see why he is wanting to pass the buck here, but it still chafes.
Very very well written. Thank you.
Thanks.
Summed up to perfection and totally reflects exactly how I sadly/angrily feel. Thank you as I don’t have the eloquence you possess
Thank you.
Brilliant piece. Entertaining and deep.
Amazing article! So wonderfully put.
Thank you. x
You are a political and comic genius.
Bless you, Simon. x
And you are spot on
Thank you. xx
YES! When you make a horrible mistake that has dire consequences you don’t just sweep it under the carpet and skip into the sunset you take action to put it right. I’m also very alarmed to see the UK imploding but I think there IS a plan and that plan (I hope) is never to invoke Article 50 because after 3 months of economic pain while waiting for soneone mad enough to pull that trigger the Leave voters who aren’t already regretting their decision will be and they’ll accept the eventual U-turn and that staying in is best.
Fingers crossed. x
It’s the first time I’ve read your blog. Thank you for your excellent analysis of what’s happened and why people like me are in shock and grieving. I’m in my early sixties and am horrified that my contemporaries have screwed over the young people of this country yet again. The outpouring of racist bile in the last few days has been horrifying. I’m ashamed to be British. I want MY country back.
Yes. Me too. xx
I think I love you. Almost word for word how I feel at the moment.
Thank you. x
Katy.
Thank you for writing such thought provoking pieces. My partner is Jewish. What scares me is that we are seeing a rise in nationalism. We take our eye of that ball at our extreme peril. I listened to the radio the other day as the DJ declared :”That after Hitler seized power . . .” Hmm I seem to recall that he was democratically elected on the basis of bringing power and greatness back to the Germany after the reparations imposed by The League of Nations following WW1 had broken the will of the nation. Germans were not intrinsically bad but just ordinary people lead astray by a charismatic orator.
Keep up the good work.
It frightens me too. x
Well said; I agree with you on every count. I am also one of the older generation (I am 55) who voted remain. If I believed in a God I’d ask him to help us – unfortunately we are on our own.
Yes, I think we are.
Brilliant. Maybe the best thing I’ve read since last week (and that’s a compliment!)
Thank you.
Thank you so much Katy. You have said so much of what I feel, the only difference is that I wouldn’t have used the (few) swearwords you did as it’s not my way. I have had a friend suggest “enough is enough” when I posted yet another comment on the referendum. Nobody has actually abused me for my position – I am too old & thick skinned for it to make any difference to me, being nearly 70!
My one hope, which comes from by strong Christian faith, is that God truly IS in control and he can make something wonderful out of this appalling mess. There may indeed be a silver lining, but it doesn’t make the awful journey we will have to endure to get there any less painful.
I find it particularly distasteful that the Far Right have taken this vote as permission to come out of the woodwork and suggest to anybody who doesn’t look pure white Anglo-Saxon that thety shoud go back to where they come from. It has indeed opened a Pandora’s Box which won’t be easy to close.
Please keep on blogging. You speak for many of us who are less articulate.
Thank you Brian. x
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. Many of us feel forced to just accept the things and keep quiet as the referendum is the done deal. But we need to heard!
Can you please let us know where the figure of “£250 billion down the sock drawer” was published?
Here’s the link for the Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/mark-carney-says-bank-of-england-ready-to-inject-250bn-into-economy-to-keep-uk-afloat-after-eu-a7100486.html
Not arguing with this at all. The key question is how to fight it.
As I see it, the most invidious step of the last 24 hours has been Cameron’s bland assertion that the “decision” must be respected.
There are two things wrong with this.
1. The referendum was advisory, and not mandatory. The decision is with parliament, a fact that is becoming more widely appreciated.
2. There’s no “must” here. Parliament must assert its sovereignty (remember that word anyone) and mage that decision, asap, for the benefit of the country.
Vide Geoffrey Robertson’s piece in the Guardian. I also wrote a piece for Liberal Democrat Voice (readership 10).
A week ago, Brexit was wrong for the UK. The Leave campaign turned this into a plebiscite about discontent and won that. They dissed the ergonomic experts of the world. They were wrong. Mark Carney s right. It is still wrong for the UK. It has to be stopped.
As you say there is no leadership here. How can we create it? #stopBrexit.
Writing to our MPs, protesting, making our voices heard. It’s not much, but it’s all we have.
Thanks like all who have commented you are expressing what we all feel – but collectively we don’t know what to do now – is all we can do just writing to our MP or collectively can we do more ? How do we encourage the leave voters to come out of hiding and admit they were wrong and get them to start demanding a 2nd chance to correct this mess they’ve opened the door to.
There is an EU petition. You can bypass our government and while we’re still in the EU, use their format to ask for support. Worth a go: https://www.change.org/p/eu-petition-urge-the-eu-to-require-a-stronger-mandate-for-brexit-from-the-uk-government?recruiter=220154571&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_page&utm_term=des-lg-no_src-no_msg&recuruit_context=fb_share_mention_variant&fb_ref=Default
“As I see it, the most invidious step of the last 24 hours has been Cameron’s bland assertion that the “decision” must be respected.”
We are still at the stage where party-political manoeuvring matters to Cameron. He wants a way to escape the situation without having to press the button himself – he needs BoJo to own it and find a way to do it without seeing the Tory vote defect to UKIP. Farage is already gearing up for action with photo-ops about betrayal on the fields of the Somme.
If we move into the “everything’s on fire” stage before Article 50 or the EU finds a pretext for ejection, this is likely to change.
Well we’re heading that way.
Shared these words just wish the younger generation could have had more say it’s them I feel for its all very disturbing. Thank you for this.
Thank you for sharing .x
I also don’t know who you are, but again, brilliant and exactly how we (my wife and me) are feeling. Did you see the Italians are now being forced to ask for a bailout because of the contagion effect? They’ve said the UK sneezed, and we caught a cold… Where will it end…
No. I didn’t. Poor buggers. x
Being an Italian who lived in the UK and now in Spain, I can tell you that if there was a similar referendum in Italy right now, the “leave” side would win by a very, very long shot. At least reading all my Italian peers’ face book posts, various articles online, etc.
Reasons why? As in the UK, for immigration issues (in the end of the day all the immigrants arrive first in Southern Europe – Greece and Italy), for the Euro currency that literally ruined the country (I was in Italy when the change happened, and although €1 = ₤1,936.27, everything within a couple of months became €1 = ₤1,000, or, in other words, everything doubled its price, but the wages obviously didn’t. Luckily the UK never wanted the Euro), because of impositions from the EU regarding the taxation (in the last few years many people have taken their lives because they couldn’t cope any more with the ever‑increasing taxes)…
Poor buggers – yes, I totally agree…
In Italy they would surely vote out, and… nothing of what they would expect to change would change anyway.
What I mean is that the other big trouble is that the UK vote triggered now a mechanism all over Europe where ignorant people can see that it can be done, and now want to be “independent” too.
Really spot on article anyway; and, if it makes you feel better, you Brits are seen pretty much as heroes in Italy right now.
I’m so sorry we’ve kick started this for all of you. x
I wish i was able to put into words how i am feeling at the moment im not as eloquent as you are but i am glad you wrote this as i wholeheartedly agree with every point you made!!thankyou!
Thank you. x
Thank you. Excellent piece. 😊
Thanks. x
Thank you for articulating so eloquently what me and millions of others are feeling right now. And I agree, I will not shut up, the fight for democracy is just beginning. Hope you don’t mind me sharing this, people need to read it.
Not at all. Thank you for commenting. x
Do you not mean that the fight to overthrow democracy is just beginning
Brilliantly put, saying everything I feel. I echo all that #Jane above has said and I am 70. I feel sick for the future for all our children and our grandchildren. Thank you for articulating all that I feel.
So do I. xx
Great piece Katy. I’m so sorry fo all the English who have either been duped or stuck with a horrendous situation which started after the Tories “won” the election. We at least in Scotland have a party who stands for the people and a leader hell bent on removing us from the craziness. We are hoping for Independence as we have no voice at all in England. Even our elected MPs are told they are not allowed to vote on certain “English” issues. This is NOT a democracy its a plutocracy and appears to be heading towards a right wing dictatorship. God helps us all. Like I said at least we have some hope in Scotland. Good luck to all the 4 nations of this Union because were going to need something to keep us going.
You should be rightly proud of Scotland. Good luck to you. xx
Well Said Katy … My ninthly would be Equality and Diversity and as the Facists rely on the uneducated for their troops I expect a rise in hate crime towards LGBT and myself as a transgender person who is out in the world will have to bear the brunt. Some of my Trans friends who are not “out” will put on their males clothes fall in line with their mates down the pub and go f you lot !
Incandescent is not the only thing I’m feeling …
Paula X
It is so distressing that the tolerance we have worked so hard for and which everyone deserves is being ripped away with the rest of this mess. So sorry. x
Reblogged this on Welcome to my blog.
Thank you.
Well said – totally agree – I think you capture the feelings of 49% of the nation while the other 51% are too busy feeling smug that they have ‘saved the U.K.’ – by this time next year the uk as we know it may not even exist. Thanks folks, happy now?
Smugness is the thing that’s been driving me the most insane to be honest.
I agree with almost all of this, except your opinion that Cameron leaving is a bad thing. His leaving behind a poison chalice is the sole reason article 50 hasn’t been activated.
Boris doesn’t want it, Farage has been distanced by the leave side, Nicola Sturgeon is doing her best to fight for Britain’s best interests, and there’s international condemnation for Brexit.
Hopefully the government will dismiss this racist, xenophobic – and as you said, advisory – decision so we can return to being British; polite, accepting, friendly… traits which are already very representative in Scotland & Ireland, and to a lesser degree – Wales. Bitter English patriotism and elitism better represents the swathes of leave voters. I just hope it’s not representative of the country as a whole.
So do I. x
Perfectly put. This truly does say just how I feel. I haven’t quite made as far as you have in trying to pull some practicals out of this – I would join a political party but I’m not sure which one can best fight this. I am utterly disgusted at Labour basically copping out. I don’t care what you think of your leader at – at this point, you plant a rictus grin of disgust on your face and you pretend you’re united and you get out there and you hold the muppets responsible for this shoddy mess to account. I will look into electoral reform – that might be somewhere where I can find a practical place to release the hot ball of anger I have been carrying around with me since Friday. Thank you for articulating what so many of us remain voters feel. (Oh – and I second knighting Mark Carney – and I know the world’s tipped upside down when I think this about a banker!)
Madness isn’t it? This time has made for some strange bedfellows!
Thank you for this. Well done.
“Democracy is part of a process and is happening all the time. I have the democratic right to fight against decisions made on my behalf that I don’t like, and I don’t like this one, so I am fighting it every step of the way. Do not throw the word democracy in my face. It is not a trump card.” Exactly – just as Farage did. And now watch him take away anyone else’s right to do the same thing. There will be new draconian laws – to “protect” us – and before you know it we will have absolutely no freedom to do anything.
Anger is a force. Anger is energy. We are going to need that energy and we need to stop wasting it on wishing this hadn’t happened and shouting at the people who were convinced by some pretty slick liars.
Yes, we need to harness it. x
I am writing to my MP today to ask that in representing my interests, he takes every possible step to stop Brexit and I would love it if you could all do the same.
I am doing this to protect my business and the job security of my team because I don’t believe that – as a nation – we are set up to deal with the level of disruption which a Brexit would involve.
Neither major political party believed for one minute that we would vote for Brexit, and so they have no idea what to do next – there is clearly no plan on either side.
Neither party has a leader and we are in limbo in every area of public life and business.
I urge you to write to your MP to make the same request, so when our democratic process kicks in, your view will be heard.
You can find their contact details here: http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps
Here are some words for you to use to make it easy as a cut and paste, or simply write your own message.
You can take the opportunity to go into more detail if you choose to – this will be an important way for MPs to read the mood of the nation.
———————————————————————————-
I would like to ask you on my behalf and as my elected representative in Parliament, to work in every way possible to overturn the result of the recent EU Referendum, so that the UK is able to stay in the EU.
———————————————————————————-
In addition to writing to your MP, you can also write to other MPs and ministers on that list – either by email or by letter.
Here are details of how to do this: http://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-your-mp/…
In just two days, our currency has been massively undermined, our companies have lost more value than the EU cost us in 15 years, our credit rating has been downgraded, which will immediately undermine the money available for public services (which are already under pressure from the lingering impact of the global recession), we are leaderless, some Leave voters are carrying out racist attacks, migrants who live here and contribute to our economy are scared, good people are planning to emigrate, our momentum is stalling and we have no plan.
This is not a good way to run a stable, prosperous and healthy society.
Perhaps there might be a way in which we might exist happily outside the EU, I have no idea – but THIS IS NOT IT – our leaders have failed us by lack of planning and our only option now is to go into reverse and then take the time to reconsider.
If you are heading in the wrong direction, you should never be too proud or too stubborn to turn back.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/27/stop-brexit-mp-vote-referendum-members-parliament-act-europe?CMP=share_btn_fb
Yes. I am going to do that. x
Equality is also under threat – much of our enlighten legislation was EU created. Join http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk to protect it.
Thank you Belinda. x
Whilst I agree with all your sentiments there is another 52% of the population who are going to be even more upset if leaving doesn’t go ahead, so Britain is between a rock and a hard place right now. Britain needs to work together right now to get through this and they need to forget all the scaremongering of the entire campaign. The World is not going to stop trading with Britain; Europe is not going to stop trading with Britain as they need Britain just as much as Britain needs them (unless all BMW, Audi, Mercedes and VW drivers all trade in their cars for Jaguars, Bentleys, Fords and Vauxalls – sorry not those, they have German connections). The World’s 5th largest economy is not going to implode – if it does it will drag the rest of the World with it and the rest of the World is sensible enough not to allow that to happen. The pound will recover as the banks and hedge funds who bet on Brexit devaluing the pound start scrambling to reap the rewards of their ill-gotten gains.
At the moment the people who are set to gain the most from the “doom and gloom” predictions are doing nothing to try and allay those fears, because they have nothing to gain from doing so and they continue to perpetuate the lies and scaremongering they spread during the campaign. Both sides lied through their back teeth and none of them are going to own up to lying, just making mistakes. Why did neither side say exactly how much the UK puts into the EU and compare that amount to the other nations’ contribution? Why did neither side say exactly how much Britain gets back from the EU or show where the disparity goes (propping up the failing economies of Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and France)? Think about all the people who said “Remain” and how much they had to lose personally, not how much Britain had to lose, just them personally.
On the Leave side, Nigel Farage was to stupid to realise he was committing political suicide as his party has no focus and no standing any more. BoJo doesn’t realise he won’t make it as Tory leader as there are too many Remain politicians who will block his leadership bid. The same goes for Gove whom many politicians will remember his complete ineptitude at running two ministries as well as those who want to punish him for his Leave campaign.
George, I appreciate what you’re saying, but I think your reason is flawed. 52% of the population did not vote to leave. 37% of those that voted did, and to say that over half the country agrees with leave is nonsense. Furthermore it is becoming increasingly apparent that many leave voters didn’t think leave meant what it did.
We are no longer the world’s fifth largest economy. We are sixth. We were sixth by Friday lunch time. And we are still dropping. Being downgraded by Moody’s really caps it. I realise that the economy will rally at some point, but it’s not going to be soon, and with every day of inertia that passes we get weaker. Nobody ‘needs’ us. They needed us when we were part of something bigger and were strong.
Katy could you explain the 37% of those that voted?
The article is a brilliant reflection of how I feel and I have put links on FB where it appears to chime with many of my over 60s friends.
Spangled Rabbit posted a comment earlier on this. It’s great: On the point of how many people voted
Of the eligible voting population:
– 37.4% voted to leave
– 34.6% voted to remain
– 28% either chose not to vote or were prevented from voting (eg because of delayed postal votes or travel problems on the day).
Of the total population of the UK and Gibraltar, but excluding other overseas voter populations because I couldn’t find figures on them:
– 26.7% voted to leave
– 24.8% voted to remain
– 20% didn’t vote
– 28.5% were ineligible, including children, teens and non-voting immigrants who will be hugely affected by this decision but didn’t get a say in it.
That means that 73.3% of the total population did not vote to leave.
Populations figures from Wikipeidia, the rest’s from the BBC.
Whinge whinge whinge. Please stop whining. The Remainers are the worst doomsayers. Why do you want to Remain? Nearly all the folk I asked were only interested in themselves, not the nation.
The EU is a corrupt warped organisation whose rules are there to satisfy the few. The French mostly.
Has the,world,stopped turning? Have you stopped breathing? Put it into perspective. A plan? It’s simple. Invoke,article 50. Negotiate with every country regarding trade. All those that want to leave, they’ll be back.
We have survived worse. At this time we need less moaning and negativity and a much more positive outlook. There is a whole world out there waiting for our call. Opportunity knocks. The EU is not the only show in town.
If the EU is so wonderful, tell me why Greece is skint. Why there are record levels of youth unemployment and debt? An organisation drowning in red tape. Jobs for the boys. Corruption on untold scales. But you want us to stay. Why? You will be proved wrong but it will take time. Meanwhile you need to get your political party sorted.
Being angry and stating facts is not whinging. Yet again, you are a leaver with no facts to back up anything you say. You do realise that if we invoke article fifty we are still locked into the EU for the next two years and still paying for it? You do realise that we are moving towards EEA which costs the same, insists on freedom of border movement and yet denies us a veto. You do realise we need them more than ever because 45% of our trade is with Europe, we are falling down the rankings of world trading powers already, what was our £1.6 trillion deficit is currently ticking up by £5,000 per second and your decision has cost us 50 years in EU membership already? You do realise that this is merely a reaction to what might happen if we do trigger article fifty? So god knows what will happen when we do. You do realise that we have been downgraded by Moodys which means that we have less for public spending despite leave having pledged, on record to invest £111 billion per year into the UK economy to achieve this magical stuff you think is just going to happen. You do realise it takes 28 months on average to negotiate one single trade agreement and as time ticks by we get weaker and weaker and have nothing to use as leverage? You do realise that Greece is in the shit because, like the UK it has sovereignty and so its problems were its own, just like all the things you blame Brussels for are our own, made for us by an austerity government? NO. You don’t realise do you. You don’t realise at all, and that’s why we’re in this mess.
I think Katy has shot your fox Stephen, comments like yours are one of the main reasons we are all so angry. Were you aware of the list of points Katy makes in her reply above? Particularly that in order to remain a part of the single market we are likely to have to agree to free movement of people?
Three major pillars of the leave campaign have now been debunked within days of the result being announced:
a) The leave campaign now say they cannot guarantee a reduction in immigration – oh dear, but I can’t imagine any leavers cast their vote on this basis right?
b) The leave campaign cannot guarantee the ‘350 million a week saving’ (inverted commas as we all know by now this figure is a fallacy) will be spent on the NHS. Namely because the catastrophic effect of leaving the EU on our economy will far exceed any saving we make on contributions to the EU budget, so we’ll have less to spend on public services than before – the economists told us this before the vote but hey, to quote Gove: “we’ve all had enough of experts” right?
c) The economy will be fine, it’s all scaremongering. Wrong, the economy is not fine and shocker, exactly what was predicted would happen, is happening and we haven’t even left yet..
Finally can I address the point you raise about remain voters only looking out for themselves – From a personal standpoint I’m stunned and angry on behalf of the country, I think you’ll find that sentiment reflected with most remain campaigners. We have chosen collectively as a country to ignore the advice of 95% of economists and leave the EU. The saddest part is that those who are most disadvantaged in this country are those who stand to lose the most from Brexit, so please don’t insult us by claiming our anger is selfishly motivated.
Good points. well made. x
Yep, I echo all that everyone has said – and of course this post! I can feel your anger coming through and I like that -I like your passion so bloody well said! I do agree with Steve above though, Cameron needed to leave because he doesn’t think we did the right thing and he campaigned so hard to stay. It is a poisoned chalice, it’s political suicide to trigger the Article 50 so Boris may have a smile now, and if he does get in, if he does trigger it, his days are numbered – maybe he doesn’t care about that, maybe he just wants a couple of years in the Big Boy’s chair and have 2 minutes of fame. Who knows …. but that is exactly the point you and everyone else who wishes to remain are making …. WHO KNOWS??!!!
Yes, who knows?
Bloody well said.
And as you say all fairly predictable.
Thank you.
Thank you for commenting. x
I feel as if we have just decided to go ‘ off-roading ‘ in a Chelsea tractor thinking it is some kind of Challenger tank, to take on the rough terrain of the wilds rather than contend with any number of traffic lights and one way systems which hold things up, and don’t even mention the traffic jams . . .
. . . do you remember the Fast Show sketch ?
Ha ha! Yes.
Thank you for this piece, it is exactly how I feel. I am angry, sad, and filled with despair at what has happened and what has been lost. I have unfortunately not been as eloquent as you either, and must confess I have probably alienated some friends and family these last few days due to a few choice words I shared last Friday. But I don’t really care – I want people to know how angry I am. This situation is not okay – and it is not something we can just ‘get over’ in a few days. I want to join a political party but just don’t know which one is the best choice to actually take action on all of this – us angry liberals do need to act now, complacency has gone on too long and is partly the cause of where we are now. But which one?!!?!?!?!?!?!?
Clegg has done a good job of calling this to be fair. He might be in a good position right now if he can just show the strength. I say that as a member of the Women’s Equality Party and the Labour party, just so you know I’m not partisan! x
Thanks for sharing that! I really appreciate it, seems like perhaps the way forward for me too xx
Well said.
Thank you.
Thank you for writing exactly how I am feeling. I just can’t imagine a future where the UK feels like a home again. Little things sadden me, like walking around a supermarket yesterday wondering whether the man buying cheese or the lady getting her cereal, were part of this. I don’t like being so distrustful. As a previous writer commented, Mark Carney seems to be a good guy at the moment – a banker! a good guy!
I’m hoping that someone somewhere will stop the rise of the extreme right. I don’t think this will be immediate. I find myself feeling desperately sad that we have stepped so far back from being the welcome and tolerant nation we were.
My city is one of diversity. I live in Leicester. Only last month there were journalists lauding our tolerance and showing our city off as a model of integration. Yesterday someone told me that their friend was pelted with bananas and racist abuse, dropping his children off at a primary school down the road. It makes me weep.
Exactly how I feel. I hoped I’d start to feel a bit better after a few days, I just feel worse, and the idiots in the Labour Party using this as an excuse to start a coup have seriously diminished my one hope of one good thing to come.
Yep. Me too.
I met a lady in the Cathedral on Sunday after the service.
We were speaking about the vote and I explained that I had flown over especially to England to vote Remain (I live in Amsterdam) because this was such an important moment in our history.
I asked her how she voted and could scarcely believe what she said:
ME: so how did you vote?
HER: I voted for Exit
ME: oh really, why?
HER: For the Queen
ME: and how do you think the Queen would feel if her Kingdom were torn in two and the Union is broken with Scotland?
HER: oh, she’d be devastated.
My head exploded then I ate another biscuit.
That is funny, and also very sad indeed.
Thank you! I’m so glad that I’m not alone feeling this way.
Thank you for commenting. x
Fantastic blog. It was like reading my mind and everything I have been thinking doing and saying these last few days.
Yours in solidarity xxx
Thank you. x
The trouble is that it is difficult to see what to do next when grieving. Some I know voted leave though the vast majority either lied or voted remain, I believe the latter.
I think it is important not to go down the route of accusing as some have done, everyone who voted leave of being a racist, bigot or an as thick as shit Sun reader. The vast majority of them are none of those.
Those of us who voted remain still need to work with those who voted leave even if we do think that they did that as a result of being misled and hurling insults is not a good way of building bridges. If we don’t get around to building those bridges, then we will be handing the country to those who are racist and bigoted and the end result will be far worse! I don’t yet know what I am going to do in the way of building bridges but have at least reached a stage where I can consider it.
Yes. I agree we need to build bridges, but it is hard. I believe we will get there, but the angry, bereaved people must be allowed to articulate it without being shouted down. Letting it out is the only hope of letting it go.
Total host!
Let’s be like you and sulk because yes you are in this boat with us and we are more than you. So it’s going in our direction and if you don’t like it go live in europe as you obviously like it.
As for the othe trips you write and I don’t know when you wrote it but. The pound is no lower than it’s worst when those rich bankers failed us and has climbed since the other knee jerk idiots did the same As you and suggested there is a hole in this boat.
Let’s look at the facts. If Scotland had gone indipendent when they had the chance then the vote would have been so much more in favour of leave as most of the Scots who don’t even want to be with us voted for remain.
London is full of greedy RICH English and people who’s parents were not the ones who fought for is let’s say. Without being accused of being racist.
Sir you are exactly why we need democracy As I guess you could well be one of those politicians who also only care about themselves.
They say old people voted for leave, and who has lost the most? They have. Thier savings, thier shares, pensions, all took a dive and they srent winging because they have guys and believe innthe possibilities for our country.
So all you sad angry remain voters shut up and grow a pair.
You use the word ‘sulk’. I suggest you rethink your terms. How about furious? Because you are trying to swing the facts, the facts mind you, not the lies that you told, to suit yourself. You won. If you care so much, get out there and do your research and find out what you can do to help the country you are so proud of ‘pull together’ I am. What are you doing except shouting at people who are angry because people like you believe the lies. The reason this country is in the shit is because of sovereignty which allowed our country’s government to run an austerity programme which has broken schools, hospitals, care homes and any other valuable public service you care to talk about. Not Brussels. The pound is lower. The pound has been sinking steadily for four months, which, let me see, is about the amount of time electioneering for the referendum happened. It swung back on Friday because Mark Carney insisted on ring fencing £250 billion pounds of our money to prop up failing banks, not because people ‘believe’ in leave. Yesterday, what the government lost in RBS shares wiped out 15 years worth of EU membership in two hours. Tell me how the leave party were going to live up to their promise of £111 billion pounds in investment in the UK every year when we were £1.6 trillion in debt on Thursday and we are now adding to that at a rate of £5k per second. That panic you’re talking about that is so ‘unpatriotic’ it isn’t from us, it’s from World markets who have far more grasp of what your precious ‘leave’ vote means than you do. It isn’t rich Londoners. I’m not rich. I don’t come from London. I’m not even a ‘sir’. And shut up about democracy. You literally do not have any idea what it means. And as for old people losing their pensions. That’s not the fault of the remain voters. It’s not anyone’s fault. It’s the money markets. The money markets don’t exist to make Britain great. They don’t owe you anything. They exist to make people rich. And much of the investment is from overseas investors, not British nationals, because believe it or not, we don’t have many rich people who are British living in Britain any more because ‘austerity.’ Stop talking twaddle. This is your responsibility. Take your lumps. Learn the facts and if you’re that bothered, do something. I am.
Excellent, I agree with every word. Sadly could I add a ninthly?
Please stop devaluing government petitions.
But starting hundreds of petitions along the lines of ‘allow XX event to be run again so we win’, you devalue the entire system. Government petitions are about the last hope the electorate has to make the government debate something they are ignoring, and they work. If you devalue them in this way the government will take the option away claiming that they no longer do the job they were intended for.
I am very careful about what petitions I sign. As a grass roots political campaigner I will tell you that most, if not all petitions are a nonsense. They merely give you the right to ask parliament to consider something. Very few have any effect, and if you want to do something you need to get out and about and be politically active. I signed the second referendum petition because I believe we were sold a lie and it should be considered. I was glad I signed it when I realised that the bloke who created it was a leave campaigner. x
What happened to the link to the fast Show sketch ? Anyway, I just added for clarity for anyone who didn’t know what I was talking about. However, I truly believe that sums up this whole mess perfectly.
Still, I will say thank you for putting everything so succinctly. I fact I had already planned to go to my local political party HQ and ask what the blinking heck they think thay are playing at !
The game isn’t done yet but it is only because the nation called the bluff of the politicians, and now Jeremy Hunt wants a piece of the action.
Satire is truly dead. How does Armando Ianucci top that for a storyline in his next creation ?
Jeez, you pretty pissed eh Katy! I live in Australia so I cant offer much other than alcohol and maybe a holiday.
They both sound excellent! How’s the gin over there? x
A breath of sanity.
One thing is now certain and that is if the Conservatives are to grasp the poisoned chalice that is immediately the seat of Prime Minister, a very short-term sacrificial lamb is going to be required.
Whomsoever grasps the referendum result and either runs with or stonewalls it is going to be deeply unpopular with half of the electorate.
It might even be in the Conservatives’ best interests to delay any movement on the referendum until after a brought-forward GE and then to tactically lose it, preferably to a Labour-led coalition, thus avoiding the worst fall out themselves and allowing them the luxury if sniping at the incumbent Government from the wings.
A dangerous ploy nevertheless, as a Labour/SNP coalition, supported by Plaid & possibly the N.I. Unionists could conceivably actually prosper, most likely by ‘making it all go away’ ~ ignoring the advisory referendum, reinflating Sterling and slowly affecting global stocks in a positive manner.
Dangerous indeed and it’s us that will end up paying.
My sentiments exactly. Having been able to bring myself to tackle this in my blog yet… Thanks for this ❤ x
Thank you. x
Many thanks for this. I am a UK citizen living and working in France. This expresses exactly how I feel. I may now have to apply for French citizenship so I do not get ejected from the country I have chosen to live in as a previously fully paid up member of the EU. Well done. I have shared to FB.
Thank you Edward. x
I don’t know you katyboo1, and I really hope you don’t mind, but I’ve shared a link on my FB page. (If you do mind, I’ll remove it) It sums up exactly how I’m feeling. 17 million people were stitched up good and proper. Members of my family come from, or are spread around, 4 continents of our world. Some of them are now scared to leave their home. I have family posting clearly racist memes deliberately to “wind me up”, “because it’s funny”. My daughter can’t stop crying, my friends retirement plans are up the creek; but we’re “free”!!!! I despair of my fellow countrymen! Thank you. x
Please do share. Thank you. I’m so sorry you’re going through this. xx
What a well written piece. Sum’s the situation up perfectly. On another note; Please feel free to move up here to Scotland as we welcome political refugees with open arms and warm hearts.
Packing my bags! x
made my day reading this, thank you for articulating how I feel 🙂
Thank you for commenting. x
Great piece Katy. My mid-80s aunt and uncle are applying to move to Ireland
Thank you. I don’t blame them. Good luck. x
I understand your anger, believe me, I have been there ! I have spent 41 years feeling as you feel now !
41 years ago we were conned into a boat. We we’re categorically told that boat was not going where we feared. On the basis of those claims a majority got in the boat and took the rest of the country with them. For 41 years I watched as the course of that boat was changed by stealth and deception to go where I always knew it would go. So anger, yes I can tell you all about anger.
My personal view is that after just 5 days the expression of your anger is pathetic in comparison. I wish you a happy next 41 years.
Your magnanimity and lack of foresight is staggering. Your selfishness also. Your blindness to see the facts is astounding and your willingness to wish harm on others is appalling. I’m glad you have managed to shape into words what you think, because, rather like the lies the leavers peddled, and tried to delete but can’t, the evidence is here. Our country is better than it was because we worked for unity and peace. It is better than it was because we are more prosperous, and the things that we are failing at? Well, they’re all down to austerity government measures brought in by our politicians under their sovereign right to do so, not under EU law. You have voted to isolate yourself with the people who have broken up this country and fed it to greedy dogs, and now they don’t have anyone to stop them. We have lost in four days, over 50 years worth of EU membership fees. Our Moody’s rating has gone down and public spending will suffer. Our housing market is collapsing, our building market is collapsing. There will be no social housing now, and not for a long time in the future either. There will be no hospitals now, and God knows what the 26% of non UK workers in the NHS are going to do. You do realise our government’s brutal policies towards trainee doctors and nurses means that we cannot supply all the staff we need and we are unlikely to do so for years to come, and that was before Friday? Your actions are selfish, short sighted and deluded. Thanks.
So that’s it then, is it? We all book one way flights and leave for brighter shores and leave behind those that can’t keep up? Or do we go back, cap in hand, to the EU and be their whipping boys, made to stand quietly in the corner for eternity? Read plenty of well thought out and written posts on why we’re in such upheaval but nothing on how we can turn this around and find a way to prevail?! All they do is serve the publisher in feeling superior! Do we really lack anyone with any positivity, vision and drive?? If so, we may as well let the place fall into oblivion as there’s nothing worth saving! I don’t mean to have a pop at you but why can’t intellectuals get together and formulate a plan for our path forward?! We had a vote. Leave won. Now let’s deal with it in a democratic and positive way, eh?
Well, Don. That’s what our government is supposed to do, the one we elected to serve the best interests of the public. The one that’s currently ripping itself to bits whilst letting Farage devalue the pound every time he opens his mouth. Are they doing it? No, they fucking aren’t. It’s not up to the people, sadly. We have very limited ways to effect change. Some of us are trying to do our best. Lobby your MP. Join a political party you think might do the job. Go to a rally. Look at the Electoral Reform Society’s mandate. Protest against the destruction of the ECHR while you can. Petition the EU while we are still a part of it. I’ve done all this already. I’m pointing out that our biggest chance for things not to go tits up happened on Thursday and this is the mess we’re in because we took that chance and fucked it. We have to try and influence where we can. I’m doing all these things Dan. I’m not just sitting here moaning. I’m out there. I’m out tonight in fact, at a solidarity rally for my city, trying to reassure people that we can still be united. What are you doing? Except having a pop at people like me, because it’s easy to sit behind a keyboard isn’t it?
Love it Katy, articulates eloquently my thoughts without so many of my expletives. 😉
Thanks very much, Katy. I feel exactly the same as you. Thanks for expressing it so well.
Thank you. x
Oh so true. I am in complete agreement with you. One thing you did not mention which I am amazed hasn’t been picked up more by the media is that in Doris’s (cant think of him as anything else after the Frank Spencer sketch on Sports Relief) article he actual said “The pound remains higher than it was in 2013 and 2014” Against what???? Yes perhaps the Euro but that fell off the same cliff as the pound. (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-27/boris-johnson-future-pm-and-currency-analyst)
He is incapable of being truthful – he was sacked from the Daily Telegraph for filing incorrect reports and from Michael Howards shadow cabinet for lying.
I could perhaps live with this “democratic” result if I felt everyone who had voted actually understood what the consequences were going to be but everyone I have spoken to who voted leave voted on a false premise and a complete lack of understanding.
I have decided I will be writing to my MP to try to convince him to vote against this when he gets the chance. Lets face it every MP in the country was voted in with less than 50% of the constituency vote so its probable that every time they vote they are not voting as the majority of their constituents would wish so this would be no different.
I agree. It’s not democracy if it was voted for on lies. It’s not democracy if it isn’t truly representative of us.
Well, I used to be a journalist, but I couldn’t have come close to the eloquence of this. Thank you. How I see it. To the smallest detail.
Thank you, Tim. x
Thanks a lot for this! I am a European living in the UK and I am very worried about stability and peace in Europe. I am worried about my parents in Germany, my family in law in the Netherlands and my friends I’ve met by living in Spain, Greece, studying in Italy and working in the UK and Sweden. And mostly I am worried about my two children’s future being born in Great Britain a country that has just rejected a not flawless but beautiful concept of peace.
Yes, we have and I am so sorry because it isn’t just affecting us, it is affecting all of you too. x
Reblogged this on Tea And Two Cats and commented:
Articulated far better than anything I could write.
Thanks for commenting. Great blog name by the way. x
That’s exactly how furious I feel & it’s not subsiding. Thanks for articulating so eloquently & accurately.
Thank you for commenting. x
100% agree with you – the only thing I would question is whether the unelected fuck-wits are any worse than the elected fuck-wits.
The devil and the deep blue sea!
Reblogged this on A butterfly's diary.
I just read all of your post, And my conclusion is you are just spouting the same bollocks I’ve herd over the past few days. That’s why it’s getting boring now.
We are going to be out of The EU. So just accept it and maybe try and offer something going forward, instead of joining the wrong parties and petitions.
If your going to get involved maybe start in your community’s building bridges rather then throwing your dummy out of the pram.
So basically you think the facts are boring? You think the fact that before the Referendum we were a country carrying £1.6 trillion in debt and deep into austerity is boring. You will of course, be too bored to know that that debt is currently rising by £5,000 a second. You will be too bored to understand the massive crisis we have been plunged into by losing our triple star economy rating, because that sort of thing isn’t important to you, even though it has a massive impact on foreign investment and public spending, and now, more than ever we are a country that needs foreign investment and public spending. You will be too bored to find out that if you currently have a pension, that it has lost about 70% of its value since Friday. You will be yawning too hard to understand that none of our politicians is going to let us leave europe in any way that is meaningful to you. They are ALL agreed on either EEA or Single market join up. Were you too bored to understand that it means paying the same as we pay into the EU every year, that we still have to agree to freedom of movement over borders, that we still have to comply with trade agreements but we have no veto to stop what we don’t like? Were you too bored to understand that we need the EU because 45% of our trade is with them? Are you too bored to understand that leave promised to spend £111 billion pounds per year on this mythical country you think you’re going to get, and that we don’t have it. We have £1.6 trillion in debt and falling, and what we have lost over the last four days alone would pay for EU membership until my children are in their Seventies. Are you too bored to realise that it’s not the English remain vote who don’t believe in us, it’s the rest of the world. The money markets are global. They’re tanking because of us. They’re not welcoming us with open fucking arms. They’re blaming us. We don’t have anything to trade with. We’re not great. We’re stupid, and you’ve just proved it. AND YES. If you had really read my blog you would have seen that I am doing things to build bridges, regardless of my anger because I believe in the country that we have, not the made up fantasy of the one you’re still trying to peddle while the world crashes down round your fucking ears. Grow up. You won so we could all lose. Go and do something useful and get out from behind your keyboard.
And we’re still in the EU you fucking muppet. And even if we do trigger article fifty, we’re still in for the next two years, paying the same, doing the same, but negotiating from a position of weakness as our economy crashes and burns and all the things you wanted turn to dust and ashes. Try not being too bored to research your facts you disgrace.
I’m an ordinary person, not a clever financial broker and yet my pension pot is better than its been for ages so I’m not sure why you think you’ve lost 70% or is that made up?
The annuities market is tanking. The government have lost large sums off of pensions. It’s in the newspapers. I’m not about spreading lies. We had enough of that in the campaign in the run up to this. If you have a private pension and a keen broker, I expect they will have seen this coming and adjusted accordingly. Others may not be so lucky. I’ve already had one commenter who liquidated his pension yesterday so that he could save what he could.
Can I just say I am in awe KatyBoo1 – you are a Goddess and wordsmith extraordinaire and I am grateful for your comments. I am so relieved to find someone so articulate who can voice all my fears and reassure me that I didn’t just wake up in a parallel Universe of sh*tness, that this did happen, and I’m not the only one thoroughly confused and mortified in equal meaures. If you are leading the revolution, I am with you!!
Thanks. I’ll let you know when I’ve finished knitting the flag.
I agree with a lot of what you say, I was a reluctant remainer and having come through a recession as I entered the job market, the last thing I wanted was more market upheaval, uncertainty and derelict job market.
But can you please explain the 70% pension figure? If someone had a pension fund tracking the FTSE, they would only be < 10% down.
That strikes me as a gross exaggeration.
I saw it in a news article. I can’t recall it now. I absolutely accept it may be wrong.
D Madge, do you think they’ll have extra spelling and grammar classes once we are free from the EU?….hope so for your sake. I am afraid you are talking a lot (and spelling it wrongly) but not saying anything cogent at all….and that is really extremely boring
I’m trained to teach phonics and a whiz at helping kids with their SPAG tests if that helps at all.
So we are not allowed to use our democratic voice to opposing opinion now.
Ha ha! You tell him/her
Reblogged this on Pootability and commented:
What we can do next to make a difference. Read the comments too.
Thank you. x
I think now is the time to return to God and seek His help. We used to be a Christian Country but sadly we have lost our way. The Bible says.
If my people who are called by my name become humble and pray, and look for me, and turn away from their evil ways, then I will hear them from heaven. I WILL forgive their sins and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7: 14 easy to read version.
I hope he’s listening Eleanor. x
Wow. Awesome. I salute you, Katyboo.
Thank you.x
Shared your post, thanks, says it all for me and now I can divert the time I was taking trying to explain to others exactly how I feel towards more productive action. x
Ha! Good luck. Thanks. x
Exactly every word that I have heard from LEAVERS they must be sharing a crib sheet.
Thanks 🙂
Hive mind?!
What you haven’t recognised here, what no-one in the Remain camp is recognising, (and I was a remain voter btw) is that the status quo was not working for 51% of the country. Yeah they voted on immigration, or lies about the NHS or whatever, but what they were SAYING if we open our ears is ‘We feel dis empowered, sidelined and patronised’. And all those things are true. The center left has failed the working class dismally. Before you tell me that regardless, the working class have kicked themselves in the face whilst kicking at the rest of us – yes, I am afraid, very afraid, this will prove to be correct. The poorest will suffer the worst, as they always do,
Especially if people like us don’t get up and try to help them. Because what else were they really supposed to do except make this protest vote? No one has given them a voice to talk about their marginalisation, about the system of privilege that is stacked against them. Don’t turn your back on them now, or you can guarantee it is the far right who will gather them up when as you rightly predict, they end up the biggest losers of the economic fallout of Brexit. Don’t be vengeful and pleased to pronounce ‘told you so’s’ when that happens. I fear this is Britain’s wake up call, our final chance to ally ourselves with the working class against everything the far right represents. We must find a way to present them with another option than the Farage’s, Le Pen’s, Trumps, a voice that works for them and us. If we don’t stop being angry with them for the grievances they rightly hold, we will loose them altogether.
The one positive thing I hear in this piece is that you have been politically galvanised by the outcome of Thursday. I beg you, use that drive to help the Leave voters, to find a way for their voices to be heard above the grief and pain of the Remain camp, because it is our voices that have always been represented, whereas the Leave voters have been screaming into a void for decades. Don’t let that void be replaced by the yawning cavern of the far right that is ready and waiting to consume them. We must find another way, we must reach out and listen to them and accept that a system that has been working very well for the more privileged and comfortable members of our society has not been working for them, and embrace this as a chance for real change. Change that has to happen, and will be forced on us regardless of what we want because you cannot ignore half the country, or continue to patronise them with the paternal attitude of the center left, that we know what is best for them. These are the final throws of the dying systems of 18th and 19th century, the working class must finally emerge and stand up as fully fledged adult members of our society, not children to be nudged into better behaviours by a superior middle class. We cannot stop this happening. We must stand alongside them in support or a world divided into far right and center left will emerge.
“The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new is yet to be born. And in the interregnum, a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.” (Antonio Gramsci)
From this situation please, let us fight for the new to finally be borne.
I was already political. I’ve been grass roots campaigning for years for the issues I’m passionate about. I was already a member of a political party, the WEP which allows multiple memberships, so now I’m part of another one. I already support my community, campaigning for my local doctor’s surgery, campaigning for the NHS, supporting literacy in schools. I have done for years. I’m not an armchair political warrior. The blog is where I dump my feelings so I can go out and act with compassion and do what feels right without anger muddying my voice. It is important to vent, because letting stuff out, allows you to let stuff go. I wanted proportional representation in the last election so that people could have a voice. I didn’t get it. Not my fault. Still campaigning for it. I’ve always been pro unite, but I’m not putting up with stupid.
37% of the country, not 51%, voted to leave. And sadly, the disaffected working class have voted for more, not less globalisation. The radical libertarians mock the EU precisely because of its attempts to temper the harsh winds of globalisation and preserve liberal democratic ideals within its borders.
Yep.
HolCG this is precisely the problem: instead of this being a vote on the EU, it became a chance for showing their discontent at their lot, “what else were they really supposed to do except make this protest vote? No one has given them a voice to talk about their marginalisation, about the system of privilege that is stacked against them.” Ironically though, by voting to leave we have as a country made life so so so much harder
I think it would have been better if we had gone for PR at the last general election. Yes UKIP would have had more seats, but it would have been in a parliament that could deal with it, instead of this backlash we can’t deal with.
I share Katy’s anger and frustration and at the moment I don’t know how to make it stop, you make a really really important point HolCG and very eloquently put. We are at the last chance saloon for social justice and it’s unbelievably important that we get the next few weeks, months and years right – engage, be tolerant and take positive action. And ENOUGH of the “you’re stupid” jibes and condescending spelling corrections to people less fortunate in their education than ourselves. Nothing could be more alienating and, as you say, if we push people away, we push them into the arms of the fascists.
I’m trying very hard not to be angry with people Martin. I think you can see that. It is difficult, especially under fire. I do appreciate what you say though. x
Absolutely how I feel and I will,as you, carry on ‘fighting’ not to leave by signing petitions etc – they are not futile, they show how people are feeling.
The biggest hope we have is that as I understand it Article 50 can not be invoked until it has gone through parliament! So do rally the MPs and let’s hope Scotland does veto it.
Absolutely. xx
Brilliant. Thank you.
x
You don’t like it? Leave the country.
That’s going to help is it? Your logical argument and ability to cut through to the nub of the debate is astonishing. You are both articulate, passionate and clear. Have you thought about writing a book?
Believe me, sweetheart, your mind-numbing ranting, spouting figures and pseudo facts willy-nilly will not alter the situation. This country is divided, there are pros and cons on both sides, and self-serving anger doesn’t solve anything. I suggest you work on your anger issues and channel your energies elsewhere, preferably elsewhere.
You know what? I do channel my energies. At the risk of repeating myself for stupid fucking patronising cunts like you, I volunteer in schools, raise money for school libraries, teach children to read, campaign to save local doctor’s surgeries, hold my CCG to account for overspending with NHS England and campaign to keep our local education centre open. I’m also campaigning for proportional representation in the next election so stupid fucking bastards like you actually get a voice. Sometimes I wonder why. Don’t patronise me, and if you take so much issue with facts, you won’t mind when your pay packet starts to decrease will you, and your holidays get more expensive because you know, FACTS.
And how fucking abysmally stupid are you for reading it? I mean really. You’re a grown adult and you literally chose to find my corner of the internet and my personal blog and take the time to read it and write an ill advised comment. Who’s stupid now?
Temper, temper…
My blog, my rules. Now fuck off you patronising idiot.
Katy
I’m an oldie that voted remain. Ever such a polite request. Could you reduce the swearing as it adds little to the debate and your argument stands up without. Please. Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
Hi Paul. Thank you, sincerely for reading, and for commenting. I appreciate it. But no, I am sorry. I am not going to stop swearing. This is my blog, in my corner of the internet. I have been blogging for a decade. It’s my rules, my gaff. I don’t advertise the blog, it went viral without me. I don’t accept payment for the blog. The only advertising on it is what WordPress put on. I deliberately don’t monetise my blog because I wish to be free to write what I want. I don’t write for other people. I write for me. This is my place to pour out exactly how I feel. If it speaks to you in some way, then that is terrific, really it is, and from the comments on here, it clearly does speak to some of you, but that’s a bonus. I realise that some people find swearing upsetting, but please. If Stephen Hawking wrote about quantum theory with the word ‘shit’ in it, would it be any less relevant? I genuinely do not mean to be disrespectful to you, but I stand firm that if I want to swear, I will, because swearing is better than hitting things or smashing things or hurting myself or any one of a number of options I could take if I bottled things up. And I’m afraid I don’t see it like you do, so sorry.
