My answer on Quora
October 1 2019
Hard to believe that I wrote this is 2016! Now more than 3 years on, the UK faces a lonely future. Can’t help thinking of the old joke, “The British never got over winning WWII!” I am also thinking of the remark an ex-friend made when he said that he was voting to leave as he was fed up with the UK being told what to do by the German Federation!
June 2016
We kept on getting text messages from friends in the UK and abroad (I live in Italy) who were really upset at the result. They had all voted to remain,of course, so I cannot tell you about the Brexiters — but we know all about them anyway!
The remain voters were saying the following things:-
- gutted
- disgusted
- worried
- gloomy
- frustrated
- indignant
One dear friend left a message on my answering machine so I heard her plaintive cry
What the f**ck have we done?
We had lots of chats about this and I think the most worrying thing is that the campaign (on both sides) was guilty of twisting the truth although the Brexiters concentrated on the immigration issue (actually most of the immigrants are not from the EU at all!)
What really upset the remain voters was that :-
- David Cameron had used a very dangerous weapon (nuclear, I’d say) to fix up differences within his own party. Talk about cracking a nut with a sledgehammer and an own goal!
- Increase in hate crimes against foreigners and immigrants has already increased by 57% compared to last week. That is disgusting!
- The EU is bureaucratic in the extreme and its policy of austerity has ruined Greece, for example.But you do not leave the sinking ship — you try to save it or reform it! A united Europe can and will cater for its less well off citizens. The UK wants out and will take no part in that.
- Little England (LE) is bound to suffer much more because it will be isolated and poorer.
- Italians and other Europeans are also furious because the UK had a very special deal within the EU. They were allowed to keep sterling and they did not participate in the Schengen agreement. They have acted like a spoiled child.
- The least they could have done was to try and steer that monster ship into safer waters.
- Free movement of goods and people has been an enormous advantage. The UK will no longer benefit. Erasmus programs have really contributed to a more tolerant and peace-loving continent.
- Look at what the Brexiters are talking about — taking back control of borders and stopping immigration when they need people to do jobs that nobody else wants to do. Immigrants are a resource and they can live in the UK — even if they are not fully integrated. Why would they want to be fully integrated when they see UK people vomiting and drunk in the streets or football hooligans go berserk when they reach Europe?
- There is a lot of disbelief that the British press played such a disgraceful game in hiding some of the issues. Here is a quote from an insightful article in the Guardian.
When Angela Merkel said she wanted the UK to remain in the EU but warned that post-Brexit deals superior to the one already negotiated would be impossible, she flickered across the headlines for barely an afternoon and was then forgotten. By contrast, Steve Hilton made multiple front pages and haunted TV studios for days with weightless musings on the subject. The most powerful politician in Europe imparting essential data that voters needed to process in their decision-making was treated as a lesser figure than some California-based author who once spent a couple of years padding around Downing Street in his socks urging the prime minister to replace whole Whitehall departments with websites.
You can read the full article here:-
Of course the Brexiters didn’t plan. Arsonists never carry water | Rafael Behr
- Brexiters seem to be living on another planet in another era. That is so, so sad.
- Watch the video here and read the article where Sir Richard Branson, owner of Virgin is warning that the Chinese investors are already abandoning the UK and that thousands of jobs will be lost.
Richard Branson: investors pulling out of UK after Brexit vote
A long and difficult recession is staring us in the face! Thanks David and Nigel!
You might like to read how important it is to stop the hate game and start constructing a reasonable society based on more tolerance. That sort of tolerance was rarely mentioned in the Brexit debate!