Just a request. As you say it’s your blog and I do see it your way. So rant away. Paul.
Hmm, another example of democracy, “if you don’t like it fuck off” if this is how your blog is ran, why bother asking for debate, as soon at it goes against you, you through the toys out he pram. Will unsubscribe if you post this!!
Please Zamo. Haven’t you got a life? Really. What are you actually trying to do. I don’t care if you unsubscribe. I am not your personal mouthpiece. I don’t owe you anything. I don’t have to prove anything to you and I don’t have to behave in any way that pleases you. This is MY blog. It’s space I pay for. And guess what. I have a block function. I have not used it yet, despite what you say about people going against you. I have taken on every single thing people have chosen to write, and those people who have disagreed with me politely, have been answered politely. No please do, go and get on with your life and stop wasting everyone’s time, including your own.
Reblogged this on Sulky Bitch.
Thank you. xx
I will reblog until my arms fall off, this accurately articulates everything i’ve been trying to say but have been to angry to find the words. thank you. x
Please look after your arms! Thank you. x
Good essay. I agree.
Thank you. x
Fabulous Katy – sums up everything for me! I’ve tried to subscribe to your blog via email and I can’t – most of the time it says you’ve subscribed, even though I haven’t input my email and the one time I managed to do it, it rejected all my emails. Following you on Twitter now though so guess you share all your blogs to Twitter so I can pick them up there! 🙂 x
Thanks Sue. I’ve got no idea how the subscriptions work, but yes I do post all my stuff on Twitter. Thank you. xx
Let me explain how democracy works. An idea called a referendum is put to the electorate. All interested parties have months or years to put their opinions and hopes to the people. The election happens and one side has 3.8% more votes than the other. That means the side with the biggest SHARE of the votes has WON the election. It is then in a democracy incumbent on ALL of the electorate to accept and work with the new reality.
What part of the above is still not understood?
Because Vincent, democracy, as I put it, is a process. What part of that don’t you understand? That process allows disagreement. It allows protest. It allows people to change their minds and do things differently. To state otherwise is a lie, and would mean that we live in a dictatorship, which we don’t. What part of that don’t you understand? Democracy should also be based on both sides being able to make informed decisions based on factual information. Every single policy the leave voters ran on, turned out to be lies. That is not democratic. That is, to put it simply, fraud. As for the figures. Nigel Farage himself stated clearly that if the vote had been a 3.8% swing to remain, he would have legally contested it. In fact, the very petition that currently has 4 million votes on it asking for a second referendum was set up and launched in error by a pro leave activist. So do not tell me that if the vote had gone the other way you would not be exercising your democratic right to protest, and if you do say that, then more fool you. You live in a democracy Vincent, let me explain it to you in words you can understand, democracy does not stop on the day that you get the result you want. WHAT PART OF THE ABOVE IS STILL NOT UNDERSTOOD?
I’m pretty sure that Katy understands the concept of democracy that you have so helpfully reiterated to us here. If someone could please explain to me how democracy can said to be functioning correctly when significant portions of the voters did so on the basis of lies and didn’t understand the full impact of the decision then I would be very interested to hear it. If people voted on the basis of reduced immigration and more money for the NHS and the campaigners followed through on that then I accept your argument. But when people are now regretting their vote because they voted on the basis of LIES and the very next day the campaigners turned around and went back on their promises then in my eyes democracy cannot be said to be functioning effectively.
Yes. Nobody has come back to me on that yet. We live in hope, eh?
I don’t understand, so when a political party wins an election, we should all go ‘we’re all conservatives now, lets not oppose anything that party says that’s fine, someone has won, scrap the opposition’?
Apparently.
Thanks. Not bored. Not bored at all. You are right and I share your feelings.
Thank you. x
Reblogged this on Paleo and Polkadots and commented:
I agree with almost everything Katy has said – this referendum has been a complete clusterfuck on all fronts. I’m fed up of being told to calm down, to get over it because it was oh so democratic. I’m angry, and I have every bloody right to be.
Thank you. x
Thank you. I am currently off work and dread returning next week to colleagues who are ‘bored’ of the whole thing whilst I am still frothing at the mouth. Thanks for the facts, which I shall use.
Pleasure. x
Thank you for putting into words exactly how I have been feeling! I’m sick of being told to calm down, and having people tell me how very democratic this all is -I’m absolutely f*cking livid over the whole affair, and I don’t think I’m going to stop being livid for some time. x
Exhausting isn’t it?
Totally, it’s talking to a brick wall, you get absolutely no-where with it.
Hi Emily
You may want to add to Daniel Hannan statement his love of the NHS.. Also he was sent Brussel to reform and he has done nothing!! If you want someone to tell you what you want to hear.. he is your man. He will send your Cognitive Bias into overdrive. Potcher turn gamekeeper if ever their was one. Or in this case applying for Gamekeeper!! (Another Career motivated politician like Boris who can be seen on video stating a case for Turkey’s entry to the EU). Something I have been saying that get the leavers thinking is along the lines of once the younger voters have control they will rejoin which would likely see us paying all of the £350m per week and having to adopt the Euro!! He who dares doesn’t alway win Rodney!!
Much like Farage, who would have done better by the fishermen to spend his time using his vote as the fisheries MEP rather than dragging them about the Thames.
Really well said. I agree with you totally
Thank you. x
Enough, shut up…move on your type of post is making us look silly In the eyes of the world💕if you believe you are so intelligent for goodness use some sensible words instead of this awful swearing.
OK. Let me understand this. My blog post. The blog post of one woman in a country of millions, is responsible for making our entire country look silly is it? Right? It isn’t the fact that you leavers swallowed a pack of lies hook, line and sinker and let it become the reason we are now in the biggest financial crisis for our country since we had to attempt to rebuild Britain after the second world war? No? It wouldn’t be the fact that Nigel Farage is making us look like a laughing stock and you could actually watch the pound falling as he spoke today to the EU? No? It wasn’t the fact that we have crippled our entire country for generations to come that made us look silly? It was me, and people like me? People who are actually quoting facts. People who are actually trying to do something, and you don’t like my fucking language? Well you can fucking do one. You can’t even get your pretend name right as an avatar for fuck’s sake. This is my blog, not one of those disgusting Murdoch rags. So fuck the fuck off and don’t let the fucking door hit you on the way out. Fuckity bye.
*encore”
God! I usually blog about biscuits! Better pull something out the bag sharpish!
As a Brit living in another part of the world (the US), it is the decision to leave the EU that has left everyone flabbergasted.
Well….except for the Trump supporters – they’re loving it – and those people are damn scary. The irony is, you have Trump supporters who are Polish immigrants applauding the Brits for trying to tighten their borders against Polish immigrants. Their memory is short, and they easily forget that not all racism and xenophobia is targeted at non-white faces.
Sadly we’ve also got Putin and Marine Le Pen on our side. Go us, eh?
Your comments are all one sided lets look at some of the reasons we were right to leave the EU
The EU were killing us
Cadbury moved their factory to Poland 2011 with EU grant
Ford transit moved to Turkey 2013 with EU grant
Jaguar/land Rover has recently agreed to build a new plant in Slovakia with EU grant owned by Tata the same company that trashed our steel works and emptied the workers pension funds
Peugeot closed its Ryton plant and moved production to Slovakia with EU grant
British army’s new Ajax fighting vehicles to be built n Spain using Swedish steel at the request of the EU, to support jobs in Spain with EU grant, rather than use Wales Dyson gone to Malaysia with an EU loan
Crown Closures (was Metal Box) gone to Poland with EU grant once employing 1200 people
M & S manufacturing gone to far east with EU loan
Hornby models gone in fact all toys and models now gone all with EU grants
Gillette gone to eastern Europe with EU grant
Texas instruments Greenock gone to Germany with EU grant
Indesit at Bodelwyddan Wales gone with EU grant
Hoover Merthyr factory moved out of UK to Czech Republic and the far east by Italian company Candy with EU backing
There are many more examples of this type of thing so anyone who thinks the EU is good for British industry or any other business simply hasn’t paid attention to what has been systematically asset stripped from the UK
Perhaps you can tell me something that has gone the other way I can’t find any
How were they killing us again? Please ignore the billion pounds a year that the EU gives to Cornwall, without which it would be on its arse, and which it is currently panicking about. Please ignore the billions into Wales, ditto. Please ignore the subsidies propping up the small, independent farmers who need them to survive. If you have a problem with the way that the business community chooses to behave, take it up with our austerity government, our tax shy chancellor of the Exchequer and the businesses themselves. If our government were more invested in the UK businesses themselves and exercised the sovereignty they had to put investment into these businesses maybe they wouldn’t have moved? Or is that a stupid idea?
Well no more industry moves to the EU now. They will all just go to China instead. So much better 😂
Cheaper there, too!
Fabulously…if scarily…well said! Your reply to “D Madge” is worth a blog entry on its own.
Thank you. x
Thank you for expressing everything I’m feeling now, and expect to feel for a long time to come.
Thank you for commenting.
You are not alone,sister.Yes,I felt like shouting Sturgeon for Prime Minster over the weekend.Carney actually was the only one with an obvious plan.Ken Clarke’s question in Parliament Monday can be paraphrased in a way that the ‘honourable and learned’ gentleman would never use ” Cameron,you fucking witless fuckwit”.The great British public largely did not see the irony of those without the proper authority or power making dodgy promises to spend all that lovely EU money( how much was it again,let’s not concern ourselves with trivial detail of a few million quid ?)But,the Public have spoken for good or ill.History will show whether we committed suicide or we are justified and vindicated by our choice.The complexities are only just revealing themselves.England lost to Icelend.For many that is the real national tragedy.Foreigners…..cause of all our problems,innit?
Insanity.
Reblogged this on jagwal and commented:
This blog sums up my feelings perfectly.
Thank you. x
I am now exhausted by ‘discussing’ this with leave voters and have used many of your arguments in doing so. But. Your blog says it all so much better than I ever could or can. It is always tiring when dealing with rhetoric, dogma and indoctrination spouting forth. I am reminding myself, several times a day, that I will not fall out with family or friends over this. If we don’t speak we can’t have a dialogue and if we fail to do so then we are no longer actively democratic. We, as voters, should not behave like children who’ve been told they can’t have more ice-cream. In other words – no tantrums or there will be tears before all our bedtimes! And that serves no useful purpose except to divide us further and leave us exposed to the politicos. Nichola may be a lone voice for now when it comes to sensible behaviour but I hope for the sake of the UK that she is joined by the other grown-up politicians damned fast.
Yes. She’s behaving fantastically.
Thank you. I received your blog today, the day after my 71st birthday, and you have given me the best present ever.
Bless you. Thank you for commenting.
Reblogged this on Real Men Eat Quiche.
Thanks. x
Reblogged this on AN other blog of our growing family…..a day in the crazy-wonderful world of a Webb… and commented:
Sadly, this sums up what I am thinking and feeling at present. Scary scary scary days
Thank you.x
Reblogged this on bitchtr0llfr0mhell.
Thank you.
Fuck me. Thanks, at least I feel a little better. So many just don’t understand us that this is only the beginning. Did you see that poor chap on C4 News? He voted to exit as was looking forward to the local factories opening again. He was in the NE. I felt desperately sorry for him.
Oh no. That’s so cross making, because he believed the lies he was being sold and now has to suck it up. Poor bloke.
Sadly you have summed up how I am thinking and feeling. Feel sick to the bottom of my stomach at where our country is going and what it will mean for our children.
Yes, I keep saying sorry to my children. They’re like ‘we know, mum!’
An excellent piece that reflects my feelings.
Shamefully I am not being as proactive as you in trying to aid steer this ship.
However, a job and a young family and trying to continue since semblance of normal life is my excuse.
A poor one at that
Thank you for expressing what both my wife, many of my friends and I are feeling.
As a point to add, Democratic process revolves around informed decision…….
If any readers of Katy’s post find it boring they have their head in the sand, this is real and our country is heading around the u-bend as I type this
Thank you. Young children do make it hard to get out there, I agree. Thanks for your vote of confidence. x
This is a great post…so well thought out and written. Keep at it.
Thank you. x
Totally agree with everything here. Sick of ‘friends’ on Facebook making comments like “the Remainers need to get over it and stop ranting on”. This, coming from the people who apparently were so motivated to vote in the referendum that they got us into this mess, but are now unwilling to take the discussion any further, as if it was all done-and-dusted on Friday. What astounds me more is the high-and-mighty attitude that suggests that had the Remain side won, they wouldn’t themselves be up in arms, raging about the “fat cat elite” rigging the vote (which they were already hedging their bets for during Pengate). Maybe if a lot of the Leavers were unhappy with the status quo and what was happening in their local town, they should have long ago been campaigning for more, both locally and on a higher level. Instead, many checked a box on Thursday and declared that they had “won”, only to seemingly go back to saying that they don’t care about politics and don’t want to talk about it any more. Leaving the rest of us to gravitate between a permanent state of anger and fear over what is happening to our country in the aftermath.
Yes. They’re just dumping the problem and shouting at anyone who is trying to engage with it at all.
This is exactly how I feel and am so glad that others feel the same way!!! I’m American and have lived here with my British partner for 10 years. I’m not a citizen yet, so was unable to vote, which gets me even more riled up. I haven’t been able to afford my citizenship, but in light of that, I still campaigned heavily for Labour at first, then The Greens. I would have voted Remain and campaigned for them. All I get now on FB is either those who agree with me completely or those who are telling me, I’m not respecting their choice. It’s like a red flag to a bull when respect and democracy are thrown at me, like I’m a baby sitting out my dummy!!!! I’m going to share the hell out of this and tell any Leaver to unfriend me as I’m still on the rampage! Lol xx
Good for you and brilliant that despite being pretty much disenfranchised you’re so politically engaged. Go and rage!
Thank you. I am glad you have written this. I must also now seek to get active. I have already said that I will be taking part in any rally organised. Just got to find one. Or organise one x
Facebook is really helpful for this sort of stuff. Good luck. xx
Well done – you have said everything I’ve been feeling since Friday – only I haven’t found the words! Thank you. And yes, I too am LIVID! Quite apart from points 1-8 in your able dissertation, I am a Brit Cit living abroad, so had no vote, and am furious that a meagre 51.x% vote has potentially shot me and my family (as well as the UK), in the foot. I hope Remainers will lobby their MPs like hell, as the ultimate Parliamentary vote is what will make or break this ludicrous situation. I’d like 5 minutes alone with ‘Call me Dave’ Cameron for putting everyone in this situation.
By the way, I’m eagerly looking forward to ninethly and tenthly.
I bet ‘call me dave’ has had to change his phone number!
Katy ..this Perfectly sums up our household right now…..apparently the Brexiters are already blaming everybody else for talking the economy down…….so the Leavers have got a situation that they never wanted and it is their fault when all the shit hits the fan…well if that is the case at least someone will be shouldering the blame, as no other f**cker seems to want it!
Yep apparently it’s our fault for not being positive enough about things that the economy is tanking. It’s the ‘I believe in fairies’ speech all over again!
Can I offer one correction to an article I agree with 100%. Nigel Farage is elected, I should know he’s one of my MEP’s.
Unfortunately.
You’ve said what many of us feel with great aplomb. (Better than I managed on the book faces the other day).
Oh no! Sorry to hear that. x
The finest piece I’ve read since this tragedy enfolded on Friday. Says everything I’d like to have said but much better than anything I could have written. I agree with every word. Thank you so much for this.
Thank you. x
Come and stay in Scotland. We have Nicola Sturgeon and she’ll see us safe.
Hooray! I’m on my way. xx
Just read your article.. Was going to respond in the comments section but noticed your standard response is a tirade of abuse and tantrum so frankly can’t be bothered…Shame as you highlight some interesting points
Graham. What a passive aggressive post that you use to respond to something you say you’re not going to respond to. Very much like when my children say ‘I’m not allowed to say ‘shit’ am I mummy?’ Guess what. If you’re not offensive to me, and you don’t lecture me like an idiot or tell me that it is me and people like me, not thinking positively about what is happening to us that is causing economic melt down, and you genuinely have something positive to say or something factually enlightening, I welcome your posts. If, on the other hand, you want a whipping boy to make yourself feel better, then please don’t bother. Please don’t point out to me something I’ve already pointed out on my post. Please don’t tell me what democracy means. Don’t waste your time. This is my blog. It is my own space where I am free to write what I like. I allow comments on here because I believe in communication as a tool and swearing is one of those tools. I can block comments before they even get published if I want. I don’t because I’m open to dialogue, but only constructive dialogue not based on lies. Now then, are you going to discuss this with me properly, or are you going to hide behind a facetious comment about a ‘tirade of abuse’ to make yourself look morally superior without actually having done or said anything to make a valid point? Your call, Graham.
please keep on ranting. spoke from my heart but also made me laugh. very much needed at the moment. i have been asking for weeks, where is the plan to get out?
also we have voted a yes no referendum on something highly complex, which can’t be answered in yes or no terms.
anyway you have put it very well.
Thank you. x
Seems there’s still bedwetting in the girls’ dorm …
Gosh Johnny. What I like most about Brexiters, apart from their exceptional ability to swallow lies wholesale, and their teflon shoulders when it all goes wrong, is their insistence on reasoned, informed debate. I mean, no Brexiter who I’ve come across so far has even thought to come down to the level of patronising insults as a way forward. They honestly love to air the facts openly and come to a debate about what happens next with no ill will, no inability to see the other point of view and a willingness to accept fault when they have landed the whole country in turmoil. They really are the best of people, Johnny, and I think that your comment sums that up in a nutshell. You must be so proud, and if you genuinely are, you must also be so deluded.
Reblogged this on writeovertheedge and commented:
This sums up exactly how I am feeling about the Brexit vote, but I’ve been too depressed and angry to write about it. I think Katy has said it far better than I could anyway!
Reblogged this on TRISTAN COLESHAW.
Thank you. x
No, thank YOU.
Excellent, calm and reflective piece, thank you for articulating how so many of us feel.
Thank you. Love your blog name by the way!
I’ve just reblogged your post onto Write Over The Edge, and will find a way to copy it on to my other blog, Writing From the Edge.
(I left a comment here about 10 mins ago, but once again – thanks!)
Superb post – captures exactly how I feel
Toby x
Thank you. x
Wow, I admire how you manage to stay so eloquent while being obviously so angry. Great post, thank you! You put my thoughts into better words than I ever could.
Thank you. x
Thank you for this, I love this. The only thing I am bored of is waking up every morning in tears at the lovely big world that just shrunk around us.
Yep. x
What was anyone going to do about our country’s decline if we stayed ??? I’ll tell you no one . your the minority of the countrys vote now.we wanted change and the politicians we pay better do a good job now or they will get sacked until they get it right !
You know it doesn’t work like that don’t you Gavin? Our country’s decline is directly the responsibility of our austerity government because, believe it or not, they have sovereignty and only 13% of our countries laws were made by the EU, and we could have vetoed those 13% but we didn’t, because they worked for our elected government at the time. Do you understand that? Also, you cannot sack the government, Gavin. You have literally no power to do that. You gave the power to the current majority party when you elected them. They decide, not you. The only people who could protect you, ironically enough, are the EU bodies like the European Court of Human Rights, which we are soon to exit from as well, thanks to you giving the Tories the power to do this. You have voted to isolate yourselves with the government that put you in this position in the first place. Well done. Massive round of applause. And don’t tell me we don’t have sovereignty, because the only reason Article 50 hasn’t been triggered yet is sovereignty. The EU want us to go now. Our government is blocking it by not triggering it.
Well said.
There not blocking it its not going to be a quick easy process it could take years weather the EU wants it or not , you just don’t understand why this has happened! Why the majority of the country voted this way! It was to send a message and one that thankfully has been well and truly heard ! I don’t want to be European i want to stay British ! I don’t want my law s governed by European bureaucrates ! I don’t want any more Europeans coming over here taking our jobs, ect,ect . whatever the consequences im glad we’ve stirred the pot and got the change ball rolling ☺
Except that we still won’t have control over immigration from EU, still have to accept laws made by EU and pay same amount into the EU! And all with No power or say in any of it.
How can you not see this?! We have essentially voted to give ourselves less democracy and less control!!
I said that. That is the whole point of this post. Did you actually read it at all?
*you’re
Very succinctly put. I feel very blessed to be a Scot living in Scotland as we at least have a chance but I am heart sorry for anyone who has to live in the England that some thoughtless egotistical politicians have created.
Me too. Heart sorry that is. x
I agree with what you say. Brilliantly articulating everything I am carrying around in my heart and my head.
Thank you. x
Very well said. I feel I am grieving for the country I thought was mine. I feel that country was an illusion. I cannot ‘cheer up’ or ‘get over it’.
Nope. x
Exactly how I feel too, and much better put as I can’t avoid swears. Thanks
Thank you.x
Thank you very much for echoing my thoughts.
It’s a tragedy and a disaster.
Yes. I think it is. x
Brilliantly put, I was lost for words / too angry to explain how I was feeling and this appeared on my facebook feed!! I will be sharing to explain once and for all my position on the matter. My main issue is how the Leave campaign could run based on lies, withdraw their promises within hours of the result and still have no comeuppance? Surely there should be some kind of process to deal with this fraud?? But thank you again for such a brilliant piece, and I look forward to points 9 and 10 as they unfold!!
Thank you.x
Excellent, succinct and accurate, completely reflects my own feelings. Carole x
Thank you.x
Captured my sentiments exactly ,thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you for posting this. It’s brilliantly put – sums up EXACTLY how I feel.
What a godawful mess…
yes indeed.
Totally agree. It’s as the late great Sir John Harvey-Jones put it, “Planning is an unnatural process; it is much more fun to do something. And the nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression..”
Perfect quotation.
All I can say is WELL SAID! “Leave and take back control” was what I was seeing everywhere. I told these people that leaving was the best way of giving it all away! How right I am sadly. Nothing has changed with the arguments I heard for leaving. “We have to do something about the immigrants” was the most I heard. Those people I spoke to didn’t know the rules of the game let alone how to play it! How many more were there like that?
And, who in their right mind uses this kind of monumental decision to raise a “protest vote” assuming that the vote would be to stay? Numpties to be sure! The people needed educating on the facts first, but the problem is that the politicians were too busy being “political”, they forgot what they are here for, which is to uphold the confidence of the people. Lies always get you found out, but everyone who voted leave will have someone to blame rather than themselves for voting for it when it all goes completely down the pan.
I thought a real democratic vote needs an “absolute” majority. In other words, if 50.01% of those ELIGIBLE to vote decided leave was the best, then there could not be any argument on the will of the people, however stupid the decision is. The facts are that, because of bad decisions and unintelligent assumptions that the country would vote to remain, we have less than 40% of people deciding for the majority of over 60%. This can never be right, no matter what side you are on.
We have to raise a voice of reason to the politicians now who represent us and see if there can be a way to unite all of us again.
The UK needs a say, but we have lost it! The union will fall apart because of this if article 50 is triggered. Strength does not come from isolation, which is where the world is beginning to see us.
I hope common sense prevails, but I fear that we are going to be tearing each other apart for a while yet.
You are very eloquent. x
Thank you so much, Katy.
You have put into, very eloquent words, just how I am feeling. x
Thank you. x
An excellent piece! Exactly how I feel and I guess all of the 48%. If you haven’t already, please do sign, https://www.change.org/p/open-letter-to-eu-leaders-not-my-vote-6d330d54-369b-41ce-a569-47a312a8049f?tk=S9eMDq8nTod4hdz2rjyT0ycwQ4GWNB0YuxI2OYMZmsU&utm_source=petition_update&utm_medium=email. It might not get us anywhere, but hey, at least we’re trying. xx
Good link. xx
Superb blog and is very accurate. The whole democracy line of the majority voted is such a flawed argument.
This whole thing started with Cameron giving us a referendum to vote on something that we as a population have no idea how it works.
I think right now, the most democratic thing to do is for Cameron to step up and say, we will remain in the EU. We made the mistake of letting something so monumental be decided on something the vast majority don’t understand.
He will piss off half the country (that’s how close the vote was anyone bar a million or so people) and things can go back to normal. We’ll be the butt of a few jokes for a while and eventually we would adoringly become “bloody brits”
Out of all of this crap and bad government, I honestly believe his only redeeming feature out of this is that he’s stepped down and someone new to take over in october which gives everyone a bit of time to actually process what is happening and hopefully avoid this whole thing together.
(Sorry for the poor grammar and spelling. I’m on my phone)
No worries. I thought you were very eloquent. x
Can’t understand why your blog was so long winded when all you were saying was that the stupid uneducated plebs that believed all the lies that the leave campaign told them(of course the remain camp were totally honest)didn’t agree with you.Grow up for God’s sake and stick your dummy back in your mouth after you have extracted your head from your arse.
Interesting grasp of biology there, Alex. Clearly as good as your grasp of politics and the economy. Well done. It’s my blog. I’m allowed to write my opinions. I have done so. Do you know why I am allowed to do that? Because we live in a democracy, Alex. A democracy which you decided ended on Friday morning in favour of a dictatorship. Guess what? it didn’t. And nor did our membership of the EU. The only things that have changed is that you think you have a right to spout bile in response to reasoned thinking and facts, but ones that don’t suit your narrative. And you do, because guess what? Democracy. But what fascinates me most, Alex is that you read this. You chose to sit there and read something that upset you so much, but you couldn’t quite figure out that you didn’t have to read it, and you didn’t have to respond. You are never going to get those minutes back, and the words I’ve said here will haunt your brain for the rest of your life because you can’t unsee and unknown what I’ve said. And you think you’ve won? You think that what you’ve said has upset me? Ha ha! And what did you think you would achieve in your comment? Did you think; ‘What a fantastic man everyone will think I am when I post this. It will make me seem smart, intelligent and reasoned, and just the sort of person who should be deciding the fate of our country?’ I hope not, because you’re going to be sadly disappointed, just as you are when we don’t wake up in the utopia you thought you were getting and which is never going to happen, even if we do trigger article 50. And you’re wrong. My family voted out. They’re not stupid. They’re not uneducated plebs. They believed in what they voted for, and I believed different, and that’s ok, as long as we can talk about it without the sort of toss pot off the cuff venom you espouse muddying the waters. And I’m working class, and tonight I’m going to a solidarity meeting for ALL the members of my city. What are you doing Alex except hiding your shame behind cocking off at strangers?
Best response EVER.
Thank you.
ZING! LOL, man you put him in his place. I’d take issue though that he actually read the entire thing. That’s probably too much time concentrating on one issue for the likes of Alex.
Thanks!
Thank you for writing this, I feel the same. Day 5 and I am still fuming with rage. My son is 17 and planning to study science in the Netherlands, and now that is all up in the air because of this ridiculous referendum that should never have happened. He didn’t even have the chance to vote in something that affects his future so dramatically. Tonight we will all be sending letters to our MP to ask him to veto the result when it goes to parliament because the leave campaign was based entirely on fraudulent claims. I wish I could say I am remaining impartial in my feelings towards individual leave voters, but I am furious with my in laws, who still voted brexit in the full knowledge that it would stuff up their grandson’s plans if it came to fruition.
It is very frustrating Ruth, I agree. x
Just thought i would clarify about the pension thing. When you retire you need to convert your pension into an income. Annuities are one way to do this. They work by you handing over your pension pot for an agreed income and last week you might have got an annual income of £4000 (4%) to £5000 (5%) per £100,000, now as the annuity rates have fallen a couple of % we are now talking £2000 (2%) or £3000 (3%). There are other ways to access a pension income and it is now more essential than ever to take advice.
Thanks Henry. That is really helpful. x
Annuities have not been above 2.5% for many years.
Sorry to see that so many people would like you to happily stop complaining. I agree you have every right to complain.
A very well written blog with many valid points so well done for that including comment responses.
For those that would turn to God for support at this time I would suggest practical action instead, although I understand your anxiety.
Wishing everybody good vibes and peace. We’ll be OK if we show each other kindness and support each other.
Kindness is indeed key. x
I’m stunned that so many have bought into the fear mongering, and this post just goes to prove how the media frenzy can have an adverse impact on seemingly reasonable people.
Have you checked exchange rates worldwide against the pound? The only currency it’s doing very poor against is the USD and that was on the rise pre-Brexit anyway.
Chill out. Nothing is going to change, not for years, and when it does? It’s likely you will find that Britain’s economy will thrive. The only thing tanking is the stock market but that’s the risk people take when they play on it. It’s a gamble. Look at 911. Look at BP’s after the oil spill. A drastic change of whether can drop shares like stones, but they always steady again.
You claim the banks are making a loss. Yes, they are. Barclays and the Bank of England. Even others have claimed small drops in profits. It only makes a difference to those near the top who rely on hundreds of thousands in bonuses every year. Not us. In fact, a few have even made a profit of late, but the media doesn’t report that as freely, therefore it must not happen.
Politics is bullshit. I agree, we won’t get a chance to elect a leader. But if they arse it up? We’ll get to change again then.
As for Nicola Sturgeon? She started years ago not wanting to be part of the EU. She’s now changed her tune with the majority of voters in Scotland. You can’t trust a politician, but that’s the country we live in.
All this anger isn’t worth it. As a whole, people need to accept it and get on with their lives. Mob mentality is not the way to go.
And before you start attacking me I didn’t vote. I felt there wasn’t enough information provided by either side of the argument so let happen what happens. Same with the Scottish Independence vote. Neither side gave facts, only ridiculous claims and scare mongering. Same goes here.
Ella. I’m not attacking people who don’t attack me. I don’t agree with you. I’m not advocating mob mentality. I’m using my personal blog space to write out my concerns and fears with the facts I have. You cannot argue that the leavers lied, or that the markets are not good. They just aren’t. And I know that in the end, our economy will pull itself out of the mire, but at what cost socially and for every person in the UK. It’s something that takes time, and as we are already deep into austerity time is not necessarily something we have. And I’m advocating we get out and do something positive, whether you see it as positive or not is not really the issue. Everyone had the right to vote the way they felt, and I have a lot of sympathy for those who abstained. I didn’t vote for years based on the fact that I couldn’t choose between shit and shit. I believe in grass roots change. I believe and act on making a better country, but I am allowed to have my worries and my fears and a place to put them, and the post was written in response to those people who vehemently denied me that space and could only offer ‘calm down’ as a response.
Just a quick note, the stock market does effect us all, well most of us that work anyhow, our personal pension schemes are invested in the stock market. Now shares may well recover over time and all will be well for those that don’t need to access funds very soon.
My sympathy goes to all those people who are thinking of retiring in the next few weeks and months, for those people these losses may well effect their retirement income for the rest of their lives.
Most of the people who voted leave almost certainly don’t have a personal pension plan and have never heard of a SIPP; the stock market and exchange rate does not affect them. You don’t seem to understand that these concerns are yours not theirs and the loss is yours not theirs.
@Chappie A falling stock market affects everyone, even if only indirectly. If it gets really bad, it can cause companies to lay people off, to contract their businesses, to increase prices and so on.
Ella I work for a company that takes EU funding and puts it to good use in our region by investing it in projects which also bring a good chunk of their budget from outside the region (frequently from outside the EU too). My partner works at a university where she leads the team which secures and distributes their EU funding around the academics. Yesterday one of the academics reported that he’s already been frozen out of two collaborations with European Universites because they now doubt the ability of the UK to deliver on their part of the funding. The impact is happening already, and it is happening negatively.
It therefore doesn’t take a genius to work out that both of our jobs are on the line and we therefore need to have a pretty radical look at our careers and work out what we’re going to do to pay the mortgage next year. it is extremely painful to hear vote leavers telling me “tough shit get over it” as if all I have to do is just passively accept a new political landscape, when what we’ve actually got to do is totally change our lives.
To some extent I blame the appallingly bad Remain campaign for not properly reaching out to people such as yourself – if they could have maybe just concentrated on one or two positive effects of EU funding would that have swayed you? How about a film of someone recovering from an illness where the cure for that illness was developed in collaboration with a UK University Hospital and their European counterparts? Happens all the time and now in jeopardy. How about a Welsh arts project that takes kids off the streets and helps develop their creative skills and gives them hope for a future, all co-funded with EU money – happens all the time. Would any of that have helped you to vote remain?
Of course there’s a chance that we could use some of the fabled “£350m a week” to replace funding for projects like those, and replace the funding which currently pays the salaries of my partner and I, but as you can imagine given the wholescale backtracking from this £350m a week number, we don’t hold out much hope. Likewise even if the UK replaces the hospital project example I described above, the very spirit of collaboration with our EU colleagues will still, to some extent, remain broken. Katy’s blog nails my sentiments perfectly.
You’re right, the anger isn’t worth it, but I hope this reply explains to you why it’s there, my goodness it’s there. Yes, we will of course “deal with it” because that’s what we do. It will take time but we will “deal with it” and we will do all that we can to rebuild this country for the people who live here – suffice to say from what I’ve seen so far it won’t be with much assistance from most of the vote leavers who caused all this mess.
Beautifully put. x
Sorry Ella, but you are wrong about exchange rates. I do check every day. The dollar is not the only currency affected; the exchange rate sterling to Euro has also been hit as anyone with financial commitments in Euros will tell you. Also, if you are a party member, then you do get a chance to elect the party leader (both Labour and Conservative). I am with the majority of people reading this blog; we have been manipulated into a terrible position by the political elite who have shown their true colours yet have somehow managed to retain a good degree of popular support. I am unable to chill as you suggest as things are already happening. Trading in two British banks was suspended on the Stock Exchange due to big losses; are we heading for more bail outs by the tax payer? Are Japanese car plants in the UK going to relocate to a nation within the EU? I have heard that workers in Sunderland have already been warned since the Leave vote that this is now going to happen. HSBC are moving 1000 London jobs to France to deal with their Euro commitments. I have just watched the speech that Nigel Farage gave to the EU Parliament and I felt ashamed of his behaviour. He was even more confident than usual in the delivery of his bile. Unfortunately, other haters have also become more confident, as shown with the delivery of laminated ‘Go home’ messages (in English and Polish) to the letter boxes of Polish families and left outside schools.I hope that this is not a sign of things to come. I am proud to be both British and European. I do not understand the negative attitudes of many British people towards our fellow Europeans.
It is not my intention to attack you in any way but, I’m afraid your assertion that only USD/GBP has been affected is untrue. I am married to a Norwegian so our personal finances are directly tied to changes in krone. I routinely monitor NOK, dollars and the Euro. I have average daily rate tables going back to January right in front of me and the exchange rates of all 3 throughout this post-referendum period are the lowest they’ve been all year – beyond normal fluctuations too.
All the jumbles and frustrations that have been racing round my noggin for the last few days all eloquently transcribed. Definitely feel buoyed knowing many of us think the same and there’s good reason to battle on. Thank you.
Thank you.x
Interesting article – I was less calm than you.
https://wordpress.com/stats/day/midnightmurphy.wordpress.com
Ha, it took three sleepless days and a lot of gin to get to this state! x
I hate this and everything in it. I think you should be forced to do jury service so that you know what democracy really is. It’s people like you that do absolutely NOTHING to improve the world or life around you.
One point you raised about being on a boat and not able to get off it – yes you can, go and live in another country.
What are you talking about please? What has doing jury service got to do with understanding democracy? The fact that I spent the last five years doing unpaid work in school libraries and teaching children to read doesn’t help my community? The fact that I have spent four months this year campaigning to keep my local doctor’s surgery open, doesn’t help my community? The fact that I am an active member of two political parties and am about to embark on a campaign to try to save my city’s adult learning college is not doing anything for my community? And you assume that I can just pick up and go and live in another country? Literally nothing you have said has any truth. Well done.
Excellent article, a perfect summary of the state of woe experienced by the 48%. I’ll spread it around my friends for appreciation! I would also add – although it is not an argument I forwarded during the campaign due to it already being a divisive issue – that my primary source of frustration is that at a time when we are faced with serious climate change issues which spread well beyond our borders, our country has decided to shut itself away and bury our heads in the sand (albeit our “sovereign” sand, whatever that is!). I have little hope that a newly isolated U.K. which is trying to rebuild its self-sabotaged economy will spare much time to consider environmental issues.
No. Me either unfortunately. x
Love the blog, so much good sense.
Thank you.x
Spot on katyboo and very well put. This is the single most dishonest and destructive con ever to have been pulled on the British public. I was in Scotland when it happened and really did not want to come back to an England I do not recognise. Or maybe it was hiding there all the time. As someone brought up in the NorthWest I am only too well aware of the xenophobic and yes, racist, attitudes that sadly still lie not far below the surface in more than a few people. Its partly why Ive lived and worked in and around London, still the worlds most open and cosmopolitan City. Those attitudes have now been legitimised by the most appalling campaign that relied overwhelmingly on dishonest and blatantly racist claims about foreigners and immigrants
I have no hesitation in pointing this out to those I know who voted Brexit. They lent their vote to a racist campaign, how ever much they try to back-pedal now. Jo Cox’s murder was a warning. We are now seeing the follow-up in racist incidents. There are some people you just should not sup with, however long the spoon and whatever your cause.
And I havn’t even started on what my kids think and the impact on their futures. Yes they did vote. I strongly suspect that for them, like others of their generation, emigration has become a very attractive option. Leaving behind an ageing and bitter English population, still looking for someone to blame for their ills
(With apologies to those who like me voted Remain as the much, much lesser or two evils)
I love your analogy of supping with a long spoon!
Thanks Katyboo1 for this great post. You have put into words a lot of the things I have been feeling. I have written a couple of articles myself, if you are interested, though they are probably more emotional than yours. Keep up the good work! x https://juliasbigadventure.wordpress.com/
Thanks for sharing. Will try to pop over and read later. I approve of emotional. xx
Totally agree with your original blog post-Brexit is a big fucking disaster! Hopefully we can reverse it though.
Fingers crossed.
Brilliant, thank you. The other point that makes me mad is how stupid the reasoning is behind ‘getting back control’ when we are still a member of the IMF, the WTO, the UN, NATO not to mention the frigging global economy! You want control? Start by controlling sterling then! We’re all watching.
And I’m so enraged by hearing they need us more than we need them (Farage said it again today in front of their faces) when UK accounts for 7% of the EU’s trade and the EU accounts for 45% of our trade!! That completely incorrect soundbite has been shot off so much that many of the Leave voters really do believe it.
Infuriating stuff.x
I totally agree and feel exactly the same in a totally heartfelt way. You are not alone Katy. I am bitter, depressed, upset, angry, emabarrassed and tired. So is my wife and my kids (24 and 22). My parents on the other hand, I spoke with them yesterday and they told me they voted ‘leave’. They voted leave as they “wanted to get control back so the Belgians can’t tell us what type of bananas we can sell”. Sums it all up really. It’s no wonder we feel like we do, we are entitled to.
Face palm! So sorry x
This could take a while …
My sadness here is the lack of understanding of why the EU is so important, it’s not about trade, free movement, sovereignty, the colour of your passport or anything else. It’s about fostering respect and understanding between the nations of Europe. As the Irish would say, we don’t know our history.
About a year ago there was a news story that the British government had finally paid off a long standing bond – aka. a debt. When I say long standing, I mean one hundred years old. It was a war bond from the Great War, the war to end all wars, that was going to be over by Christmas!
Wars are expensive, we are still paying off the huge debts incurred in the 1939-45 conflict. Europe as a continent has been riven by wars for about as long as it’s been lived in by man, the Treaty of Rome, the founding treaty of what is now the EU was drafted by a generation of men who knew what war meant, they had lived the horror on both sides of the conflict. Along with NATO the EU and its predecessor organisations have successfully maintained the peace on this contested corner of the globe for 70 years now. I wonder how many of those that lived through WWII as adults would have believed that possible then.
This has been achieved through talking, compromise, bribery, a little corruption, trade and diplomacy. By weaving our countries together, nurturing new nations as they emerge from tyranny and spreading the prosperity, however unevenly, across the whole continent we keep the forces of hate and conflict suppressed. However, they can never be eradicated altogether.
For those that say this is scaremongering and Operation Fear, take a look Sarajevo, it doesn’t take much to light the blue touch paper.
The prosperity that Western Europe has enjoyed is the latter half of the twentieth century is as a direct result of this ‘peace dividend’. The post war baby boom worked and paid their taxes, Britain grew prosperous and people saw an ever improving standard of living, this became their ‘right’, the NHS and welfare state were born and these tax revenues paid pensions to the elderly, child benefits to families and pledged to look after the population from ‘cradle to grave’.
Now that population boom are at or are nearing their own retirement ages, they no longer pay in their taxes but expect the pensions and healthcare that they have provided to previous generations through their taxes. But there are less British people of working age around to pay into the system, pensions, with their triple locks and ever more sophisticated health care demands are swallowing vast amounts of tax revenues.
Meanwhile, the younger generations are saying, ‘why isn’t my standard of living getting better as it did for my parents and grandparents? I’m working and paying my taxes but I don’t see the benefit of it’
This all becomes a recipe for blame, it must be someone’s fault and for a certain breed of politicians it becomes easy to play into these narratives of blame and discontent. The fact that the vast majority of the migrants that come to this country from the EU are working and paying their taxes so that the NHS and the welfare state / pensions can continue to function doesn’t seem to register. Some that come over are criminals and ‘here for the benefits’, so that is enough, because no British person can be either a criminal or benefits cheat !
There are examples of what happens when you scapegoat a section of society all around us. Uganda springs to mind, the Balkans, Rwanda, and then of course, the one we are not allowed to mention …
As I said, we don’t know our history!
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. A long read, but absolutely worth it. Nice to read something from someone that has actually paid attention to the facts here.
THANK YOU for writing this. Shared 🙂
Thank you. x
Applause, Katyboo1 , you write so well and express just what I feel. Thank you, I’ll share this.:-)
Thanks. x
So Katyboo1, I kept reading your stuff and very sorry to read how angry you are at the moment, but I nearly lost the will to carry on once your choice of words became offensive calling those who run our country “fuckwits” “clusterfuck” etc. However, I persevered through your passionate, but wholly negative and deenergising ranting, which unfortunately cloakes some rather interesting points from the IN crowd. I get your anger and frustration 100% and your post makes very interesting reading, once sanitised – but it’s clear just how pissed you are with your view of the world right now and one look at your profile pic confirms this.
If and when you come out of your current destructive state of consciousness and become positively resourceful again, I would genuinely like to read about how your passionate perspective might be creatively focussed on constructive ways to build positive momentum at the reforming frontiers we are now faced with across the piste of life on our “boat” together. Bale out, help navigate, sustain the crew/passengers, be ballast, jump out, sink or swim… It’s up to you to decide if and when, but its in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped, so choose wisely. After all, you cannot control the external world, but you can control your internal world and what it means to you. God bless.
firstly Bob. It’s my blog. I swear. You don’t have to read it. And I will continue to swear, so you might want to bail now. You make a lot of assumptions about me. I campaign. I work for literacy in schools, I help fund and run school libraries when governments fail them. I campaign to save Dr’s surgeries and expose the corruption in my local NHS governing body. I was interviewed on World at One about this. I am one of the few who have actually managed to get a CCG held to account by NHS England for failing the public. I am about to help try to save my adult education college which is threatened with closure. I’m in two political parties. I write regularly to my MP. I’ve even met with him a few times to sort out some of the messes our austerity government has gotten us into. Even though I am ‘negative’. I am taking my children and my friends and neighbour to a rally to promote solidarity and peace in my city this evening. What are you doing? Apart from criticising me when you’ve read one whole blog post and made a judgement based on an avatar photo. My avatar photo on Facebook is a trifle. What does that say about me, Bob? I think your comment speaks volumes about you, and you know nothing about me. Feel free to not read on. I don’t write for you. It’s my blog. I write for me. If you don’t like it, there are millions out there.
I think we will have to agree to disagree.
I would like to point out I did not withhold my vote because I was unable to decide. Both sides lied repeatedly – that seems to be British politics in a nutshell and the reason I never vote on general elections. If I did, it would pretty much mean choosing the prettiest lie and ending up disappointed.
Not to mention the fact that David Cameron expressed when he attended university the EU was going to destroy Britain’s economy, yet now he argued the fact that we are better if we stay? I didn’t vote because I didn’t particularly trust anyone enough to back their campaign.
I saw another commenter here is a remain voter and is now dedicated to help the leave decision work. Though I am still on the fence and unsure of the future, I think that is the right thing to do. The more the public causes an uproar, the more the little boys in power will panic and we’ll all end up regretting that, because they will make a mess of negotiations.
I imagine, depending on the outcomes of the negotiations with the EU on leaving terms, the only UK companies that will be affected are those who trade/work in Europe. I am not sure why you feel you or others’ future is in jeopardy, other than the media scare tales about pensions, universities and jobs, but I have read through a lot of unbiased financial information on the economy as well as reassurances from the Law Society of Scotland and England and have to say that I am not afraid of the future. And if a new prime minister arses it up, then we vote another party next time. That’s what we did when Labour buggered up. I’m sure that’s what we will do again.
Brilliant! Thank you.
I have felt for some years now, that there has been a worrying rise in support for right wing politicians, not just in the UK. How can we best come together to prove there is another way?
campaign, grass roots stuff, not turning a blind eye. reporting things. coming together with kindness. xx
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/27/nevermind-the-brexit-uk-will-emerge-with-a-good-trade-deal.html
Let’s celebrate when it happens. I hope it does.
Succinctly put, i am Irish and I fear for the long term damage to OUR economy as a result of this farce. I did predict the outcome, not that it gives me any solace. The British working people, just like working people around the world, are rightly upset at being pawns of those very few obscenely wealthy turds who had us pay for their failed financial gambles. Now when I say “failed” this did not apply to them as they have emerged from the global collapse even wealthier!
It is all this which has allowed the empty rhetoric of Boris & Donald to take centre stage and advance their own personal ambitions with little or no regard for the people they conned into voting for them.
Finally to those who read this and respond “F**k Off Paddy” I simply say “I served in your Air Force for seven years and contributed to the UK coffers through my taxes for 12 so F**k You too!”
So sorry you are so angry too. x
Katy you have summed up his I feel completely. Thank you. I’m fed up of people telling me to stop taking it so seriously. We have been totally fucked by Caneron & Johnson, playing out some school boy rivalry with the country as poker chips. I’m disgusted. Thank you for writing this xx
Thanks for commenting.x
Fabulous post. Pretty much encapsulates how I’ve been feeling since Friday. Financial turmoil, economic uncertainty in a political vacuum, with the legitimisation of old school racism to boot. And all entirely self-inflicted. What have we done? 😦
I keep asking myself.
Reblogged this on From Pyrenees to Pennines and commented:
Nothing else seems to matter at the moment. It’s hard to focus on life outside the post-referendum nightmare, hard to believe that after securing about 52% of the vote (and just 72% of the electorate voted), leaving the EU seems to be universally accepted in the House of Commons – though not out here, not in the wider community I know. Like just about everyone I come across, I’m angry, upset and feeling pretty impotent. Then I read this. It pretty much sums up how I feel. Please read it.
Thank you.
All I can say is that I thought you hit the nail on the head. I was one of those thinking that it was time to get on with it now. I voted Remain, but felt we should try and move on, but over the last few days I’ve felt more down about it all – we have no leadership and now even Labour is looking as though it’s going to self combust (if that’s a word!).
It all feels like it’s going wrong.
Yep. It does. x
Thanks so much. Brilliant post. You said what I’d like to have said, and said it so much better. I hope you don’t mind my reblogging it on my own site, ‘From Pyrenees to Pennines’ https://margaret21.wordpress.com/2016/06/28/happy-now/
Reblogged this on mirawriteswords.
Very well said, you echo my feelings exactly. I was saddened and angry at the political machinations of the campaign. I voted with my conscience as I did in 1975 as I believed we were better off in Europe as were my children and grandchildren. The EU is far from perfect but it is far better to try to enact change from within rather than leaving and throwing stones from the outside. I am saddened to see so much hate and racism and am no longer proud to be British. I am lucky, I live in another EU country and think of myself as European. Now it seems that the only way that I can remain European is to renounce my British citizenship. Something that I never envisaged doing.
I am so sorry. x
Absolute tosh.Another whinging idiot.Democracy won.Suck it yp.You are the minority!Enjoy !😇
You don’t get maths do you Henry? We aren’t in the minority. You won a 3.8% majority on a 72% turnout, and you’ve got a lot of people sorely regretting their decision. But if it makes you feel better to be sanctimonious (nice use of emojis there by the way, very classy. Do you use them when you’re debating politics with your friends?) Nice that you still think you’re on the winning side. You won. We ALL lose, that includes you too, Henry, unless you actually live on Mars, which given your parlous grasp of the situation, I am beginning to think might be true. Do you really think your comment has cast you in the best light? Really? If so, there is literally nothing to be done for you, Henry. Nothing. Go and play with your friends now.
“A lot of people sorely regretting their decision” — really? You know this how? With what data? That’s whining b.s. You are just so entitled to win and you didn’t and entitled whiners like yourself have no idea how to deal with a vote that goes other than they hope. The win is in, it’s fair and square. Get with it. Of course there wasn’t a plan. How could there be a plan until the old guard exits and allows the new guard to make a plan? THERE IS PLAN IN PLACE IN THE E.U. FOR ANY COUNTRY WHO DECIDES TO LEAVE. So there’s your plan. It starts there, and continues with new leadership, not yet in place. You sound like a 12 year old with the intelligence of a 4 year old. Go home. Shut up. Get off the internet, for you are a national embarrassment.
OK. So you’re happy to believe newspaper reports and television reports when it suits you, but not when people are whining, which I think you define as ‘anyone who disagrees with me?’ I’m not making up buyers remorse. I’d suggest you do your own research but clearly you were happy enough to make your vote without it. I really appreciate that you are using caps lock. That is exactly what a mature, rational person would do. I haven’t blamed leave voters. I have blamed politicians. I have not whinged, I have stated facts, which I’m not bothering to reiterate here, You could look them up yourself only it would spoil your utopian fantasy. I have expressed my own disappointment on my own blog, one in a sea of millions, and yet here you are, ranting away. If what i’m saying is so wrong, why don’t you just ignore it and move on. You could. I have no influence, and neither do you now. You just gave it all away. You are no better off. You voted for us all to lose and we’re losing already and we’ll keep on losing. Everything you voted for is a lie. Nothing you voted for is coming true and yet here you are with insults and shouting as if just shouting at someone and telling them to get off the internet, as if you fucking own it, is going to work. Keep shouting. Shout yourself to death for all I care. You are so not bothered by what I’m saying, me, one person in millions, that you have bothered to leave a comment? I think it’s you who needs to grow up. You literally have no idea what you are talking about but keep going, because at least you’re entertaining.
Katy, you make a lot of good articulate points in your blog, it’s an informative read. All I would say is that it would be better if you excluded the bit saying that we will pay exactly the same to be part of a common market as we do now. This isn’t a fact, no-one knows what the deal would be, and the inclusion of it in your blog detracts from the overall picture you very articulately paint. I understand your anger but it would be best directed at the politicians that orchestrated this. It comes across very aggressively and that puts you at the same level as Hurricane Henry here when you are clearly far better informed than him. Keep the upper hand here, it will make more people listen to you. And that, after all, is the purpose.
If we join the EEA which is what is being mooted by Boris, we do pay the same, sorry. Also no rebates, no grants and no veto. But we do have to accept open borders. And I am angry at the politicians. I keep repeating. I have many friends and family who voted out. I haven’t fallen out with them. I respect their decision. I am angry at the people who say the specific things I quoted in my blog and who keep lying. That seems fair. And yes, I am doing something about it.
Henry I work for a company that takes EU money and puts it to good use in our region by using it to attract additional investment from elsewhere, frequently the US. My partner works at a university where she secures and manages their EU funding. In both cases the work we do has created wealth and jobs in our region, but unfortunately none of this positive stuff formed part of the Remain campaign so it goes pretty much unseen by people such as yourself. I know you may argue that the UK will step in to replace this funding, but that is looking increasingly unlikely given how fast everyone is rowing back from the “£350m a week”. Likewise, only yesterday my partner reported that one of their academics has just been frozen out of two collaborative projects with other EU universities because they now doubt the UK’s ability to contribute to the cost of the project. There is no two-year period of transition, the impact is happening already.
it doesn’t take a genius to realise that both of our jobs will be in jeopardy and this is the price we are paying for the result. It is not so simple as simply passively accepting a new political landscape, we are going to have to completely change our lives and jobs as a result of what has happened. As you’ve clearly demonstrated in your post, there is a very worrying lack of anyone who voted leave giving a flying monkeys about this situation, nor is there anyone who seems capable of helping us formulate a plan as what to do. All anyone seems able to do is sneer at their “victory” but we are your fellow Brits and we are currently tax payers making a substantial net contribution to our society.
In time we will of course “suck it up” and we will work hard to rebuild this country as best we can, but what I’m quickly learning from the attitudes of both the vote leavers and their sorry excuses for “politicians”, we won’t be rebuilding with much help from them.
Nice try Henry …. I suggest you suck up the fight back that is gathering pace and frankly this is far more important than yahboo replies ….instead try dealing with the lies you were told to get you to vote and are now rowed back on daily .. Fishing quotas oops sorry not going to happen , free movement stopped , oops sorry not going to happen ( Dan Hanan poster boy MEP for leave ) 350 mill to the NHS oops sorry that was a mistake . Sovereignty back oops sorry unelected PM about to be announced , House of Lords still in place , it’ll all be ok will it ? Trade deals with the rest of the world oops already seeing China pull out of trade deals , Ryanair likely NOT to be investing in the UK for the next few years at least and they only represent a fraction of what’s kicking in . Goodbye Scotland but we’ll still be “Great Britain” with all the influence we had before not diminished at all REALLY ??? Oh but Europe exports more to us than we do to them …. Answer me one question on that , how do we PAY for those goods if we’re in recession ? So I guess Europe might just look to other markets to make up for the loss ! Sound familiar ? But it’s ok it’ll all be ok ! We’ll get through ?! Mmmmmm the fight goes on Henry and don’t think for a moment this is over . The U.K. hasn’t really woken up yet to the catastrophe this decision is , wait until fellow leavers suddenly realise to achieve trade with our neighbours we have to pay and accept some free movement to get it … Have a nice day !
You didn’t read the text, did you?
Exactly how angry do you get when you see a brown face Henry?
PS really not a fan of the playschool debate style that seems to be prevalent from Leavers all “Saying that voting to leave the EU without an actual plan of action and based on a campaign of xenophobia was a bad idea is mean and makes me personally feel bad and may make me critically evaluate difficult things so you need to accept that we won and get over it/grow up/suck it up/stop being bitter/stop throwing your toys out of the pram/respect democracy”
Yep. That’s about the level we’re at.
yes. All of this. But as a business owner I can tell you that we have just been shafted and are not in a great position to be making super duper changes that;ll create the fantasy of greatness.
No. I know. I’m sorry.
super duper changes? What are you, 12 years old?
Hello. Nice to see you back again. Are you a professional troll or do you just like hanging out on blogs you don’t agree with. Would you like a seat. Perhaps a biscuit. Nice to have you back. Any more terrifying insults you’d like to throw my way while you’re at it.
“Democracy doesn’t happy on one day and go away again.. “Unless you don’t honour the vote. Then you have signed over your right to make any significant change in future. If you say I don’t like it let’s do it again what’s to stop the next vote you agree with being overturned? By all means lobby, protest, get elected to engage in the process to get your voice heard and effect change. But redefining what democracy means, as you are here, is very, very dangerous. I voted remain but I am horrified by this outpouring against democracy.
It is a vote based on fraudulent lies. It isn’t democracy. I’m not contesting general elections.
We are not guaranteed be better off in either side (remain/ out). However at least we know we are not getting better in the EU (with facts based on that EU economics are not growing since 10 years ago). So why not giving the UK a chance to take back control instead of giving away power to the fat-paid MEP that the UK citizens didn’t vote for in the first place?
If we say all the “leavers” are racists, it’s actually so untrue. Most “leavers” lift their eyes globally and welcome skilled immigrants internationally equally including Europe.
We did vote for our MEPs. We vote for them every five years in a voting system devised by our own government. I don’t say all leavers are racists. We have control. We have always had sovereignty. it’s the government that do the things you don’t like, you just don’t realise it. 13% of your laws come from the EU and we had to agree with them in order to write them into our legislation. Our relationship with the EU is ruled by our own government. Have a problem with it? Deal with them. Don’t shoot the people who are putting billions into our economy so we can pretend we’re weathering austerity better than we are.
Well said.
The problem we have today is that everyone expects things to happen immediately, we are impatient and unwilling to give things a chance. I voted to stay in, (despite knowing that the EU, on the whole is a non democratic entity), because it is / was an economic power house and I like stability. But now as a nation we have decided to move away from this club, we could at least wait to see what, if anything happens mid to long term before we imploded and start a civil war.
Take a chill pill, and wait.
If we wait too long, my fear is that there won’t be anything left. Also, I’m sorry, but I’m one woman writing a blog to stop me from punching my friends and relatives. I’m not a political pundit, despite what it sounds like. I don’t advertise my blog. It went viral. I think I’m entitled to panic if I want, on my own corner of the internet.
Pitch perfect on how I am feeling – which actually isn’t really a good thing – but what can we do ? I need to DO something
So far I’ve written to my MP. Signed petitions, joined an electoral reform programme and am going to a solidarity rally. If I think of anything else I’ll let you know. x
Where is the solidarity rally?
Jubilee Square, Leicester 5.00-9.00
another 1.7% up after Brexit in fact the whole economy is looking to be just as resilient as ever. The fact that there are people like yourself that spout how angry you are over what you believed from the remain camp’s lies, scare mongering and when that didn’t work trying to profit from Jo Cox’s death which was all for nothing, just shows how ignorant and blinkered a lot of the UK are. The majority however, Scotland aside as they had their own agenda, saw through the lies and voted out. The remainders where quick to point out that the markets have crashed and that GBP was at an all time low with tweets of “thank you, we’re all doomed”, which it was for all of 20 mins before bouncing back to a higher position then the beginning of the week! Comments such as your’s cheer me up no end because it reminds me that there are some amazingly stupid people out there who believe everything they are told and refuse to research the topic for themselves.
Very well written and encapsulates so much of how I am feeling at the moment. When I woke up this morning the first thing I said to my husband was that I feel like I’m living in a bad dream. Thank you for helping me feel like I’m not alone!
Thank you for commenting so I feel I’m not either. x
You’re far from alone,if only people would spend as much effort trying to inform themselves from as wide a variety of valid sources as they do trying to shout down anyone who disagrees with them.You’ve given me a few ideas,thanks.
Pleasure. x
Beautifully articulated how i feel today, I will share this to one and all
Thank you. x
Thank you for articulating so much better than I could exactly how I’ve felt over the last 4 days. I didn’t think things could get worse in the wake of the vote, but they obviously have. I hope things improve, and very much fear that it will continue to be terrible for a long while before they do. Keep on writing, I love your stuff here.
I hope they do too.
Excellent piece, very well written; (I’m struggling to write much as my anger turns everything into a rant.) Good points and observation. Why is that most of the negative and knocking comments you get are from people without spellcheck and dubious punctuation?
Couldn’t say!
Reblogged this on Siobhan Daiko and commented:
My thoughts, exactly.
Thank you. x
Well said Katy. Shared everywhere, and thank you for enunciating my own thoughts and feelings so clearly.
Thank you. x
Reblogged this on judahnaveen.
Thanks for putting into words what I’ve been thinking and feeling since late Thursday night. The only thing I would add to your excellent piece is a rebuttal to those who are saying ‘stop disrespecting your elders. they fought and died for you so you could live the life you do’… blah blah. What they gloss over is that pretty much everyone who fought in the world wars is already dead and I rather doubt that a soldier who fought against fascism would want to vote it in!
Ha ha!
Wow brilliant I agree with every word well written.
Thanks.
My sentiments exactly, thank you.
Pleasure.
Salty much?
Oh gosh! Do you think I might have a reason? Or more than one reason, or you know, facts to back up my bitterness. And yet despite that, I’m still working, out there, in my community, making a difference, what are you doing apart from leaving hilarious comments on blog posts you don’t even have to read? Slow news afternoon was it?
Lady you haven’t in all that speech said a single word why staying in the eu would be beneficial to the uk
That’s because that’s not what this blog post is about. I have no mandate to please you. I don’t write for you, and if you are reading it and you don’t like what I’m saying, hard leave and more fool you. But here we go. Ummm, unity, peace, free border controls going both ways, cheaper air fairs, break up of monopolies, the human rights bill, economic growth for really hard pressed areas, which, I don’t know, off the top of my head include a billion quid a year for Cornwall, ditto Wales, ditto Sunderland. All gone now. Cheaper university fees, medical research grant, nearly 26% of the staff of our crumbling NHS. I could go on, but I won’t, because you know, stick with being right won’t you. You can feel morally superior while turning a blind eye to everything else.
Katy I agree with everything you say and as for democracy how can 37% of (52%of 72% turnout) the electorate change the lives of millions in the EU? Especially as they were lied to by the brexiteers and the tabloids.
Yes. We’ve been sold a lie.
I’m going to print off your post (if that’s OK with you), credit you, of course, and hand it to anyone who asks me how I feel about Brexit. This is because you have said EVERYTHING that I feel and could not put into words. I’m still at the furious stage but alongside that is heartbreak. I’ve lost my EU citizenship and that hurts a lot. When I read that Leave voters are ringing their local electoral offices and asking if they can change their vote (!) I want to scream and gnash my teeth. I don’t want to shake hands and get on with it. I want hatred and racism off our streets and I want that which has been stolen from me restored. Thank you so much for this post.
Go ahead. Thank you.x
….”on the promise of a golden future”, the population is growing 500k a year off the back off a faltering framework. What will your take be when in a couple of decades when we have a pop. of 85M+ and the bottom falls out of the EU dream? How will you sustain such a population? You can’t it is unsustainable.
It is the most precarious superpower that will pull us out to sea to a point of no return and our children will have to deal with your “golden future”. History tells you that nothing lasts for long in Europe, if you think that the EU, with its fractured structure and non-aligned members, are going to last very long, then I think you are very much mistaken. You are gambling with our kids’ futures with your unproven pie dream.
Live in the now, live in the real world, cut your economic cloth to suit your purse and grow up.
You have no idea what you are talking about. When and I say when because your mandated chaps Gove and Boris agree, that we will go into the EEA, the framework is no border controls. None. The majority of our immigrants come from outside of the EU and therefore leaving the EU will not do anything whatsoever to stem that tide unless Theresa May takes action as our mandated representative who should be doing something about this. You take no account of the number of people leaving, or the fact that we are not fuckwits and everyone but everyone is agreed something had to be done about immigration but not this. Short sighted and really throwing the baby out with the bath water. You are too simplistic. Maybe it’s you who needs to grow up.
So xenaphobia rules in fractured Britain resulting from the Leavers lies. Poles insulted and attacked, are we to assume that no European is safe on England’s streets Beware if you are French, Dutch, Italian German the Nasties or should that read Nazis are after you They want you out. Raise the drawbridge and let the disunited Kingdom reign. Even Thatcher must be turning in her grave
It does remind me of the eighties I am very sad to say.
I agree with every word. Especially the 5th and 7th points.
As an older gen voter who voted remain both times, I am particularly annoyed by those who keep saying ‘No. You shouldn’t have a 2nd referendum because it is unconstitutional to keep having referenda just because you don’t like the result’.
Well, for their education, it wouldn’t be a second referendum but rather a third because the original in 1975 did meet a two-thirds majority and should have remained in force, but was contested by those who disagreed – placing the present critics in the position of the criticised – only with a drastically reduced majority to their cause.
Beautifully put!
Brilliant, thanks. Doesn’t make me feel any less angry but good to know there’s some sensible folk I the world…
Thanks. x
Thank you – beautifully articulated.
Thank you for commenting. x
I so get this, I don’t live in the UK any more but it’s sad to see what’s happened and what a waste makes me so angry, like your blog hits it on the head and unfortunately I totally agree with your thoughts, wish I didn’t but the impending doom ! Good luck
Thank you. x
Every single word you say I am with you the whole way. Great passionate blog which I have shared.
Thank you. x
The government ie Cameron called the vote and should have had plans in place for a leave vote He thought we would vote to stay so didn’t seem to bother. The leave campaigners did their job in putting the case It’s for the government now to sort the will of the people. Great time for democracy ! This is what our ancestors fought for and not to be ruled by unelected EU! Perhaps all the disaffected remainders would like to live in China Iran or Russia say then they might appreciate our democracy!
I’m glad you’re proud of the fact that you won on lies, some of which are actually heading towards the courts and the rest of which have been ditched by your own spokespeople as unworkable. Tell me, oh great genius, how do you make a plan based on unworkable lies actually work, because if you know, then maybe you should be running for parliament? It isn’t the will of the people. It’s the will of 37% who voted. You are hallucinating. It is not a great time for democracy. It is a great time for the ultra wealthy to continue to get ultra wealthy at the expense of the poor. what you voted for was Boris’s ambitions to lead the Tory party. Nobody is going to give you freedom from the EU and if you don’t understand why we can’t afford it, perhaps you should have read up on the economics of it before you started. You do know we’re going into the EEA don’t you? You do know that the EEA still binds us to Europe at the same cost but with none of the benefits don’t you? That’s your own leave champion, Boris, who said that. What about democracy now? Are you proud?
The thing is that the Leave campaigners put a number of different cases, none of which they could implement – e.g. the £350m in to the NHS. So no one actually knew what they were voting for – did you vote to leave but join the single market? Did you vote to leave and be a member of the EEA? Did you vote to leave and negotiate separate trade agreements with each EU country? Did you vote to leave and keep the financial “passport” for the City? If we join the single market with freedom of movement as the price, will you still be saying that it’s democracy? The problem is that people voted to leave something, without it being clear what they wanted next. I would be very interested to know what anyone who voted to leave thought they were getting? Other than leaving of course 🙂
So well articulated katyboo1, you have so eloquently put into words what so many of us are feeling. Thank you
Thank you. x
Here’s view from the US to add some balance to this conversation….http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/27/nevermind-the-brexit-uk-will-emerge-with-a-good-trade-deal.html
Thankyou for voicing exactly how I and I know a lot of others feel. Most of us didn’t need a crystal ball to predict this utter disaster but I just can’t fit it all in to my head due to the scale and enormity of it all.
And it’s happening so quickly too.
Your title “Happy Now”, yes very happy thanks.
Happy that the man you chose to get us here is now negotiating a deal with the EU so we can continue trading with them? Negotiating a deal that costs the same about as our current membership? Happy that we will have to accept free border movement as a condition of it? Happy that we get no veto? Happy that every politician in the government you elected agrees and can do this for you because they have sovereignty? Good for you. You are a very special person to be so happy about something that is not going to make a single thing that you wanted to happen, happen. Very magnanimous of you.
The big picture is not that of today or tomorrow politics. The UK signed up to the European common market. A way of trading between member states and nothing else. Over the last 40 odd years that common market has evolved into the EU and will continue to grow in power and erode the real power that the UK government has on running this country. We now have a European Parliament that has influence on everything from farming to immigration and everything in between. A European currency exists and a European army will be the next step. There is already moves to create a similar union in the Americas and the Asian version including Australia is even closer. Both again being created under the con of a common market. Three world Parliaments being controlled centrally by the US federal reserve. A few days analysis, coming to the conclusion that here’s the proof, we were idiots to leave the EU is pathetic and grossly unfair. You will need to look at the progress or lack of, in a time scale of months or years. That is the only credible way of having a balanced view of our EU exit. There is an excellent documents on YouTube called ‘the Brussels business’ I suggest you take the time to watch and learn exactly what the EU is all about….. Oh and lastly was you aware that this is actually the second European common market ? The first was set up during the early 1940’s by the nazis. They understood that the best way to control European money was to centralise the way we trade and huge corporations and banks could control and distribute the wealth amongst themselves. Remove your head from the sand and open your eyes to the possibilities that now present themselves, now that we are removing ourselves from the corrupt and failure that is the EU….
The man you voted to take us into this bright new future? He’s currently negotiating to tie us into the EU at the same cost as we already pay but with less control. Brilliant. Slow. Hand. Clap. Not only that, there isn’t a politician we elected who disagrees with him. What have you actually achieved, really? And yes, I studied history I know it’s not about today, sadly I have far more idea of what tomorrow is going to be than you do.
Hi Katy really support everything you said, I have been struggling to articulate the way I feel. I know in my gut that the Leave argument is inherently wrong but I think you were a little harsh on Paul here – his is one of the few coherent Leaver posts that I have seen and I am genuinely fascinated how people who saw through the ridiculous lies of the campaign can still justify to themselves their decision.
On a different note I’d be interested in your thoughts about what would happen if sanity finally ruled and the House of Commons overruled the referendum and prevented article 50 from being enacted. Is this a pipe dream I am clinging on to? Do you think this is in the realms of possibility and if so will it come too late as by then we will have irreparably damaged our economy and/or our relationship with the other EU countries
I think it won’t happen. I think we have to negotiate as best we can because they’re too afraid of anarchy. Sadly.
I’m with Katy here – what do you think that you are getting instead of the EU? Are you saying that its fine not to have access to our biggest market (Europe) and that the economic decline that we are seeing is just collateral damage for us not being “ruled” by Brussels? Being poorer and having the Union broken up is totally fine because some bureaucrat in Brussels can’t tell us what to do? Even short term damage is a real problem – as an example, itv has lost 25% of its value and the pound has fallen through the floor. This makes itv a very inviting prospect for a takeover – it’s very cheap especially if you are based in the US. So over the next few months expect “proud British” companies to get snapped up by international investors at rock bottom prices. Not so much ruled by Brussels as owned by investors from the Middle East, China and the US. And no referendum would be able to change that.
Well said Paul
Gosh. Thanks for endorsing all the complete errors Paul has made and not bothering to bring anything cogent to the argument. Do come again and bring your blistering wit with you.
Where’s Henry? I am awaiting another well thought out reply. To add to the growing financial mess it appears my home county Cornwall has sent plea to Westminster asking them to match EU grants, perhaps belatedly realism g they have effectively cut their nose off to spite their face.Interestingly Cornwall and Wales who voted leave have had little or no impact financially or otherwise from immigrants and yet ask the Brexitiers and they complain about immigrants, odd.
Oh no. Have they really?
Hi, I’ve posted a link to your post on my Facebook page. It articulates very well what all my British friends are thinking and feeling right now. And more: I am an EU national/British resident, lived and worked as an educator in the UK for 20 years, my family and our home is here, no right to vote sadly, but doing everything else I can to contribute. Just wanted to point out that, contrary to what many may think, EU citizens who have lived for many years in the UK are concerned first and foremost about the fate and prosperity of this country which is our home too. We also feel the economic heat, just as you have described in your post, and are enraged by the resurgence of the far right. I fell totally heartbroken for my British students and my colleagues here who are as angry and as desperate as anyone else. I’ll leave all my other concerns out of this reply now, just wanted to let you guys know that we share the pain and it is not out of self-interest.
Thank you. xx
I am also an EU citizen living here, albeit not as long and discovered, unfortunately only days before the vote and too late to register, that we are allowed to vote! This is another thing the remain campaign should have made clear – imagine adding all the EU people who live here to the remain! I have now registered just in case we do have another chance to turn this around.
Maybe if you are EU and Commonwealth and UK resident. Otherwise you can’t.
Thanks Michael !
Ninthly.
The EU exports 290bn to us, we export 220bn to them, but their population is 440m, and ours 65m. So as that’s £650 per head in the EU and £3400 per head here, we’re five times more exposed to a trade war than they are.
and?
Can’t argue with anything you’ve said here. I’m not happy, I’m really upset by the result of this vote. I don’t believe that this is a majority result and it does make me laugh with all the “pathetic” comments from some brexiters about the petition for a second referendum, when not 24 hours earlier they were telling everyone to vote using pens as the government were going to change their vote (does this sound like the kind of people who would actually take the defeat with the good grace that they are telling us to?) I am fed up of being told to relax, and grow up when i state that I am genuinely worried about the future, and was actually told by someone that if it all goes wrong then i can say “I told you so”. if it all goes wrong I won’t be bothered about being right, I’ve never wanted to be wrong more in my life, but don’t dress up my concerns as pathetic and tell me to “chill out”. That’s all I have to say – great blog – keep up all the good work you are clearly doing!!
and it was their petition!
Thank you Katy.
The thing that riles me most is this smug “we invented democracy, so look how superior we are” stuff. We have a representative democracy, which is supposed to do exactly that: represent us and after careful consideration and debate make political decisions. If that works, why do we need referenda? Because it doesn’t work, because our first past the post system allows a party that gets maybe only 35% of the vote to have more or less absolute power for 5 years. So large numbers of people are disenfranchised. Worse: in the panic to try to be first past the post by a margin of one, Davis Cameron offered a referendum to placate his right wing and reduce the risk of UKIP splitting his vote and losing him seats. maybe he thought continuing the coalition with the LibDems would save him by stopping the referendum. But he accidentally won a majority.
So, Katy, if you’ve joined the Electoral Reform Society, I hope it’s so that we get a proper, modern, representative, proportional voting system of democracy, which would have avoided all this mess.
Rob, (aged 62 and three quarters)
yes, Rob, I want PR in the next election very much. x
You have perfectly encompassed how I feel – angrier every day at what is seemingly an unstoppable juggernaut. Thank you for your eloquence.
Thank you. x
Couldn’t agree more – but if I may add another paragraph, the silence about Northern Ireland and the possible border issue there has been terrible. I didn’t realise (so again – how can anyone make an informed choice when so much was avoided / not spoken about) that this will cause very real problems because the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland will, in the future, not be able to allow free passage between the two. Just think that through. Border guards. Soldiers. Building a solid border between the two back up. After years of negotiating peace, all that is in jeopardy because we have voted to leave.
I liked your paragraph about democracy – that’s what my Leave friends keep saying, yet they all voted leave for specific reasons – none of them will accept responsibility for the whole package – my pension is worth around 6% less than it was last week and my business (in recruitment) has ground to a halt. Apparently that is unimportant as we have “taken back control” – of what no one seems sure.
I have also signed petitions, joined a political party and actually started talking to my friends about what I believe in – I used to keep quite before, thinking it was no ones business but mine. Maybe if we all talk more (respectfully) then we might understand things before we make major decisions.
I enjoyed reading your article – it mirrored my own sense of frustration and impotence.
Thank you for your comment. xx
Great piece and thanks for writing it. I agree with every word. I am 65 and voted remain as did everyone of my immediate family. I feel scared by what is happening and will continue to happen. As a group, we remainers all need to keep asking questions, rattling cages and making life uncomfortable for the people who lied and will be happy to line their own pockets and walk away with untroubled consciences. My country feels out of control at present and there is no one who knows what to do to sort out the mess we have created. Inevitably it will be mainly the poor and those in already deprived areas who will come off worse and they were the ones who were duped.
Yes it will and there will be very little we can do for them I fear.
You may be right, but it makes me so angry when remain voters (I, being one of them) call the poor gullible. It’s is such a terrible assumption to make and does not help the situation. There are many, many middle class, well educated people who voted leave.
The stupid politicians who are accepting this as “decisive” are scared some kind of civil war will break out if they go against the so called will of the people. This is not the will of the people this is no better than a coin toss. If they go ahead anyway then the angry 48% are not going away and there will be civil unrest anyway.
Yet another presumably middle-class millennial flipping out in the now familiar beseeching tone.
It’s funny that divvy millennials who a few days ago knew how to post self-absorbed piffle onto the internet and little else are now:
1. Finance experts talking about the FTSE and currencies.
2. Ambitious go-getters who were about to ‘work all over Europe’
3. Mind readers who know how ‘racist’ Leave voters are
4. Experts in the EU bureaucracy
6. People who know better than the old codgers that have lived through various stages of the EU project and seen how it’s panned out.
Hell, millennials are full of themselves.
You know what? I was born in 1972. I grew up in a working class home in relative poverty. I was teased at school for my jumble sale clothes and the fact that my mum made her own bread. I grew up through the Thatcher years and the riots and the dole queues hitting a million and I’ve been on benefits, despite having been to university. But if it pleases you to dismiss elitist tosh, good for you. If it pleases you to talk shite about something you don’t know anything about, and let’s face it, you’ve had a few weeks practice before you got to cast your vote, please go ahead. I’ve got all day.
Also we can count to 5………
What happened to 5. Is that a secret?
Why is it that all the comments that disagree with you are all style and no substance? Just a thought…
This sums it all up beautifully. I had a conversation this morning that was so similar, it’s scary. Chin up, lovely, there are loads of us about actually doing things to change all this horror.
Hoorah!
Thanks for your post Katy.I feel as if there’s a black cloud over my head.I wake up in the morning and remember what’s happened and am full of disbelief that this can happen to the UK.What a shambles.Many of my colleagues are EU citizens and now just want to go home.My son’s girlfriend works in a shop with a man who has dark skin.A couple of thugs went into the shop yesterday and said’We voted for you to go home’.When he argued with them, he was punched in the face.I feel desperately sad at what’s happening.I do not want to be associated with the likes of Boris or Nigel.Odious men and liars.I have written to my MP and I will read into electoral reform.It might help my sense of hopelessness.
Oh God. I’m so sorry to hear this.
At the obvious risk of sounding patronising and superior (because I am) a quick riffle through the comments on here does indicate the Brexit brigade are not that bright. And quite keen at throwing insults around.
The former perhaps explains their staggeringly stupid, shot-in-the-foot vote.
The latter explains the worrying way this totally pointless referendum is dividing the country, and will do so for a long time to come.
And to think it was all done just to keep a minor wing of the Conservative party quiet; and an absolute nonentity by the name of Farage
All hail the great Boris, right?
I am totally saddened by a lot of reactions to the referendum. It seems that some people have been in a dolly day dream as the referendum approached. They were ok so they assumed that everyone else was. The political parties are so similar there was no choice between them, so general elections didn’t help. Until we make sure everyone has enough food to eat, a roof over their heads, an education and health system that works for them, proper care for the elderly and feels safe, and a job be surprised that if asked they say they want change. I’ d be more impressed if people were advocating for these improvements , but at this has woken up the country.
This is our austerity government. We need to come together to change it, not isolate ourselves.
But the EU is advocating austerity.
Here here 👏👏👏
Eloquently sums up my feelings perfectly.
thanks.x
Thanks for this. Very eye opening. One thing you might add for your democracy argument: the economic impact which was predicted by remainers and mocked by leavers is happening. New information = valid reason for new vote. From an American terrified of a Trump presidency.
Thanks.
Sorry a few typos there , should read don’t be surprised,and
at least this has woken up the country.
The problem is trying to write this on a mobile phone!
Reblogged this on Lemon in Cambodia and commented:
I couldn’t have said this better myself so I’m going to let Katy say it for me.
Thank you. x
Yes, this. Exactly this. Well said.
Very well put. I’m sorry it’s come to this.
Me too. x
You brilliant woman – thank you for saying it so well. I’m with you.
Thank you. x
Im trying to look at some of the plus points that have come out of this referendum and one of the biggest for me was the proportion of the younger generation who voted to stay. With the world the way it is today terrorism on the rise and the strengthening of far right political party’s I exspected the youth in general to be very anti europe. But with the huge percentage voting to remain i think this shows the facist far right groups are not getting their claws into the minds of our children and the exact opposite is happening. I sincerly hope we can have another referendum in 10 years time rejoin the EU and put this stupidity behind us.
I hope you are right. x
Summed up everything I am feeling too. I too researched before I made my vote to remain. I too am fed up with leavers telling me to calm down and wait. Wait for what???? There’s nothing happening! It’s all a mess! And I dont feel calm because I feel like none of the government are really doing anything and they all look like bunnies in the headlights! !!!! Particularly Boris!!!! Ffs x
Maybe he should be renamed Boris FFS
Thank you for this Katy. I wrote something similar to try to articulate my own rage at the pointlessness of our present situation, so it was good to find someone else doing the same. All the facts and the available evidence suggest this decision is the wrong one. But most voters don’t base decisions on empirical evidence so here we are. It is one of the many reasons we, like the institutions of the EU, have a system of representative democracy and why this referendum should not have taken place. Yet it did and if it mobilises more of us to realise that the electorate can be the plaything of a few privileged egotists who have an elastic relationship with the truth and that we should push back against that, some small good may yet emerge. Personally I am not prepared to stand shoulder to shoulder with people like Farage and the far right, regardless of the position of others, so I too need to find a way to oppose the path we are being forced down. I salute you for your contribution and for standing up to the trolls.
Thank you for such an articulate, well reasoned comment. x
Very well said.
I agree 100% with everything you’ve said here. To say that I’m sad, angry, frustrated… just doesn’t do justice to the way I really feel about this. Throughout the campaign I thought it was clear for everyone to see that it was all lies, I thought common sense would prevail. I’m worried about the future of this country, but also I’m angry that my EU citizenship, something I value so so much, is going to be taken away from me.
Thank you. x
I think you’ve mostly covered it all. And you’re right. Keep going
Thanks. x
Glad to hear you’ve joined a political party. Hope its the Greens, who had the biggest Remain majority according to Ashcroft’s poll. But if it’s Labour, get active because Corbyn will need to be re-elected.
Women’s Equality Party and Labour are for me. x
Katyboo1 keep going. This is exactly how I feel and some of the moronic replies on here prove that MOST leave voters have nothing to say.
Nope. It’s all insults and blame shifting. Great stuff.
Thank you Katy for such an articulate, well written article. I wake every morning with a sense of dread at what has happened and will continue to happen, unless we are able to continue in the EU. On a lighter note I laughed out loud at your phrase “unelected fuckwits” ………. sums them up perfectly.
Thanks. x
The future is very bright now, it just needs a settled government now to see this through.
In which universe are you actually living, and you trust this shit shower to do anything positive? I despair.
We saw this coming and we moved lock stock and two smoking barrels to France before our English assets could become our English losses… Leaving was not at all easy, but I live in a socially ( yes socially) democratic country now… I strongly suggest the 48% vote with their feet ….
So tempting. x
Spot on Katyboo1. Precisely how I feel, and precisely how things stand.
Thank you. x
I suspect your article encapsulates what thousands of us are trying to put in legible terms. It’s an abomination, terrifying, ridiculous, divisive etc etc etc….I can’t put into words the disaster I see unfolding internationally, let alone nationally. Thanks for wording it with so much clarity x
Thank you for commenting.x
So well written, love this and agree totally. Thank you for putting in words how I am feeling exactly. Feel better just to know I’m not alone.
Thanks. x
You said it, Katyboo1. I share your rage and frustration. just thinking what else to do myself
Thanks. x
A perfect summation of how I, and close family and friends are feeling and thinking, katy. I am scared and feel utterly disgusted at the absolute chaos that has ensued this referendum. Racist, unprovoked attacks on immigrants who have been living peacefully and rightfully in the UK up to recent days, now fearing for their safety?! There is certainly nothing “great” about the Great Britain we reside in at present! I feel frustrated at the venomous, scathing attitude (of a proportion) of LEAVE voters and at their ignorance regarding the repercussions of their decision. The problem, as I see it, has been that there has not been sufficient dialogue between the politicians, the various sectors of our communities, the wider union as a whole and the business sectors. We have been offered “one, solitary vote” , whereas this should have been brought to the table as part of an ongoing, transparent, open discourse between all parties, in order to identify over a period of time how the country’s residents feel about the possibility of change…total change and withdrawal from a place of security; whether that be national and/or fiscal. We talk about the retreat from the EU taking a period of over 2 years, from submission of article 50 to the final cessation of our participation. Why then should this have been offered to the masses as a single vote? Would it not have been sensible to ensure that both campaigning parties have a fully equipped mandate of how things would be realised post referendum outcome, particularly in light of a possible LEAVE outcome, as this was certainly a new entity for the country as a whole? Instead we now find ourselves in a climate of xenophobic, financial and national demise….and we simply have to “deal with it”!!??!! (In the very articulate and eloquent turn of phrase used by so many of our learned LEAVE supporters!)
agreed
You voiced my feelings perfectly, thank you x
Thanks
A Facebook friend posted this link. I don’t usually read these to the end, mainly because I find them hard to follow. However, this kept me gripped to the end. Very eloquent, accessible and entertaining. A shame the reality it refers to is such a downer.
Thanks
You are absolutely allowed to be outraged and to have opinions, and to voice them. I don’t think anyone should tell you to calm down. Luckily all the leave voters and the rest of us remain voters who are not losing our minds over this have a choice whether or not we read the rantings of those who think that the leave voters are stupid. They are not, they just want different things from the remain voters. Just like in any other election or vote, and they, just like the rest of us in this democracy, are entitled to their opinion and their vote. And both sides are allowed to fight for what they believe in.
My one observation about the EU, despite voting remain, is that it is falling apart somewhat. It needs to change. I am originally from Europe and I have family in a few different EU countries, and the fact is, that the EU is succeeding in some aspects, but it is failing large groups of people who are all just as angry and outraged at the EU, as you are at the leave campaign.
And so even thought I voted remain, I do think that some other remain voters will do well to remember that the EU has failed millions of people who chose to be a part of them in the first place and who feel that they were sold false ideals.
We, as humans, need to work harder to be sympathetic towards each other, even though we may not have the same needs or opinions as each other.
Agreed
Brilliant, eloquently describing the rage and tearfulness I feel but cannot express – just too upset!
Thanks
Katy.
I voted out, this was mainly a protest vote to make the government and brussels wake up and realise that there needs to be reform within the EU. Many respected people on the in camp have confirmed there needs to be policy change and I don’t expect us to come out of the EU, my gut feel is that here will be renegotiation to keep us in which will please the majority of people of the U.K.
Some of my friends and family think other than this but I respect their thoughts and would never think to try and convince them other wise. PS, I am not a racist, not cleaver but not thick just a normal person that was allowed to vote as a free person. I also work for a multi national bank that told me my job was at risk of the vote went to the out campaign so I had to look hard into the out come we have come to.
I hope you manage to stop this topic from taking over your life and ruining you friends and family relationships.
Again, my gut feel is that you will not have to leave the EU but we as a nation have lit the fuse to get the polititions to listen that things need to be addressed. When this does happen I can assure you that the majority of out campaigners ( excluding mindless racists) will be equally happy with the result.
I totally respect your view. I am aware that the EU is not perfect. I too believe it needs to change. I hope you are right.
Everything you said…..plus the fact that I’ve heard the incessant whinging of the ‘leave’ side all my life calling for a second referendum on EU and now they’ve won it and the vote I’m expected to suckling it up and stop moaning after less than a week! Jog on! I may even keep it up for 40 years.
Let’s be honest if it had gone the other way Farage would still be banging on he even said he would call for a second referendum in the same situation
God yes. We so would.
Yes. To everything you’ve said in the post AND in your comment replies. The sheer ignorance of so many people is astounding to me. I’m not just disappointed, I’m devastated and I’m beyond disgusted. And as a brown face born and bred in London, I am for the first time in my 44 years, feeling unwelcome and unsafe in my own fucking country. In the eyes of bigots across the country, this vote has legitimised their behaviour and they think that they now have a mandate for their disgusting behaviour. They genuinely think 17 million people are behind them. And honestly, I think a fair percentage of those 17 million are, even though they don’t like to think so. The whole situation is hideous and terrifying.
It is. x
#Brexit is becoming a very bad joke. I have never in my life seen so many people squirming to deny what was a RESOUNDING democratic result. Where the pollsters were nearly all wrong, and wrong by an enormous margin of a minimum of 5 percentage points. The Remainers pulling out all logical stops and coming up with the most drivel-ridden anti-democratic excuses to make their unmakeable point and get their way … is just UNBELIEVABLE!!! And you know, unbelievably, they just might get there. It is just CRAZY, what is going on!!!
==============================
I’m sure it would have been “democratic” enough for them, had Remain won. Big LOL. Too funny. It is like a couple of kids arguing about the result of the first “winner take all” game, and the loser then saying “best of three.”
The FACT is that it was NOT a low voter turnout. The FACT is there is no such rule in place (72%, 75%, 80%, or what have you!!). The FACT is that it was a democratic result reached after both sides did their best to communicate their pros and cons. And the FACT is that Remainers got their asses kicked fairly and squarely.
It wasn’t even CLOSE! General elections are usually decided on smaller margins!
You do NOT get to change the rules after the event (especially when you would have eaten it up had it gone the other way). You do NOT get to weasel out of the result on the grounds that it was not democratic. You do NOT get to speak for an electorate and say people did not understand. The die is cast, and the chips have fallen (DEMOCRATICALLY!!!) where they have.
As I have pointed out countless times now, to seemingly countless whingeing and sour-grapes Remainers, the surpassing IRONY is that you now want to go AGAINST democracy because the result doesn’t suit you!!! Can anything BE more ironic? I don’t think so! Although, I guess given the profoundly undemocratic nature of the EU institution you support … I really shouldn’t be that surprised.
This is now a JOKE. Remainers … and their pathetic campaign for another referendum, and the UK leaders’ pathetic stalling on the actioning of Article 50 … are a JOKE. The UK is a laughing stock of anti-democracy in the eyes of the world.
Of course there is going to be market volatility with such a big decision. Although, I would argue that ongoing volatility is moreso about the INDECISION with respect to implementing Article 50, than it is about Brexit itself. If the UK leaders simply decisively followed the wishes of their electorate and started getting on with being a sovereign country again, the world (and markets) would react FAVOURABLY. For as long as that gutless indecision continues, it will continue to be an unholy mess. To blame the Brexit itself for the mess resulting from the anti-democratic indecisiveness of the UK’s utterly gutless “leaders” is both disingenuous and wrong.
In the meantime, and until the democratic result is respected and enacted, the UK will continue to be a laughing stock in the eyes of the world. 😦
Hello, Nick. You do know that the leave campaign were the ones who set up the petition to contest the result of the election should it go 52/48 in remain’s favour and that the man who launched it is now complaining? It’s your side that set it in motion, just as it was your side, Nigel Farage in fact, who said that he would contest it. Don’t try to slide the blame onto other people, and I would really advise you, if you’re going to take up trolling full time, to a) get some facts, b) use less caps lock and emojis because it makes you look as CRAZY as the people you are criticising, and c) don’t waste your bile on me. What do you think I care about your opinion? Take it to someone who gives a shit.
Well, at least you eventually, belatedly published my opinion Katy! I’ll give you some points for that at least! But, sadly, (and as with the rest of the anti-democratic Remainers), the fact you don’t “give a shit” about the opinion of the democratic majority is plainly obvious! But thanks for personally confirming that for everybody. LOL 🙂
Oh Nick. I’m so glad you are the entire voice for all the leave party. What an important person you must be! Just as I am, of course, the entire voice for the remain party. Listen to yourself man. Go and find someone else to talk to, there’s a good chap.
Superb well said thanks
Thanks. x
Aaaawww diddims then.
Take a chill pill ffs..this was a righteous and momentus decision.
Instead of whining on some pitiful blog..get busy sucking it up
You, Jason, are a gigantic, fucking bell end. I am not whining. I am angry. People in my neighbourhood are suffering racist attacks. People I know cannot buy houses today. People I know are losing their businesses, my kids are coming home crying because racist abuse is flying round the playground. You moron.
An excellent thoughtful piece – thanks for taking the time to write it. I agree with Jeremy Paxman’s assessment of Cameron, as the most incompetent PM since Anthony Eden invaded Egypt to get back the Suez Canal. Seemingly, Osborne told Cameron not to have a referendum as there was a risk of disaster. Well, what do you know. Modern democracy is not about having binding plebiscites, in fact many people do not have a clue and soak up the best spun lies expounded by the person who seems to be a “good egg” (comedian/media savvy Boris). Maybe nice to remember that Boris was sacked from the Times for lying!
Yes he was.
Yes I’m really happy – my hope when I voted to leave was that in a few years we’d look back and think it was worth the turmoil.
I hadn’t imagined that a bunch of sore losers would relentlessly campaign to convince every national and international investor that Britains economy is doomed, even after the majority had voted to leave, and then blame turbulent economics on the decision to leave.
It’s too early for Brexit to be affecting the economy – what’s causing panic is you bunch of idiots!
Richard. Brexit is affecting the economy. You can bury your head in the sand all you like. It is not being a sore loser to the people who can’t buy a house today, or the construction companies failing, or the fact that people on here are already being made redundant and businesses are already closing. That’s not sore losers, that’s peoples lives. I assume you’re well off enough to weather it, or maybe you wouldn’t be quite so blasé with people’s futures. Don’t say that retainer’s are causing panic. We are not the global markets.
Bang on Richard … it is in fact the INDECISION of Brexit NOT being activated by Article 50, combined with the HYSTERIA of the democratically-challenged Remainers, which is creating the unholy mess we are now seeing. Shame on the UK’s so-called “leaders” for not immediately respecting the democratic will of the people, and shame on the sour-grapes Remainers who are holding up and sullying what would otherwise be a glorious and righteous path back to real democracy, self-determination and freedom from the Corporatocracy and its odious and corrupt technocrats.
Well said Nick. I would agree that most people that seriously voted out expected there to be a time of uncertainty but it’s going to be prolonged as long as we don’t work together and being more positive to the future, you never know we may come to an outcome that a bigger majority could be happy with.
Absolutely spot on! Sums up what I, and probably lots of remain voters are thinking now. Just desperately hope there is some way out of this awful mess.
Thanks.
Another whiner, actually Farage was elected. We have what’s called MEP elections where we the electorate decide who we want to represent us in Europe. If you decided not to vote in the MEP elections, you don’t get to comment. Some of us didn’t want Cameron in a second time, we didn’t sulk and moan and say we wanted a rerun of the general election. We knew there wasn’t a plan, that’s the way the EU works, it is so dictatorial they find it inconceivable that people don’t like it, and yet EVERY recent election has seen anti-EU parties gaining ground. We don’t need the EU, the general plan is to reach out to other nations and remove trade barriers and stop discrimination against countries that are not in this elite club. The commonwealth came before the EU.
I vote. I didn’t vote for Farage. I didn’t vote for Cameron, and I don’t whine. I get angry, and what’s more I get off my arse and do things about it. What are you doing? Oh, I don’t know. I think I’ll suck up a shit load of lies, wave my finger in the air and vote for us all to go to hell. It isn’t the way the EU works. We have sovereignty Andrew. If we didn’t, Juncker would have kicked us to touch on Friday. We have to trigger article fifty because only WE can because that’s how sovereignty works. You didn’t have a fucking plan Andrew, because you reneged on every single lie they fed you hours after the election was counted. You cannot base a plan for the future of our country on lies. Where is the £111 billion you promised annually? How can you plan for what is an entirely fictional figure? And why, if you don’t need Europe are all the politicians now entering into negotiations to join the EEA which has all of the costs and none of the benefits of the EU except we get the 45% share of trading we so desperately need?
I like how you think swearing will get your point across. Article 50 has nothing to do with sovereignty. The only reason Junker cannot kick us into to touch is that Article 50 is a few paragraphs describing something they thought would never happen, even though it did happen when Greenland left the EU all those years ago. It is because they didn’t nail down the finer details of article 50, not because we have sovereignty.
I also like how you and every other Remainer assume the rest of us are stupid. I didn’t listen to any of the campaigns, as they were both full of lies and misinformation. What I did was look into treaties, and deals, talked to my university friends (most of which are from the African and Asian continents) and came to my own conclusion. Our trade with the EU stands at just under half, because we are not allowed to form trade deals with other countries due to EU legislation, how exactly is that sovereignty? The EU is 28 countries, so why should it account for nearly half of our trade, when there are nearly 300 countries in the world. One of the reasons it is so high is thanks to EU tariffs and trade barriers. My friend’s parents from Zimbabwe cannot sell hardly any of their produce to the EU due to the tariffs they have to pay to sell to the single market. I dislike the single market intensely, it is all set up for an elite club to pay a fee. What happened to the free market, where everyone can trade freely and fairly?
Another reason I voted leave is the EUs inability to protect consumers. A quick example, mobile phones have been available to the masses for 20 years. Even when phones first came out, it did not cost anymore to make a phone call in Europe than it did in the UK, and yet roaming fees were allowed to be added. It has taken the EU 20 years to abolish roaming fees, a totally unfair charge that has just seen massive corporations make lot’s of money on the back of us.
The EU is not a democracy, a few years ago I believe Ireland rejected the Lisbon treaty in a referendum, the EU did not like this result and told the Irish leader that this was unacceptable. Eventually the treaty went through.
I am not going to list every reason for my decision, however the final one is so called experts. Christine Lagarde took the IMF post and laid into George Osbourne, saying the country would hit recession and the austerity would lead to higher unemployment. She was wrong on every count, whilst I don’t agree with all that he has done, he hasn’t done a terrible job and the country did not react the way Lagarde said it would. Every time the Bank of England made a statement in the last few years, they have said that they believe the rates would rise in the medium term. They are still 0.5% years later. All these experts should be held to task about their predictions over the last 5 years, as many of them have been wrong, so to rely on them to predict a remain or leave strategy is wrong.
Safety, we were a member of NATO, and exchanged information with Interpol years before the EU in it’s current form existed. When the Paris atrocities were investigated it was found that the terrorists had been moving between France and Belgium multiple times before the fateful day. This would not have happened so easily if border checks had not been abolished. I travel all over the world, and people have said that if you love the EU so much you should move, and people have replied that we have now lost that right. More lies, it might be more difficult, but people will still be able to move. I have just applied for a 2 yr work permit for China, before than I applied for a Congo visa for my last project. The EU will have to put something similar in place. It is not the end of travel to the EU.
Another interesting point for me was that Lichtenstein and Switzerland have access to the single market, and yet Lichtenstein have immigration quotas, something the EU says is not allowed. Switzerland also temporarily introduced immigration caps a few years ago, then removed them and now it appears that they will bring them back again next year. So it would seem that actually it is possible for access to the single market without implementing the 4 freedoms that the EU specifies.
EU red tape was one of the reasons my father retired early and shut his very small company down, another factor in my decision making.
I am disappointed that our MPs are clinging to the single market, they should be making preliminary agreements with other countries now that we can potentially deal with other non-EU countries, that way our trade would not be so heavily reliant on the EU. I divorced the UK government from my decision making process. If they do not do what we wanted them to do post-Brexit they will be voted out in the next election.
Seems to me that you think everyone has swallowed the Brexit campaigns message, when nothing could be further from the truth. The Remain were just as bad, threats of World War 3, and outrageous figures that there were no calculations for. I didn’t believe either campaign. Seems you can’t grasp the fact that people have different experiences of the EU and should be allowed their own opinion. For some the EU has been great, for others not. We are now being told that UK cannot cherry pick the good bits, they have to take the bad as well. Before this referendum, the EU would never even admit there were any bad bits. There was no plan for the remain campaign either, where are all the plans for reform?
QE will have to stop soon, it’s now 80 billion euro’s a month, it will mean curtains for most of Europe no matter what Britain does. All we have to do now is deal with the Farce that the Common Agricultural Policy has become.
What do you mean it will have to stop soon? We could have worked together. Now we are alone and have no power and no influence and a catastrophically failing government. Is that any better for you?
I am with you 100% of the way. Your comments mirror my feelings exactly. I woke up gutted on Friday and it just gets worse. Today I had to make the awful decision to close my company, which I’ve worked so hard to build over the past 20 years, after Christmas as we rely on buying our diaries and calendars from abroad, in US dollars and decisions about next year have to be made by early September at the very latest and there is no way any of this shambles will have settled or improved by then. I would love to find a way to make them here in the UK and have tried on many occasions to make the numbers stack up but they just don’t.So a proud, funny, much loved 50 year old brand will become extinct. A bit like the Dodo. ‘So what’ some might say? You have to evolve to survive. Sadly seismic shifts tend to have the effect of wipe out irrespective of the value of the species and we (my company) will not be the only ones by a very very long stretch. I’m angry, I’m sad, I’m disappointed.
Oh no. I am so very sorry to hear this. Truly awful. x
What a thoroughly negative and one-sided blog post. I am astounded that you have sucked every Remain statement and are so blinkered that you cannot see anything positive.
Disgraceful!
Yes, it’s terrible that the remain statements are only backed up by facts from the global markets and spread across all the papers instead of being sucked randomly from the bilge of Nigel Farage’s arse, because that’s working out so much better for everyone. You dare to criticise and yet not offer one single, solitary positive. What is good, tell me? Or go home and shut up.
Excellent article. I only wish the official Remain campaign had been half as passionate, insightful and well-informed as this. All strength to you.
Thank you. xx
Great comment – totally sums up my view of this whole sorry episode and totally agree with Mezza earlier (could have been me speaking even the same age…) Speaking as ‘one of the old codgers’ who apparently are so much wiser than the younger generation – how dare people of our age assume that an advisory ‘coin flip’ based on rapidly unravelling lies and deceit dictate the fate of the next generation? And as for the ‘ suck it up’ contingent – possibly a self-referential remark due to an over-indulgence in nose-candy…? And yes, just like you, I’m enraged about being told we should ‘pull together’ … what….. with a cabal of extreme right-wing malcontents who have now succesfully defenstrated TWO serving Prime Ministers elected by popular mandate…? What we are now witnessing has all the hallmarks of a political coup in a banana republic… which I suspect is where we’re all headed
Yes. I think we might be. x
Katy this sums up my feelings on the matter exactly. There’s a decent chance that the jobs of my partner and I will evaporate as a consequence of Brexit so being told to just “deal with it” is pretty insulting. Whatever the leavers have tangibly gained feels like a fraction of the everything we stand to lose.
But I take heart from the fact that, in the middle of this turmoil, all most of the vote leavers seem capable of doing is sniding and carping from the sidelines. They’ve got literally nothing else other than some kind of variation of “tough shit we won” whilst being singularly unable to define precisely what that is.
Unlike most of the vote leavers I’m in (have been in) a position of being able to see EU money at work in my region, creating jobs and funding infrastructure. I do not rate the UK government’s (whenever that emerges) ability to replace that funding, so I know what we’re going to lose. It hasn’t happened yet, which is why the vote leavers are still able to wallow in their “victory”, but it will.
It’s wrong but I actually look forward to the day a vote leaver calls me looking for a job or bemoaning the lack of projects coming in, and I suspect it will only be at that point, way way after the horse has bolted, will they actually realise that a chunk of their salary did actually come from EU funding. The mind boggles.
Great post. You are me. I can’t repost this on my wall because of the abuse I’ll get, but thanks for writing it.
I’m so sorry you’ll get abuse. x
Your article is excellent.
You forgot one thing though:
Not only will staying in the EEA mean we will still pay almost (not quite) the same as before –
1) There is no rebate
2) There are NO funds back from the EU.
That means the £350 million given to the EU now, turns into just a £9 million per week charge with rebates and the funds coming back.
£9m per week is a tiny drop in the ocean of the UK budget.
Going by the ratio Norway pays for EEA access per capita compared to the UK now, we are going to end up paying in the region of about £250-£300m per week (again with nothing coming back, and no rebate).
That means the UK is going to be approximately (best case) £241 MILLION per week worse off gaining access to the EEA.
Going that the GDP of the UK is easily a hundred thousand times larger than that, I’ll leave you to work out how ever worse off the UK would be in a 30% duty situation.
Also: it’s not just about duty. Trading from OUTSIDE the EU to the EU involves vast amounts of complex paperwork and laws and regulations (the same as trading to the US, really. Or China, etc.
That alone would vastly cut international trade outside the UK, after leaving the EU AND the EEA.
This is nothing but an unmitigated disaster for the UK unless Parliament votes to stay in the EU.
Bugger.
Sounds like you are a little upset Madam. I was as devastated when Maggie thatcher was voted in, and started dismantling the welfare state by closing the Mental hospitals in favour of a drastically under funded “Care in the Community”. Then she sold the Council houses off cheap, but didn’t any more, THEN, when poorish people had got a mortgage, she doubled the interest rate (via her chancellor -it was in his hands at the time, not the bank of Englands) this caused thousands of families to loose everything in repossessions. She then allowed the Argentinians to invade the Falkland Islands by wilful neglect and refusal to listen to her only naval Captain on the spot. This lead to 300 British lives, about 1500+ Argentinian lives to be lost. It was around this time we saw the first Beggars on the streets of my town (Chichester) because she had cut social services to the bone. We now live in a post Maggie world where the poor don’t count unless they work for tiny wages to make the rich richer.
The poor in this country see free movement of labour in the EU as causing them to struggle to get jobs and housing. Like it or not, that’s how they see it.
And that you DON’T see the problem with the ‘add – ons’ that the EU put on our trade with them and the Laws it forces us to adopt just beggers belief.
We voted out Maggie’s crew (-in the end) but we can’t vote out mr Junker and Co.
You know what? Madam is patronising. Why don’t you grow a pair? I grew up in Maggie’s Britain and I was horrified by the way it affected my life, and it’s still affecting my life. It’s her policies of laissez faire and splitting up communities that have allowed our government to do what they do to the poor and blame it on the EU. It has nothing to do with border control and everything to do with political misdirection. Don’t treat me like an idiot who doesn’t know her history or her politics. If you have something factual to say, based on you know, real, actual facts about poverty in Britain, then do feel free. Otherwise don’t waste my time. And if you knew anything at all about immigration you would know that the vast majority of it is from outside the EU and leaving won’t affect it, and any trade deal we sign with the EU, and we will, will insist on freedom to pass over borders. You did a great job protecting the poor, by isolating with a government that wants to squeeze blood out of a stone. I bet they’re all celebrating now.
Your pathetic. Just calm down. Things are already settling. Don’t listen to the bbc reporting. Listen to the money people like King the previous Bank of England governor
Do you think there is a reason he is a previous bank of England governor? Do you think there’s a reason we’re in this mess in the first place? Let me give you a clue. It’s not the EU. It’s our austerity government and their collusion with the banks, so if you think what he has to say gives me any comfort at all, when all the evidence points to the contrary you are deluded. You know what’s so fascinating? You came to my tiny corner of the internet, you read my blog and then you took precious time to make yourself look like an almighty, patronising dickhead. In writing. Forever. Go you. Not much on today for you?
Interesting to see you haven’t published my comment yet Katy … why am I not surprised? LOL
Interesting to see you were waiting Nick. I’ve responded to hundreds of posts today, positive and negative. Were you worried I’d left you out. Sorry I had to go out and stand in the rain at a solidarity event for my fractured city, because contrary to popular belief I’m not just a keyboard warrior and I actually care about my country enough to get off my arse. Don’t worry. You’ll get your turn.
This. Absolutely. Thank you for sharing and articulating how I feel.
Thanks. x
Wow. Thanks for putting into words
What is so right Pity its not on every
News papers Front Page.
Hopes are everyone who does read
It follows your example their are
Lots of us feeling the same anger
Good luck
Thanks. x
Stop moaning that rhetoric is just throwing the dummy out. Get a grip and grow up
And you, Rupert, are exactly why this post needs to be written. You do not listen, you do not think, you do not care. You do not bother to make any cogent argument. You just shout and insult people. You are the one having a tantrum, not me. I’m angry and I’m motivated and I’m doing things. What are you doing? Reading the blog post of women you don’t known and snarling. Maybe it’s time you grew up, eh?
My other half is, we are 95% sure, being fired tomorrow (from a bank) that just lost a butt load of shares. The cost of this ridiculousness happens to us directly tomorrow. He will be frog marched to his desk, watched while he gets his personal things then escorted from the building like he did something wrong, like he is some sort of convict…….. We both voted remain. I would like the leavers to pay his lost wages while he gets a new job, oh wait he wont get a new job because NO ONE IS HIRING ANY MORE!
I fully believe that the banks should trigger mass pension statements for everyone, when they see them missing a hell of a lot of money then they will be up in arms. Most folks don’t realize that trillions got wiped out, and a lot of that is off your pensions.
God, I am so sorry. I hope he is wrong. x
Hello Clair,
Sorry to hear your news, are you sure this is happening tomorrow. No bank in the U.K. Would be getting rid of people this soon due to brexit or the financial impact unless. The only reason this may happen is if you husband was contracting and working on a specific EU related project. Hope I am right and good luck..
All well said. Please know that, while it is obviously not an ideal solution, you are as welcome as any other EU citizen to join us in Scotland, where we are not consuming ourselves in racist fury, and where our parliament is still actually doing their jobs (which they do, every day, much better than Westminster).
Thank you Graeme. xx
Democracy we voted in in 1975
The right wing of the tory party immediately started to campaign to over turn it
They have done so for 40 years
So why cant we do the same
Im not accepting this
I will fight on
Not in my name
Good on you
Thank you. xx
Hi Katie.
You’ve summed up exactly how so many of us feel and represented the facts beautifully .
The winning side have not one single cogent answer to our rage and have resorted to telling us simply to shut up, in various ways .
Don’t.
I’m also fed up with the argument that also goes “we don’t know what’s going to happen (so shut up) …” – because , in essence , as we of the Anglo-Irish horse milleux say, that’s backing a horse without even knowing it exists , never mind whether or not it can actually run, and is ergo “a bad bet”.
The leave campaign planted in the minds of the Brexotics this one belief – that those of us who wish to remain are simply bourgeois fools who look down on them and tar them all racist – and ergo we don’t have to be listened to – because we are just nasty mud slinging elitist bullies who are calling them names .
They did this in conjunction with tapping into prejudice and fear, using and channelling what they’d already made impossible to counter, as nobody likes being told bad things about themselves , and – notwithstanding how we deliberately avoided that factor – they managed to persuade Brexotics that they didn’t “need to listen to the experts ” , because even pointing out economic reality was – de facto – also just snide elitist insinuations of racism.
I have the right to UK/ Eire dual nationality , a life raft if you will….a friend told me that shouldn’t be allowed and I should leave immediately and never come back…
My husband was afraid during the campaign that my stance would have actual repercussions …..
that is literally a distillation of the attitude we are both facing and if I could stand hand in had with you, I would .
Chin up lass, you’ve ready done something very brave , very honest , and they know it.
Thank you. That’s really touching to read. Thanks. x
Katy, you have articulated everything I feel and have felt since I saw the result on Friday morning. In my case it has been exacerbated by the fact that I am no longer able to vote in the UK because I took advantage of the freedom of movement and live and work in Germany. Good for you getting involved – and ignore the trolls 😀
After I’ve finished irritating them a bit, I will! Thanks. x
Katy, I thank you. I thank you for reading my mind and putting my thoughts into such eloquent words. I have been wanting to express myself somehow but reading your blog has made me realise I am not alone in not wanting to roll over and accept what happened. I dont think its a storm in a teap cup and it will all be over by teatime. I wont take a chill pill and just accept what has happened. I want to fight for what I belive in. I just wish I knew how.
I do too. x
Thank you Katy. I have been battling on social media, using only facts uncovered in painstaking research, but still have had to deal with nothing but snide remarks and insults from the group of people that I have come to refer to as the “Beleavers” (Of the most monumental pile of garbage). Maybe they can’t articulate with all that egg on their faces? Keep up the good work Katy, there are many who are listening, and who are grateful for your insightfulness, and ability to put our thoughts into words.
Thank you. x
Spot on! I’m as angry as you but we’ll done for saying what Ifeel.
Thank you. x
thanks katyboo1, whoever you are, for being so clear. to be clear while angry is a rare talent; you are a good communicator. I feel like I understand more about what’s happening after reading your piece. Not why of course, that would be too much to ask, but I understand more about what is happening.
Thanks Helen.
I just wanted to thank you. This is exactly how I see it. The referendum is one thing, but the inability to register what is happening is petrifying. It’s like we’ve fallen in a massive pile of s**t, with half the population carrying on their daily business, covered in s**t. What’s worse is that they are telling the other half who are desperately trying to find a way to wash “Don’t worry s**t is alright, it doesn’t smell bad, that’s all in your head, it will come off by itself anyway, have a cup of tea. What? You don’t want a cup of tea? You should be ashamed to call yourself British”
Ha ha! Brilliant, Maria. x
Thank you Katy for putting the feelings of many, many people into such clear words. Can I add that if I hear one more person say ‘Britain has voted to leave’ I WLL scream because I did not – I voted to stay in. Yes I am one of the 37m who voted but I am appalled that such a seismic decision can be made by such a tiny minority – 3.8%. Right now my emotions are all over the place – I am, as are many others I suspect, going through the 5 stages of grief, as if someone close has died. I don’t now know what the future holds and I am fearful of that uncertainty. Thanks again for your words
Thank you. x
What a complete idiotic response! The FTSE is another 1.7% up after Brexit in fact the whole economy is looking to be just as resilient as ever. The fact that there are people like yourself that spout how angry you are over what you believed from the remain camp’s lies, scare mongering and when that didn’t work trying to profit from Jo Cox’s death which was all for nothing, just shows how ignorant and blinkered a lot of the UK are. The majority however, Scotland aside as they had their own agenda, saw through the lies and voted out. The remainders where quick to point out that the markets have crashed and that GBP was at an all time low with tweets of “thank you, we’re all doomed”, which it was for all of 20 mins before bouncing back to a higher position then the beginning of the week! Comments such as your’s cheer me up no end because it reminds me that there are some amazingly stupid people out there who believe everything they are told and refuse to research the topic for themselves.
You are spectacularly naive, but thanks for writing it all down so that when this marvellous utopia happens, I can look at your words and marvel.
Katy you are spot on and that’s cheered me up slightly !
Thank you. x
And what’s your retort for the fact that British assets have lost £3trillion since Friday? That is, in lay person speak, to mean that Britain is worth £3trillion less. On the basis of sending & receiving, that’s enough to pay for membership of the single market for 408 years. What’s your response for the huge multinationals who have announced they are either leaving, or ‘reviewing their UK and EU strategy’? God above, how the hell can you call anyone on the remain side idiotic??
Oh no. Mark doesn’t deal with all the facts, only the ones that suit him.
Absolutely spot on Katy, great article. IMHO you have summed things up perfectly 👍🏾👌🏾
Thanks.
My reply was half written , basically those who have voted leave step up to the plate , the rich and powerful invest in the UK etc the middle class support your local products and the ones that feel disadvantaged work with your educators. The buck as they say stops here take responsibility for what you have done.
I am wearing black for as days representing the people I personally know who voted leave to show that I am in mourning and suffering. S
Thanks for your comment.
Your post articulates my frustration, tears, anguish and all the other emotions in my bag. Well said!
Thank you. x
Hi Katy – I’ve subscribed to your blog as this summed up exactly how I feel, but in a far more articulate way than I could do! Thank you so much
Hi. I hope I can keep up! x
Reblogged this on Myriad Shades of Gray and commented:
I’ve been fascinated by the aftermath of the Brexit vote in the UK. Of all the commentary I’ve read I have to say this is my favourite, not because of what it says about Brexit, but because of her comments on the current state of Western democracy and sociopolitical discussion in general. I see the same complaints in discussions her in Canada, in the States, and all around the G8 especially. They say that misery loves company but frankly I’d feel better if Katy’s complaints weren’t so wide spread.
Thanks for sharing.
Your blog post saved me from typing out my almost identical thoughts and feelings. Now I can simply share a link instead of working myself up into bitter online arguments with people who don’t understand the implications of their decision. So, thank you for that!
A large number of my family migrated to the UK from Africa. It made me simultaneously sad and enraged to see them vote Leave “because of migrants.”
I believe most Leave voters are essentially selfish types who care about their own short-term benefit and don’t care who they hurt as long as they get their way.
What a sad state of affairs. As a sentient species we’re embarrassing.
It is something to be ashamed isn’t it? x
You have completely summed up most of my thought’s and fears about all of this. The way you have dealt with the trolls on here is brilliant too. Out voters all seem to think you vote, get the result, and then that’s it, you ‘win’ or ‘lose’…it’s not a football match! This is just the start. The out voters also seem to see things in a very one dimensional way which smacks of getting source material for their arguments from one dimensional sources , likely the Daily Mail and facebook images with a catchy headline. This EU debate is so complicated and multifaceted and will have enormous ramifications, effecting parts of our lives they never even considered. Not least, our basic human rights.
Yes. God help our human rights.
An incisive and excellent piece Katy. It completely encapsulates my thoughts and feelings over the last few days. I too have joined a political party and will also look at the electoral reform group because our electoral system has played a huge part in this spectacular disaster.
Thanks. Good to hear you are taking action, Jenny.
I have spent many hours analysing the aftermath of Brexit and agree wholeheartedly with your conclusions. Thank you for wording them so well and for actively fighting for what you believe.
I will bring one small factual correction: Farage, as an MEP, is in fact elected (feel the irony).
Yes. Sorry. Tragic to think we elected him. I try to blot it out.
About 22 years ago, at the very beginning of the Internet revolution in this country, practically all articles such as this had “IMHO” either at the beginning or at the end. That was because in those days people found it strange to be offering opinions to people they had never met and would never meet, so it was considered “netiquette”. I long for those gentler, more polite days and many others do to.
See Katy, what most people don’t understand anymore, is that our opinions, thoughts, worries & dreams are no more or less important than everyone elses. To think otherwise is arrogant and childish.
Contrary to what you think, the vote was entirely democratic. I can guarantee that if the vote had of went your way you would be accepting the result. You certainly wouldn’t be offering the opinion you have on here.
The majority of the people who made the effort to vote voted to Leave the EU. If you want to aim your anger at anyone then perhaps you should aim it at the 28% of the population who didn’t take the future of this country seriously rather than the 52% of the voters who actually did. Remember, just because it didn’t go YOUR way doesn’t mean that everyone else is wrong.
IMHO of course.
Barry. You are very wrong. I didn’t vote for Cameron, and I’ve been fighting his policies since he took office. I don’t do passive politics. This is my life people are messing with, and your logic that if the vote had gone my way I wouldn’t have fought it is no logic at all. Why would I fight for what I’ve just been given? That’s ludicrous. And if you can’t figure out that this is my opinion due to the fact that this is one small woman’s blog in a vast internet, which I don’t advertise (it went viral) and which usually expresses my biscuit preferences and my thoughts on Gwyneth Paltrow’s vagina, you’re mad. Sorry.
Democracy is based on informed decision
And most had little information and voted on unfounded nationalism.
This is not democracy, but a crazy idea that has gained traction with small mindedness
Yes.
Amazing post – passionate and full of facts (sadly lacking in this whole sorry saga). I share your anger, disbelief and frustration. We’re traveling around Asia and I feel very European (as well as British). When we meet fellow Europeans we feel a real affinity (as well as distinct characterists – a bit like the difference between someone from Yorkshire and someone from Cornwall). Our fellow Europeans we meet on the road cannot believe this decision. I’ve been ranting since Friday and wish the despair would go away but it won’t. Have shared as far as I can in my small circle. I fear for future generations and the stability of the UK.
We feel European too. x
https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13254598_10154246018818293_187364572975379740_n.jpg?oh=c743274f9c49494ad66854d4f063879f&oe=57F1453C
I just hope all this anger goes away,it won’t solve anything,I think it’s a case of wait and see ,in the next few months when things have settled down I am sure things will greatly improve we just have to take it one step at a time. By the way when I was young we weren’t in the common market ,we survived without it and we will again,
Anger solves lots of things Carole. It motivates people to act against things which are wrong and hateful. It’s hopefully going to make people politically active, fight for their rights and not allow the far right to grow. I know we will get over it economically, but for how long and with what long term consequences is questionable.
The world is a very different place now and has moved on since the 1970s. We are deluded if we think that everything will be like it was then purely by trying to turn the clock back. However, it isn’t impossible that we’ll return to a 3 day week, mass worker unrest, rubbish on the streets and power cuts to get us feeling nostalgic about the good old days yet.
Ooh! I remember where we put the candles!
Dayam. Tell us what you really think.
Happy to have discovered your blog, via a posting on der Facebook. Not happy about the circumstances under which I discovered it. FYI I am a Yank, in Yank-land.
Welcome. x
Beautifully expressed, I share in mourning the loss of opportunities and easy exit route like a bitter partner running from a sour marriage that we could have influenced to make better. Problems of EU won’t dissolve they will get worse, and leave has just condoned that, led by a dream notion, of some kiddult that we would be better off on our own, in output teeny tiny island.
I will be angry for a long time, this should never have happened without a stable government in place to see it through, planned for both outcomes, and it still doesn’t have to happen!
I sincerely hope this turns around and like so many want to see what “greatness” this will achieve other than a great tale of how Britain ended.
I hope we can turn it around without too much damage. x
Thank you so much. Brilliantly written and gives a very welcome voice to the feelings of confusion, anger and utter sadness so many of us have been feeling since Friday. Have shared on FB, hope that’s ok.
Absolutely OK. Thanks. x
Absolutely 100% spot-on. 🙂
Thanks. x
Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou ,,, you have mannaged to put down so elequantly everything I wanted to say ,,, Utterly Brilliant
Thanks. x
You have articulated beautifully how I’m feeling. I have at points over the last four days tried to start calming down in a rational, adult way in an attempt to be a better role model for my kids when things don’t go as I think they should. Then I remember all the things which are so so wrong about this farcical vote, the campaign which preceded it, and the quagmire of **** following Thursday. I can’t change the past but I can damn well attempt to change what happens now. Like you, I’m keeping myself informed and thinking about some form of genuine active engagement. I’m being driven buts by the “acceptance” of the “will of the British people” being not only parroted here but also abroad. I’m furious that so few people are pointing to the fact that it was a vote by only 37% many of whom were expressing another will entirely (not their fault they hadn’t a clue). I’m even more angry that not enough people are making it clear that parliament retains sovereignty on this, and that we are a parliamentary democracy even if at the moment our democratic representatives are not exactly covering themselves in glory. And I’m so fed up of people wanting everyone to “calm down”. How can anyone view what’s happening with equanimity?
I don’t know. I’m drinking a lot of gin. It helps. x
This is a beautiful articulation of how I feel too Katie. Well done. of course we’re still all fucked…..
Yes, sadly we are.
It’s the inane gloating from the leave brigade which is really hacking me off right now … We are “free” .. Let’s celebrate … Whoot !
“But we’ll be making all our own decisions”They say … On what.. ? How to spend all the money we were paying in to the union .. It’s not “free money ? Like you I would like to know where this magic money is coming from ….I have been told several times it’s apparently a case of simple mathematics!! … Then get accused of being bitter and twisted, when I point out as you have done so elequantly, that we will still be paying for the premier seats, but sitting behind a pillar with restricted view. We simply won’t get something for nothing..
Seriously, if I had a £ for every time I have been told to “get a life” or “suck it up” I rather feel I could go some way to funding the NHS myself!
Then there was one “outer” whom I was speaking to who insisted that , we didn’t have any representation in the EU parliament. When I pointed out that the UK had 73 Elected MEPS … Yes, elected by people across the country! Funnily enough they had never voted in the Euro Elections…. They changed the subject and I got a “well arguing now isn’t going to change anything” *sigh*
Thank you for pretty much saying what I am also feeling about this hollow “victory” .
Disappointed, hurt and angry simply doesn’t cover it.
No. x
Hello Katyboo1 – I kept reading your stuff, but I nearly lost the will to carry on once your choice of words became offensive calling those who run our country “fuckwits” “clusterfuck” etc. However, I persevered through your passionate, but wholly negative and de energising ranting, which unfortunately cloakes some rather interesting points that you make.
I get your anger and bitter / twisted frustration and feedback from other comments on post Brexit debate 100% and your post makes very interesting reading, once sanitised – but it’s clear just how pissed you are with your view of the world right and that’s OK, we all feel pain deeply at fearful times in our lives – it’s what makes us human and how we grow.
If and when you come out of your current destructive state of consciousness and become positively resourceful again, regardless of your intriguing world view, I would genuinely like to read about how your passionate perspective might be creatively focussed on constructive ways to build positive momentum at the reforming frontiers we are now faced with across the piste of life on our “boat” together… Bale out, help navigate, sustain the crew/passengers, be ballast, jump out, sink or swim… It’s up to you to decide if and when, but its in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped, so choose wisely. After all, you cannot control the external world, but you can control your internal world and what it means to you. I pray that your pain eases over time as you have a very strong and determined character that could serve the greater good over time if you choose to because NOTHING stays the same. Please come back with as much fire and brimstone as you wish if it feeds your current mindset – That’s OK and I’ll understand why. God bless you Katy.
“And I am doing something. I have joined a political party. I have joined the electoral reform society. I am attending a solidarity rally tomorrow for our city. I have signed petitions, however futile they might seem. I am taking action. I am attempting to get us out of this shit. I am reading everything I can find across every media source I can get to educate myself about what is happening to my country. I’m not cherry picking what I want to see and turning a blind eye to everything else.
What are you doing?”
Sounds pretty positively resourceful to me…
I thought so, but you know there’s going to be some way to twist it so that I’m only doing it for my quinoa guardian reading liberal ego or something
Seems just like the politicians both sides calling the others wrong. That is your opinion and good for you, others however have made their decision to leave. Its done, now let’s all come together and work to make our future better, stronger, safer. We cannot rely on Government parties whomever they are as they seem to have a history of self preservation and stuff the man/woman on the street.
Except that we have very little we can do, and what I can do, I am doing. I am not just sitting here whinging. I’m actually doing stuff.
I wish I’d written this. It so perfectly puts into words what I have been feeling since last Friday morning. Thanks for doing that. I’ve opted to ‘follow’ you on WordPress, if that’s ok.
I also ramble on (not that you do of course!!) on WordPress and have written a bit about the Referendum. If you’d like to take a look, this is the link:
I’d really appreciate your comments.
Thanks. I will try to take a look later. xx
In or out does it really matter… in another 40 years it will be something else and the bitterness will be forgotten. I voted NOT to join the common market and we did… I was disappointed then and i’m disappointed now even though I voted to leave… Economically it will ll be behind us in 12-18 months and life will go on…Its history and the future is the future and i’m happy that you have the passion to follow up on your belief… what is right for you is not right for someone else and we all need to respect that.. For me its the twenty something % of people who didn’t get off their ass and be counted that disappoints me most of all… I guess after my life’s experience i’ve learned to make the most of what we have and live every moment as if its your last… I just hope you don’t hurt your inner self with the anger you appear to show simply because someone has a different opinion to you.
I appreciate your sentiment, but I am not angry that people disagree with me Pippa. My mum and dad, my brother and his girlfriend all voted out, as did some of my friends. I disagree with them, but I still love and speak to them. I respect their right to have a different opinion to me. Many people do, on all sorts of topics. It is the rudeness, the dismissiveness, the contempt and gloating of the other side I am angry about.
Thank you for writing this. My husband and I are immigrants (USA & Switzerland) and many of our friends are as well. We are all extremely concerned by the results of the referendum and the outpouring of anti-immigrant sentiment.
I had so much respect and love for this country before last week. I work for the NHS along with many other foreigners from the EU and beyond. We work days, nights, weekends, and holidays to keep people safe. We have welcomed British babies into the world and been there to comfort veterans of war as they take their last breaths. How is it that we woke up one day to be greeted with hatred and disdain after so much sacrifice for our adopted country? Why are my Russian and Polish colleagues being harassed in their neighborhoods and at work?
I just feel so sick over this. I don’t know how many of us will stay even if we’re allowed. This small minded selective xenophobia is so hard to stomach. The same people who will tell me that they love my accent will in the same breath say that my friends, colleagues, and family are ruining their country.
I am so very sorry this is happening to you. xx
Please don’t leave. We’ll be stuck with them.
Thank you for your words and the spirit behind them. Feel I now need to get off my a$re and do something.
Good luck. x
Yes don’t tell to me to shut up, the right wing of the Tory party have whinged and blamed Europe for everything for the last 30 years and finally got what they wanted. now it is my turn. I’m going to shout for the next 30 years and party as I see each one of them to his grave starting with Boris Gove Farage Grayling IDS Tebbit Murdoch Dacre, I won’t go on but you get the idea.
Yes! Good for you!
Well said. Feel the same though could not express myself so eloquently.
I think that it is important that moderate socialists sign up to the labour party so that when Corbett stands again there is some oposision to the far left.
Yes.
I ‘m an EU immigrant. I voted to leave. It won’t happen though as democracy is dead. Finito. The elite won’t allow it. Markets are a tool at elite’s disposal.
You have no idea how our democracy works. It never was a democracy. It’s run by the elite, always has been. The EU was one thing that was protecting the ordinary people and now you’ve shut the door on it. Well done.
I love how you seethe with rage – a rage I share. Yet you still make sense. I also admire how you’re handling the trolls. Keep it up.
Thanks. x
Fantastic summary of the biggest shitstorm that we now find ourselves in.
People are so blithely following the rhetoric we’re free, let’s pull together like lemmings leaping from a cliff and we’re bloody attached to them. They won’t be saying that when the recession hits and no one will have any money to spend on this ‘amazing opportunity’ that’s opened up to us. Try starting up a fucking business with no customers.
An absolute shitstorm of a fuck up.
And also what the hell is wrong with listening to experts, what the actual fuck is wrong with people. You wouldn’t let a grocer operate on your heart, why the hell would you listen to not 1 but 2 fucktard journalists about the economy.
Rant over
Ha ha! Brilliant. Thank you. x
Great article, Katy! I too am in Yank-land (ex-pat Brit) where we may be facing our own debacle in November!
I really feel for you. x
Hear flipping hear. On ‘pulling together’ rather than focusing exclusively on our own wishes or interests, I rather thought this was what being in the EU was about. Bit rich to be lectured on it by leave voters.
Yep!
All said in the responses above. Absolutely well put. I do ask too, how legally binding the whole thing is…??
Not very. Our government has to ratify it. So far they’re too busy fighting to do anything to help us.
You have voiced my own feelings very well indeed.
Thank you. x
Well done. I love this! Great piece of writing.
Thank you. x
Did you see Fairy Farage insult basically the whole European Parliament today? The leave campaign should have done some research into what absolute bellene they were voting for. He’s an embrassment.
for some reason I can’t reply to your new post where it is, but yes I did see him. God help us.
I’m glad I don’t live in the UK anymore 😂
Sat in the co-op car park transfixed by this. You articulate exactly how I feel. And your retorts. Yes.
Thanks.
Thank you. x
To the people that voted Remain.
You know all of your anger and how upset you all are, well you didn’t give two f@cks about the Leave voters feeling like that in the years before the vote, did you ???
No, you were all apathetic and trundelling along in your little bubbles with not a thought in the world for the millions of people in this country that were being affected by being adversely in the EU !!!
Well, suck it up and move on !!!
Johnny. You’re back! And still deluded. Yes, that’s right. I only worked for five years unpaid in a school fund raising for books, and teaching people to read because I don’t give a shit about the working people. I only fought tooth and nail for my GP’s surgery to stay open in a local area, accessible to the elderly instead of miles away because I fucking hate them. I’m only campaigning for my adult education college to stay open because I want the working class poor to stay uneducated and oppressed. Yes! Your sweeping, stupid and pointless generalisations are indeed true, just because you want them to be. Do come again.
I don’t know what you mean by “You’re back” this is the very first time I have posted on here !!!
Yes, my statements were generalisations of Remain voters, because most of the people I know that voted Remain were better off financially because of the EU ( a bit I’m alright Jack attitude). I don’t know you personally but I applaude you if you did/do what you have stated, but unfortunately you are the exception to the rule !!!
I cannot recall such an outcry for a call or resolve of the issues of people being directly affected by EU policy ??? Thus leading me into believing “remainians” were living in bubbles !!!
Yes, the vote technically is not binding but if you want to take what you are prophesying as an economically unstable country to another unimaginable level of crisis and instability, then crack on and get a second referendum – civil unrest and a third counter referendum would follow !!!
Sorry. there was someone else called Johnny Fox who posted earlier. Yes, I did and do what I stated and I know lots of other people who do too.
I think many persons from both sides are unhappy. I am too. Mainly due to the negativity content for each argument of facts. Secondly because the populous has been considered too dim to make their own conclusion and decision. Why else not give us real facts of supposition.
Yes. This is what makes me mad. It took me weeks of looking at all sorts of things to sort through this in my mind.
Beautifully put. All I’d add to this is that we now at least lead the world in something – we are universally regarded as the most stupid nation on earth. Even the Americans are laughing openly at our idiocy, knocking their endorsement of Trump into a cocked hat – we are, indeed, as the article says, a laughing stock, except for Euro fascist sympathisers and those who are too afraid for their own economy, country, stability and peace.
We are a total laughing stock. You are right.
A superb speech by Daniel Hannan is a European Parliament member. One worth watching.
Daniel Hannan is making millions out of this. he is taking a month off twitter for relaxation after reneging on all the promises that helped him win.
Precisely how I feel. Well articulated.
Thanks. x
This is brilliant. I want to kick the people who say we should accept the result and unite with each other. First of all, the Leave camp voted against a United Europe and a United Kingdom. How can they say they want to unite now? What they mean is- we don’t want you to hold a grudge against us for our selfish and stupid decision that has wrecked so many lives and destroyed the country. And that’s not the same thing. Cos if they believed in unity, they’d have voted Remain. What they mean is – we don’t want how bad things are for you and many others, to have any negative impact on us. What they mean is – we were wankers then, and we’re wankers now. And don’t get me started on the Remain voters who are now acquiescing to our destruction.
Yes
Nik, I’m with you !!
Nik who?
Leave is the c*** vote.
That’s one way of putting it.
Your an extreme Leftwing elitist who is bitter because the majority of the nation disagree with your own political view of an Authoritarian super state. In reality if you love the EU so much you can always migrate.
You tak about the far right taking centre stage when in reality these people just represent normal people. You use terms like far right because you want to confirm your own political bias without facts so you slander, why is your opinion more important than Jo Bloggs. You are anti-democratic and anti-British. If you wanted to be ruled centrally from Germany why don’t you reminis about the Nazis.
If you love unremovable dictatorships why not moving to North Korea?
This is a democracy the people have spoken.
I’m a member of the Women’s Equality Party. Get a grip. Mind you. You are a shit mind reader because you seem to know everything about me and yet you are totally in error. And no I don’t have the means to migrate, so well done there. The far right doesn’t represent normal people at all. In fact, you know what? Bore off you conspiratorial loon.
You are awesome. Brexit is not inevitable. We do not have Tomlinson and take it.
Thank you. x
if you love the EU so much you can always migrate.” That is so funny! The lack of self-awareness is breathtaking. Don’t you realise that by voting Leave you have taken the right to live freely in the EU away? Glad to help.
Hear hear.
George. Go away now.
Isn’t it funny how you people have no grip on reality and can’t spell?
Well the handle ‘Truth Teller’ kind of says it all really. Want to give us you real name or hide? You’re clearly a very modest person who knows everything and 16m of us should just put up with it.Using words like Nazi, and comparisons to N Korea again sums you up – this is hardly democracy and many of the people who have spoken for Brexit are now kaking themselves because they feel lied to by their own. The EU has many faults but it has many positives as well and walking away like a little Englander and putting up the Brighton windbreaker is not going to help.
Actually she is spot on and you are being a numpty. Check yourself
*You’re
*You’re
I’ll try to be as pragmatic as possible Katy , as i don’t wish to antagonise my friends and family who voted to remain , yes i obviously voted to leave , and not through some blinkered , i believe everything that was told to me , rose tinted spectacles . Both sides lied to suit their agenda , however to me the thought of a superstate run and controlled by faceless beaurocrats in another country , devoid of any sympathy towards our needs or requests fills me with foreboading . The EU was originally conceived by the Nazi’s prior to ww2 and we all know their ultimate agenda , the singular and dominating control over Europe ,had they not decided to fulfill their desires by extermination they most probably would have succeeded years ago .On the whole the EU looks to be a good thing , fellow members trading among themselves to the exclusion of others , making up protective regulations to prevent outside manufacturers from stealing their protected markets. Yes , a great idea in essence however when your own producers become equally stagnated by the rules you impose to protect them ,a decline in production and growth is inevitable . That is what the EU has become , stagnated and domineering ,power hungry and oppressive .At the first hint of unrest among the natives they should have realised they were pushing too hard but instead they continued on their merry quest to instill their ultimate control over all subjects . We never entered into the common market under the assumption we would be giving away our independence ,it was supposed to be a trading group ,as is evident now ,that was just a political red herring to disguise their ultimate goal. What we should have had instead of all the in -out fighting ,was constructive analysis of any eventuality from the vote ,the pros and cons of remaining versus the pros and cons of an exit ,we got children fighting . I voted with my heart , not my head ,because no one gave me a reason to remain , just an argument not to leave . i would have liked to hear what we could have expected in the coming years if we had remained ,and YES that tiny overlooked little detail may have made me vote differently . Are we going to be better off now , only time will tell , we could sink or we could do really well out of it ,but at least there are two possible outcomes , would we eventually be worse off if we had voted to remain … i feel YES , we would have given them the go ahead to continue with their master plan ,complete and utter control over everything and there would be no alternative outcome . sorry i don’t seem to have answered any of your questions directly ,but neither have i attempted to slap you in the face with a , we won get over yourself reply .two sides to every argument ,and you make a very good argument .. just as a side question ,did you vote to keep our independent monetary system or did you want the Euro ?
I didn’t vote for either, actually. And I am very grateful for your input and that you didn’t tell me I was stupid or to suck it up. Thank you. I appreciate your views, even though I don’t agree with them.
Incredibley, well written, it’s a shame myself and the author of the original article aren’t as well versed in not using terms like clusterfuck, fuckwit or suck-it-up !!!
I agree the campaigns were do full of lies and exaggerations normal non politically educated people were left not knowing what was a lie and what was true so as you say all that was left was to vote with their gut instinct! I to voted out and I still have faith that this will be sorted but I will openly admit to being very nervous! All of the MPs who squabbled lied and exaggerated and avoided the truth should be sacked and a new mixed party team could come together like ADULTS and take us forward.
It really needs cross party cooperation.
The EU was the Nazi’s idea
Ha ha ha ha
Deluded fool
it’s a great joke! Thanks I really needed that!! 😂😂😂 (If you were serious, which I’m sure you couldn’t be, I would recommend opening a History book).
Sorry, you lost me at the bit where you said the EU was conceived by the Nazis and at that point not only did you lose all credibility but you confirmed that you really do not have a grip on reality – its just a shame you are capable of gripping a pen and making an ill informed decision to vote Leave but then you are not alone as there seems to be 17m others that struggle understanding anything that isn’t written in big type in the Daily Mail.
What we don’t need right now is more BS and myths flying around. The early EU had nothing to do with any pre WWII or WWII governments. It was a post-war effort to prevent anything the Nazi’s brought to Europe from ever happening again. The good authors at Wikipedia actually put the story together quite nicely: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_European_Union
How you get from a speech of Churchill (post WWII) to saying that the Nazis conceived the idea is beyond me. Sometimes it just helps to say: “Sorry I was wrong.Maybe I shouldn’t be listening to anything some pathologic liars are telling me and rather get my facts straight.”
PS: Thanks to Katy for calling it what it is! Good read on a truly sore subject…
Hi Kev,
Liking some of your points but you are mistaken in your historical facts. The EU arose from a movement after the 2nd World War to promote cooperation in Europe and thus reduce the risk of another war. If Britain leaves the EU now it will weaken the organisation. Meanwhile far right and National Socialist movements are gaining a popular mandate in France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Greece, Spain, the Netherlands. Racist violence is on the increase around Europe. So is resentment between countries, about the movement of money and people. Just to put the even bigger picture 🙂
Katy, love the blog 🙂
Thanks.
Will I can understand this length rant and I hope my comment will get back to it’s author.
I voted stay after a conversation with my son and realising that the younger generation probably do see the world in a different light. Unfortunately that seems to also mean that some of you have lost your compassion and any respect for the older generations. I think this is a great shame.
The other thing that I would like to point out is that only 40% of the young people chose to exercise their democratic right to vote.
I wonder if any the ones that are commenting so vociferous went out campaigning to try and get some of the other 60% to turn up and vote, or even like my son put a sound case to members of their own families?
Seems to me the majority of those younger generations were relying on us oldies to carry them to a stay victor.
It’s really very insulting to be used in such a way.
On the plus side it does seem to now have brought some of you to a realisation that you have simply been doing what you are accusing us oldies of doing…….trying to affect the EU from the outside. Just as you were previously doing with how our country is run.
So good on those of you that have chosen to now get actively involved. Better late than never
I’ve never called the elderly for their vote. But you’re welcome to air your views here. x
Older people are much more perceptive to alarm bells for the future, and voted with a foresight THAT THE FUCKING YOUTH DON’T HAVE YET ! (I’m neither old yet, nor ‘youth’)
Eh?
Wonderfully put, your story describes my life and feelings over the past four days too. Like you I have joined a political party, like you I am trying to think of everything that I can do to fight this situation.
Thanks. x
Must be terrible for you. I’ve discovered it’s not much fun being told you have stolen the future of the young people despite being a grandmother and that you’ve legitimised the far right by expressing your opinion. It sounds like you are one of the people who want to reverse the decision of the referendum, in which one vote is a majority, when the people outside London and the highly vocal Scotland have, for once, had their voices heard. The hard pressed working people of the country. And don’t start referring to people as percentages; perhaps it hasn’t occurred to you that there are just more people who want to leave than stay? You must feel really sick. I feel sickened.
I’m glad you feel entitled to take your anger out on me, despite me not having mentioned once percentages of elderly people who vote. I will happily argue percentages of voters with you though if you insist that 52% of the country want to leave, because this is as fictional as the £350 million per week slapped on the side of buses. I campaign for the hard pressed people of England every day. I volunteer my time in ways you wouldn’t know because you clearly have made massive assumptions about me based on one blog post. Well done. How insightful of you. How about not reading the blog post of one, single woman if it’s not that important to you. How about you go about saving the working class by ticking a box and sitting on your arse shouting at people, while the rest of us roll up our sleeves and do things? That will make you feel better.
You forgot to mention life away from the Brexit furore though. Like say – football…..!
Oh, maybe best not…..
Ha ha!
Brilliant piece of writing, well done. Just how I feel.
Thank you!
Thank you for your brilliant blog. The nearly 18 million that voted leave should not be listened to. Only your view is required in the boat. Every hate crime will be at the fault of the outers. They are despicable gullible morons . They should not have had an opinion, We should fight these imbeciles with some red buses with your slogans on Katy. They believe anything if its on a red bus. Lets forget the referendum it was a fix. Lets go with anarchy its much more fun. Will Europe come to our aid though when those stupid leavers stop giving there 9 billion to it or are they only interested in the money. I think we can cope with lots more people and havein 3 years, no problem with enlargement. Turkey will be good because they have nearly 100million but if we want to send the leavers completely over the edge do you think we could persuade Russia to join. They already play in the European Championship, Now I like you believe that there is capacity in the NHS ( I think they are basically lazy) and if we can get them working harder we can take in double what we are taking now This would mean an extra 1.8 million . Housing might be a little more difficult but its time the man on the street paid more rent Supply and demand.fcuk em. Schools. we had classes of 100 in Victorian times, not ideal but I loved the look of the kids in those smocks. If we keep on fighting I think we will be able to continue to de stabilise the country. I am a little concerned about the 1.5 trillion debt but there has never been a country that has bailiffs call . If it all goes tits up through the movement of unplanned freedom of movement we can go back to the money tree
Craig. The NHS has been critically starved of money by our austerity government because they are selling it piecemeal to people like Richard Branson. Look up Better Care Together and STP and think about what that means. Think about the doctor and nurse deficit we have and which we cannot fill with British people because nobody wants to train and get into that much debt to be fucked over by the politicians. It’s my specialist topic. Try me. I campaign on the NHS, for the people who use it, and if you think I can get angry about this, try me on health care. You fail to take into account, because it suits you and you are doing that ranting thing, that the majority of our immigrants come from outside the EU. You fail to acknowledge that leaving the EU will not affect this number at all. You fail to acknowledge how many people leave the UK to work in other countries. You fail to acknowledge that if, as the politicians want, we go into the EEA, we will be forced to accept freedom of movement across our borders. I’d listen to what you have to say, only you are spouting, paranoid lies and the usual Brexit drivel.
Anger is a useful and very necessary emotion and no more so than at a time like this. It is not the same as aggression.
It is just about impossible to feel any other way when something so important, so beneficial, so positive to the future of so many (and yes, we all recognise it was far from perfect) has been unjustly snatched away in an instant. Who wouldn’t fight to try and get it back when it means so much?
Katy, thank you for sharing your every thought on the matter. They clearly echo the concerns of many, many others.
Just one more thing to add …. if anyone tells me one more time to ‘think positive’, ……. (and breathe) ……. I appeal to you; give me something, anything REAL & TRUE that will enable me to do precisely that.
Imagining shutting their head in a fridge, or their tits in a drawer.
Just this: Nailed it.
I’d like to say more but I’m breaking my own rules and reading political stuff before bed time, knowing it’s going to get me all riled up.
Thank you. Sleep well!
Don’t you realise that we never ever voted to join the EU it was forced on us by elitist government we were not allowed to vote on the maastricht treaty not allowed to vote on the treaty of Rome
Before you look to people who used the democratic system.
look to the people who have not only used the yes vote to there own ends but have consistently abused the people
They are called your government. What you have done is isolate us with the people who want to sell us down the river and you’ve thrown the paddles in the sea. Great work.
I love this bit “You are being taken into the future by largely unelected fuckwits who have already lied to you and broken every promise you gave them power for. Do not talk to me about the shackles of Brussels.” So true!! Especially as most people can’t be bothered voting for the European parlement elections when asked to do so.
Yep.
I love terms like ‘left wing elitist’, it’s like ‘liberal bias’, sounds good, means nothing.
The ‘Brexiteers’ (that’s what I like to call them) have already scored a hat trick of own goals, and a lot of them don’t even know it.
First, that ‘£350 million per week’ we all apparently imagined, will not go to the NHS.
Second, immigration cannot be stopped like we all apparently imagined Leave saying. It can only be ‘controlled’. Unless we want to be like Norway, in which case we do what the EU tells us.
Third, the ‘did it for Britain’, to keep the country strong and free! Except they’ve actually destroyed Britain. Scotland want to be in the EU, Scotland will get another referendum and vote ‘out’ of the UK, so we will be Britain no more.
A well-written piece, you covered the points well. I look forward to reading more of your writing.
Thanks. Your name is excellent by the way.
Reblogged this on Potpourri and commented:
What she said
Thank you. x
Katyboo how I have missed you. I have left the blogging world but returned to read this and I salute you. Melissa (also known as Homeofficemum and talkaboutyork)
Oh lovely! How nice to see/read you again. Much love to you. xx
I thought your comments were clear sighted and an accurate assessment of the situation we find ourselves in, I just hope that we can find our way back through this turmoil.
Me too.
THANK YOU!
Thanks for posting.x
Thanks for your passion and your commitment, your analysis and your activism. I especially liked what you said about racism in your sixth point. I feel similarly about many people here in the US who preface their support of Donald Trump’s positions by saying, “I’m not a racist, but….” Your interpretation of what such people are really saying with that was very insightful.
Here in the States, we are watching Brexit with a sense of incomprehension and foreboding. I’d like to hear your take on the similarities or differences between the Leave campaign and the Trump campaign. I’d like to hear whatever advice you have for us Yankees as we stare horrified at what our own domestic politics have become.
On Saturday, I wrote that today was Brexit, five months from now would be Trump, and a year from now would be Marine LePen. I hope that the second the third horsemen of the apocalypse don’t actually make it past the starting gate, but I am anxious. And these are anxious times.
I really don’t know enough about American politics to be able to comment with anything other than panic about Trump! I wish you luck and I hope we are all wrong about what the future holds.
Thank you. I have never joined a political party but am going to and think the Electoral Reform Society might just be it. Our FPP electoral system has always meant that due to my location my vote has never counted and the first time my vote actually counts (because of PR) in the EU referendum the result is shedload worse than having a Tory MP I didn’t vote for.
Good for you.
It takes time to make a plan – that is why we have a 2 year transition period. If you want to be angry with someone, be angry at David Cameron for abandoning the nation at a time of crisis.
I am. And I am angry that nobody is making a plan because they’re all too busy playing russian roulette with our future.
This is exactly how I feel. Thanks for expressing it Katie.
Thanks for your comment. x
Thanks for this – it perfectly articulates how I feel too.
The “we’re free now” and “it’ll all be over in a few months” from some quarters just stresses how unaware some people are because Parliament needs to vote (and looking at the current crop of statements there’s a LOT of back pedalling going on), someone needs to push the Article 50 button and then we have negotiations – do people not realise how LONG it will take to renegotiate 57 trade treaties? We’re looking at years of this not just months.
average 28 months per treaty apparently
Regarding the financial promises that were made, Bojo backtracks, IDS backtracks, Liam Fox backtracks and Daniel Hannan backtracks. Gibraltar faces an uncertain future, as does Northern Ireland and the peace initiative. France threatens to close the UK Border Agency in Calais and let it move back to Dover. Scotland plans leaving the UK and, as racially motivated attacks in England increases daily, and the crisis spreads throughout Europe Brexit admits that they have no plan. Perhaps they should have added to that ‘no conscience either’.
Or no imagination.
My thoughts exactly Katy. Well vented.
Thank you. x
Well said . The whole thing is a disaster and I fear worse is yet to come.
I fear you are probably right. x
I do not know you but you have sad everything I feel well done you dont give up
Thank you.x
Get a grip.
I have a very firm grip. I have one on reality, on politics, on economics and on what I’m going to do about it. How about you?
Great post. It’s good to hear there are other people out there feeling the same way. This isn’t over. In the same way Farage has campaigned to kill the EU project for decades, we can stand up and start the long push to get Britain back in. If there’s one thing to learn from this, it is that no political status quo lasts forever.
Thanks for your comment.
Katy, I understand your anger, I share a lot of it, and equally I add that if this drops a massive dirty bomb of unpleasant reality on anyone who says politics doesn’t matter, and politicises everyone with even vaguely progressive views to work tirelessly to save REAL decency, rule of law, compassion for the less fortunate (& that does mean everyone in post-industrial dying towns who voted Leave because they got utterly shat on by the Thatcher government and no one really has bothered since), AND refuse to let rapacious corporations continue to rape and pollute the planet in the name of free enterprise…then some good might actually come from this snafu.
However England will always be shit at football. That one we do have to suck up.
Keep going. We’re with you.
Thanks.x
Hallelujah! You go sista!!
Thank you. x
Brilliantly written and the most accurate assessment of this whole f’n mess. This should be the front page of every newspaper in the county tomorrow morning. Any reporters out there willing to publish this verbatim?
Thank you. x
To the chap who was talking about faceless bureaucrats in other countries controlling everything this is one of the points I never really understood. The Commission is appointed by directly elected ministers from the member states, the European parliament is directly elected, and the council of ministers is directly elected, so far it all sounds pretty democratic. On top of that anything we don’t like we can veto? How is this some kind of superstate over riding our interests. As one of the big 3 in Europe it was actually serving our interests.
You say you voted with your heart and I respect you for your honesty, you just didn’t like feeling you were part of Europe I disagree with Katy in that fuck it what’s done is done but please can you be intellectually honest. There never was a superstate, you fell for a line that was peddled relentlessly by Farage who whether you are prepared to admit it or not is firmly on the extreme margins of the right. What worries me the most is that you will continue to fall for his adept heart tugging rhetoric and make things worse for us all. Even though he has got what he said he wanted I can guarantee he will not be going anywhere. If you think Europe is a self serving bunch of power hungry fanatics you have not seen anything yet and you maybe one of the people who facilitate something much worse.
By the “Europe is undemocratic because the EU Commission frames the laws” argument the UK is exactly as undemocratic, since the Civil Service frames the Law as presented to Parliament. Or put another way its another mindless mantra of the right wing moron party.
Hi Katy,
I follow your sewing patterns account on twitter. I am from the U.S. I think you are so brave to speak your mind and to stand up for your beliefs, in the face of naysayers. I admire your courage. I wish you all the best, don’t give up!
Donna
Thanks x
Thank you for taking the time to summarise pretty much where I am.
Thank you. x
Thank you for your article, you have managed to exactly articulate how my whole family feels. With a majority of people voting leave I suppose I am just grateful to find people who align with me, because right now, living in the north of England in a strong leave area, I feel like a pariah and when I hear about the rise of the racists newly emboldened, I feel like this is not my country anymore. I am in the minority now.
So sorry. xx
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a Fibro Fogged Mind and commented:
Great article straight to the points… Dxxx
Thank you. x
Well written and provides a view shared by many..including that that silly referendum isn’t the end of it, just a wakeup call for people to standup and safeguard what they would be about to lose if the UK proceeds with withdrawal. The idea of withrawal is nonsense as the economic and social cost to Britain far exceeds any benefits from becoming more insular. In an increasingly threatening world its now time for greater, not less, regional and international cooperation, and leaving the major local club would be absurd. So wake up from this nightmare, be more intelligent and dont do it. Changing one’s mind is in any case a sign of maturity, continually driving foward even when told the road is flooded is just pig-headed!
Yes. Pig headed is a good term for it.
I couldn’t have put it better myself and this is why it’s going viral. Your energy is contagious, please keep going 😊
Thank you. x
Do not make me laugh Truth Teller with your statement that the people have spoken. This disastrous decision was made by 36% of the population, not the majority. The 1% differential in the vote is insufficient and renders the result undemocratic and in my view illegal. 36% of an ignorance vote cannot be allowed to drag the remainder of the people (we all constitute “the people” ) into this dreadful position. I am angry, I am not alone, I will do everything in my power to stop this and to lobby for a second referendum. Article 50 should never be invoked. The people have not spoken. Those who voted out largely did so for reasons of total ignorance and bigotry. The wave of hate spreading through our nation has to tell you something. The other faction is a sad elderly vote, some misguided Dunkirk spirit, made in good faith, but with no understanding at all of the consequences. That group of voters had no right to do this to the younger generations who will live long enough to face the consequences of their dreadful decision. What have you done to our country? Our economy is in a downward spiral, hate is on the march and what happened to our hospitable multi cultural nation which has always been one of our strengths. I went to school in the 70s and had as many Asian friends as white. Many people of colour are as English as I am. For God’s sake come to our senses. Even many leave voters have publicly stated they now regret their decision or indeed made a protest vote but didn’t expect it to happen. So don’t talk to me of “the people”. I am one of the people and I bitterly resent being lumped together as if I voted this way. I didn’t. I am English and I am European and I wish to stay that way.
Well said, Hazel.
Hi, just wanted to wish all the best to you and everyone who thinks similar to you. It’s quite easy for us “outsiders” to only see your politicans like Farage and forgett about the people who will pay for this whole mess.
Still hoping hoping that someone will stand up with a plan in his hand.
Greatings from Bavaria
Thank you Julian. That is incredibly kind. x
You cover my feelings exactly. I campaigned for stay too, and being a Scot it worked up here, and we aren’t seeing that major rise in the right wing yet, but I fear it is coming, as we too have our scum.
It is the saddest thing. x
Love this article. I think it is spot on and nails every sub heading perfectly. Hilariously embarrassing comments from leave voters just exposes them for the small minded individuals they are. I’m angry enough at the result as it is and then to read such diatribe is just insulting – just shut the eff up Leave voters, you’ve had your say and the rest of us are in mourning for our country and economy. You lot may not get the message until you feel it in your pay packet, or lack thereof but believe me when I say that you will pay for this out of your own hard earned cash and you did it to yourselves. Unfortunately you have also included in that everyone else in the UK and the international markets that have been driven down by Brexit. This will cost the UK economy investment, growth, jobs and will foster a further extended period of austerity. If you can live with all that while you are searching around for pennies to pay for a pint, because you are now FREE from some imaginary oppression but totally skint, well bully for you, ffs.
Glad you could say your piece. x
Katy, your piece is brilliantly written, brilliantly argued, and says everything I’d love to have said. Thank you. Inspiring.
Thank you. xx
Have had a difficult few days trying to come to terms with the fact that I can’t come to terms with what has just happened to our beautiful nation of open minded and forward thinking people. Having read what Katie said I feel so much better…..I don’t have to come to terms with it and it is ok to feel furious and frustrated and despairing. Am very glad I joined the women’s equality party last year. What next for this woman who feels like taking Nigel Farage out and taking the fall for the good of mankind?
WEP have a big rally in Manchester on Saturday?
Some good stuff here. Might take a while for the dust to settle. Great to to know the great unwashed has awakened from its apathy and stolen a trick from the Intelligensia.
Thanks.x
Absolutely nailed it! Love love love.
Thank you. x
Well said Katy. You’ve articulated exactly what’s been buzzing around in my head.
Thank you. x
Yea. Well written. In all fairness I think it’s all daft. I think we need to stop imagining that our system is democratic and acknowledged that the people who are making laws and passing them only care about one thing, Power, and currently money is the means to that end. We need to vote In a capitalist way to affect the capitalist system. Voting either way and yet spending our money on things that contribute to the corporations that use it to manipulate power and influence is plain foolishness.
Someone who votes leave because they want Britain to be great and then goes to buy products from boots or primark or macdonalds are delusional. The same goes for the other side. We can’t expect to be able to create a unified society if we are consistently ‘voting’ for child labour, environmental degradation and abusive trading policies. By spending our money’s with these corporations.
People need to put their money where their mouth is and stop thinking that these political puppets are ever going to do what is in the best interests of the many. X
Fair points.
I kind off agree with you but my only issue surrounds the big corporations. These have flourished in the environment of neo libralism the EU and the global economy. What is the answer. Well i do no know but i never posed the in out question. I do wonder though if this vote is at some level a pointer to an underlying dissatisfaction with that world order.
We need a government that doesn’t get into bed with big corporations at the expense of the people. Sadly we have just voted to isolate ourselves on a small island with a party that does nothing but this.
I disagree with your view that Cameron is a coward. I believe he is a genius who has played a masterclass of a chess move. What he has done has not only forced the UK to stay in the EU for a few more months while we witness what damage leaving could do to the country should someone be brave enough to implement article50. It has brought us the time to gather our thoughts, and the longer it takes for article50 to be implemented the more unlikely it will ever be implemented. It is a political bomb and a career killer. Thank you David Cameron for the sacrifice made to save the country, the equivalent of the Queen sacrificing herself to save the King in a game of chess.
Well, it’s one way of thinking about it. I hope you’re right.
Agreed David Cameron might just have saved us from complete disaster and forced Boris to clear up his own mess
Please let this be true.
Both the author and ur reply are decent thoughts to the current debacle we find ourselves in… But I think the MOST frustrating perspective is just how badly the Remain campaign was run.. Why was none of this reality ever outlined beforehand .. The campaign was personal, vindictive, unprofessional and resorted to emotional blackmail.. If any of this had been laid out months ago then the Leave campaign wouldn’t had had any traction as their lack of actual plan we now see would have been uncovered before it was too late
When I first read this analysis about a possible “strategy” behind Cameron’s resignation, I thought it sounded reasonable.
But in fact, he’s not sufficiently “out” for it to be effective – his resignation doesn’t take effect for a couple of months, so the braking impact is only partial. There’s almost as much braking impact arising from the fact that neither Johnson nor Farage have any map for the rocky waters they’ve thrust the boat into (and I don’t think either are navigators … Boris seems seasick already & the boat hasn’t yet left its mooring!) Farage’s behaviour at the EU yesterday was more than embarassing – almost a ‘sticking out his tongue & saying YA BOO’ 😦 …)
I think you maybe right, however why did he call the vote in the first place unless of course there has been an underlying plan all along. I do not believe for a nano second that the establishment just woke up one morning and said hay ho lets have a referendom.why has osbourne been so obsessed with building a surplus, why have they concentrated on nothing else but shoring up the banks if deep down this result wasnt wished for. I might explain such a lack lustre remaign campaign that allowe itself to be willingly dragged into the imigration/racist mire. Everyone knew farage would go there….they didnt have to kick the ball back to him…..unless they wanted too???? There was so much more they could have done to convince. The minute i heard the slogan ‘you’re not a racist if you vote leave, but all racists will vote leave’ i knew it was over. Dragging the most emotive words into the non debate raised the spectre of it. The word count surrounding brexit was full of just one topic….what a waste. It also made all those who were spending time looking into leave resentful that a democratic right to choose a direction meant they were made to feel like a racist if they did.
He called a vote (or pledged there would be a vote in the last General Election campaign manifesto) in order to win the election and to stop moderate voters with a Euro sceptic attitude moving from his party and voting for UKIP. It worked. He won, and won by a majority, which no one expected. The gamble was he then needed to win that EU Referendum.
He called it to appease the members of the Tory party who were worried about the rise of UKIP. He thought he’d win and the issue would be put to bed. He basically gambled the country for party interests
I do hope you are right
Keep it up, Katy. Shout long and loud. This madness needs to be exposed for what it is.
Thank you. x
Anger should be directed at all those politicians who were unprepared for this situation and thought that 1million+ more people would be voting remain because any fool who’d been following British politics for the last 30 odd years would have been able to see this coming. Why are they so surprised? Because they are stuck in this little bubble in London (who, apart from the odd place like Bristol, here and there, was the only place in England and Wales that had a majority Remain vote. The whole rest of the country voted leave and that’s been coming for many years now. It was a 1 million votes difference (not to mention the +/- 30 million who didn’t vote. That’s a massive difference in ACTUAL number of people.
Why did they not see it coming? Politicians are supposed to specialise in what is going on in their own country! Don’t be angry at leave voters, be angry at the ones who were supposed to see it coming and failed at their jobs.
As I stated, I am angry at leave voters who tell me to shut up and put up, who tell me to stop whinging and that this is democracy. I am not angry at leave voters who can have a civil discussion. I am furious with politicians and the media, and I am already doing my bit to change what I can, whatever future we end up in. Are you?
Of course I am. By having a career that means something to people and the environment and for fighting to find an achievable middle ground for both humans and nature to exist together in a sustainable way, I am doing my bit for my future for that of my children and their children, wherever in the world they live as I have come from a different country and I doubt that my descendants will all live here forever. I work for a better earth, not just a better country.
I am not a politician, the majority of voters are not, and so I will not knock on doors or fight for a certain campaign (though I vote when the time comes). We can each only do what is morally right and what is within our power. No one can fix every problem as the world is black and white in very few aspects. We can have an opinion on everything, but it is wise to be selective about what you voice your opinion about, to whom and at what times. Going on and on about everything all the time is not productive, yes, you can let off steam but every day people look at a long, drawn out article that is obviously holding a lot of built up anger and they walk the other way without reading through it all. Most people are so busy and it is human nature to shy away from negativity, and so they miss what could be a very good, valid and important point.
OK. So the 250 thousand people who read this will disagree with you, but that’s your opinion. I’m not trying to change people’s minds. I’m dealing with my stuff, on my blog. I’m glad that people want to read it, but it’s not why I write it. When I do stuff for the community, I do it in the community. What I write here is not up for others to edit. Sorry. I appreciate your positivity and your points though.
Only 37% of the voting population actually voted to leave. And it now seems that a lot of those people feel justifiably that they were mislead (I’m trying to be measured here, others might describe it as being lied to). And not to be patronising in any way because the issues are complex but I think a lot of people didn’t fully understand the implications they just swallowed simple messages about immigration and bureaucracy.
No. I agree entirely.
OMG All of this is exactly how I feel, I am so glad I can relate to someone else about all of this!!! You are brilliant.
Thank you. x
It is so good to know that there are many others who think the same. Tired of people telling me to let it go. Thank you for this. P.s. I know the Queen is unelected, but I do love her and she has devoted her life to this country.
She’s a game old bird! x
So you only joined a political party after the event when the result didn’t go your way ? Hardly proactive …
I joined a SECOND party, Jenny. And I am a grass roots political campaigner who spent five years trying to save children’s school libraries and teach illiterate kids to read, and the last six months trying to save my local Doctor’s surgery from shutting down. Tomorrow I start campaigning with a local group to keep our adult education college open. I campaigned so well with regard to the drs I got featured on World at One and succeeded in getting my local CCG investigated by NHS England so that the actual people who use GPs get consulted about how they get used in future and how and if they get closed down. Is that proactive enough for you? What do you do?
I did my research too thank you. I voted remain but do not appreciate the pomposity and anger directed at people who dare to think differently to you. You don’t seem to aim any of your anger at those who didn’t even bother to vote do how come they get a free pass?
I don’t direct my anger at any particular group except those people who keep shouting at me. I don’t blame anyone who can hold a civil conversation. My entire family voted differently to me. I don’t see them screaming at me. So glad you read the blog post properly. Nobody gets a free pass do they, in this situation. So glad you did your research. So glad you don’t see fit to share it, but just attack someone who hasn’t attacked you and argue the case for something I’ve not said. If this is how you went about your research, god help you.
Yes let’s keep having referendums until the bullies get the result they really want as opposed to what they pretend to extol which is a free and democratic society.
I’ve actually lived and worked in Norway and it’s a nice place, I’ve also worked in much of Europe and other parts of the world and they all have their good and poor points.
The ‘remains’ only prat on about Europe and not the whole wide world then doesn’t that really makes you the more narrow minded when you think about that logic. Remember how by joining the EEC which stitched up places like Australia and NZ and other countries we had trade deals with, not exactly good for them was it? I voted to join the EEC in ’73 and again to remain in ’75 when it was an ‘economic community’ there’s a clue…..’community’…..give us that back and the vote would have been a landslide ‘remain’ but we were hijacked, as were all the people of the EEC, not just the UK. How the French people have never beaten us to the referendum amazes me, they don’t mess around normally.
What I will say however is that a 52/48 split is not really a fair democratic result as the result is not a clear majority and as such in an electoral proportional representative manner there would be a fairer way to represent the result and maybe a 60/40 or 70/30 would be more fair to all whichever way it went however the ‘remain’ and ‘leave’ extremists are too dictatorial and undemocratic to appreciate that. I had to think really hard on which way to vote, it was not an easy decision, I was trying to vote for my children and grandchildren based on the garbage of information from both parties, I looked at ‘Brussels the business’, ‘ Brexit the movie’ and ‘TTIP explained’, regardless of their bias it is information which you can filter out yourselves if you are a reasonable person. I certainly don’t believe all that rubbish that foreign workers will have to leave, that they are paid less, that they take ‘our jobs’ or any other rubbish. They will be fine to remain here I’m sure.
Anyone who was so convinced of their vote for either camp after a mere 4 months of misinformation and innacurate financial figures are mugs to believe any of it.
I did my research, across everything I could get my hands on. I deal with the implications of TTIP all the time because mainly I campaign to save the NHS. I am neither naive nor blind to hold a different view to you and I have not said anywhere that a second referendum is the solution. I don’t prat on about ‘Europe’ and you speak of the remains as a homogenous group. I don’t speak of the leavers as a homogenous group. I have asked for certain leave voters who say certain things to stop. I have not asked them to take back their vote, I have not pretended they are all one mass. I looked at actual facts from organisations, non partisan ones, like full fact as well as reading both sides, and I am perfectly capable of making a rational, intelligent decision which is as valid as the one you think you have made.
How outrageously ignorant and stupid are you. Did you read Katy’s post. What we have unleashed here is scary. Racists think they have won. Our fellow citizens, even if we graciously allow them to stay and do the dirty jibs will be harrassed and made to feel alien. There is no- one governing the country. Both major parties in England and Wales are in meltdown, the Libdems are dead. There are no political options. Democracy itself has died. Plebiscites are not democracy in action, they are an admission of political failure. The Leavers have no clue. You have been lied to. You have no-one to turn to, no means of effecting any positive cjane. It’s a total shambles. Anyone feeling calm, or happy, or relaxed I assuming it will be alright does not understand the mess we have created. It will never be sorted. Scotland will leave, Ireland may well descend into violence again, Europe will cherry puck London’s financial services, car companies will go to Poland or Ronania, Hi tech ones to Ireland or Germany, UK politics will be governed by fear and anger, recrimination and blame. But you carry on blithely unaware and criticise those who can see far more clearly than you.
I hope to God my grandparents and parents didn’t vote based on what they thought was best for me, although they probably did. How do you know that the way you voted reflects the views of younger generations of your family? Is that not slightly presumptuous?
My eldest daughter is seventeen. She is politically active already. She attends demos and marches and reads up on politics. Most of her friends are similarly inclined. My thirteen year old and nine year old are learning a great deal because we always sit together around the dinner table and discuss the events of the day, and in our house we hold varying political beliefs and everyone gets their say. We have talked about it with them and to them. But, regardless, I am their mother. My responsibility as their mother is to love and feed them, to nurture them so that they can be strong, independent, intelligent adults. It is also to take responsibility for the things they can’t until they can, while showing them how I am doing it so that they can see that I might not always be right, but I am doing what I can for them with the knowledge I have for them. My 17 year old wants to live and work in France next year. She’s already started saving. I know it will still be possible, but it will be harder potentially, and she was devastated about the leave vote because she and her siblings have been brought up to understand that they are european.
Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to express so perfectly how I feel. Thank goodness I’m not a violent person, because I’m struggling not to rant and scream at the next person who says “Suck it up” or “Get over it, you lost”. You know what? I didn’t lose, the leavers did as I believe they will quickly find out. I wish I could just say they made their bed, so let them lie in it, but sadly I am forced to lie in it too. How can so many people have been deluded enough to believe what they were told – £350m a week paid to the EU, immigration to be stopped and all the other rubbish they swallowed hook, line & sinker without taking a second to establish the facts for themselves? Even the Leave camp are acknowledging the lies now. I suppose if it was in the gutter press, it must be true, mustn’t it? Actually better to save your 20p and stay uninformed.
I am especially furious that all of this mayhem has been unleashed in order to serve the egocentric self centred ambition of one overweening rogue whose only thought is his personal aggrandisement and overwhelming, all consuming desire to become Prime Minister. Part of me thinks that if you break it, you own it, but I seriously doubt anyone in the Leave camp has the ability, foresight, intellectual capacity or altruism to resolve the unholy mess they have created.
They all seem to be running away from it as far as I can see.
Ninthly and tenthly, a wonderful MP called Jo Cox, a strong Remain campaigner was gunned down and repeatedly stabbed in broad daylight by a member of a right wing organisation. Thank you for voicing my feelings.
Yes. I wrote about Jo Cox last week. So awful.
Democracy is a trump card.
Not if democracy isn’t exercised fairly and with truth, and yet again, nobody who wants to use it as a trump card has explained when it’s supposed to end. You use it as if it were a check mate and a done deal. It’s not how it works. It’s never been how it works.
I think it was a (dark and bit scary but funny) joke.
Great blog btw, with you 100% and just joined ERS after reading about it here.
Thanks Andy.
I’m not very good at putting together a solid argument, the brain refuses to stay the course, I’ve tried really hard to understand people who voted to leave couldn’t or wouldn’t foresee simple things like an already jumpy financial market would get very jumpy when a country that has the I think 5th highest debt in the EU said nah we don’t want to play anymore. Why so many believed the lies, I really think some a reasonably sized minority thought that’s it every polish Romanian person would magically disappear and for the very racist among them who thought everyone perceived to be none British would go too even though they are not from the EU & more than likely born here.
I had two deliveries this wkend one Italian and one Romanian, both stood way back from the front door looking very nervous and only relaxed when I made it very obvious I couldn’t give a stuff where they were from by being my normal daft smiley self.
Democracy is great when people are told the truth and can make up their minds after hearing facts, none of that happened in the public domain, so £350k a week is going on the NHS err no they didn’t actually promise that, immigration will be drastically reduced umm errr that’s going to be very difficult, after all nearly half of those much talked about immigrants where from outside the EU anyway, we could control those but well we don’t.
In a couple of weeks time a close friend will be taking herself and her kids abroad in Europe for a well earned holiday, she voted out I’m waiting for her to find that the exchange rates have dropped drastically and hers and the kids pocket money won’t go as far as it would have, of course I hope in the next couple of weeks the pound will fight back, she’s my friend after all we don’t talk about politics we are opposite sides of the spectrum hers influenced by men she works for and with who are quite wealthy.
She’s also hoping to retire to an EU country, I won’t mock or laugh at her, but I won’t sympathize either, as a disabled person I’m waiting for the next round of cuts promised by Osbourne today once a new PM is elected, my only saving grace is I’ve finished my mortgage, so I’ll have a roof over my head, no food or heating but I won’t be on the street.
I’ve campaigned since the Tories snuck into power in 2010, this year I’m hoping to manage to get to a protest with some help from other lovely campaigners, will I stop fighting no bloody way, for those two chaps who made deliveries, for my daughter who I brought into this mess 26 yrs ago for all my family even those who voted leave, they like others genuinely thought it was the best option, but I’ll keep campaigning & fighting.
What an eloquent post. truly. Thank you for sharing it. Keep fighting. x
Brilliant Katy and very funny
Only part I disagree with is Cameron resigning and not triggering Article 50 which means Boris will have to do it (but won’t)
Cameron will go down as the man that averted complete disaster
You are good…very good… however write less and say more …you’ll figure it out and be a pillar of the future UK
This is my personal blog. I write it for myself. I don’t write it for anyone else. I’m glad you liked it. I’m glad you think it was good. Thank you, but I don’t need your editorial comments, however well meant.
A friend pointed me toward your post, and for that I am grateful and thankful – you have said exactly what I feel, in words so clear and loud. I exercised my right to a postal vote as I currently live in New York, and am now surrounded by friends and colleagues demanding “WTF” of me, as if I have all the answers. And trying to accept that my father’s vote cancelled out my mother’s vote, and dealing with a husband who states he will never talk to my mother again, and an uncle who has been one of the loudest “Leave” voices I have heard – and currently lives in Spain (oh, the irony!). Thank you, from the bottom of my (not so proud to be British right now) heart.
What a mess. I hope your family rift heals soon. x
Well I was so taken with your blog I jumped up and gave you a standing ovation Katy! I wish I could articulate as well as you do…but I think the shock,anger and sadness has left me lost for words.
It has taken me days to get this on the page. x
Are you in my head? These are my thoughts … EXACTLY!
Thank you. x
My thoughts exactly Jemma. A friend shared this blog on Facebook and I am so glad she did because Katy, you have articulated my feelings perfectly. I am not angry at the leave voters. I am angry at our elected politicians who we are paying vast sums of money to make decisions on our behalf. But now having got us into one holy mess they have abdicated their responsibilities. I cannot see any silver lining to this very black cloud.
Thank you. x
I have to say that I agree with pretty much everything you say here – although I do have a soft spot for the Queen, so hands off! I still feel so angry that so many lies were trotted out, with no details or evidence with snappy little sound bites that a certain sector of the population swallowed hook, line and sinker! Any attempt to gain say it was met with cries of “That’s rubbish and scaremongering” and Gove had the temerity to state that “we’ve had enough of experts”. And still the Leave voters didn’t question it. It was the equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and going “Lalala – I’m not listening!” Bad enough if it was just them affected, but they are dragging the rest of us down with them! Although I have voted at every election, no matter what type, I have never been particularly political, but now I feel fired up enough that I would join a political party if I thought there was any one of them that could be an effective opposition! I’m at a loss! Can we persuade Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP to spread south of the border? She and Angus Robertson are about the only people talking any sense. Rant over….
I don’t mind the queen. I mind when people talk about her taking control of the country! I love your Sturgeon idea. We need to invite them in!
If you want more centralising control of your lives by all means take Sturgeon.
You’re welcome to her and her talk left, walk right politics.
Your blog is spot on but Sturgeon is no more the answer than HM the Queen.
And what happened to that “head of state who will lead the country in a non-partisan way” we are constantly told about as justification for her cosy subsidised lifestyle?
Surely this is exactly the situation she should be stepping up for then?
I’m not saying she’s right. I’m saying she’s being strong and decisive and she has a plan, and right now that’s better than the swirling pit of panic we’ve got here
Awesome Post!
Thank you. x
You’ve just about summed up everything I have been thinking. Any thoughts on Michael Heseltine’s idea, voiced on Newsnight tonight, to the effect that the next prime minister, whenever he/she is chosen, should hold a general election and/or a second referendum?
He’s pretty much the only person so far I’ve heard speak any sense.
Just scary that the people will still be in protest mode & we get an influx of UKIP MP’s
Yes. That’s true.
Not sure why we even need royalty. Otherwise great blog.
commemorative tea towels are a big seller, Patrick.
Well said, I feel the same way😢😡
Thanks.
I agree wholeheartedly with you and I feel the anger as you do. We have opened Pandora box and let the far right extremist take control. Our economy is in free fall but Boris actually said the pound is steady. and still people believe him. Then we have the man who wants to destroy our NHS going for leadership the man who attacked our sick and disabled going for leadership . All I can say is gid help us.
Jeremy Hunt frightens me to death. He spends most of his time hiding under the bed when people shout at him.
Goodness Katy, you are very angry which is understandable, and you have every right to tell me to shut up too as I am not British. My parents were and my two daughters now live and work there, but I am a Kiwi. One of my daughters is as distraught as you are. But how has your life changed in one day? Yes we all know it has knocked around the worlds finances but for you personally, did a bomb drop on your house. Has your work place gone into liquidation? For Jo Blogs, things will be pretty much as they are.
Your country has been through two world wars and I know for my parents that was terrifying. Their lives changed considerably within a very short space of time. Your life is not going to change so please don’t panic, but be angry if that makes you feel better.
If you remain very unsettled, you are welcome to come and share New Zealand. Best wishes
My life hasn’t changed in one day significantly, except that my pension pot is already depleted, there have been racist attacks in local schools, including the one my daughter attends, my husband works in finance and his job is precarious, but no, hardly any changes there. And then there’s the future. I didn’t want my children growing up in a time when raw hate stalks the streets like it did in the Seventies and Eighties, but sadly, that’s what I think is coming.
My life has already been affected, along with many many others. I am likely to need to sell my home this year, in order to survive financially. A week ago I would have likely made enough to buy a caravan to live in and supplement myself for a year or two while i continue trying to get back on my feet. Now, I’ll be lucky to buy a tent, and forget about a safety net fund. The little work I do have is on the line because funding will be pulled for sure. So yeah, it might not be a world war but that’s not much of a baseline for things being allowed to piss us off is it? Appreciate the offer of NZ as a bolthole, but truth, they won’t take us. Thanks for the thought though.
I am so sorry to hear this. x
Brilliant article well written!! Thanks I think like you!!
Thank you!
Yep. Agree with every single word… …even ‘clusterfuck’ which was new to me and went right off my etymological radar!
ha ha!
Like you I have family & friends who voted leave & few can come up with rationale that I can accept & occasional comments on immigrants & capital punishment frighten me. Like you & a few other friends I’m not happy but do not want to sound like a suck & broken record.
Although voting leave was never an option as I couldn’t possibly be of the same opinion as the floppy hired blond or the smug low life Farage I did try to listen to both sides of the campaign but did not really find much of it conclusive & can understand how some were taken in. The best incentive for me was the list of those people in each camp.
What saddens me most is that Cameron did not need to have a referendum but his fear of losing power allowed him to be bullied into putting it in the manifesto by his potential coalition mate Nige. How I wish the protest had been made at that stage as it wouldn’t have had a lifetime impact & possibly would have got it out of their system!
He didn’t get a good deal but it ticked enough boxes. Bo-Jo was not a committed leaver but played a game thinking remain would win anyway & is now cacking himself. Whilst not confirmed yet Jeremy Hunt is thinking of running & won’t avoid section 50.
Thank you.
Thank you for commenting. x
Thank you Katy. I too researched both sides extensively and could find no evidence to support the Leave campaign’s outrageous claims. Have you seen Professor Michael Dougan on Youtube? If only his excellent speech had gone viral BEFORE the vote, and been required viewing for The Daily Mail and The Sun journalists, perhaps so many people would not have been duped. Living in China (I voted Remain by proxy), I’m beginning to question the value of “democracy and a free press”, as we see not only what it is doing to America … but especially to our beloved UK. Democracy can be manipulated. For example, membership of the Labour Party soared in the weeks prior to the leadership election, which is how they got foisted with the unelectable Jeremy Corbyn. The same happened in America, as Democrats temporarily registered as Republicans in droves, to make sure that Trump brings down the GOP, leaving life-long Republicans no choice but to vote for Hillary, even if they despise her. If this is democracy, perhaps it’s time for a benign dictatorship? (Joke) Hmm, maybe I should join the Conservative Party to make sure that vile buffoon (take your pick) doesn’t achieve his ambition to become our Prime Minister.
Yes. I saw that clip too and it was so well reasoned.
Yep. Agree with every single word… …even ‘clusterfuck’, which was new to me and went right off my etymological radar!
Thanks.
1,060 Comments!!!!
Wow you know you’ve hit on something when your blog literally explodes with a post.
Great on you Katyboo1 for sharing your opinions and thoughts. Like you said above it’s about creating a conversation and as long as it is an honest and civil conversation I can only see good coming out of it.
🙂 And good on you for the success of your blog now!
Thanks. x
I have read and enjoyed your post in its entirety and respect your right to be angry and to post your very strong views; I agree with many things that you say, and your anger is both powerful and omnipresent, so I don’t want to be confrontational with you, but neither do I want to be patronising.
I voted both to join in 1973 and to stay in the Common Market in 1975, but I did not vote to be part of a political organisation that to my perception is, and has been for some time, heading like a runaway train towards a single government federal union.
When the UK joined what is now the EU in 1973 as its eighth member, the EU accounted for 31 per cent of world economic output, whereas today, with 28 member countries, that figure is just 17 per cent, which underlines the shrinking role of the EU in the world economy; a simple summary tells us that the EU has added 20 member states in order to see its share of world economic output almost halved. It has also created a plethora of absurd legislations that pander to multinational companies while hampering small businesses.
I voted to leave because I want to see UK businesses trading more freely with growing world economies like China, Brazil, India, Australia and Indonesia (countries which the EU, after years of protracted negotiations, still has no trade deals with) instead of being restricted by the protectionist policies of the EU as it desperately tries, despite huge protests throughout mainland Europe, to sign up to the TTIP agreement, which I believe will not be beneficial to the UK, although it is difficult to know for sure, because the negotiations are shrouded in secrecy and have had a 30 year ban on public access to the negotiations placed by the EC. It has however been revealed that a plan to ban more than 30 pesticides linked to cancer and male infertility by the EU, has been dropped due to aggressive lobbying from the American TTIP negotiators, adding further concerns about both the secrecy and the desperation that the EU have to sign this agreement.
Immigration was an issue in the referendum, even if it is deemed by some to be unpalatable or illegitimate to mention it, but this is where both the EU and Corbyn both made erroneous decisions of some magnitude.The EU dismissively refused to concede any ground on the “Freedom of movement” agreement, arrogantly convinced that the British public would not dare to vote leave, and Mr Corbyn’s contribution is already written into the folklore of British politics. Not only did he display a total disconnect with the campaign and consequently the vast majority of the labour electorate, but he has quite possibly handed millions and millions of labour heartland votes to UKIP in the next election, dealing the labour party and the country a blow from which they may never recover.
One final point about the young, that it is now claimed by many have been betrayed, or worse still, disenfranchised; we were told that almost 75% of 18-24 year olds that were polled, wanted to remain in the EU, but we learn that only 36% of that age group bothered to vote in a referendum that saw a huge 73% turn out of the population that were eligible to vote; this referendum has been discussed for months, and the government even extended the deadline for online registration to vote, because 3 months was apparently not long enough for some young people to fill in a 5 minute online form ………. so much for the digital generation. The act of signing an online petition retrospectively disagreeing with the result of a referendum that you did not participate in, just doesn’t cut the mustard. Thanks again for a good read, don’t calm down whatever you do, stay angry, it’s good for the soul.
I appreciate you taking the time to set out your reasoned thoughts. I wish more people could have thought things through so clearly and then i think a lot of people would not be so angry right now.
touché…… it has been refreshing to exchange contrasting opinions without resorting to generalisations or personal insults and abuse. I wish more people would have a considered opinion rather than the kind of reactionary one that inevitably seems to lead to unhelpful vitriol ……… we can all benefit from the old adage that your mind is like a parachute ……….. not much use unless it’s open …….. keep shining your light (^∆*)
Thanks.
Thank you.
Thanks for your comment.
The option that we have is to lobby your MP and ask them to vote down Article 50. This is not irreversible…yet. Please don’t buy into the inevitability lie. Any politician who invokes article 50 is finished. Cameron resigned rather than do it.
Lobby your MP
Doing it already James, but thanks! x
I have already written to my MP to tell him to have the b*lls to vote against Article 50 being invoked. His duty is to his constituents, 58% of whom voted to remain. He is known for following the party line and seemingly having no independent thought whatsoever. I hope for once that he will do the decent thing and represent us!
katyboo –
Thank you for this. You’ve caught so much of my feelings & reactions to the whole situation.
For those who say – what about the 27% who “didn’t bother to vote”? … I wonder how many didn’t know HOW to vote because they weren’t sure what exactly the implications of leaving would be. Between the fear being stirred up, the nostalgia promotion (of a golden past), the use of fear of the waves of immigrants, misinformation & false promises, “Leave” appeared to have appeal. “Remain” didn’t exactly do a good job of presenting their case. And there was no box to tick to indicate “not now” – “stay for now, reconsider in X years when we have a better idea of what this would really mean”
It was such a complex decision and I know all abstainers didn’t vote because they couldn’t be bothered because I know some who didn’t vote for genuine issues.
Pretty well my thoughts exactly but to add one more. I am 67 and I voted Remain (why did they call it remain; what’s wrong with stay). I am now appalled by young people starting to say they are so annoyed at the old they won’t give up their seat on public transport. Actually I never asked them to but I dare say when I’moved a bit older I might need the seat sometimes. Secondly I live in London and I find that the most of the people who give me a seat are Eastern European, black or Asian (I am none of these) who seem to have have older values. If you are one of the locals who offer up seats – and they defdinitely do – I apologise for this generalisation. Thirdly how will you know which older people voted Stay (see how much better that looks than Remain). Fourthly, I am annoyed at the young. Although 70% of 18-30 year olds voted Leave only 36%of them could be arsed to vote. If they had voted in the same proportion as the rest of the population we would not be in this mire. Actually that doesn’t follow because the ones who didn’t vote might have been more likely to vote Leave since they care little. But I’ll still give up my seat to any young person obviously pregnant or looks unwell.
I am sorry you are experiencing some of the backlash from this David. It is very unfair indeed. x
Great rant. So close to many of us. I have joined the LibDems and asked them to take the lead on this for us 48%ers. We need to continue with this pressure. The protest outside Westminster was great but it cannot be a one off otherwise we loose the impetus. Do you have any ideas how we can mobilize and continue this support.
Many thanks
Karen Davies
Hi Karen. I’m going to write a post today about what I’m doing in the hope it will give support to others like you and me who want to act. xx
Thank you Katy!
I share all of your concerns and anger but most sensitive to point 6….
As a mother of 2 children who are half Chinese it has been so hard to tell my own family what I really want to say when they tell me to “not to worry” about the increase in hate crime. It’s like they live in some sort of bubble and it’s never going to happen to us. I pray it doesn’t but what about everyone who is affected???
Yes. This. We live in Leicester. We had a bring the world to school event at my son’s school a few weeks ago. They marked on the map where all the children came from and we are truly a global school. It will affect so many people in my neighbourhood and ignoring it won’t help at all. x
Thank you for putting down on paper your thoughts, Katy. They pretty much sum up what I’ve been thinking but unable to articulate.
Thanks.
Thank you for this, reflects my thoughts entirely. Except maybe one point – I’m inclined to think that it’s actually a perversion of democracy if a decision taken by ill-informed people based on a mix of vague promises and outright lies.
But the decision is there, and we can’t ignore it either – what a mess!
Me too. I really would love a tame lawyer to speak to.
Are we related? I guess not, but it’s good to know there are people out there who share my horror/anger/despair and dare I say, intelligence.
Not sure I’m that bright though. You can check for yourself on what I said just prior to Stoopid Friday: http://www.oobidoobidoo.com/?page_id=1065
About to write post Stoopid Friday (p)article.
On democracy, there’s a good article in The Guardian today on just that subject: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/29/why-elections-are-bad-for-democracy
Will check it out. Thanks for the links. x
Reblogged this on LIVE LONG AND PROSPER and commented:
This sums up how I feel, pretty much to the letter. Sad. So sad.
Thank you. x
A friend shared this and I’m so glad she did. There’s been so many knee jerk reactions throughout this whole process. I’m an expat living in Greece and as an expat have been horrified to see the blatant xenophobia openly expressed in social media and through the actions of some individuals.
The Britain I remember living in was one that was proud to be multicultural and multfaith. What I’ve seen coming from the far right frightens me.
Here in Greece I now see refugees kept in camps by army that are too much like the Jewish ghettos of the 1940’s.
While everyone was worried over the weekend thousands were rescued in one day by MSF coming from North Africa to Europe. The humanitarian crisis on our doorstep is being ignored.
The refugees are being used to scare our population but they don’t even want to go to the UK. I’ve met thousands of refugees on this island and not one has expressed a wish to live in the UK. All they want is to be able to return home and have their children safe.
This was not a referendum we needed. We do not need to leave Europe. We should all be working together to ensure a better world for everyone.
I agree entirely. xx
I appreciate everything that you have said I voted to remain but all I keep hearing is the disaster that may happen to the uk and how Britain is not great now. I keep reminding people we were great way before joining the European Union. People are also saying brexit people lied to us, so did remain. Also a part of conservative manifesto was to reduce immigration at the last election which didn’t happen. This was a lie were they being racist when they added this to get votes or was it just a pure outright lie. I am appalled at the stories of racial abuse that is being reported. I really do not like we are going to be out of the eu but I am willing to see what happens. There are hundreds of countries not in the world not attached to any such thing like the eu and they seem to survive and thrive. My point is the eu don’t make us great it’s the people who always pull together!!!!! This I feel is being lost because people cannot get over leaving the eu.
It is not lost because people cannot get over leaving mike. It was lost because we have been being shafted by an austerity government that has ground us into a weak, small country. Just how weak and how small we will soon find out given that we are going to be very isolated indeed from now on. You credit ‘people’ with too much power. Look to the politicians who throw us to the wolves for the same of short term pacts with big businesses that screw us.
Marvellous stuff. It would be a hilarious if the situation wasn’t such a clusterfuck. One little niggle – the Gurning Hippo is elected, we have the people of south-east England to thank for that for the past 17 years.
The UK has just become even more irrelevant and insular. The ‘expectation’ is that we will see a polarisation of politics with a far more right wing government (probably with a stronger position supported by a snap election and landslide majority in Feb next year) closely followed by another Scottish independence vote and subsequent referendum to Remain.
In the meantime, the rest of the UK becomes more and more marginalised, your Nissans and Tatas leave the sceptred isle, unemployment surges, and Sterling falls to parity with the dollar. But yes, the lawyers will be rubbing their hands.
I feel for my kids. They have to live with this mess created by aging Little Englanders pumped on the vitriol of ‘immigration’.
One more telling statistic. In the last eight – 8 – European elections the popular vote in the UK has NEVER exceeded 40%. If the British electorate places no value in recording its democratic right, then you can’t whinge when ‘Europe’ does something you don’t like. So, the focus should be on being INCLUSIVE in Europe and voting for MEPs that can make a difference. But, of course, Britain pissed that all away last Thursday.
On Friday morning at 0600 I thought that a general election was an inevitability. However, having listened to the very sensible, insightful and rational Ken Clarke last night, I’m certain that is no longer “a good thing.”
Clarke’s theory is that with no credible, strong leaders for the Tories or Labour, UKIP will sweep up the Labour vote in the north-east and west Midlands, Lib Dems will rise in the south and south west, Scotland will be, well, Scottish and we’ll end up with an impotent hung parliament.
In the meantime, the Buffoon has gone to earth because he has no idea what to do while the Gurning Hippo continues to roger the British people with his Little Englander triumphalism in Brussels.
Oh well, we’re British…. let’s have a nice cup of tea.
I read last night that Rupert Murdoch is bank rolling Bojo’s rise to the top. Says it all really.
Ken Clarke also said MPs should not have to follow the referendum and parliament should vote on it.
Good man!
Superb summary superbly put. I despair!
Me too. x
Why were the remain camp too arrogant to see that this country may have voted to leave the EU? I am sick to the back teeth of hearing people throwing their toys out of the pram because it didn’t go their way. 17 million people in this country voted to leave, the majority. Please just get over it, we left and nothing is going to change.
It wasn’t the majority you stupid woman. It was a 3.8% majority on a 72% turnout. Can you do maths? No. If you haven’t got anything useful to say why don’t you shut up? You created this problem. Deal with the backlash. Did you think everyone was going to play nice with you? This IS democracy, deal with it. And what are you doing to fix the mess you helped get us into? Oh right, failing to do your maths and shouting at people. Well fucking done.
Please, you didn’t even vote. You have no say in the future of our country. As I said, 17 million voted to leave, the majority of the ones that voted. But you already knew what I was saying, you just chose to argue.
What the fuck are you talking about? I voted Jayne. Did you not read my post at all? What are you on crack cocaine.
Vey well put, I agree with most of your article, however I think Cameron played a blinder on Boris- who is clearly baffled by the result and without a shred of plan.
I also understand that the Blaire and Campbell’s PR companies are coordinating the mass resignation in the labour party, they can’t stop interfering in what the members have declared they want, a humane socialist opposition, and ultimately, government. http://www.thecanary.co/2016/06/28/truth-behind-labour-coup-really-began-manufactured-exclusive/
The thing that underlines it for me is the magical billions Carney popped in the sock drawer to stabilise the markets. Just imagine if the Tories had decided not to have Austerity and they and the banks had used this money to invest in the country and people. There wouldn’t have been ant need for a Brexit.
Are they really that dim or is this actually part of the plan I wonder. I could be being paranoid but I’m not entirely convinced.
Yes when he produced that promise it was outrageous, given the cuts we’re all experiencing.
You are not alone in your thinking you have articulated it in a way I never could 😉
Thank you. x
Reblogged this on The Greater Fool.
Thanks.
Actually Farage is elected. Its just he’s been elected to the European Parliament not the British one… Because the EU is actually a democracy (whatever the leavers might say)
Has he just done himself out of a job?
Don’t worry. There’s no danger he’ll starve…
I’ve done something.
I’ve made a petition – will you sign it?
Click this link to sign the petition:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/156314/sponsors/cNnaH97VjScPMzvLt2
My petition:
Instruct the PM not to sign Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to leave the EU
No elected party has a mandate from an election to invoke Article 50 and leave the EU. The recent referendum is advisory and not a mandate.
If the UK leaves the EU and agrees a trading deal similar to Norway it will still be bound by EU regulations and therefore have no control over immigration (sited as a reason to leave in the referendum). If the UK leaves the EU and fails to agree a trading deal like Norway it will be disastrous for UK trade and the economy. If the British Government invokes Article 50 Scotland may push again for independence and this will result in the break up of the United Kingdom.
Click this link to sign the petition:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/156314/sponsors/cNnaH97VjScPMzvLt2
Great. Will do.
Well done Katy, for such a fair, considered and balanced blog post. Your points resonate with my thoughts, but I’d like to share a couple of others, primarily for the same reason (to get it off my chest) as you wrote yours.
It’s already been suggested by Craig and Mountman that Cameron has actually rescued us by resigning. My initial reaction to his resignation was one of disappointment – not as a Tory voter or Cameron fan, but as a proud Brit living in the EU – that he didn’t have the back bone to carry through his promise of implementing the will of the people and activating article 50. My second thought was …Yes! …Genius! Since then I’ve moved back to being annoyed because he could have taken a leadership position and still not have activated article 50 until after parliamentary debate. But he didn’t and we have to move on.
You make the claim that Farage is not elected…but he is. He is an elected member of the european parliament. Along with 21 other UKIP members or nearly 30% of our elected representatives in Europe. No wonder a large portion of the Uk population don’t like what’s coming out of the EU – look at who you asked to represent you! Ah…what’s that you didn’t vote in the European elections? Along with 65% of the eligible citizens there has never been a high engagement, which probably explains the many comments about unelected officials. I’m angry with myself not to have seen this coming.
In this context it’s amazing that suddenly people care enough about the EU to achieve 72% turn out. But what about the other 28%? Do they really not care one way or another, or were they complacent bystanders thinking it wasn’t necessary to vote because there was no way we would vote out?
The one positive that I take from this is that across Europe I hope there will be a surge in engagement in the political process. If we don’t exercise our right to vote, then we really shouldn’t complain if we don’t get what we want.
I’m also angry at the incompetent remain campaign who totally failed to represent the goodness of the EU. Let’s face it, complex economic arguments are not the daily bread and butter of most people, whereas the leave campaign deftly won the emotional side of the argument. Who could not want to “take back control”? Oh, by the way we only said we “could” take back control, not that we would.
By a quirk of fate, I cannot vote in the country of my birth because I long ago took advantage of my right to live elsewhere. I cannot vote in the nation where I live, because I am not a citizen. Soon I will not be able to vote in Europe, because I will no longer be a citizen of Europe. Disenfranchised? That sums up how I feel. Do I suspect that the 1.2m other EU expats feel the same way? Quite strongly. Would their participation affect the referendum? Almost certainly.
I’m angry at the government, because they managed the country into this situation. Their (poorly run) remain campaign started in earnest just a few weeks before the referendum. Labour are complaining that Corbyn was too ambivalent – he was not alone. The campaign was run on opinions and points of view, it’s clear that negativity wins over in such an environment.
Oh, and I’m also angry at the self righteous leave voters who think we have already left and that remainers don’t have the right to feel angry and cheated and go on record on a personal blog about their reasons.
It turns out that I’m angrier at more things than I realised, so I apologise for hijacking your comments section. If you’ve read this far, thanks for your time.
If any leavers want to make a negative response, don’t bother, you live in a different reality and your emotions have no bearing on mine. If you want to share facts that will help remainers be wiser then please do so, but quote your verifiable source, otherwise it’s just your opinion.
AB
Do not apologise. Glad to have you here and you make valid points.
Well said AB!!!! x
I believe many Remainers are unhappy with the path the EU is taking even though they voted Remain and many Leavers would have remained if Juncker had given the slightest indication that the EU would consider reform. The EU did not expect the Brexit vote to win. Why can’t there be a strong politician who takes this opportunity to rally others in Europe who are dissatisfied and lobby for reform? There would then be potential for a win-win outcome for both sides.
I have no idea.
This is a post is a fair comment! Be fair to the out camp, people being called racist, stupid or worst still old thought there needed to be EU reform. Any in campaigner would agree (in my opinion) that there is and was a great need for negotiation on the EU side, they (the EU) came across as arrogant post referendum by not willing to even discuss any changes which made it critical to make a stance. Now many countries have agreed hat this is required but unfortunately it was too little too late.
*pre referendum
I’m sorry about people being unfair to the out camp, but maybe if those people in the out camp I have met didn’t be so patronising and insulting and dismissive it wouldn’t happen. What frustrates me is this ‘I’m right’ mentality which is often said in frankly insulting tones, and then if you answer back it’s ‘How dare you talk to me like that?’ If people want reasoned debate and discussion, let’s have it, but you don’t get to be rude and expect other people to suck it up. There is a need for reform, agreed. But it’s always easier to do it from the inside out rather than the outside in.
Hmm, this whole blog smacks of “I am right” rather than comments from myself along the lines of I get what you are saying but this is why I voted out. Maybe the very few people you have spoken too have that view and hats a shame but unless you speak to over 10% of the voters you would not get a demigrafic view.
As far as us negotiating within the EU, like I said, it was tried and we were ignored, that’s why it gave some weight to the argument around not having the powers we would like.
Sometimes in life when things are not working its best to let them go that’s doesn’t mean its the end its only the end of life as you knew it its a new start we don’t know the out come but as we always do we’ll find solutions we was never in the best situation to start with so all we can do is give it chance it could be the worst move or it could be the best only time will tell now that’s just my own opinion so don’t shoot me down because i respect you’re opinion xxx
Zamo. This whole blog is my personal blog. It reflects my personal views. My anger is against those who have been insulting and patronising. It is also against politicians. If you have a problem with it, you have the entire rest of the internet to go and play in. I am one woman and you seem to be here thinking that somehow I am the torch bearer for democracy. I’m not.
Agree that EU reform is necessary and we don’t want a federation. Are we better placed to make sure reform happens as a member where we have a voice or as a non-member where nobody will listen to us? But its a very valid point.
This is the best thing I’ve heard anyone say about the outcome of this referendum! Well put!
Thanks. x
People saying “we’ll just have to wait and see” easily qualifies for ninethly in my book.
How unemployed will they have to be, or how deep in mortgage arrears in their negative equity property before they get it?
I think we wait until we’re in the queues for cabbages and then we’ll be too weak to protest
Hi Katy,
Thanks for encapsulating everything I’ve been going through for the past few days (apart from feeling physically sick most of the time) so succinctly.
In case no-one has brought this to your attention previously
http://breentry.co.uk/
Thanks.
Reblogged this on S. Merlin Chesters and commented:
Fantastic article about Brexit and its consequences.
Thanks.
Very nice article. I might partially correct you in the ‘unelected’ part. The unelected on British soil are all British/English-born, which was basically the part that prompted the leave camp to win. As Cameron pointed out last night, the leave camp won because of immigration. Whether that is a reality or just a fantasy/fear made up by people does not really matter (I’ve seen Commonwealth citizens attacked in London, I mean…that has nothing to do with EU).
I ask you a favour though. Could you please point me to the link of that Twitter feed where all the racial or abusive attacks are reported? I’ve to report one too. Thank you!
@PostRefRacism Sorry you have to report something.
If you didn’t vote you have no right to make comments or blogs such as this suggesting that you did vote. It was our democratic right to vote, please just get over it. 17 million people wanted the same thing, are they all wrong? No, the people that voted out were just too arrogant to assume that we might just leave the EU.
Jayne. What are you talking about. I voted. And it’s my blog. I have the right to do anything I fucking want.
Shame you deteriorated into bad language that is when you lost my interest. Doesn’t anyone know how to debate without swearing. Unnecessary.
Irene. I don’t get this. Firstly, it’s my personal blog. You have literally the entire rest of the internet, all media, books and television and radio to choose from, but you came here, to do what exactly. I don’t care if you’re not interested in what I’ve got to say. frankly I’m baffled that you would be. Secondly, so what you’re saying is that if Stephen Hawking had said ‘fuck’ in his quantum string theory you would have been too bored to read further and dismissed anything else he had to say? It’s a good job that the world is not in your hands then frankly, isn’t it? In that one small line you have encapsulated a world of stupid. Now fuck off out of my blog.
Other people giving their opinion opinion again and you don’t like it?
And again? You were keen, weren’t you.
Other people giving their opinion opinion again and you don’t like it? Very sad
You aren’t even making any sense. I totally accept different opinions. I don’t accept abuse, stupidity or lies. Say something constructive, add to the debate but don’t criticise me for having an informed opinion.
Here again, Nick? Gosh.
Perfect. This should be compulsory reading for Brexiteers.
Thanks. x
Certainly should …/brilliant !
This is marvellous and should be published in every daily paper.
Thank you.
Great article ….what a pity the Brexiteers, none of them, even the reasonable semi-literates would have had the inclination or attention span or vocabulary to sit down and digest the facts. This is enlightened, informative, punchy and all in all a brilliant summary. My fear is that nobody who needs to read it will. But it feels good to sound off. Question is how do we get the semi-literate, Daily Hate Mail readers to lift their heads and look around ?
I fear that might involve medical procedures we cannot afford.
Ah here we go, name calling by Marjon saying that anyone who voted out must be stupid and then you, katyboo1 agree with the comments making you just as guilty of discrimination as the poster. Here is a fact. Racist hate crimes were happening at the same rate well before the referendum as they are after the referendum. The only difference now is that the left wing press are choosing to seek out these crimes and report them in order to meet their agendas.
Eric. They were not. They are up by 57% it’s being tackled in parliament as an emergency issue this week. I live in a diverse city. I’ve lived here for years. No problem with racism. Since Friday I’ve had a dozen people at least, including one of my own kids, experiencing racist attacks. Grow up and open your eyes.
Grow up you say!!! You agree with a poster who was labelling all leave voters as stupid. Explain the difference between calling a group of people stupid for their beliefs and someone being abusive to a group because of their colour. There is no difference
Eric. Go away.
This comment is showing you as generalising he out voters and makes you look childish. fair enough you are passionate about the outcome but generalisation is as ignorant as it get from both sides. In addition, do you have to be able to articulate and write to a standard to have a say, I am severely dyslectic, does that mean I am thick and so have a say?
Reblogged this on Sarah Irving and commented:
I’m too tired and angry and miserable to string many words together myself, but luckily someone else has basically done it for me:
Thank you. x
If I may suggest a ninethly: RUPERT MURDOCH
tenthly: LORD ROTHERMERE
eleventhly: BARCLAY TWINS
We have the greed and power lust of the media barons to thank for this debacle as much as, if not more than, anyone.
Truly unelected, unaccountable, offshore and ‘over there’…
Yes. Absolutely, and Murdoch is bank rolling Boris all the way
Fabulously written – absolutely bang on with every word!
Thanks. x
http://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/684002/Ross-Clark-comment-shameful-hatred-Leave-voters
sickening
Don’t you have a job to do? I’m a writer by the way. It’s my job. Why don’t you go away now Jayne?
A writer that writes and tells people to go away because they are giving an opinion? Good writer, I’d stop writing if I was you. All of this is BS
Nick. This is the fifth time you’ve been here. You are a keen little troll aren’t you? Guess what. There are over a thousand comments on this blog. A handful are abusive. There are plenty of people writing on here who don’t agree with me and whose opinions I’ve listened to perfectly rationally because that’s how reasonable people do it. You are literally saying nothing, over and over again. And, It’s my personal blog space and you came here of your own free will, so if you don’t like it, you can just as easily go away again. Goodbye.
I’m proud to say my 70 year old mother and 83 year old stepfather, 70 year old father and 92 year old grandfather voted to remain and my other grandfather who was a general in the second world war would have as well. You know why, because they are intelligent, don’t deal in fear and are not racist. My aunt, mother in law and stepmother voted to leave and you know why, because they’re racist and have admitted it. This is why I’m sickened by the leave voters. Not one could give me a reasoned argument as to why financially it makes better sense, so that leaves racism. The EU isn’t perfect but this was a terrible alternative. The racism that has been legitimised by this is disgusting.
What REALLY worried me on Friday was how many times I heard…..I voted out but didn’t think my vote would count! What did they think would happen!
I’m with you on your thinking.
It is a gigantic ‘face palm’ moment when you hear that. Literally makes me want to hit something.
The arguments are lost, noone listened – noone is still listening, we are talking to ourselves. However in the new reality everything is still fluid- we must get the best deal possible for progressive views in reduced circumstances. The most important thing is to listen to those who voted leave so we can work together to improve everyone’s lot not just those who had a good deal before brexit
I’m already campaigning for PR in the next election. I’m already doing in actual life. The internet is just for venting, Rosemary.
True, but to suggest after all that happened we should just be able to switch off our resentment, rather than need to let it out. Talking to each other is better than taking it out on people who didn’t vote based prejudice.
… and by prejudice I mean *their own* prejudice.
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Thanks.
Britain voted last Thursday to regain its sovereignty, not to make foreigners feel unwelcome in Britain. But it is an outrageous fallacy that Remain voters are somehow more full of humanity than those on the Leave side. On the contrary, the result has exposed some horrible attitudes towards older people. The people who are bigoted are not the over-65s who – in many cases after much agonising – came down in favour of Brexit but those who try to accuse them of “betraying” the young. Losing the referendum is no excuse for unleashing a tirade of hate.
Nobody is saying that here except you Jayne. All my anger is reserved for two types of people. Firstly those leave voters who are abusive, offensive and dismissive and who are not willing to dialogue and secondly the politicians. You have posted multiple times here, and yet every time it seems that you have totally failed to read what I have written. So why are you here? And as for a tirade of abuse against the elderly. I am dealing daily with people I love being affected by racist abuse being unleashed by the far right against my friends and neighbours, so you know. Horses for courses. I don’t approve of any hatred at all, but don’t preach to me.
Well said Jayne.
Gosh, Ruth, so you accept the fact that Jayne’s lies and failure to read my post are a good thing. Well done. You have said in three words what the usual leave rant does in several paragraphs. Have a medal.
Jayne: Negative comments about the old are based to some extent on voting statistics, but by and large the elderly are not being called vermin and told to go home. i an horrified by the xenophobia which has been given some sort of legitimacy by this leave vote. Perhaps read ( or reread) Schindler’s List.
I quote
“I didn’t vote for either, actually. And I am very grateful for your input and that you didn’t tell me I was stupid or to suck it up. Thank you. I appreciate your views, even though I don’t agree with them”
What exactly were you referring to then if you didn’t vote? And I have hunted high and low, before and after the referendum, and all I see are vile, rude and insulting comments from voters who wanted to remain. It’s now 6 days and it still continues. Get over it!
And you are talking shit about sovereignty. We already had sovereignty. Only 13% of our laws came from Brussels and we had the right of veto over every single one of them, and we didn’t use it. Although we did in over 2 and a half thousand other cases. Their recommendations regarding laws are advisory not mandatory, and if we didn’t have sovereignty they wouldn’t be waiting for us to trigger article fifty. But guess what, it’s part of our sovereign law, enshrined in our own UK constitution, so everyone waits for us. Not the other way round. If you’re going to comment multiple times, feel free, but do your home work.
Reblogged this on derfrick and commented:
Well said! Long but so so valid. Many of us feel as you do. I was really apalled by some of the Remainers who were already saying on Friday, “get over it we lost”. Well we have lost and not just the vote. We have lost our future forvyoung people and hopefully those rich peoplecwhomvotedvLeave will have lost too but I guess it is only a postponement of one of their cruises! Ironically the main losers will be those poor and disenfranchised who voted to rid their communities of immigrants. They were well and truly duped! And hatred of foreigners has been given a platform as never before! Britain First and BNP are now growing in power!
Thanks for the reblog.
Excellent blog. You have covered all the big issues with a fine understanding.
Thank you for commenting. x
Katyboo1 you are a typical lefty, you know absolutely nothing about the real world and when someone who doesn’t fit the lefts profile of a leave voter turns up on your blog and offers intelligent debate you tell them to go away and applaude your ignorant supporters who vent their anger at losing a referendum by generalising all leave voters as stupid bigots, oh the irony. Good luck with your self congratulating blog, I am sure it helps you to sleep more peacefully in your bed at night.
Excellent piece. Sums up my own feelings exactly. Thanks.
Thank you for commenting. x
What a mash up! I’ve never been politically minded, always thought they were all the same once they got power! I voted to stay in the EU, I love travelling in Europe and we’re still part of it, but the travel will now be more expensive. I love all the immigrants who work in Britain, we couldn’t do without them, especially in the NHS. There have been immigrants peacefully living and integrating in British society throughout my lifetime, and I’m nearly 70. We fear the far right at the moment, but the fear will pass, give it time. The EU was becoming too beaurocratic, too many rules, too many political buffoons, but you can’t change it if you’re not in it. Maybe it will fold now and some other political organisation will take over. Maybe it will be more global and environmentally friendly. Give it time.
I hope we can hang on long enough. x
I too was upset at the way in which the run-up to the referendum was conducted. I posted my views on the result on facebook to get them off my chest in the hope I could ‘move-on’. Unfortunately, I don’t seem able to just yet. My post is copied here:
June 15 at 9:56pm
“To say I am disappointed in the EU Referendum result is an understatement, and here are my reasons.
When taken as a percentage of the 46,501,241 people eligible to vote, 37.5% voted to leave the EU, whilst a very close 34.7% voted to remain. The rest, 27.8% of the electorate, were apparently so satisfied with the current membership of the EU, or didn’t sufficiently care one way or the other, that they didn’t bother to vote. Assuming these ‘non-voters’ were, by default, happy to stay in the EU, the percentage of the electorate wishing to remain was actually 62.5%!
How can it be fair that just 37.5% of the 46,501,241 electorate can make such a momentous decision about the future of Britain on behalf of the other 62.5%?
Whilst Cameron (can’t stand the man!) did a reasonable job of trying to convince the electorate to vote ‘Remain’, Jeremy Corbyn (can’t stand him either!) might as well have been invisible as he failed miserably to put over the case for ‘Remain’.
And as for Boris, it seems he sacrificed the future of the British people in order to further his political ambitions to get the key to No.10. As for the rest of the Leave camp, they have admitted, albeit after the event, that (i) the £350,000,000 figure on the side of the campaign bus, claiming to be the amount the UK paid to the EU each week, was wrong after all, (ii) that they never promised to reduce immigration, and (iii) didn’t promise to spend the £350,000,000 of EU money on the NHS after Brexit! I think it’s a bit late now to make such admissions, particularly as all of these issues were huge influences in the way people voted.
In conclusion, just over one third of the electorate voted to leave the EU, their decision based on either prejudice or misleading facts, whilst the rest of us look on in disbelief that this could possibly be happening. I have signed the petition to have a second referendum, and this time I hope it will be based on truthful facts and figures. Rant over……”
Thank you for sharing your post. x
Very happy thank you.
The sheer arrogance of some of the comments on here should give you some idea as to why so many people voted to leave the EU. You so easily dismiss them as ignorant racist Daily Mail readers. The same arrogance displayed by our politicians and by the EU Commission.
You’re obviously an intelligent woman..did you even bother to look at both sides of this argument, I mean to look beyond the Boris and Gove, the Blair and the Cameron. I personally found it very difficult to find unbiased commentary on the issue. The person that settled it for me was Daniel Hannan, a sitting conservative MEP. Please take 5 minutes to watch his address to the Oxford Union, it’s on youtube. That’s the reason that I voted to leave, not because I can’t tie my own shoelaces or because I don’t like the Polish.
I can understand your anger at the result but please don’t be so dismissive of the people who voted to leave. Our politicians have handled this disastrously, the EU has been, and is, totally intransigent. You should be looking to them if you wish to apportion blame. The EU is a hamstrung, moribund institution. If they wish to survive they will have to implement the sort of changes that we tried to negotiate for ourselves..too late for us unfortunately.
Steve. Yes, I did look at both sides of the argument. I did weeks and weeks of research. I looked at all the non partisan information I could find, as well as expert opinions from things like the Fisheries commission when I didn’t know what they were talking about. I looked at everything I could get my hands on. I’m sorry, I did look at Daniel Hannan and I just don’t buy it. My problem is that the majority of the problems we have, to my mind, stem from an austerity government and their desire to pander to big business at the expense of ordinary people, and Daniel Hannan stands to make a fortune from all of this. It speaks volumes to me that after announcing he could do nothing about border controls, he deactivated his Twitter account to ‘have a rest’. I appreciate that the EU is not perfect and is under massive strain, but in my opinion we were better off in, so we could do something to fix it. I am sad that many people representing us at the table in the EU were UKIP politicians who had no vested interest in supporting change. Think about what Farage could have done for the fishing trade if he’d have turned up for more than two meetings when he had the chance to actually ‘do’ something rather than posture on the Thames. It makes me weep. And he could have done something. Last year, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall took his fight for the fishermen to Europe through the European Courts and changed legislation in our favour, upping fishing quotas for our industry. Why couldn’t more of this happen?
Well said!! I Am fully expecting there to be reform for other countries as a result of this referendum, shame the uk had to make it happen and in turn splitting the country but someone had to make a stand..
Jayne – puzzled as to why you appear to be stating that katyboo1 did not vote? I assume your comment is aimed at her? The difficulty with relying upon the result of the referendum as a basis for constitutional reform is that the result is too narrow. The odious Nigel Farage stated that a 52% to 48% vote in favour of remain would be insufficient (and indeed the second referendum petition was instigated by a leave supporter when he thought that would be the likely result). What is sauce for the goose works for the gander.
Hi Katy, thanks for expressing many people’s feelings. I am not a poet but have written one to express mine… its called “Well done you Brexits”
Well done you Brexits look what you’ve done, You voted emotion and sadly it won.
Well done you Brexits you created a mess. Could it be that you were a little careless?
Well done you Brexits did you have a clue, what your little vote would ultimately do?
Perhaps you did not understand,
the lies being weaved by your Brexit man.
Did you take time to know the EU?
and all the good things it does for you.
You can’t be blamed with the media zoo,
It became so hard to see what was true.
Was it let’s bash Tory’s, banks and corporates too,
and while we’re at it lets leave the EU.
If that’s the case the drum has been struck,
now help us all get out of the muck.
Please don’t stay ignorant you can’t blame that poor immigrant.
He’s here to help create the wealth to pay the taxes for your pensions and health.
If it’s more democracy you crave, know by leaving we lose the ability to make them behave.
Change has to start from within so if there is a way help us get back in.
Please find a way to understand how best we can salvage and save this land.
So you have won, now please don’t be proud,
Please help us reunite and lift up this shroud.
Thanks Ang. Great poem. Thank you for sharing it.
You got it all in eight. Although I think it comes down to one thing – jingoism with absolutely no future plan.
Like you I am not surprised at the emergence of the right wing it was a clear and obvious risk.
The whole thing is deeply upsetting and the future is extremely uncertain.
Yep. Sadly.
Having read this blog from beginning to end I can only but agree with the excellent reasoning and sound balanced thought. If only the same degree of thought had been given to the consequences of the Brexit referendum before the vote. I have lost count of the number of vote leavers who are now saying that they didn’t really appreciate what they were signing up for.
Thanks Chris.
I am glad you find leave voters who are having second thoughts. All the Leave voters I know still seem confident of being right and not swayed by anything that is happening. One even remarked that he could see it was a mess but: “He would rather be in a sinking ship than on a pirate ship”. I had no words to respond to that.
No. I wouldn’t have been able to find any words for that either.
Katy, I love this post, and the effort that you’ve put into it, and the sentiments that it expresses. A friend of mine shared it on facebook and that’s how I found you. I too never thought that the Leave camp would really win. I didn’t think that people would be so misguided as to vote Leave, or at least, not in a majority. Oh, I get it, I get that this was an emotional response and a protest vote for many (we’ll leave out the (hopefully) minority of true racists and bigots for now), but I’m still amazed that people don’t realise that voting has consequences – you don’t vote for something that serious without thinking about it. Of course, the vast majority of people don’t have the inclination or the wits to form a properly informed opinion, and that’s fine; I’m not putting them down, as this is a complex subject. But, to pick one, “don’t trust the experts” was (and is) downright stupid. Who do you turn to when something is too complex? Experts, of course. When you need your car fixed, do you trust the first guy with a spanner, or do you seek and expert (and trusted) opinion?
Anyway, enough of the rant. What I hope is that some good will come out of this, as I’m not blind to the fact that the EU is not perfect, but it’s still the best and most ambitious pan-European (ironically) project since.. maybe ever. We (Europeans) need to make it work.
Disclaimer: I am French, and have lived here in the UK for nearly 30 years.
Hi Philippe, thanks for your comment. x
ninthly?
http://www.centreforwelfarereform.org/news/uk-in-breachhuman-rights/00287.html#.V3Ky2XGX3mE.twitter
God, yes.
I couldn’t agree more
Thanks.
Fair enough that’s your view and opinion which I can respect … here’s mine in march next year our police and military come under eu control. . If we talk about jobs etc.. how about all the fishing fleets we lost in the cod wars to the eu.. for every 3 pounds we give we get 1 back.. how about tescos advertising in Poland for warehouse workers but not here .. how about the school on crewe where the teacher left the room and the romainians locked the door told the male kids to kiss their shoes or they’d rape the girls .. by the way the police did nothing .. that’s why I voted out .. that’s some of my reasons .. yes the majority won but would you have a second vote if the remain won .. somehow I don’t think so .. Blair brown and Cameron lied about imigration that’s why some voted the way they did but I looked deeper and the good for getting out for me out weighed the bad .
The fishing fleets issue could have been dealt with if Farage had ever turned up to the meetings. Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall did more for our fishing market last year and he’s a television chef for God’s sake, and as for your racist comments, take them elsewhere. And by the way, immigration won’t change, the majority of our immigrants are from outside the EU and the rest, well, we will establish close ties with the EU to trade through the EEA or single market and they both demand freedom over borders. Go away now.
Perhaps reassuring that not only others feel the same way but also that we have come to the same conclusion on a broad range of points.
I just want the madness to end. The idea of a both a second referendum or government overriding the vote seems to be shot down. Cameron insisting “The vote was decisive”. I don’t know I would call a 4% difference decisive. As long as this seems like a big mistake I won’t give up hoping somehow it will be overturned but the longer it goes on the more damage it may cause. The powers that be seem intent to find excuses to delay.
I particularly like your similar feeling about the sound bytes “We just need to pull together”. So many sentiments being tossed around without being backed up by any specifics.
Yes, all fur coat and no knickers as my mum used to say.
Bravo, you nailed it. I’d like to contact you but cannot find your email. Any chance you can email me?
Thanks. I will contact you.
Pretty well nailed it…
Thanks.
The anger from the “Leave” voters is aimed at those who assume we are racist, perhaps put no thought into our votes or somehow regret our decision.
I’ve not met one leave voter who regrets voting leave. Far from it.
While I understand your logic Re: Lords, The Queen etc, that is not the same as the commisioner system in Brussels and it’s a little disengenuous to equate them so equally.
I want the Queen and Lords gone AS WELL. Most UK Republicans do. If we get the chance to vote them gone – many will vote those out as well. Did you think we wouldn’t?
Your argument on this issue seems: “Here’s a little bit of democracy. Just the EU for now – However, unless you can somehow manage a complete demographic take over of all institutions such as the House of Lords and The Queen you’d be a hypocrit to vote for it”
I’m not sure that makes any sense. Was the removal of these undemocratic institutions ever going to by anything other than piecemeal? There was always going to be a first – wasn’t there. It’s the EU, and that’s a fantastic start.
Another issue here is that the EU is bankrupt . It’s debt burden rises year on year and much of this debt is the result of mis management and lies (The Portugese and Greek national debt to GDP ratio being among the biggest)
My final point (I have many more, but not the time right now) – we got into the Common Market on a referendum. It was a good enough process then. Now, apparently it’s not?
What’s changed?
We elect MEPs. Sadly most of ours were UKIP MEPs who had no vested interest in fighting our cause. We won our right to veto over two thousand times. We lost 56 times. Ordinary people can raise issues with the EU, they can’t in our parliament unless their MP is willing to take it up for them. We’re bankrupt too. We were, as of Friday morning £1.6 trillion in debt and it’s rising at £5k per second.
Great article – well done. You’ve addressed the main points and summarised what many of us (including the effin’ “regret” brigade) actually think.
Up here in Scotland and looking on in horror – and although all our regions voted Remain, I’m still embarrassed that 38% of us voted Leave.
Keep up the good work and all the best from the new republic of Jockland
Good luck in Scotland! x
The only constructive answer I’ve had for a good rationale for why people voted leave is one my friend gave yesterday. But even then, there’s a lot of pitfalls. She thinks it’s good that the pound will get weaker because then more people will want to invest when we’re suddenly more reasonably priced. But the cost of doing that seems too high, flooding our market with shoddy products that receive a huge tax mark up. Plus, we don’t have much by way of exports, all our income is in computing or finance and those jobs are already so difficult to get (you need experience but can’t be overqualified. What?!).
Before when I asked for the reason that wasn’t xenophobic, I got a lot of people jumping on my back ‘for calling them racist’. But from what I can tell, they’re unhappy with our government and have been for decades. Leaving the EU won’t change that, it will just make our government continue to sell off all it can with no restrictions (like the one stopping Murdoch from only having 20% of our media outlets) … we’ve already had so much sold off, what else is there? When they’ve sold off our entire country so they can have more money, what happens then? Already our citizens can’t afford the basics with homelessness and food banks on the rise.
I think when we point this out to those who voted leave, they hear what they weren’t looking for before the vote, and it makes them uncomfortable.
As for those abstaining, I know some felt like they just did not know enough to be able to make an informed decision. For some who voted leave, they were told to by their families. That’s where the regret has come from in a lot of instances, and I prefer that people abstain from a lack of real information than voting leave because their brother said to.
Thank you for this blog post. It has a lot of things I’ve been saying since before the vote x
Thoughtful comment. Thank you for taking the time to share it.
This could have been written by me, it sums up my thoughts perfectly
Thanks xx
Thanks
Only one quibble, and it is very minor. Please don’t say you are not indulging in hate-speech and then use the term ‘fuckwit’.
Hate speech is hate speech if it against a minority group for the purposes of inciting violence. It doesn’t count for politicians.
Great comments on Brexit – we will have to measure time as BR and
Enjoyed this Katy. I feel angry too
Thanks.
Do they need a plan? It’s pretty obvious that alot of people are in desperate times and If you are really honest with yourself, can it really get any worse?
Food banks are becoming the norm, the astronomical rent prices, The national average wage is a joke and then there is the minimum wage. The cost of travel is out of control so even if you do manage to save some money on rent by moving miles away from where you grew up you end up spending the money you had saved on travel.
I’m glad that people voted out and Ill be happy to watch it all burn to the ground so that maybe one day something better can come out of it.
Do I care if gdp goes down? No
Do I care if London becomes less desirable to foreign investment? No
Does someone that has to spend two thirds of their wages on rent worry about the freedom to move when they can just about afford to move around their own country? No
You only ever read comments from the articulate middle class who feel they have been so injusticed, when in reality they have no idea of the daily struggles people are having to go through.
And you only ever hear from the lesser educated or down right racist people from the leave side.
The bureaucratic European system is not working for alot of people in Europe
So get off your high horse.
Kevin. All of this is thanks to an austerity government. An austerity government that was sitting on £250 billion pounds in savings, which is now being spent to stop our economy tanking instead of where it really belongs, which is funding social housing, hospitals and schools. What you have done, is given our austerity government carte blanche to continue doing this, but cut off all access to grants and funding from the EU, including the billion pounds a year that was propping up the Cornish infrastructure, and ditto Wales. There is no money for them. Nor is there any money for the £111 billion pounds a year the leave campaign promised to sink into Britain. Our government is directly in the pocket of people like Rupert Murdoch, who don’t give a shit what happens to the poor because as long as the 1% get their money everyone can go hang. You have facilitated more of this. Well done. So if anyone wants to get off their high horse, I suspect it might be you. As for comments from the middle class, what do you have? A crystal ball. I’m not middle class and I don’t live in London because like many other people, I can’t afford to. Just like I can’t afford now to send my children to university, which I got because of universal grants. Well done. Well done. Ride around a bit longer.
It can get an awful lot worse. Especially for those already hard hit. The really annoying factor with the “lets all pull together now and work it out” mantra is the assumption that “we” have any control over this. What we think is irrelevant. What matters is what the rest of the world thinks, because that is what controls our economic prosperity. Not the unreasonable optimists blathering about freeing our economy. The world has looked at our prospects in the light of BREXIT and reacted. Badly. In economics the US has demonstrated unequivocally that big is better. The world has noticed, and economies are aggregating across the globe. We just voted to at best become politically powerless in Europe, or at worst to become a very small fish in a global meat grinder up against China, India the US and the forming south american trade block. Why the hell invest here?
Well if you wan’t to blame someone, blame Blair, his Government signed the Maastricht treaty in 1993 which began to create ever closer union. The fact is the people were never asked and such a decision that slowly eroded our ability to self govern should have been taken by the people via a referendum at that time. The reason so many middle age/ elderly voted leave is because they remember what the EEC was created for and what the EU has become. They voted for an economic community not a political union and since then have never had a say weather they agreed with it or not. Until UKIP became popular no other political party offered a choice regarding the EU so their voices could not be heard through the ballot box. So in my opinion the leave voters are not to blame for the remainers anger, it is the politicians who have consistantly failed to engage with the public. Had there been a referendum in 93 we likely would have voted no.
Did I say they were? The anger in my post is specifically at leave voters who react in certain ways, and the rest of my anger is at the government.
Feel exactly the same. I believe this government caused most of the problems we have in this country and that the EU was blamed due to lies and deceit.
Thanks. x
Amanda. No I don’t like where it’s going because nobody is steering it. I might feel better if they did. Democracy as I keep saying to the terminally stupid is a PROCESS, what don’t you understand about that? You know what? I did weeks and weeks of research before the referendum, non partisan sources, partisan sources, academic papers, economic theory, history of the EU. I did it all. I listened to everything. What’s your point? The vote was based on lies, Amanda. It was based on falsehoods from both sides so pretty much, turn out is irrelevant, and yes I know that the Tories got in last time on a 24% majority, doesn’t mean they represent the will of the majority or I don’t fight against what they stand for. How about you not being so rude? What fascinates me is rude people who are rude to you and then tell you off for being rude. Well done. That’s you. And people are hurting because of the austerity government, not the EU. You predict SMEs will flourish. You have no evidence none at all. You hope, and that’s a different thing. And as for the fifth largest economy, we’re not any more. Please do rush back with your fascinating insights. I can hardly wait. I’m not bitter, I’m furious, and yet, I still get off my arse and do something, not just something to see if we can stop this, Amanda, something more long term, something that is actually beneficial to the country.
Thank you so much for writing this. It sums up exactly how I feel. Might I correct a couple of small errors, though? Farage is of course an elected member of the European Parliament – the same European parliament that elected Juncker and the other commissioners, who many assume are unelected and simply appointed. I think you meant to write ‘equity markets’, instead of annuities market (although annuities have got more expensive for those soon to retire). As an aside, it is worth noting that it is misleading to look at the FTSE100 index to gauge the effect of Brexit on UK industry – the FTSE 100 is made up of the 100 largest companies listed in London, they don’t have to be British companies. Indeed, a lot of the British companies within the FTSE 100 have substantial operations and earnings outside of the UK. A better bellwether for the state of UK industry is the FTSE 250. The £250bn headline number that Mr Carney waved around is a bit misleading. It’s not available to buy assets such as equities or Gilts as part of a wider QE program. It is simply an amount of liquidity that is made available to the banking sector. Perversely, this liquidity is actually borrowed from the banking sector and simply moved from one institution to another if required. Liquidity facilities like this are alway available to the banking sector in more or less an unlimited size. It’s what a central bank does. The £250bn number was, I suspect, inserted into a press release to demonstrate how seriously the Bank were taking things and to re-assure the world that nobody senior at the Bank would be taking the day off on Friday!
Thanks Rob.
Great blog. I can’t believe these so called patriotic little Englanders have voted to destroy the country they say they love. But then again I can. It’s called ressentiment (a sociological term which means ‘a psychological state resulting from suppressed feelings of envy and hatred which cannot be satisfied’). Yes, sorry I am one of those ‘know it all experts’ you leavers have all that ressentiment against. Though I’m not from a wealthy background, and I worked very hard to get a moderately stable life, and now you leavers have destroyed that, and the future of my child. And now we have to also worry about race hatred. And the rise of the far-right, and our political parties imploding. What really galls me though is they way leavers either complain that they didn’t know what they were doing, or that we remainers are mean to them. Good grief.
Good grief indeed.
Reblogged this on Panoply and commented:
I rarely, if ever, post political or world event thoughts on this blog. This is my place to discuss writing, books, creativity, and general geekiness. But I can’t remember ever having agreed so strongly with a blog post, so today I’m sharing this one.
Thank you.x
Thank _you_ for saying it so eloquently.
Thanks, Katy – I could not have put your thoughts any better myself, this is how I feel 100%.
Thank you. x
The best.
Thanks.
Oh typical In lies. We’ll have to pay MORE because we won’t get the rebate, and I’m not sure if we’d get the grants (do Norway?). 😉
No. You pay the SAME. If you follow Norway, you don’t get access to grant funding or money for infrastructure etc. So NO. What are you even actually saying. It will cost us more because our government will have to find extra money for things, like the fact that Cornish and Welsh officials have already written to parliament asking for security of funding. But yeah. Typical in lies.
Well the Eu is not entirely blame free is it? It’s inability to act on concerns regarding many issues and it’s inability to listen. The Eu has a one direction aim of economic and political union that many don’t want even other EU members are uncomfortable with it. I wonder about your concerns over the amount UKIP MEP’s not doing their job, the fact is they were voted in as Mep’s to do exactly what they have done, leave the EU. Is it not more of a case that nobody in the remain camp really cared enough until this referendum decision to actualy get involved before and did’nt think the leave vote would win. Their is one thing I do agree with you on and that is the farcicle way all politicians have acted since the referendum, it is disgusting and extreemly selfish to put party politics before the need of the country. Also the feeling works both ways, I too am angry with the accusations of the remainers that I did not research information so therefore I must be a xenaphobic, racist little Englander.
Nobody is saying the EU is perfect Fred, but if you want to invest in infrastructure, the only people doing that are doing so with EU grants.
I didn’t get to vote (on a technicality) but prior posted on FB articles to give better insight to people as I felt the vote would go either “stay” through scaremongering or “go” through anti refugee policy. I started out impartial, I do agree that one way or another we were being led up the garden path. My issue is all I kept getting pushed down my throat was the impact on trade we would incur if we left and beyond that not much else, I found going forward the “stay” argument was weak and the “leave” argument was getting stronger. I felt publicly both campaigns were poor slanging matches true to political form but on the internet the evidence was stronger again for “leave”. For me it boils down to how we are being systematically being destabilized in terms our assets and industry and the laws imposed by Europe that govern us and most importantly the fact we haven’t been able to veto barely any of those laws in the last couple of decades no matter who we had in government. I firmly believe people on both sides are either blindsided or not aware to the degree on both arguments. The backlash regarding the result frankly is appalling, non constructive and I believe inaccurate, I mean who is really qualified to say what comes next. Convince me the majority who voted were wrong because nothing before or so far has strengthened any argument to “remain”
Hi Ashley. You know we have used our veto 2146 times since we got it? You know we have lost 56 times. You know that of the 13% of laws we have in our constitution from the EU we had to accept them all and enshrine them in our law because we have sovereignty and their words are only advisory? You do know that the reason we had terrible representation was because not one single UKIP MEP made any effort to protect our interests because they wanted the EU to look shitty? That Nigel Farage turned up twice when he was fisheries minister for the EU, and yet last year, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, a television chef, took the fishing industries needs to the EU as a private citizen and got their quotas increased? We are systematically being destabilised by an austerity government who panders to the 1% and not the 99%. Nobody is qualified to say what comes next, but someone should be taking charge, and they’re not because none of them want to leave.
Thankyou for the reply Katy, I think the veto thing got me rattled, have you seen:https://youtu.be/gILTIDr4Ra8 ? Even with the internet are we more informed or less? Farage! Don’t even get me started on him (insert swearword here) people like him I hope only represent a miniscule few, wish there was a better way people could of expressed there discontentment of the state of affairs in the UK than this referendum. I don’t know if “leave” was the answer but maybe just maybe it might “shake” up the establishment into looking after our interests better.
I’ll look. Thanks for posting the links.
Interesting reading. Like so many Remains you are unwilling to accept that more people wanted to leave than remain and those leavers are now being branded as ignorant and racist.
My blame for the current chaos lies with the current government who, having used the promise of a referendum to win the election have blindly carried on in the assumption that the Remain vote would win, They had no contingency plans for a way forward if things did not work out their way. Cameron having pushed his party into the situation promptly bails out and leaves the Government flailing about.
We. as a country, have been failed by our Government both before, in negotiating with EU, and after the referendum.
Yes, I accept the vote is only advisory but how can you chose to go against the advice of the majority of voters who have opted to leave.
And lets not kid ourselves, this country has not been flourishing within the EU and there is no reason to assume it will be any worse, indeed it may well be much better off out of it.
Please note that I have managed to write all of this without name calling or swearing, pretty good for and ignorant racist don’t you think.
Ann, please do come here and generalise about exactly the sort of person I am. It makes your arguments sound so much more cogent and intellectually thought out, as does your total failure to understand how percentages break down and what the word ‘most’ means. My blame too, lies with the current government. It lies with an austerity government who have been shafting the working class for the last six years while people let them because they’re too busy blaming Brussels and sitting on their arses to do anything about it. And I never called you an ignorant racist. You assume much, say little, and avoid facts. Spectacularly well done. And if you don’t like swearing then don’t read my fucking blog. Nobody has a gun to your head.
My apologies, I was not clear in my previous posting. I should have said that the majority of people who had bothered to vote.
It is apparent from previous responses on your blog that you are only happy with people making comments if they are in agreement with you, a rather egotistical blog obviously and one which I shall distance myself from.
I also am amused to note that the only time you swear in your responses is when you are addressing someone with opposing views to you, an interesting psychological phenomenon
That’s because, Ann, I am hoping you will fuck off. My gaff, my rules. I don’t need your approval or your cod psychology and I’ve been blogging for ten years and I swear all the fucking time. I love how you are so wise after literally reading one blog post. Are you running for prime minister, because I believe the post is vacant at the minute. Now take your po faced smug twattery and stick it up your fucking arse. Psychologise that. And no I’m not ignorant. I’m a postgraduate. Fuckity bye.
One thing I’ve noticed over the last 4 decades of elections is that our government only ever represents a minority of the possible total vote. At the last election the tories won with 37% of the vote share on a 67% turnout equating to being voted in by 25% of the voting population.
There’s been alot of talk about democracy but we have ducked the issue of our current system lacking in that area because the 2 main parties are scared of it.
To my mind we wouldn’t be where we are, talking about being shafted by this party or that if we actually had a system that meant parties had to work together for the good of the country as a whole. During the last coalition we had an opportunity to start moving in that direction but failed abjectly to take it.
For me in or out of the European Union (not the Common Market that as a nation we DID vote to join) has been an argument of perceived control. Well either way in Britain the majority don’t have that perception and are unlikely to ever get it in our current system.
You’ve all been angry (and rightly so) long before this referendum came around and what I see now is made worse by that anger. BREXIT campaigner Gisele Stuart said it was about taking back control and being able to vote a government out. I say it needs more than that, it needs being able to have a government that represents a majority. I don’t think you’d be where you are now if Britain had taken that rare opportunity to change something that was broken during the coalition.
I’m campaigning for Proportional representation in the next election. I wanted it last time. Maybe someone will listen this time.
M templeton: Jeremy Hunt has already spoken of need for ratification once negotiation is concluded. EU may force Article 50 (unwisely) before negotiating an alternative, but if a ratification vote was conclusive to remain, rejecting the true leave terms, how could they not respect the clearly expressed will of the peopled to remain? So for now.. Hunt seems to by your guy
Brilliant summing up of the status quo – couldn’t agree more. Our government and the labour party (and I am very glad I have never voted for either of them) are both in free fall and we must be a laughing stock across the world, Truly pathetic.
Awful isn’t it?
Love this! Absolutely spot on
Thank you. x
Do you feel better now you have effectively slagged off half the British population ?
What exactly are you expecting it to achieve.
Your hand wringing may be heart felt, but it’s utterly pointless.
All you achieve is to perpetuate and deepen the bitterness and divisiveness that was such a factor in the entire Brexit campaign. From BOTH sides I might add.
Ann is quite right about how appallingly derogatory and aggressive the ‘remain’ side has been to anyone who might have voted to ‘leave’.
Without having any idea [beyond some sweeping generalisations] of why they voted as they did.
And you can’t just sweep those remarks aside with an.. ‘well it wasn’t me’.
That’s just a cop out.
Instead of complaining that no one seems to know what to do next, and saying that when others come up with ideas you will follow.. why not make some suggestions yourself.
Otherwise you are not adding to the solution or even the conversation.. merely complaining about everyone else.
Or here’s an idea.. it’s a big world.. if you don’t like the boat.. get out of it.
There are plenty of places you can go.
Oh gosh Jo, thanks for not reading properly. It seems to be a great trait in those who want to come here to slag me off for something you actually chose to read. How about the fact that i joined the Electoral Reform society and am campaigning for proportional representation so that people actually feel they are being listened to and their vote really counts? You mean that sort of thing? Or do you mean standing for two hours in the rain last night in a coming together against the hatred that threatens to divide our city with both people on the leave and remain side and talking civilly to both of them? Or do you mean my ongoing campaigning to hold those who fund the NHS to account for shutting four of my local doctor’s surgeries since Christmas and being successful enough to get them investigated by NHS England. How about funding school libraries and teaching children to read? Do you mean things like that? The things I do every day, or do you mean my new campaign to save my adult education centre being closed down, and the Eid celebration I’m attending next week to support the local muslim community who are currently under attack. Oh, and the regular peace campaigning against the atrocities in Syria? Perhaps you mean the campaigning for political education to be in the school curriculum. I’m a bit confused as to exactly what you mean. No. I can see why I’m not doing anything to be part of the solution. Yes. Yes. It’s definitely me that’s part of the problem. And do you not see the massive FUCKING irony in accusing someone of dealing with sweeping generalisations when it is clear that you have no fucking clue what you’re talking about? Get back on your high horse and trot round for a bit.
And please do your maths. I haven’t even remotely slagged off half the population, but you know, as their elected spokesperson and generally superior person, do carry on talking absolute rubbish, just do it somewhere else.
Jo I think this is a waste of time, I feel that Katyboo1 is unwilling to listen to anyone but herself I am getting off of this blog line as all you get from her is abuse and bad language if you have a different view to her
There are over 1000 comments on this blog. Some of them disagree with me. The ones that aren’t abusive, patronising or insulting, I respond to in kind. The rest, I treat with the same amount of respect as you show me. What were you hoping for? you basically, in patronising terms call me a stupid, delusional liar and hope that because you’ve shoved in a few facts that aren’t even facts that I’m going to suddenly be nice to you? You start. You are here as my guest. You don’t have to read it. I don’t even understand why you did. You have said nothing of any value or worth and you expect me to respect you why? Respect is earned. You didn’t earn it and now you get to go away. Take your toys and your sense of moral superiority and go away. Take Jo with you.
Ric:
The money for EU grants comes from the contribution we give the EU – along with Germany, France, etc.
The REASON those grants arrive, is because the UK government is not WILLING to do it instead.
Read that again:
If those areas/projects were not needing funded, they would not have received funding.
For that contribution, the UK also gained something like a trillion pounds worth of free trade – free of any red tape, customs, forms, or indeed anything else as long as it was packed, created and shipped in accordance with EU laws.
Unlike Norway for instance – which needs to follow ALL the same EU laws, plus they also have to contribute… but get NOTHING back whatsoever, including a rebate or any EU funding.
In other words: Norway has to fund its OWN deprived areas, contribute almost the same per-capita, follow all relevant EU laws, plus they do not get a vote with the EU Parliament.
Do you honestly believe the Government will just take that £350m a week it sends to the EU and put it straight into its budget?
We get back all of it – all but £9m per week – in rebates and EU funding anyway! Hell – £350m per week is .5% of the UK budget anyway.
The UK gains and loses more than that per DAY on the Pound Sterling to Euro and Pound Sterling to Dollar exchange rate every single day anyway.
Check that again:
The amount we send to the EU, less rebate and EU funding back PER YEAR is less than the amount of the UK budget value across the world’s markets from just exchange rates alone. In other words: if you asked the UK budget in dollars or Euros, it would vary more than the entire EU net contribution from one day to the next just from the exchange rate.
The net EU contribution is nothing. It’s picayune. It’s less than 1/8 of the profit MCDONALDS made in 2015 – let alone the UK budget.
Hell, the GROSS EU contribution is only 12 times larger than McDonald’s profits – without any rebate whatsoever.
You know: the UK has the 3rd largest set of ELECTED MEPs in (like – Nigel Farage, for instance!) in their “unelected” Parliament.
Did you vote for the leader of your country?
No. The TORY LEADERS vote for the leader of the country.
If I hear one more time, “Unelected EU”, and “our elected leader” one more time, I may start getting upset.
You did not pick the Prime Minister any more than any other voter.
He was chosen the same way the EU leader is:
BY PARLIAMENT – an ELECTED Parliament.
Which MEP did you vote for, if you don’t like their policies?
The UK wins 86.7% of the EU votes it placed in 2015. Hell, the year before it won 95%.
If the Tories won 86.7% of votes in Parliament, everyone without a hereditary title or an income in the upper 6-digits would be in sackcloth and ashes, digging out their local MP’s vegetable rows with sticks, making them ready for planting…
The EU would not allow the UK to continue trading with the EU freely without allowing free movement.
There are more UK residents living in the EU, than EU residents living in the UK.
But none of the Leavers want to hear that. Or they do not care.
My opinion? It’s a harsh one.
If a cause is supported by a great number of racists, and they support it BECAUSE they are racists, and others support the same cause for entirely different reasons – even when faced by others telling them the cause it largely (NOT TOTALLY) racist in nature: if they then choose to support it regardless, because THEY are not racist –
Does that make it more “right” if the largely racist cause wins… if you are supporting it for a totally racist reason?
People keep telling me, “It’s nothing like the Nazis – people were told in Germany that it was all about (X), or (Y) – they did not support it because they were going to kill all the Jews, and homosexuals, and Catholics, and Romany Gypsies.”
True. But they did not announce this as their cause until well into WW2.
They said, they were going to pull their nation from despair, from overpopulation by foreigners, to take back the power of their government from foreign unelected powers dictating their laws and levying huge charges on them, and disallowing them to make their own armies.
They were told, they would free themselves from unelected control, and become free.
This all sounds incredibly familiar.
A more watered down and politically-correct version of the 25 Points of the election platform of the NASDP (or to-be Nazi Party) from 1920 is disturbingly similar to a large amount of the Leave campaign and it’s followers’ beliefs.
“Freedom and Bread”, anyone?
Best argument I’ve heard for remain, honestly. Curious what you make of this? Honest educated opinion pls https://youtu.be/gILTIDr4Ra8
Wake up Katy. Where do you think the money from EU grants comes from?
You don’t have to like the decision but it is made and you should respect it and get on with it. By not respecting the majority, you make yourself look childish. Lick your wounds for a few days by all means but then try to do something positive to make our country better than it has been. The EU is a big bad Union hell bent on controlling as much of the world and as many people as possible. I might have an un-realistic view of what the world should be but at least I’m not conforming and taking it laying down. Bring our politics home where we have a fighting chance of dealing with the issues that matter to us and our people. The Union wouldn’t negotiate with our elected leader and we left. End of story. The work now begins in changing things here. Fight for what you want here with your elected members instead of hoping the Union will do what is right and good for us. Rest assured, they will only do what is best for the multinational businesses who are controlling things. Brexit is a small victory for the little people and the start of the end for European domination. PS. I’m not racist, I don’t support UKIP, I read between the media lines and I know the value of migration. Have a good think about what you think the EU can give to us that we can’t give to ourselves in time?
I am not disrespecting the majority. How many times do you need to understand that it is not the majority of the country you speak for, no matter how you chop it up, it just isn’t. And guess what, I really don’t care what you think of me. I honestly don’t care if you think I’m childish Ric. Really, why would you even think I do? What makes you so special that suddenly your comment out of the thousands on here is going to cow me or bring me to my senses or whatever the hell it is you think I need to do? This is my blog. My own space. I don’t advertise it. I don’t force anyone to read it. I just write what I need to write for myself and then I get on with my life. And if you want to know what I”m doing, check out some of the other replies because I’m bored of explaining what I’m doing, and I am doing things. I imagine it’s a damn sight more than most people do, and yes, I am doing and doing stuff about the future, not just moaning about what happened, because you know what? I’ve got three kids whose future just got shafted and I will do whatever I can to make it better for them, because that’s my job. And I never said you were a UKIP member, or a racist or a xenophobe, or stupid. You assumed a great deal. I don’t speak to half the population just like I don’t speak for half the population, and for the last fucking time, my family voted out. My friends voted out, and I can still hold an intelligent conversation with them and build bridges without being called stupid. In my blog post I criticised certain behaviours in certain people, I criticised certain ideas and I criticised the fuck out of politicians, but you, Ric, I don’t believe you were mentioned once, but if you want to take it personally, don’t let me stop you.
Katyboo1 I agree with a lot of what you say. At the same time I feel if you put it out there in the public domain whether in your blog, you own space, your own word or your own deed I think people are entitled to challenge you. Yes you don’t advertise and force anyone to read your words and yes you get on with your life but if you put it out there people can and will challenge you and there’s nothing wrong with that.
No, and I accept a challenge, and I have posted every single comment, even the offensive ones. I accept, unlike some that I might not know anything and I can learn. I am willing to learn. I have had very fruitful discussions on here with people who disagree with me. What I will not tolerate is abusive, insulting twaddle from people who visit here of their own free will. Especially when they are hideously rude, and then cannot quite conceive of how someone else might be rude back. Like democracy, it cuts both ways. Happy to chat. No longer happy to be insulted.
Katyboo1 – well said,very well said and please don’t think you are shoutingin to the void! There are so many people out here who feel the same way you do but aren’t so eloquent, nor perhaps brave enough to put their head as far above the parapet as you. Ignore the trolls – they lose any credibility as soon as they get personal.
Thanks. x
I didn’t call you stupid and I am well aware that you don’t know me or care what I think. I honestly would like to know what you think the EU could give your children that your won country cannot if we shape it the right way.
Ric, I think that the austerity government in this country is to blame for what is happening to our country. I am appalled that the governor of the bank of England can ring fence £250 billion to prop up failing banks but four doctor’s surgeries in my area have closed since January and NHS funding for GP patients is now £71 per head, less than a television licence. I am appalled that schools can’t afford school libraries and without volunteers lots of kids I know wouldn’t have learned to read. I’m appalled that my cousin who has cystic fibrosis cannot get help because there is none, that my local hospital is in crisis weekly. This is not the EU’s fault. This is our fault. I know the EU has it’s faults, but I genuinely believe we were better off at a chance of reform from inside, not out, where we could have taken more measured steps to change things. Now, money will have to prop up the financial sector and the poor will get poorer, and with the Tories removing themselves from the ECHR and rewriting it, what chance do we stand? I know the future isn’t perfect, but right now it seems truly bleak to me, and the one chance we had to moderate that has gone.
Katy, you’ve highlighted a good number if social issues which I totally agree with. I am not totally again st tge austerity measures and policies which have been actioned in recent years…I’m sure we all understand why they are necessary, even if we do not agree on them being necessary.
So let’s just assume that we’d stayed in the EU. All the issues that were headline news a week or so ago…NHS And E collapse, junior doctors strikes, Syria bombing and refugee crisis etc etc..how would we be looking to change any of that. My gut feel us that life would have continued along its merry way, we all breathed a sigh of relief, and the country would have continued with the existing government.
Now hindsight is a wonderful thing, because what everyone knows now and has come to understand is that our government is failing (previously behind closed doors), our country is deeply divided fir numerous reasons, our austerity measures have bagged us some cash etc etc.
My point here is this. Was it better for us to float like a film of oil over the hugely disturbed waters and pretend everything was tickety boo, or is it better we have now dived into the waves and can see the chaos that lies in the deep, with ultimately a chance to try and fix some of it?
I do think the government could have poured more into our infrastructure if they weren’t so busy getting pally with the 1%. When I think about how easy it was to find millions to bomb Syria but still cut disability benefits I cringe. I’m not saying staying in would have fixed everything, but I worry that we are too isolated now to fix stuff and have seriously so much less money than before that while they were playing at austerity it has gone and happened.
Sorry I was short with you. I’ve been dealing with a lot of trolls today and I do want a genuine dialogue with people, which is why I am not blocking people.
Hi Katy
I’ve just joined the conservative party ( yes, yes I know but I want to be able to vote for someone to take the PM’s place). So tactically do we vote for Boris on the certain assumption he will never get from the EU what he has promised then be forced to call a genetal election or should we vote for someone that was for remain in the hope they call a second referendum? some tactical advice would be good…
It’s difficult. I think Boris doesn’t want to leave Europe because he doesn’t want to sort out the mess, but he is being bank rolled by Murdoch, so I find that hard. Much as I am loathe to say it, because I dislike her intensely, my vote, if I had one, would probably go to Teresa May, mainly because she’s got balls of steel!
I can’t tell you how much I agree with you. I am so angry and so scared about what is happening to our country. Keep shouting.
Soap boxes stacking! xx
Ric I feel you are wasting your time addressing this bigoted woman. And don’t bother to reply to this Katy as I am no longer following
You know the good thing about someone who unsubscribes thinking they got the last word? They don’t get the last word.
Very well said…
Thank you.
Well i think your blog likely made you angrier than before you wrote it. Refering to above, if you are willing to sell our country down the stream for a few EU grants then you are welcome to do so , but I would rather not. This is exactly what the EU and our lazy EU reliant politicians wanted was to create an EU dependent society. The fact is the money was ours originaly, just a small percentage of it coming back as grants but told what it must be used for. If you have issues with austerity then look very closely at the massive amount of money the EU wastes that could have helped all EU countries recover and relieve some of the harshest austerity for such as Greece, Portugal and Ireland.
No Fred, it didn’t. It helped me clear my mind so I could talk to people I love who didn’t vote the same way as me, without getting upset with them. It helped me figure out in my mind what I wanted to do next, and I am already doing it.
Small percentage?
Oh – you mean £4.5 billion per year out of the £13bn (after our £5bn instant rebate from £18bn) we pay for access to a free market of 500 million people – the largest trading bloc in the world.
Since it appears – going by the slightly more generous Norwegian plan, to keep free trade (and free movement…) we are going to have to contribute approximately 2/3 of what we give now to access this market.
That means of £18bn, we are going to have to contribute approximately £12bn per year.
For exactly what we get now – plus give up our MEPs (you know – the ones WE voted for? The ones who nominate and vote for the EU leader… like PARLIAMENT does).
Oh – we also don’t get any money back. So that means the UK will be sending £12 billion away to gain duty-free trade on about £1 TRILLION per year, and another £4.5 billion to carry on with all that funding they EU had to pay fore because they REFUSED TO DO SO.
Cornwall is demanding to carry on receiving £80m per year from Government when the EU grant stops.
If you think £4.5 billion is going to be scraped up from the additional £12 billion we will send to the EU for access to the EEA – you are sadly mistaken.
Oh – that leaves the UK about £5.5 billion a year worse off, by the way.
I’m sure the Government will be happy to borrow a few more billion to fund all those projects. They’ve been so keen so far.
Oh – and the UK does NOT get told what to use the EU money for.
Citizens and organisations (like Cornwall County Council, Telford, Rhayder, Cardiff etc etc) ASK the EU for the money… because the UK refuse to give it to them!
Ironically, the EU offered to rescue the steel works that just went under – remember them? TATA?
But Cameron refused to allow it – refused to even ask them for the money.
Sure. Stiffing the UK all the way, mate.
I’m gonna love seeing what happens when everyone realises they are going to have to pay almost as much before, but with no rebate or funding back for EXACTLY THE SAME LAWS AND FREE TRAVEL AS BEFORE so they have an economy at the end of it all.
The Leavers have gained nothing (except the probable end of Boris “What’s with that Hair” Yeltsin/Johnson’s career as he presides over a Parliament that:
1) refuses to vote to activate Article 50, and gets a vote of not confidence
2) Votes to activate, and ends up with the exact same arrangement as before, but with more costs, no rebate, all the same immigration plus no incoming money at all… with the need to follow all the same laws: vote of no confidence
3) Votes to activate, and ends up leaving the EEA, and ends up in a hell of red tape and duty and import/export laws which demolish the UK as a trading nation entirely, Transnational banks and companies fleeing to Scotland, Ireland, ANYWHERE while Scotland and Ireland leave leading to the “Prime Minister who Lost the UK”: vote of no confidence.
Bye, Boris!
Thank you for your figures. Thank you.
Very very well put!
Thanks.
As an Italian citizen who has lived in London for 10 years (always worked, paid taxes and never received benefits) and who did not get the chance to vote in the referendum – I am glad there are people like you who share my samw views and were able to vote (even though it was not enough to remain).
Thanks for posting. So sorry you didn’t get a chance to vote.
Mondomulia, I so feel your frustration. I am on the same boat as you (French, but landed in London many moons ago). And I am glad there are open-minded people around like katyboo who can think further than their own nose. Just imagine if the 3 millions EU citizens paying taxes in the UK had been allowed to vote… That referendum, thankfully non-binding, is not a fair representation of the UK tax-paying population. No taxation without representation, ha! Plus, we are all in that European boat together. The UK were part of the founding group, benefited hugely from it, and now just want to through their toys out of the pram because times are tough and it doesn’t suit them. I for sure hope the rest of the EU stand strong together, sail through the storm in the hope of better days, for future generations.
Yes it is so galling that it affects us all and yet not all of us could vote.
Thank you Katy and thanks to the two Europeans who commented above. Thank you for expressing the views of us who couldn’t vote but have been living, working and contributing to this country for years. Including bringing up British citizens. Thanks Katy for putting your views so clearly en eloquently. They are my thoughts exactly.
It drives me mad when the ones who voted leave refer to “the majority decided”. No, it wasn’t the majority. This was England deciding for the rest, as usual. There were two important countries that were dragged to leave the EU against their will. That is undemocratic. As a consequence of this caprice we are in deep economic trouble and the kingdom is in danger of dissolution.
I’m glad that you shared your thoughts here. Thank you. x
Thanks Katy. Trolls are everywhere. Ignore them. i don’t for a minute believe Katy is a bigot Ann so you’d best take yourself somewhere else.
I can only say we all need to be brave, hopefull and pro-active in shaping our country. I don’t believe for a minute that anything much could have been negotiated from within or our leader would have come back with more than just dirt on his knees.
It’s early days and alot needs to change. I am optimistic and will always fight for what I believe is right. The homegrown issues may not be a direct result of the EU but, and a big but, they have tied business up in red tape for so long, that business has suffered which drives our economy. The government now need to untangle this mess, get rid of alot of the red tape making olife hard for us and let us grow again. There will be more money in the economy as a result fo letting people do what they can to build business.
I genuinely hope you are right, Ric. I am a pragmatist, and I want to make things work. I get that we have to work with what we have and I don’t believe in sitting around waiting for the world to crash down round our ears. I’m doing what I can. It just feels like so little in the face of so much. Thank you for your patience and taking the time to comment.
Refering back to one of your earlier posts, has it never occured to you that the EU is beyond reform. If it was still a 15 Nation bloc it may have still had some reformability. The original idea of Nations trading together was workable, even good to a certain point. However the EU is no longer for reforming, it has become hell bent on an expansionist United States of Europe whose main interest is the multi nationals, big banks and unfortunately lining their own pockets (very much like all politicians). This is and never really has been about the people of Europe other than the fact the people in principle had to agree to it. The adantage of a leave decision is that we now only have one Governing body that we can do something about via the ballot box and if we get our lazy politicians off their backsides stand a slight chance of a better future. I too have children and Grand children on the way and my vote was to safegaurd their future in an independant nation.
It makes me angry when I read comments criticising you and your thoughts Katy. I read your blog after being sent the link by a very angry Northern Irish Friend who lives and works in France. I loved what you wrote because,for all their criticisms and accusations that people who voted Remain are just throwing their toys out of the pram, where is the “leavers” plan? Oh I know,it isn’t for them to have a plan,it’s the politicians. But they didn’t have a plan either. And no matter how arrogant the politicians on the Remain side were to not even contemplate the result would be “leave”,the Leave campaign also didn’t have a plan,and that makes me very angry. To lead my country into uncertainty is unforgiveable. And I don’t blame every “leave” voter – we should never have been voting on this in the firs placet. It was all about politics but it’s going to change our lives forever,and not necessarily for the best. Friends of mine have already been told by their companies that investment is on hold and cutbacks may be required;another friend who runs his own business importing fruit (a family company which has been going for 80 years) lost a load of money in the past week because his costs went up. A lot of “leave” voters explain this away by saying “but the pound has risen again,what’s the problem?”.But the uncertainty is there when it’s going to take years to sort ot any deals. And my own mother (a Leave voter) said to me this evening “Well,nothing’s going to happen for 2 years so I don’t know what all the fuss is about”!!!!!!!! So keep saying what you’re saying Katy,I and many others agree with you. And put on your safety pin! In the meantime I am setting up a side business in handcarts if anyone is interested!!!
Safety pin aloft, Nicola. Thank you for your comment. x
Keep going my lovely!!! xxxx
My thoughts and feelings put into words. Thank you.
Thank you. x
OMG, you ve put in writing all the thoughts that have gone through my mind, and i can see you have had to suffer the same comments from people around you…the ones which have upset me the most were “how is this going to affect you personally, at your level” and “stop panicking”. It’s day 6 and i am still going through the many stages of mourning, i don’t want to believe that nothing can be done. I too have written to the local MP, spread words and shared articles on social media, spoke with people around me and attended a rally in my city. One thing I couldn’t do is Vote because I am French! keep on writing, you are good at it!
Thank you. x
Thank you for putting into words exactly how I feel & making me feel I am not alone.
Thank you for replying and making me feel I am not alone.
As a dispassionate external observer I have to say that this is possibly the worst debated and argued political campaign that I have ever witnessed and this is my job. Contrary to the idea of this being democracy in action it was an exhibition of ignorance, misinformation, self interest and emotional rhetoric which became personal and irrelevant.
Analysis suggests that the British people used this referendum as a protest vote against Europe, the political system, austerity, immigration (not from Europe but for further afield) and 30 years of bad decision making by successive governments which have a far greater impact than any EU directive, which incidentally you do vote for.
When people are muffled it is unsurprising that when they are given the chance to speak they yell without thinking. The level of debate in Britain is equivalent to kindergarten and Britain should be ashamed of how they are now seen by the rest of the world. Most developed counties with the exception of USA (and look where that is going) have a democratic system of Proportional Representation. Whilst this is not perfect by any means it does mean that the subtleties of every argument are heard and pragmatic rather than reactive and polar, “them and us” decisions can be made. We have long ago left the era where decisions could be made by countries in isolation. The world is more complex, nuanced, integrated and most importantly less receptive to polemic attitudes than 100 , 50 or even 30 years ago.
The mistake that Britain will now make is to become polarised and focussed on Brexit, whereas what it should be doing is thinking carefully about the underlying issues below the outcome of this vote and how your entire political system is organised. To the rest of the world this seems broken and dysfunctional. The mother of parliament has got dementia and lost control of her bowels.
Whilst without doubt and by any measure this vote was possibly the single most stupid action of any nation in the past 50 years, unfortunately it was inevitable given the lack of political literacy in the county. Whilst there may be anger with the leave voters it is not right to blame them, they worked with the information that they were given, albeit incomplete inaccurate and emotive and they drew the only conclusion that was available to them.
What is interesting from a demographic perspective is that voters from 18-35 overwhelmingly supported the EU, and why was this, quite simply they have been educated in more diverse and pluralistic society than the older generation, they don’t see things or people for that matter as black and white but understand there is a tonal range. This at least is a light at the end of the tunnel as this generation will be the politicians of the future and will return Britain to the modern world.
Good luck. You are going to need it.
Thank you. I have joined the electoral reform society to push for PR in the next general election. x
Very nicely put. Everyone worked with what they had.
IMHO, the leader of the country should be tge person to head up the presentation of both the leave and remain cases, and these should have been presented in a controlled and sensible manner. What we received was hysterical, sensationalist, and an insult to everyone’s intelligence.
And then we had to decide.
It absolutely should be criminal for this activity to take place. A criminal investigation should be launched with evidence being required to substantiate all of the major claims made on both sides. It is the greatest swindle of all time.
The stay on the age range…I haven’t seen any drilling down on that, but all I would say is that it is possible that a good portion of that age group would have voted to remain due to fear of their trip to Ibiza going up and Stella Artois being increased…not all, but POSSIBLY some…as I say, I haven’t seen any further drilling down of this data.
Yes. I agree it was criminal how this was run.
Well presented argument Katy. Such a shame that the democratic process seems to have been hijacked by the far right. As you point out so many of these types have emerged from the shadows over the past few days, I am sure voters from both sides are disgusted by some of the things reported. I think the saddest thing in all this are the lies and misdirected statistics presented by BOTH sides during the weeks and months leading up to the vote. I just hope that somewhere in all this we can once again go forward as one nation and be proud of this great country, sadly at present I think neither side won and British politics and society should be ashamed of what we are presenting to the world – the rest of the EU must be laughing at the mess we are in. So much for freedom!
Robert, I wish we could take them to court for what they have done to all of us. Yes, the sad thing is I don’t think either side will win.
Well put
Thanks. x
Good rant? Good! So what is the difference in your life from before the referendum and after to cause such a rant? The pound is going up, the ftse is on the rise, investors are more relaxed, and why? Because no one is going to commit political suicide by pushing the button! And yes the leave campaign lied. They’re politicians of course they lied, admittedly they stay campaign didn’t they didn’t say anything!
Yes you have the God given right to be angry, but seriously, nothing has changed and the likelihood is nothing will!!!!
Your grasp of economics is clearly weak. My husband works in finance. I know what I’m talking about. Let me see, what’s the difference otherwise? My child came home from school upset because for the first time in three years of being there she witnessed a racist attack. Right wingers defaced the celebrate Eid banners at my local park in the early hours of this morning. On Monday morning one of the parents had bananas and racist abuse chucked at him while he was taking his two small children to primary school. There have been other attacks. I won’t bore you with the details. Three people I know had their house purchases fall through this week because of insecurity in the housing markets. My husband, whose credit rating is exemplary got turned down by Sainsbury’s bank for a small loan. A lady emailed me to say that her fifty year old business is folding because she is already experiencing problems. Several people I know have had their university research funding cut and years worth of work and preparation is now wasted. I could go on Mark, but it makes me want to cry. But no. You’re right. Nothing has changed and nothing will.
” our economy is in free fall ”
No, it isn’t you absolute “the sky is falling down” numpty.
I don’t care if you don’t want to hear it, but you need to calm the fuck down.
Martin. My husband works in the finance sector. You CALM the fuck down. We were £1.6 trillion in debt on Thursday. It’s now rising £5000 per second. I won’t go into the rest of the details because clearly you’re not quite in a position to grasp them. Now fuck off. I have already said this once but I will say it again for your benefit. If you have something reasoned to say, even if it is something I disagree with, I will happily talk to you, but I have answered enough rude, insulting fucktards in the last forty eight hours to have run out of patience. My blog, my rules. Now either be fucking polite or fuck the fuck off.
What a silly video. If I travel 18 miles in one hour, and am still traveling that’s somehow less impressive than you travelling 36 miles in 400 hours that one time 8 years ago?
I don’t pretend to understand the complexities of politics and economics because I don’t but I am fairly sure that for any huge life changing decision to made on behalf of millions of people that those clever people we voted in should have made a plan and presented it properly. There wasn’t one as far as I could see and I am still not seeing one now. It is astonishing that our leaders allowed this to happen and it cannot be democracy can it? I thought that meant a voting system where there is a plan called a manifesto that is presented to us and we vote. And if they screw up we can have another vote in 5 years. And even during that time there is a constant opposition which makes for a safer environment because even the winners cannot just do anything they like without looking over their shoulders. The referendum without a plan was NOT democracy, it was abdication of responsibility and someone needs to pick up the reins and admit that. There must be a plan if we are to have control of anything including our borders, our country, our lifestyles. Get out of hiding all of you leaders of the country, Cameron, Osborne, Johnson, etc. and admit you abdicated responsibility and now you are going to prepare a plan of how to exit if that is the best option. And don’t tell me that the vote is done and that is it either. It most certainly is not and the lack of plan or direction is proof of that. Step up to the plate and do what you should have done in h e first place, it will be easier than trying to find anyone who will be willing to pull the article 50 trigger. And I the meantime there are frightened and worried expats from the UK living elsewhere and from elsewhere living into UK. And businesses and pensions going down the pan which will affect us all even if we are not feeling it yet.
Yes, they shifted all the blame to us and can’t even do anything now.
Thank you Katy for this wonderful article. While everyone in and out seems to be relying on the magic fairy turning up real soon now to wave her magic wand, I finally heard an adult voice.
Your view on democracy not being finished was very helpful for my state of mind.
No. It’s a process and we will persevere. x
Thank you!
Totally, totally feel the same!
My god some people simply do not understand truly what they have done!
No. It appears not.
Love this article – well written and agree with all of it
Thank you. x
Reblogged this on readamilings and commented:
This sums it up really……
Thank you. x
Brilliant, everything I feel but can’t find a way to put into words. I’ve just shared again with a specific point to my brexiters friends to read. I’m fed up with being told off for my feelings. Thank you so much for this.
Penny
Thank you. x
Hi thanks for this post. I am a EU citizen living in the UK since mid 2006. This for clarity. One note and possibly a word of hope. As much I think Cameron made a historical political mistake with this referendum, I also think that with his early resignation without triggering art.50 he ipso facto stalemated Boris Johnson and made a real Brexit significantly less likely. Actually, one additional reason why markets are cooling down a bit is because they want to wait and see. BJ, Gove and IDS did not expect to win (nor Farage & co) and have no clue about how to progress. For sure they did and do not want to trigger art.50 themselves because it will be equal to political suicide given the massive and very worrying social and economic implications, despite all the lies in the campaign. In realpolitik terms, we are heading towards early elections, which is also why Merkel is willing to give some time… so that this can unfold and brexit voters can feel the pinch of what they wished for. The current parliament cannot deliver on Brexit because it is overwhelmingly pro EU. Same for a non elected new Tory Government. A key reason is that, even assuming that the parliament agrees to trigger art.50, then the actual implementation roadmap will be a minefield for the government since all decisions etc will be obstructed or blocked by different ad hoc power blocks in the parliament. There are at least two key risks in this scenario. One is timing: Merkel (and Europe) can only be patient until the campaign for next year’s elections in Germany (and in France too) starts, then her own internal political pressures will take priority. Secondly, a pro Brexit party could win the election and this would make it 100% a reality. There is a chance that even this campaign could be taken over by the far right. This is why responsible Tories – and reluctantly I would still put BJ at the periphery of this group – need a strong pro EU opposition party before playing the election card. The referendum has been lost due to the disengagment of Labour’s leadership and the disconnection from its voters over the last few years. This is why the Labour party is experiencing an internal war. Until Corbyn is there, there is no chance Labour can rise again as a party at the election and this the situation is stuck. This is also why even Cameron and Watson called for Corbyn resignation today. Let’s see how long he stays. If he gives up within a reasonable amount of time, my two coins are on David Milliband to be parachuted in Jo Cox (RIP) by election that is going to be likely uncontested by the Tories. His defeat is what put Labour in a mess in recent years and led to its unexpected defeat making real Cameron’s soft electoral promise for a referendum. With Milliband D back – he is pro EU btw – then we can have elections and we’ll see. If Corbyn resists for too long… time becomes a ticking bomb.
So time sensitive though, but thank you for your eloquent thoughts.
Very good statement Katy. Now for research New Scientis the week before had an article on “The most irrational vote ever” which explained partly at least, why it was so confusing and poor. Because no-one expected Remain to lose on account of over-whelming Labour support for EU, Scotland, and Conversative voters being split who make only 1/3rd of electorate, Cameron made a calculated gambol, a calculation to post-pone infighting and succeed the coalition. He actually was pro-active in announcing resignation and refusal to invoke Article 50, he bought time, knowing there was no real plan. The alternative was impossible, allowing Leavers to snipe and jockey for pole position in the expected leadership race. Finally the referundum, is not only non-binding, it was deeply flawed. In short, “Ask a silly over-simplistic question, get a silly answer!” Leave, never had to negotiate an alternative proposal, never specify what Leave meant, so everyone had the luxury of personal fantasy choice, no immigration, or single market without costs and EU directives as Boris wants to believe and so on. Much easier to attack, an ugly reality with warts and all, than a slippery hypothetical alternative. Furthermore remember fewer ppl voted “Leave” than is mandated for Union strike action! How can we leave the EU on such a mandate when a small work place dispute would have failed to gain a mandate under UK law?
Exactly so.
Eloquent and passionate. Nobody has yet asked what happens to our citizens living and working in the EU. I’m terrified for my son and Swedish grandchildren and for his business in Sweden.
Yes. I have friends living and working all over the EU and they are all worried. x
An Island means nothing today – in being isolated, apart, not depending of the remaining world.
Why the UK would start acting like a 3-year-old, crying when one’s will is not met, threaten the rest of the EU..?
The EU is not perfect. We all know it. We built it together.
The answer isn’t to run away & try to negotiate a better deal.
How about sticking to the main reasons the Union was built upon and keeping the promise made back then?
The world will change for evermore & people will try to hold on to time not to turn to fast, as every moment cements their destiny…
Time can not turn back.
Only good NEW times can come.
The older citizens should not be made fools again.
Fooling them was unforgivable.
In my opinion.
Yes. In my opinion too.
I’m just a lost immigrant, but I think I love this country much more than any “out” voters.. It’s very sad, very upsetting to see what’s happening to the place I choose to live in from 2006. I didn’t have a choice where I wasn’t born but I’ve made my choice where I wanted to leave, pay my taxes, grow my kids…
What did you do to it???
How can you say that you love this country? You destroyed all it’s strong position…
Just because you hate me-forent so much…
Sorry. x
Absolutely wonderfully articulated and presented, thanks so much Katy! Superbly addressing those irked by your blog too. Baffling why they even comment in the first place but it’s nice when they do right? 😉 Keep up the struggle. Keep the faith too despite not much to cling onto at present. There is always a way…sometime we just need to find it first!
We’ll get there. x
What a load of twaddle from someone who will not accept the result.
Get with the project. We have voted to leave and, if it wasn’t for the mindless scaremongering, the result would have been a greater majority to get out.
Interesting how quickly the Eurocrats are trying to push us out.
Remember average tariffs are 3 per cent.
A decent reduction in sterling will allow us to trade our way to a better place.
As an economist I was so glad that the economic concensus was ignored. Whenever economists agree, beware. They have not spotted anything from the Wall Street Crash until 2007/ 08.
Try to get them to explain the last crisis and most fail.
Onwards and upwards, but hopefully without Boris,
You know, when you want to engage someone in debate, try being polite. You might have some excellent points but saying ‘twaddle’ is fucking rude. As it is, you don’t have any excellent points. You’re just shouting, like 90% of the leavers on here. Be polite, get to chat. Be a dick, get to go.
Great post katy! Keep the fire burnin’
Thanks.
Thanks Katy. Sometimes I wonder if II’ve been over-reacting to this dreadful situation. I still feel like I’m in a nightmare – but hear people saying “Get over it”, “Buy British and it will be fine!”, etc etc.
You have expressed many of my feelings eloquently and it doesn’t make happy reading.
I turned 60 on June 23rd this year and was looking forward, quite optimistically, to a new future, as I’m ‘retiring’ from my teaching job this summer. (I have to add that the draconian measures taken against women of my age in the pensions department mean that I’m looking for another job rather than stopping working – but I had some ideas I was enthusiastic about pursuing). As a teacher I took part in Comenius / Erasmus + projects, run by the EU, which brought together staff and students from across Europe, and I hoped to carry on with this, but that seems unlikely now.
Does that matter in the scheme of things? Probably not. But maybe it does matter that thousands of children will not discover that other children, who live in a different country, are actually not that different to them.
Anyway, I now fear for the future although I hope that politicians will see sense and fudge the whole thing…
I’m sorry you’re having to think about these things instead of retirement.
I really wish that one word of what you’ve written was wrong, but sadly you’re right.
Beautifully put and I hope your clear intelligence pulls you through this.
Thanks Ian.
Bravo Katyboo! If the Wrexit-eers could just calm down now that it’s so obviously All Under Control Again, and tell us precisely how things are going to get rapidly better and better, that’d be splendid. All I ask is no swearing, no fibs or fictistics. Then I can be a happy bunny again, as one of the ‘minority’ of 5/8 of the British electorate who didn’t vote in favour of the present chaos. The fact that they seem keener to be touchy about ‘bad losers’ than actually to offer clear proof of how mistaken we were, in terms we can get our heads round, tells its own tale about their true level of confidence in what they have unleashed on the rest of us.
Yes. Mostly I just get ‘shut up’ and ‘the nazis invented the eu’ there are however a few people on here who voted leave and seem to have strong, reasonably sensible reasons for their vote, and who have been polite enough to share without insulting me. x
Super great article, really well written. Made me laugh out loud in places at the absurdity of the situation and how you described it.
I very much agree and am still upset.
I do think Osborne came across not too badly this week, at least he sounded like he knew what he was talking about, which anyone on the Leave side did not (and they still dont have a plan…. other than oops lets change our minds…. although maybe this is just my wishful thinking).
I think I am going to join a political party and run on the youth vote… invest in education, families and creating opportunities for young people, you know that sort of stuff… can be paid for by taxing pensions, healthcare, you know the other things younger people (who voted remain) are paying for…. maybe I am too angry still?!
Ha ha! I’m totally with you on being angry still though. x
Brilliantly said. Many thanks for confirming to me exactly why I feel as I do about this while fiasco (and boy has that Pooh and Piglet ‘but we’re still mates, right?’ thing pissed me off). I’d like to see Farage, Johnson, Gove and the owners of the Mail, Sun and Express charged with gross misconduct and misleading the nation for their own ends.
I really hope someone brings a law suit against them.
I agree with a lot here but you fell into a trap I nearly did when venting. Farage sadly is an elected MEP and has every right to represent us in Brussels. Odious man that he is.
I agree that Leave = Remain -1
Mark. Has he actually done himself out of a job?
We can but hope so.
Can’t wait to hear him stirring up anti-BoJo sentiments for selling out Leave, despite all the lies about NHS etc.
Worst of all of it is the political games that have now erupted at a time when we need strong leadership no matter which direction we voted. No one left, centre or right is obviously covering themselves in anything close to glory now, I just hope someone emerges on any side that you can believe in again and we end up in a position that is at least bearable.
And we should all hold the liars accountable.
@Katy: it certainly would appear so, if the “bastards” deliver Brexit, what purpose has UKIP? They were created to outflank the Conservatives, to act as a counter to the tendency to shift to the centre to win elections, by stealing voters of euro-skeptic tory inclination
Well that would cheer me up a bit.
UKIP would do what they have done all along, and find a bandwagon. Did you not hear Farage when the results came out “this is a victory for Real People”, specifically a victory for those in the Labour heartlands in the North who no longer have a Labour party to vote for. Farage once said that the party would disband once they have won the referendum. Yeah, right.
Arron Banks, the puppeteer behind UKIP is busy creating his new party to rise from the ashes as the phoenix to save the day. It seems to me that this guy is the only one with a clear plan, UKIP & Farage have served their purpose. This vulture Banks, google him, is quietly sitting, watching, scheming and waiting for the moment to launch his new expertly branded campaign…..the public will be like putty in is hands!!
I read about this today. it is frightening.
The Conservatives haven’t shifted to the centre to win an election since…
…actually, I can’t think of a time when they ever did that.
Certainly since 1978, it’s been “right-wing neoliberalism” being trumped by “further right-wing neoliberalism extremism”.
UKIP was created because, bluntly, once you whip up an angry mob who think immigration is the source of all their problems, it’s a weapon anyone can pick up and use. To fan the flames is easy, but once you’ve done it you can’t aim them – because anyone can take over as “leader” just by being further right and more racist.
Farage and Trump both understand this.
Oh God if only I could have said it all so succinctly. Every word describes comments I have made . Why the hell should we get in a boat with a hole in it with complete fools who believe there is a promised island ?! No chance 😦
Why indeed?
You didn’t have to read it.
And there is nothing succinct about trying to sum up such a monumental issue, because otherwise that would reduce it to the absurd.
Ahhh. I’m sorry Amanda, Ann went a long time ago. your playmate in bigotry has deserted you. Now please leave before I hit the block button. You are not prepared to be civil you have been utterly insulting, entirely wrong and when I called you on it you didn’t like it. Why you are still here, throwing your teddies out because you’re still hoping to win friends and influence people and nobody wants to play with you, I really do not know. You have a life, go and live it. Please don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
There wasn’t a hole in the boat before the refeyendum. There was a nice, secure plug in it. The ‘Leave’ voters pulled it out because it was metric, and they are not going to take dictates from brussels. Then they ut a good British imperial plug in the hole. Well, you’ve seen Brazil, you know how that goes. But in a boat. Except it’s a country.
Ha!
Will you marry me?
Bless you. My husband might get a bit tetchy, but if he gets run over by a bus, yes!
Ironically, I am reading this on the recommendation of your ex-husband.
That’s allowed! 😉
Ross: it’s not just about tariffs, it’s about the UK union being broken up, by the blinkered uncompromising attitude and the hate shown for immigrants who work hard and raise families here, pay taxes and pay other’s pensions and benefits. It is about regulations, for work aimed at a better life balance and environmental improvements. The manner of talk and the extreme prejidice shown has historical precedent.. a leader was elected by PR, with < 40% of the vote, he was meant to be controlled by the experienced, but engineered situations to assume absolute power and lead his nation into the bloodiest catastrophe in European history. Our nation, proudly fought against that, the memory of those who died is sullied by the narrow mindedness and bigotry that has been nakedly exposed since the Referendum campaign started.
Katy: I salute you . A truly remarkable blog post and you are translating perfectly the anger and dismay I am feeling since Friday. The terrible wave of xenophobia has not spared me sadly as a French person living in London since 16 years. I too did join a political party too, the LIb-Dems because of the clarity of vision of Europe among other things. Again, I congratulate you and all, remember:48% is not enough to win the referendum but it is enough to win an election !Let’s stand and fight. You are brave woman.
Thank you. The lib dems seem to be picking up steam again. Clegg has made some great points. More power to you. x
Ann: actually Cameron acted decisively and imposed an inter-regnum. If he had tried to stay, he would have faced legitimacy challenges and sniping from Leave campaign ppl, accusing him of undemocratic lame duck clinging to power. By acting decisively, saying he would NOT invoke Article 50 but leave it to the next leader, he bought time for everyone. Cameron, did not “push his party”, he took a calculated risk to postpone internal divisions seeking power following the coalition, he succeeded! How could he predict the ineffectual campaigning of Labour under Corbyn, those areas net beneficiaries of EU funds, illogically voting against subsidies in a deluded belief that money sent to Brusselles would be sent to them instead, despite a contracting economy and without freedom of movement the loss of the UK’s main markets for goods & services (like financials).
“By acting decisively, saying he would NOT invoke Article 50 but leave it to the next leader,”
yes except actually he said we would trigger article 50 but the TIMING was up to the new PM, so he has raised the expectations of the idiot brigade, and given them ammunition when we finally kick this rubbish into the long grass
Oh dear. Oh dear….yet another political ‘expert’ rises to take to her keypad to spout out utter crap”!!!! Happy Now”?. (you ask?)… “Nah nah ne nah nah”!! I like to blame you all…… Right? Shall we stop all that for a minute Katyboo darling!? Let’s get a grip shall we? (And I do mean you, not ‘we’ of course!?) May I suggest that you get on with ‘being proactive’ in making a better country to live in instead of being in your ‘perceived paradise’… and throwing a hissy fit! So boring. And please save me from your attempts of trying to sound intelligent! (I’m assuming that’s the ‘general perception’ you’re hoping will get you some attention?! You appear to have no idea how ‘arrogant, privileged and entitled’ you sound. It’s quite repulsive. Please get on with your rant in the privacy of your own domain, instead of seeking ‘others’ approval for your self indulgent ramblings! If you had been inspirational, shown empathy, shown courage, or remained ‘civilised’ and engaging then perhaps your ‘random jottings’ would have been of some kind of value. Unfortunately, I’ve just wasted 5mins of my time reading your short sighted views and fears about what has ‘yet to be’ or materialise of this momentous decision! Perspective is needed!
Ellie. Fuck you. You’re the self indulgent one. How fucking dare you. Tonight I spent three hours of my free time at a meeting trying to save my adult education college from shutting down. Its funding is being cut, even though it trains people in my city into degree level education and gets them out of poverty because it has some of the cheapest fees in the country. It’s being sacrificed so the university can head hunt rich international students who want to come here because of the weakness of the pound and we need their money more than we need to give people well paid jobs who live here, and the staff are petrified because there will be no jobs for them to go to in September because the EU is pulling funding grants like dentists pull teeth. When I’m not doing that I’m also involved in holding my NHS trust to account for not consulting people while closing down four doctor’s surgeries in my locality. That’s only two of the things I’m doing for my country Ellie, sweetie fucking darling. There are lots more but really why should I have to justify myself to the smug twattery that’s coming out of your mouth. What are you doing? You have literally contributed three fifths of fuck all in an almighty, utterly ill informed and downright stupid comment and you’re calling me stupid because you came to my part of the internet on a blog I’ve been running for ten years so that you can waste five minutes of your precious time reading a blog you care about so little that you took extra minutes of your so important time to find the time to fucking insult me. Nobody made you read it, and wah, wah, now you’re sorry you did? How old actually are you for Fuck’s sake.What do you actually do except make a poor excuse for being a troll and you can’t even fucking get that right. Now fuck off. And yes, I fucking swear. It’s my blog.
Wow!..regarding one of your replies to a response…so in less than a week, some place decides to shut down a centre for educating underprivileged because funding has been cut….and you’re blaming BREXIT?..c’mon! That closure would have been on the cards for a while, long before the vote…and though probably not the fault of the EU, and more likely the source of he funds being trimmed to suit its income, it had absolutely nothing to do with the subject matter.
Your original article started well.. A voice of independent right to choose to be annoyed, furious, upset, etc… I’m a Brexiter, and I was empathetic.
Your signing up to Electoral reform, whilst admirable to do so for proportional representation in a general election, would have been pointless in a referendum.
The referendum was a true expression of democratic thought… Unlike a general election, which currently awards victory to the balance cumulative local results, every vote counted. Those who didn’t vote were apathetic and have no grounds to complain about any result… Those who want to take some mathematically convenient %age of a %age turnout to claim a second referendum after they disagreed with the result are truly UNdemocratic in that the calculations assume that 90% of the abstained would have voted Remain.. Abstenance is still a third voting choice in the UK, it must not be assumed as a decision one way or the other.
I wish you well in your endeavours. Mine will be focused on pressing ahead for the changes I believe this country needs. Yes they will be significant, but the changes imposed over the last 43 years have had time to be drip fed so many did not notice how cataclismic they have been. Had it remained as it was, we would not have been even thinking of a referendum. It was back then, what the EFTA is today, and which is pledged to remain solely about trade.
Please? Do listen to yourself. You extrapolate wildly, and inaccurately. She asked what I was doing for my country. I told her, some of it. I love the fact that when people see an answer they’re not happy with, they pick at the details. I’m not obliged to write a biography. The college has been scheduled for closure for a couple of months. The pound has been falling as an overall picture since January. The university needs to cut 140 jobs. It could cut them anywhere, but it’s choosing to shut down the one centre it has that bridges the gap between adults who want to get back into education and university. In these post Brexit times that bridge is more important than ever, because we’re being told to pull together behind our own people. The lecturers last night are now terrified because there is a very real chance that there wasn’t last week that there will be no jobs for them because of Brexit. You fail to mention, having read me to such a granular degree, the ongoing work I’m doing to try and reform the NHS, which isn’t to do with Brexit either, except we have a massive staffing problem and 26% of the staff are non UK born and we are desperate to recruit. And then there’s the funding, which has dropped and dropped because the government is privatising the NHS piecemeal and which, now that we do not have access to medical research funding, and will have to plug a gap in the millions in subsidies for other things we are now not going to get, will no doubt pick up pace and sell out the ordinary man to the 1% with the most money. You didn’t mention the funding of the school libraries or the teaching children to read, or the peace campaigning because we can find the money to bomb Syria but not to invest in schools and hospitals. None of it to do with Brexit, because guess what? The EU is pretty much a red herring so the austerity government can carry on shafting us, and I fight against it every day. I am not the spectacularly stupid woman you seem to think. The electoral reform stuff won’t apply to a referendum, no. It will apply to the next general election, which I suspect will come sooner rather than later, and which if put into play in the last general election might have meant less people felt disaffected. I’m also helping campaign for political system to be taught in schools, but no, I’m not doing anything to fight the austerity government or plan for the future, you are right.
I give up.
What “Cataclysmic” changes have taken place the last 43 years from the UK, then?
The growth of the UK from a back-water nation into the 5th largest (or is it 6th, now?) economy in the world?
Remember when the UK was literally almost a 3rd World nation in the 70’s?
No? The GDP of the UK has gone from $236bn to $3851bn (in real-terms corrected for inflation, not absolute dollars) since 1975 to now.
That’ll be your rose-coloured rear-view mirror, then.
Remember when the UK had a large contributory part in a international space program/station back then?
No?
That’s because it didn’t. Does now, though.
Remember when the UK one of the most important stock markets in the world in the 70s?
That’s because it wasn’t – not until the late 80’s… when part of the EU.
What – precisely – do all the “sovereignist” branch of Leavers actually – specifically, not the mushy namby-pamby “unelected” BS I always hear – hate which has been imposed on the UK that has actually impeded it in any way?
I get lots of flange-wobble about not being allowed to deport criminals (the UK has this power – yet rarely uses it. They actually REALLY do have it. If I read one more Sun report where person “x” has not been deported due to EU courts, I’m going to explode. It’s the UK courts, not the EU ones!), about “laws imposed on us” (even though the UK wins 86.7% of the EU votes taken … by our ELECTED MEPs. Who did YOU elect to the EU Parliament, then?), and curvy bananas, and not being allowed to control borders. (You ever need a passport to come into the UK? You see EU travellers get their passports checked to make sure they aren’t criminals or on watch lists? THAT’S CONTROLLING YOUR BORDER.)
What – specifically – do Leavers concerned about sovereignty (not vague mumbling about “Eurocrats”) actually have a problem with?
What law has forced your hands, to the point of possibly losing the United part of the UK?
katyboo – take a deep breath. Lots of us agree with you. Don’t feed ammunition to those still trying to ruin our country and our continent. Somehow we need to mobilise those who do not want to drive on to chaos. I just wish I knew how.
I’m bored of feeding them now David!
It’s how trolls write Katy, not on the matter but on the person. Pointless. I’m very impressed with your article, and so will many with some decency.
Thanks. x
I thought Katyboo was thoughtful and perceptive and captured the impossible dilemma we now face. Last Thursday’s vote has opened a door and through it we can see only chaos. The turmoil of the last few days is just the warm up. Once article 50 is triggered there is no way back and the chances of any decent deal for Britain seem remote. We are on a spiral down to disaster for our country and have damaged our continent in the process. The only question now is how we salvage something – how we undo the harm we have inflicted on ourselves.
This is exactly how i feel, and deftly, clearly and truthfully expressed. Do you have a version without the expletives so I can share more broadly please?!
No Mark. I don’t. This is my blog. I swear. Please feel free to edit as you see fit, but I don’t pull my punches and I don’t write for anyone else but me. I’m glad you found it useful. I’m seriously pleased it struck a chord with you though. Thanks for the comment.
Thank you, Katy. I might sleep tonight – not because anything has been resolved – simply because someone has articulated the rage I feel, coherently. All I have in my head is a kind of desperate grief and the sound of wailing.
Glad I could be of help. x
Personnally I wish you’d shut up, but as you probably won’t try looking here if you claim there is so many unelected people involved in our political system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motions_of_no_confidence_in_the_United_Kingdom
Personally Nicola, I wonder why you even bothered to read it. I’m not actually talking to you you know, it’s not like I’m sitting next to you on a bus, and as far as I’m aware, you actually have free will. This place, I don’t know if you know it? It’s called the internet. You get to choose to go on it, and really smart people find that when they don’t like something they’re reading, they don’t actually have to finish reading it, because you know, brains? You could have spent your time more productively watching hilarious cat videos and been happier, but no, you toughed it out here, because you’re itching to feel better by insulting someone you don’t know and trying to educate me. Why are you doing that when you apparently don’t care what I think and your side won? Is it because you have to teach me a special lesson so that you can feel extra superior? Your ego must be very fucking fragile. I have said repeatedly, happy to discuss things with people who disagree with me who aren’t just plain old offensive and wilfully stupid, in fact, you might notice the couple of thousand people who got here before you, some of whom are leave voters and yet took the time to bother to have intelligent debate. You fail on both counts. Go away now please you ludicrous person.
Thank you . I am incensed with this stupidity. As you say the referendum was advisory – so now we know about the chasms in our society. Let’s sort those instead of rushing into the biggest mistake of our lives. I can’t bear it!!
Yes. That sounds like a good thing to do. x
Excellent blog! This is exactly how I have been feeling and, like you, my anger is not subsiding at all. Thank you for articulating my thoughts so clearly!
Thank you. x
I found it an interesting read, however reading the comments disappoint. And furthermore, you would probably not have the free will of this blog if we proceed down the road of oligarchy into moist robots.
Thanks for that.
I have to agree with every word,total mislead comes to mind?
Re referendum is needed as petition signed
Signed.
We are caught up in the choking smoke and dazzled by the mirrors. Post-Brexit we are beginning to realise that we have been wringing our hands as a kind of reflex whilst the politically ambitious, jockeyed for position nearer the top of the dung pile. A referendum is not a binding decision. It is meant to be a wet finger held up to gauge opinion. Our Government and the Opposition should then, go back and debate the referendum in the commons. There should be legislation proposed. It should be scrutinised in the Lords and where it is seen to be lacking or, not in the public interest, it should made right or thrown out.
The unelected rabble rousers who created this sideshow to further their careers as professional politicians have run into the light. Take note of these faces. These are the stealers of our dreams.
Remember this was a referendum. We must put it to the tests of political debate not as a move that we make regardless of its flawed logic.
Wake up people!
Yes. They need to sort out the mess and it looks like they’re all just running away from it.
Very well said. What a mess a few elitist selfish politicians have made of our country. I think we need a huge humanitarian movement against the far right, racism, propaganda in the right wing press and the power bought by Murdoch. Democracy is only true democracy if people have made an educated decision based on facts!! So sad. Thank you for your blog and let’s never give up!
Thanks Teresa.
Brilliantly worded how you have encapsulated not only your opinions but your feelings too. Have shared. Thanks!!
Thank you.
With you all the way! Thanks for writing the things that have angered me! X
Thank you. x
Katy, I live in the United States. I lived in England back in the mid 80’s when I was in the Air Force. I will tell you, I love England and hold your country dear to my heart. My oldest son was born in England. I must say, I am concerned for your country. After 911, we have never recovered and I feel your country is going to have the same fate as we. I agree with everything you have said. I will pray for everyone in your country and pray your economy doesn’t crash like we did. Stay strong and God Bless!
Thank you. x
My feelings exactly! Feeling desperate grief at the mo (crying at my Aquafit class wasn’t a good look, but with a wet face, hopefully nobody really noticed!). I just feel that all this political game-playing, at the expense of the nation (in more ways than one), makes me feel helpless and that’s just adding to my despair for the future. I need to mobilise myself, otherwise I’ll go nuts!
Thanks for putting it so well! Great to know that others are feeling similar feelings…👍
Yes, at least crying at aqua fit was good camouflage!
Please don’t calm down!
“ANGER is the deepest form of compassion, for another, for the world, for the self, for a life, for the body, for a family and for all our ideals, all vulnerable and all, possibly about to be hurt. Stripped of physical imprisonment and violent reaction, anger is the purest form of care, the internal living flame of anger always illuminates what we belong to, what we wish to protect and what we are willing to hazard ourselves for.”
David Whyte
It motivates me to try harder, to be better, to do more. x
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Great post, well said. Anger is a legitimate emotion, don’t be scared to express it in a productive way as you have.
I find it a great motivator to get of my backside and do things.
All pretty much true. One of the main problems with the referendum seems to stem from the fact that about 52% of the participants when listening to Boris Johnson’s argument, confused personality with character.
He told them what they wanted to hear, sadly.
Quite how a blog about such a depressing situation has managed to cheer me up this morning I’m not sure but, thank you.
I’m glad to help. x
Just one correction to the above. When you vote in this country for prime minister, you vote for the party not the person. Therefore if The Conservatives were to choose another person within their party to lead it, they have every right to do so without calling another election.
I’m sorry you are feeling so distraught. Whatever happens, it’s actually the powers that be who have turned us on each other just like they have in the USA. It makes me think (in the politest terms) that we’re actually being fucked with for some kind of higher (worldwide) agenda. Kind of a divide and conquer theme. Which makes it even more important to stand up for one another no matter what ‘side’ each other is on.
I blame the austerity government for all of this and I’ve been fighting them for a long time. It’s just got about 100 times harder. I know that we vote for a party, but we vote for a party with a leader we expect to keep leading us, even though it doesn’t always happen, and I wonder how many would still have voted for the Tories had Gove/Boris been at the head of the campaign at the last election. It may have made no difference. It might have made them more popular, who knows? It is just frustrating that it means that the Tories will absolutely have to shift further to the right than they already are, at our expense.
I think Boris would have been massively popular as a candidate had it not been Cameron and the helm, and would still be here running things in this situation. To me as a result he’s the obvious choice for a replacement in that respect. Also he helped get the country a Leave vote so he should have to work tripley hard for the country to get it on track.
Don’t think nothing is happening behind the scenes though. When people said that about Osborne, he was actually flat out for 72 hours ringing every power in the world. We need to be patient, sit this out and give them a bit of time to announce a way forward.
I’d feel happier if they’d figured at least some of it out beforehand, given that they’re supposed to be in charge, and I am concerned that while we wait, we get weaker and weaker as a country, but nothing to be done about it. We’re here now. But I don’t do sitting, so I’ll get on with doing! x
The puppeteers that pull Cameron’s strings are anxious that the 99.99% have spotted the 0.01% playing in their gold-plated yachts and supercars – untouched by anything happening in the world. They see a new set of billionaires being created every week from the suffering of those in the 99.99% faced with austerity in all its guises (starvation and death for some). Social media is highlighting what mainstream media (the owners are part of the 0.01% of course) are desperately trying to hide or distract us from in more and more desperate ways. So keep your eyes and minds firmly fixed on those puppeteers -it matters not what Cameron, Gove, Osborne, Corbyn, Clinton or Donald Duck do – they are part of the distraction which is why the media love their antics (for different reasons). We – the 99.99% – need to figure out how to change the way things are such that those bullying elites, desperately protecting THEIR way of life at any cost – can be persuaded to hand over some of their cash for the general good. We should, ALL 100% of us, be more concerned about MUCH bigger issues than local trading squabbles – like global warming and stopping war.
Yep. Already doing my bit, Mal.
The EU is at its very heart an attempt to ensure that there will never be another European war. We just voted to exit that attempt.
you’ve crystallized, with great accuracy exactly how I’m feeling – so thank you! It is a sorry mess indeed and you’re breakdown of just why it’s so bad and how you feel about what has happened and those who have taken us here is utterly brilliant.
Thank you Nessa.
I am at least attempting to look at ways to get the decision overturned. I admit I am wondering if it is a hopeless effort. Should I continue to cling to hoping the decision is overturned? Would I be better accepting this has happened and trying to limit the damage and make the best of it. Even if the UK manages to secure a reasonable deal with the EU I wouldn’t be as happy with that as just staying in and keeping the existing deal.
I think we do both. It’s what I’m doing. I’m lobbying for electoral reform for PR. I want ‘None of the Above’ as an option on the voting slips. There’s a group who are lobbying for this. I want 16 year olds to have the vote. I want politics teaching in schools. I think we need reform everywhere, and we need to hope this split won’t happen. Nil desperandum.
I’ve written to MP to, pointing out the flaws in the poll. There ought to have been real altnatives not vague wishes and promises about sunny uplands, freedom from Bruxelles etc. Which as is being made clear since, were total and utter cods wallop
Good for you.
Katy, did you see the Sun today. The Sun readers are furious. I shake my head. Here is the link in case you haven’t seen it. Keep up the excellent writing. I am sorry if you are being inundated by horrid trolls.
http://indy100.independent.co.uk/article/the-sun-has-also-got-around-to-telling-its-readers-what-brexit-will-mean-and-they-are-not-happy–WySvafrAVZ
No, Jane, i didn’t! Oh the irony! I will check it out. Thanks. x
OK so you’ve been angry for a week. The people who voted to leave have been angry for a lot longer than that. Yes it’s a bit of a mess at the moment but I truly believe we will be better off in the long run.
I felt angry when people voted lib Dems and we ended up with a coalition. I was incandescent with rage when the Tories got a majority.
You’re not the first person to be angry at politics. It just makes a change for it to be the middle classes that are dissatisfied for a change.
BTW, I am university educated and hold down quite an important job.
You haven’t read any of my other posts have you Catherine? I’ve been angry for a very long time, but just with the right people, and I’m working class, not middle class, and I’m quite educated, postgraduate in fact and yet you still manage to be insulting, patronising and ill informed towards me and about me. I suggest that given that you clearly have critical reading skills, you use them instead of making sweeping assumptions, which I did not make about you and you clearly inferred from what you think you know. I’m a long term fighter against austerity government on behalf of the people in the community I live with. Take your patronising anger elsewhere and put it to good use why don’t you?
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Too right. Sick of everyone acting like the Remainers had got the wrong sandwiches at a garden party.
Nice analogy
Where do you get the time to work on this blog for hours a day/night run campaigns, fight the Uks issues? I bet your kids nanny is very tired! 🙂
I don’t have a nanny. I am just a multi tasker, my husband does his bit and my kids come with me to lots of the things I campaign for. Life is short You need to get busy living, just like it says in the film.
Thanks for your blog of 27Jun16. Nicely written. Where IS the Brexit plan?
I think someone ate it.
Holy Sh:; Katy preach it! 🙌🏽 you covered it all then… Nothing left to add but for
“…what she said!”
It’s scary and I’m morbidly curious what’s coming next as the other shoe falls….
How did they not consider possible consequences before rallying for such destruction?! Who tears up the game plan without a plan B? Or did they not believe it would actually happen either?!
How can such adolescence be leading our nation?
I have no idea. Frightening isn’t it?
We woke last Friday to the smell (ahem) of a Full English Brexit; in 6 days it’s descended through dog’s Brexit to dog-eat-dog Brexit (pass the poo-bags!) ~ so this is what we were sold as Taking Back Control. Theresa might; BoJo daredn’t … Whatever, indeed wherever next?
As I write, Gove is just sticking the knife into Boris! Love the metaphors!
I came here from an FB post of this article. Very glad I did. I have been feeling cross for a week and I no longer even live in the UK. I’m feeling cross for many reasons and it is good to share crossness.
I’m cross because I am an immigrant and people want me to believe I am an expat – specially all the other immigrants who call themselves expats.
I’m also cross for all the pensioners living in warmer climes who are now fretting over their once rosy futures and for children of immigrants educated so far outside the UK who are also worried about the future.
and so many other things – no end to fear.
If the UK splits up now as it looks like doing and also becomes independent from Europe then UKIP is just P isn’t it?
Yes. that’s a very good point. x
Thank you. Made me laugh, made me cry. I know intellect when I see it and you’ve nailed it.
Thanks. x
Fantastic. I’ve found someone else who is ranting for Britain. I’ve been reading everything I can find and writing essays with steam coming out my ears since as soon as I realised that lots of people actually seemed to be thinking this was a good idea- but only on FB. Maybe need to upgrade to blogging too. I tend to keep my head down, but maybe this is not the time. Go go go.
Thank you. x
So having created total chaos, Boris bottles it.
It’s beyond satire
You literally could not make this up.
I came across your post by sheer chance, and I’m so very glad that I did 🙂
I’ve been desperately trying to educate myself, politically, ever since the EU referendum was first announced, and it has, frankly, been a long, hard slog for me – but the main thing I’ve taken away from it, was that we should stay in the EU, for so very many reasons.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened, and my ‘Stay’ vote didn’t help as much as I would have liked.
Ever since R-Day, my emotions have been on the boil and, when I read your post, it was a real light-bulb moment!
I so wish I had the political nous to have been able to put into words the way I feel right now – but you have done it, to the letter, for me – so thank you, Katy, for telling the world exactly how I feel, too 🙂
Thank you for your comment. x
Boo hoo hoo
All the fucks I cannot give John. The world is sliding into this, and you voluntarily read my blog, in your own precious free time, and this is the very best you can come up with? Are you sure your vast brain can cope with all the long words?
This is absolutely perfect, and articulates how I feel more eloquently than I could hope to write it. Please continue writing such great stuff.
Thanks.
You got it wrong – Tenthly happened tonight when Boris bailed out. What a mess. Teresa May looks a probable now and hopefully she can set aside this whole crock in the coming months and we can resume our EU membership and current period of relative prosperity.
I can’t keep up to be honest!
Wow that’s like one bad therapy session, let it all out girl, it will help you get over it.
People can be so short sighted, for sure the next 2-5 years may be a bumpy ride, but who kows in 10 years time our children may be heralding this decision as the best ever, just hold your opinions to yourself at least until after the negotiations. We don’t know what’s going to happen, there is always opportunity within adversity
Fred. This is my blog. It’s where I’ve put my opinions for ten years. I don’t have to ‘hold’ my opinions to myself. And yes, it’s a therapy session and it’s really helped, because I’m already out there trying to rebuild my fractured community. I’m not stupid, I do realise that nothing stays the same, and it might be better, but have you considered that some people don’t have two or five years to hold on, because they started this with nothing and it’s going to get worse, and in the meantime, people I know are already losing their jobs, their houses, their research funding. The problem is, that it doesn’t really matter whether we lose the battle but win the war to me. What matters to me is that people are too aggrandising to think of what directly happens to people on the ground today, and tomorrow and every day until this gets sorted. And a 400% rise in racist incidents since Friday? I don’t want to weather that for the next five years thanks.
Please accept my sympathy for your struggles on both sides of this issue. The passion expressed here reminds me of our own referendum, when anger and a sense of being left behind was felt by a portion of our fellow Canadians in Quebec. As time came closer to the day of the vote, English speaking Canada helplessly watched and silently hoped the family would stay together. I know there were other Canadians that did as I did, stopping French speaking Canadians to tell them how much they were honoured, respected and loved, and begging them to vote against leaving the union of Canada. Their difference makes us Canadian. I cannot imagine our country any other way. I remember crying as the 49-51% results came over the tv screen. A referendum of such magnitude as this should never be left to a 50 plus one vote, but should be 75%. It is just too catastrophic. I wish you strength and patience for each other in the coming months.
Thank you. Your comment is very well put and it’s good to get a view from outside of this mess. xx
Well said. LJ I have been having a similar discussion with some of my friends and family who have said the same things to me. I totally agree with absolutely everything you said. What this nation has done is suicide and Great Britain will rue the day.
I suspect we will.
Firstly, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry you’ve had so many trolls and so much abuse merely for having an opinion. The level of public discourse over Brexit has been woeful as so many people seem to think that they are best served by hurling abuse rather than learning about why others have differing opinions.
Secondly, I think you and your readers might find this very interesting indeed:
http://www.legalbusiness.co.uk/index.php/lb-blog-view/6793-devereux-chambers-barrister-raises-10-000-in-crowdfunder-to-bring-case-to-prevent-brexit
“A high-profile barrister has launched a publicly-funded campaign with human rights firm Bindmans to consider a public law case on the result of the EU referendum.”
…
“The campaign questions the premise of the EU referendum held last week: that the vote would be ‘advisory’ to the government. Maugham’s campaign asks who is being advised by the referendum, the prime minister, the government, or parliament.
“Maugham (pictured) told Legal Business: ‘The narrow point that we are taking is that parliament enacted an advisory referendum. It could have enacted a referendum that had the effect of triggering article 50 but it didn’t. So who is to take that advice from the voters?
“‘If parliament had intended the result of the referendum to be binding it could have done so. But it did not intend that.'”
It’s well worth reading in its entirety. If you want to keep up to date with this work, you can sign up for emails here:
https://www.crowdjustice.co.uk/case/should-parliament-decide/
Thank you for this. Very useful. I became aware of it today and will definitely look into it more. I might post the links in the comments on the Winchester post which I did yesterday, as that’s where I’m putting together all the links for things people can do if they want, and suggestions for other things. This would be perfect.
As for the trolls. I’ve had ten years of blogging and less than four incidents of trolling, until the last few days so I guess I’m lucky really. I also guess I shouldn’t enjoy baiting them as much as I do, so mea culpa. I may well close comments on this blog post in the next 24 hours as there are more fruitful posts to be concentrating on now. Thanks so much for taking the time to provide the links. I really appreciate it.
no argument here, it’s stating the obvious, nothing new or revealing, same old regurgitated blah,blah,blah. It’s wrong to dismiss the political will of the country, England especially not forgetting Scotland and NI who voted to stay and must be give independence vote. It’s unsettling. When thing fall apart, something better is rebuilt.
Only if those who are supposed to rebuild it, actually have the will and capability to do so. So far, nobody is doing it though are they deep insider? And you aren’t voting for independence. You’re being asked your opinion, and apart from the fact that it isn’t the will of half the country, it is the will of 37% of those who voted. And I am doing stuff. What are you doing to help build on your independence?
You’ve expressed exactly how I feel. But your very angry and personalised responses to your dissenters make me sad and scared. Britain seems to be full of hate right now.
Lynn. I am sorry, but please listen to yourself. Firstly: If you read yesterday and today’s actual blog posts instead of this one which is a week old, you will see that I am doing plenty of things, proactive, positive things for my country and my community. I’m not the one throwing bananas at my neighbours, burning their buildings down and defacing their places of worship. I’m one woman who has had a blog for ten years, on which there are literally thousands of blog posts. Among them is this one, written on a day when my country started to flush itself down the toilet. Don’t you think I might be allowed to be angry? After that, I have had literally thousands of emails, and I have replied to each and every one. You have, for whatever reason decided to pick to read the maybe, twenty, where people were frankly utterly rude and stupid. I have no truck with rude and stupid. If you are rude and stupid to me in print, you get it back in spades I’m afraid. If you have a point to make, make it without being patronising, insulting or vile. If we were face to face, it would be different, because I’m not the stupid one and I spend my life trying to build bridges but not burn them, but this blog is MY place and I wouldn’t take this kind of shit in my house and I won’t take it here. And again. Please. If you don’t like what I write or the way I am, don’t read it. It’s not difficult. I’m one woman in a country of millions and for some reason, people on here who disagree with me, seem to think that they have the right to lecture me on what I should do and what I should be. Why? Why? I’m really asking you why you think your opinion of me is right and valid? I’m sorry if you’re scared. It’s not my fault and it’s not my problem. If you want to read the positive posts for some perspective, it might help. Or not. Do as you please.
Like you I voted remain. The only way for us to survive this terrible time is to reach out to one another, not get bogged down in this petty bickering that’s going on everywhere. Racist hate immigrants, you hate racists, your dissenters hate you, and the hate just gets passed around and around. You are writing this blog for an audience, and some of your audience is bound to disagree at times. Our poor crippled country will only survive this catastrophe if we can all try to find common ground.
No Lynn. Like I said in the other blog posts you still aren’t reading. I’m NOT writing for an audience. I write for me. I don’t get paid. I have no mandate to please anyone but myself. This blog went viral because people wanted to read it and they passed it on because They wanted to. I don’t advertise it. Nobody is holding a gun to your head forcing you to read it.People that come on here to tell me to fuck off, and grow up, and patronise and insult me, don’t get to have a polite response back. They just don’t. It’s a curse of modern times that people don’t see their own rudeness but are quick to point out the rudeness of others. It won’t wash. This blog, It’s where I vent, so I can go out into the real world with my anger and distress separated from how I live my life. I have full comment moderation. I choose whether people get to be seen on this blog because it’s mine. You have the full critical ability to think for yourself, not to read what you don’t want, and to behave as you see fit, and what you are trying in an inelegant way is to say that somehow, I have a great deal of power, which I don’t. The internet is huge, the population of the country is huge, and I have NO responsibility for others. I do not preach hate speech. I work actively against it, but I will not passively sit and allow someone to insult me because it makes them feel better. It doesn’t matter that you voted remain, or if you voted leave. It matters that people figure out that they need to think for THEMSELVES and then act on it. I do that. The other posts that you’re still not reading, I have offered about fifteen ways to positively work towards a more united country, they’re things I’m doing. Please Lynn. I am trying very hard to be polite, and I respect your opinion, but it is your opinion. I have my own, and this is my space. You are being utterly patronising and utterly ill informed, and you are trying to correct me as if I am some kind of naughty child. You might think that because you’re not swearing or seeming to be angry, that somehow that’s better. It isn’t. Why don’t you come back when you’ve actually done something rather than just telling me how what I’m doing is wrong or bad or naughty. Now, as I say, I have full comment moderation, so unless you have something more fruitful to offer than passive aggressive bickering, I suggest you put the keyboard down and walk away.
Obviously, there are a lot of people who share your views. There are also a lot of people who don’t. Just to let you know, I didn’t come looking for your blog, a friend of mine shared it on Facebook. I think you have every right to express your anger, but you are coming across a little narrow minded here, you have expressed some very strong opinions but shoot down anyone who has a different one with a great deal of hostility. This was not easy reading, it the likes of you who are imposing segregation and initiating hate. If people could take a minute to actually listen to each other then I think there could actually be some common ground found between the two ‘sides’. You sound like a saint, But you are not the only one who cares and works for what they believe in. I fully expect a hostile response from you, but please, have some respect for others views, sorry to crash ‘your’ blog. If you don’t want people to read or respond to it, stop giving people permission to share it.
Please. Stop generalising. You literally know nothing about me. And you are doing what all the others are doing who are choosing to blame me for something they are frightened of. You are cherry picking what you want to read and inferring a great deal from very little. This morning I published a comment from a man called David. He voted differently to me, disagrees fundamentally with me and yet because he wasn’t either aggressive or passive aggressive I engaged with him civilly. Every single person here who hasn’t presumed to lecture me, lie about me or blame me for the fate of the nation gets a polite response. I have never incited hatred and I suggest you think carefully about your words because what you have accused me of is legally actionable and I’m losing patience with people who think that because they are so morally certain of themselves they can say what they like. And as for stopping people sharing posts I suggest you look up what the word viral actually means. And again, read the other three thousand blog posts. Not inviting hatred, not a saint by any means but you know, infer away if it makes you feel better. But I will not shut up, and yes, I do things for my community and fight austerity and I can only feel sorry for you if you think that makes me holier than thou. And again. All these people like you, so desperate to criticise and blame, I ask you, what are you doing that makes you so much better than me and allows you to know me, stand in judgement over me and tell me what I’m going to do next? Please note. I have addressed your points without swearing. And if you think my answer is rude then do not dare go there first and not expect me to fight my corner. I’m neither your door mat or your whipping boy.
You are writing for an audience. I am your audience. Like the rest of us, you are seeking approval. You are a wise woman and you understand this. If you were writing purely for yourself, this would be a journal on your laptop. I wish we could all be a bit more gentle with one another. We have scary times ahead, and decency is the only thing that will get us through them in tact. if we can’t put ourselves in one another’s shoes, we are done for. The next few years is when we get to make or break our country. We need to stop shouting and work together. Not just you. All of us.
Look, we fundamentally disagree about my responsibility to my audience. I totally agree that we should be doing things and showing each other more compassion. I am, believe it or not, actually doing that. So if it’s alright with you, let’s put the semantic spats behind us, and focus on doing what’s right.
I read many comments expressing anger at Brexit . Blaming Corbyn and the Labour party for not strongly enough backing the REMAIN campaign .
The problem was how to campaign to win a REMAIN vote . Telling the public how awful it will be if Britain leaves the EU is not a positive campaign . I don’t read any comments extolling the merits of the EU and neither did Cameron or other REMAIN supporter try to sell the EU as the ultimate Utopia . The EU has serious problems it is completely unable to overcome .
The Greek crisis is here to stay , the migrant crisis is ongoing and the EU is unable to resolve that either . Austerity has brought what was intended a brisk economy to a near standstill and economic growth is below zero . there is high unemployment , especially among the young , 45% in Spain , over 20% in Italy . The EU is not a bed of roses that you can sell to the people .
REMAIN supporters are unaware that there are many people in Britain who NEVER wanted Britain to be a member of the EU . There was a referendum in 1975 to remain or leave the then EEC . The remain side won , but there were approaching 40% who voted leave ; subsequently many who had vote remain wished they had voted leave .
I traveled in Europe from 1959 though the 1960s , before Britain joined the EEC , without the slightest difficulty . I have lived a number of years in Italy , speak the language fluently , but it has never change my attitude to the EU . I , like many British people have been waiting 43 years in the hope of Britain leaving . The Drop in the value of the pound , has reduced my pension to peanuts , but I’m still exultant . Britain leaving the EU could be its salvation and the salvation of the EU , to shake it out of moribund complacency . My greatest worry is TTIP , that the naive EU might sign up to with the US . Without Britain they may back away , France opposes it and many Germans too .
David, thank you for your comment, but your assertion that the EU will never fix its problems smacks of an authority and knowledge that you simply cannot claim for certain. It is your informed opinion. I appreciate that. However, I respectfully disagree. As for TTIP, it has been mired in the mud for months. It’s something we could have had a veto on, something we could have fought against if we were in the EU. Now we can’t, and frankly, nothing I’ve seen of our great and glorious leadership after Friday has led me to think we’re in any better position to leverage any trade agreements in our favour now, so TTIP or no TTIP we’re in a mess, and weaker. It’s not that people didn’t know about the 1975 vote, it’s that people didn’t know much of anything, and I agree with you that the Remain camp put a shocking campaign together. I blame both sides of the campaign for this and I am absolutely disgusted at their immediately turning round to rip each other to shreds in favour of doing anything useful. I would feel a lot, lot better if they weren’t wasting all our time and weakening us with every moment that ticks by.
David there has been enough misinformation before the vote without adding to it now. The vote was less than 33% to leave in 1975, that is not “approaching 40%” many of these were those struggling to come to terms with decimalisation, failing to differentiate between the two & understandably nervous of change. In fact twice as many just voted to Remain as voted to leave in 1975, so let’s deal in truths from now on & maybe that could be a good starting point for our future plans.
Katyboo1
Thank you for such a quck reply .
I didn’t say the EU will never fix its problems at all .
The Greek financial crisis will recur at regular intervals , it’s not finished .
The migrant crisis has brought vast numbers of people to Europe , the EU has no powers to slow or really stop the flow , or even the will to do so .
A plan to compulsorily distribute them across member states has been blocked . Italy is now back to rescuing thousands off the Libyan coast and bringing them safely to Italy , where at present they must remain .
Re TTIP , Cameron was a total YES MAN to the US and I believe would have happily sign up to TTIP . Obama said if Britain leaves the EU Britain will go to the back of the queue . The significant point is that the EU has No foreign policy of its own , simply accepts Washington’s , EU countries are members of NATO , TTIP would tie the EU economy to the US , so the EU would be completely controlled by the US . US foreign policy is only beneficial to the US . Regime changes/Wars in Iraq , Afghanistan , Egypt ,Libya , Syria and Ukraine , have left a toll of destruction , devastation and thousands of people dead . The EU has been embarrassed into sanctioning Russia at I read a cost of 400billion a year that the EU cannot afford to lose . The Ukraine project was hairbrained ill conceived and of origin just a plan to get NATO onto the Ukraine/Russian border and the US navy replacing the Russian fleet at Sevastopol Crimea . The EU needs to separate itself from US domination and NWO .
Food for thought David. Thank you for such a measured response and your willingness to actually debate. It really does make a refreshing change.
I try and keep an open mind an look at arguments and cases made by the leave campaign. I have seen this video bouncing around but now have finally watched in: http://www.facebook.com/probritish/videos/10153885058080912/ and will admit he makes a smooth case. I can’t fault him for that. I still get the feeling it is only presenting one side of the argument as he doesn’t have anyone to counter any points he his making. I don’t blame someone for being convinced to leave on the basis of something like this. However I am cautious that you really need to hear both side or an argument before forming an opinion. I know that you are busy. I would appreciate hearing opinions on the points raised. Are they valid points? Are there counter points not being mentioned? He makes a case about the EU preventing us from making our own trade deals with countries outside the EU. I can already consider a counter point that we do a lot of banking and much business is done because of passport deals available to us because we are in the EU. So yes on one hand we would be free to make out own trade agreements but if the business deal relies on our being in the EU then there is no agreement. I am dubious about the idea of an agenda to block free trade. I don’t the practical side it might undermine the EU being a block if every country was setting up its own trade agreements with every other country without any central coordination. Maybe that impacts on individual economies but extended further could Scotland while in the UK negotiate its own trade agreements with China and India separate to those in the UK? I try to keep an open mind. Points may be valid and part of a tradeoff we accept in return for other benefits we get. I would be very interested in hearing other people’s opinions.
Hi Carl. He is right that we are somewhat hamstrung as to what kind of trade deals we make if we are part of the EU. But being part of the EU gave us power as part of the largest trading bloc in the world. Through that we were the fifth largest economy in the world. Already, since Friday we have dropped to sixth. We had leverage of part of a huge trading bloc, which we do not have now. Nobody has yet convinced me of what we will have to negotiate with once we leave. We may be able to do better deals, he is absolutely right, but on average a trade agreement takes 28 months, and by unpicking what we have with the EU we have, as a single nation to negotiate single trade agreements with every country we now currently trade with as part of the EU, and that takes time. If our economy takes a hit over that time, we become less and less attractive as a proposition to deal with. If we have to stabilise the economy by devaluing the pound and fiddling with interest rates and doing more quantitative easing, that will make us, as I understand it, fine for a bit, but in the long term we have to have a better plan and that can only be built on what we choose to do with our economy in a positive, proactive way rather than as a reaction against what Brexit will unleash. I know it can be done, I don’t know if our government are the right people to do it for us. I don’t know enough about the economy to be any more cogent than that I’m afraid. I believe that if we do trigger Article Fifty or if we don’t our economy will recover, of course it will, it’s just a question of when, and how we weather the storm while it does.
Sorry I noticed I made a lot of typo’s and errors in my original post. Shame I can’t go back and fix those but I should have proof read before posting. That’s what I get for rushing.
No worries.
You are exactly what we don’t need in this boat to which you refer. Please do me a favour and jump off and take your hysterical ramblings with you.
Thank God a lot of other women through the ages haven’t been as pathetic as you otherwise we would never have even got the vote in the first place.
Tessa, let me welcome you here. Pull up a chair. It’s so nice to meet another, ridiculous little troll with literally nothing useful to say, although props to you that you’ve still managed to find the time to say it, and even better, five days late to the party. We’re well past this already, Tessa. I’m out there doing stuff, while you’re here, spouting poison. I take it with your pathetic views of me as a woman, and your frankly astonishing implication that you really think one middle aged woman will have such a disastrous effect on the country (although thanks for thinking I wield so much power) that not only are you monumentally stupid, but I won’t be meeting you at the Women’s Equality Party any time soon. Now why don’t you slither back to wherever you came from and learn to live with the mess you made without blaming other people eh? And if you think we’re doing well then, your grasp of economics and politics is even more shaky than your understanding of blame culture. I’m glad you were stupid enough to read an opinion piece you don’t like and leave a comment, which is now here, for everyone to see forever. Well done. You must be so proud. You literally cannot count the amount of fucks I do not give for your opinion, good or otherwise.
OMG! Couldn’t have said it any better myself. Wow. The most succinctly, well observed piece that says everything I wanted to but I’m not eloquent enough to pen. One of the very best viewpoints so far. Listen up, like minded friends! This is just hits the nail on the head. There’s been a few developments since this was posted (none reassuring) but if you feel like I do you will like this. Worth a read through & subsequent comments. Brilliant. Liking & sharing.
Thanks Debra. It’s been a few days, as you say, and I have started to do things other than despair! Here’s a link to my more recent blog post in case you fancy doing anything or you have something to add in the comments box that hasn’t already been covered. People have already added petitions and articles and campaigns and it’s turning into a nice resource. https://katyboo1.wordpress.com/2016/06/30/shall-we-a-go-to-the-winchester-or-b-get-busy/
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Thanks. x
I could not agree with you more. Well thought out, well written – and WELL SAID.
Thank you
Nice post Katy 🙂
Thank you. x
A follow on from Carl’s post above.
Professor Michael Dougan of Liverpool University, who specialises in EU Constitutional Law, spelled out the issues before the referendem. (It went viral)
He’s since done a follow-up
Having absorbed that you may find this interesting
https://www.nchlondon.ac.uk/2016/07/01/professor-c-graylings-letter-650-mps-urging-parliament-not-support-motion-trigger-article-50-lisbon-treaty-1-july-2016/
If you agree, tell your MP
Thanks. I will. I will probably post these links on my Winchester blog. It’s turning into a reasonable resource. Thanks for taking the time to post the links.
Well written katyboo! you have articulated every single one of my doubts from the beginning of the campaign to date, I do understand the “protest vote” but am not really sure that leaving the EU will sort out any of the current problems facing our country, if anything it will make our country worse.
I really do hope that 1 day I don’t have to say ….I told you so…..
Me too.
How in the heck did you ever get time to reply to all these comments? Awesome post, and awesome commitment. I agree with everything, although watching Corbyn recently is like watching a man being dragged around by handlers – they don’t seem to want to let him speak to reporters at all. I would like to think that’s because they think he’ll say something daft and want to protect him, but I fear they only want to protect their own wallets.
Yes, probably!
Regards the links, it was my pleasure, Katy. It seems that, as in war, truth was the first casualty of the referendum.
I’ve run across a couple of linked petitions which might be of interest too. Wouldn’t it be nice to see the two people bearing most responsibility for the Brexit fiasco ‘man up’ and ‘take control’ ?
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/ask-david-cameron-to-have-parliament-examine-article-50-of-the-lisbon-treaty-before-he-stands-down
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/ask-boris-johnson-to-clarify-his-leave-campaign-statements-on-national-tv
I will happily sign them.
I just wanted you to know that I quote you almost every day… “Democracy doesn’t happen on one day for one vote and then go away again. Democracy is an ongoing process…” Hope you don’t mind!
I don’t mind a bit. x
A few things in regards to your ‘few things you’re angry about”
Firstly you talk about being in the boat with out a rudder and as a vote leaver I actually feel the same. I’m sure both stayers and leavers as a whole are feeling the same uncertainty. The stayers because they are worried what it’s going be like out of the EU and the leavers because we still might not leave the EU due to this vote only being an advisory. Because the politicians are dragging their feet with article 50 it’s creating uncertainty for both sides of the vote camp… They are to blame not the general public.
Secondly this is a democracy so yes it is a valid argument for someone to bandy about, it is a weak argument but still a valid one. This brings me to say you don’t have to live with it and your not as you have joined a political party to campaign for staying. The vote leavers voted to say otherwise. It may be an advisory but the weeks and months of campaigning on both side prior to the brexit vote WAS democracy so accept defeat graciously rather than spitting your dummy out the pram.
Thirdly this is beyond ridiculous… You tell people to stop saying pull together and let’s make this country great, but can you not even see the country HAS pulled together to make this country great? The unelected, unsanctioned and unaccountable EU politicians have pulled apart national identity, national community and national interest away from what we as a country want. Trade disputes and delays enforced by the EU have stunted our economic growth whilst other countries outside the EU have flourished (China and Ethiopia to name but a few) whilst we chuck them millions on millions every month to do nothing but fill Brussels pockets.. This has been happening for 10+ years. We have pulled together as a country and your flippant arguments are pulling this country apart because you are scared and don’t want to walk out of your EU safety bubble. We are a strong country economically, educationally and military wise and can hold our own on the world market with out some person stopping our trade with countries because of some silly dispute.
Fourthly quit being a pussy I am bored (yes bored) of this same old rhetoric. Oh look! You’re scare mongering… Sounds much like what BOTH stay and leave campaigners/politicians did in the run up to the vote and what has that shown us? Nothing but a divided country in the polls and further alienation in our country. That is why sticking together now is more important than ever. What is another referendum going to show to the world stage? A country who has no idea what it wants and therefore in the eyes of potential trade more uncertainty and that is no sound investment.
Fifthly we are ‘free’ and more so than we were before the vote. Laws and our currency should be decided by the country. I say currency… Did you know there is a plan to encompass all EU countries with the Euro? With the slow growth of the Euro and EU this to me will make us worse off OUTSIDE the EU. The EU market has been stale for years while other countries have seen steady increase.
Sixthly the far right have always been there and there will always be people both leavers and stayers to kick the racist fucks in to touch. Do not fear something in this country that has always been there, it will go away again with strong campaigns and law enforcement.
Seventhly Farage is dangerous I actually agree with you on this. He has only his self interests but as mentioned above I’d rather be taken into the future with unelected UK fuckwits than unelected Brussels fuckwits. Preferably not Farage though.
Eighthly you are right that was a clusterfuck. What did you expect when we voted leave? A pat on the back and a gold watch for years of service? Right now it feels like you got fired and sent your P45 two months after the tax year. But guess what you’ll get a rebate. It will get better you just have to believe and move forward. Looking back will just make your neck hurt and the journey forward fraught with health and safety issues. Great article and well written I just don’t agree with you on most the points. Sorry for calling you a pussy but it’s true. Be strong. Not uncertain and horrified.
You know what I like? Brexiteers being patronising, offensive and having a whiff of troll around them, despite cloaking their words in the ‘never gets tired’ mansplaining technique and telling me off for being a stupid whiner, and yet not being smart enough to A) read the date on the post they’re commenting on, B) read any of the comments or C) read any of the fifty odd posts that have come after it in which I discuss everything from politics to burkinis to my sister in law’s weddings to the consistency of lemon drizzle cake. YOU seem to be the one stuck in the past, fixated by Brexit and unable to move on. Me? Already there, thanks. But thanks so much for dropping round to reinforce the stereotype of Brexiteers everywhere.