News thread

Didn't think it would happen, so I've spent much of the day pondering why it did happen. Here are some of my thoughts.

Leave Campaign: Got to hand it to them, they ran the better campaign in terms of appealing to people. To be fair, there were two campaigns: the one headed by Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, which ran on the language of taking back control (nice choice, implies the opposition are out of control), and Nigel Farage's campaign, which ran on the fear of immigrants taking British jobs and resources. This gave them a broader spread of appeal than the...

Remain Campaign: Did not do enough to allay people's fears about the EU or, dare I say it, give reasons why it's a good thing. Instead the main headlines I read were "Oooh, this bad thing might happen" or "That bad thing might happen". They also seemed very relaxed which, in hindsight, could be a bad thing.

Labour Party: :shrink: Seriously, if David Cameron has stepped down, then Jeremy Corbyn has to do the same. My fear is that he's purposefully done little so that Cameron would have to step down and he can seize the opportunity in the confusion... but the Tories have been confused and fighting amongst themselves for months and he has not taken advantage. Really upset by the left not standing up to be counted as effectively as they could have.

Lack of information: There's going to have to be a new way to speak to the electorate at large as no-one managed to convincingly convey the benefits of the EU to the populace. A former colleague has posted a graph on Facebook that he described as "tragic", which shows that the regions that most benefit from the UK's EU membership were more likely to vote Leave. I bet there are households where campaign material goes straight in the bin (I'm guilty of this too); Facebook and Twitter are filled with your mates, so they only echo what you're saying anyway; the news has either not done its duty or been doomed to convey the poor message from the Remain campaign. New thinking is needed to find a way, or ways, to get information out to people.

The Blame Game: It's too hard for politicians to stand up and say "OK, we've made some mistakes. We're going to rectify them." Instead, we get the Blame Game. Recently, immigration has been the thing to blame. Now, certain things came to light during the campaign, namely that most of the immigrants in the UK come from non-EU countries and that immigrants are actually economically beneficial to the UK (creating a situation where the classic joke writes itself as "Coming over here, contributing to our economy"). Those facts do not matter, because the 'blame it on the immigrants' culture has whipped up a hatred amongst certain sections of the populace that's been impossible to resist. A convenient scapegoat for the government has just blown up in their face.

Can't stand some of the intellectual sneering being done on Facebook and Twitter by friends, comedians, etc. Only two people have put out the message that I would say: we can only feel sorry for ourselves for so long and then we're just going to have to get on with it: Deborah Meaden and Jeremy 'The Grand Tour Is A Rubbish Name' Clarkson. Once the financial markets level out we can see what the damage is and plan accordingly. The time for wailing and gnashing of teeth is almost over - let's work together to make sure the future of the UK is as bright as possible.

My favourite part of the whole thing is how quickly the Leave campaign's promises folded up like a paper hat - that can only increase the mistrust the nation has of politicians, which is another contributing factor to the decision in the first place.

Negotiations. Lots of 'em, with lots of different bodies. With the Scottish Parliament, to see if #Scexit (try it, you might like it) is a possibility. If Scotland decide to leave the UK, they should only do so if there's a guarantee - a cast-iron, no backsies guarantee - that they will join the European Union. If that's not on the cards, it shouldn't happen. A separate non-EU Scotland would, I feel, compound our problems. Please educate me on that if I'm wrong - and I mean that genuinely, non-sarcastically. I want to be as informed about things as I possibly can be in the future.

Other negotiations are needed with Northern Ireland and the Republic because the border will need to be changed - I saw it called a 'hard border' earlier in the day. That's a big change in that part of the world, with the current peace process still in play. Feelings will run high.

There's some other negotiations that need to take place, too... what were they now? There are massive, wide-reaching and long-lasting implications to this and I am pretty certain the UK will not come out of them well. We've bloodied the nose of Europe and the process of leaving the Union will be their chance to bloody ours: there is little chance of enjoying the same trade deals with the EU outside it as inside it, because they will have to make an example of us or risk further instability. Our politicians and civil servants must play they hand they've been dealt to the best of their ability.

I have some admiration for those of us who are looking to move forward and do the best we can, really I do. But just look at the damage that's been done in 48 hours, there's a Guardian report that says Brexit has wiped $2 Trillion off of global markets, we've dropped to 6th in Economic wealth, and we've all heard about Sterling going tits up. I'm angry, heartbroken, and deeply depressed. My generation, and our children, have had their rights stripped by a generation with the least amount of time left to live with our decision. Social Media is littered with those saying that our decision was democratic, but where's the justice in giving pensioners a say where 16/17 y/os, those who can legally get married and fight to the death for our country, have not a word in something that will affect them for 60-80 years rather than 5-10.

We're polishing one almighty great turd right now and the rest of the world is having to put up with our stench. I've never felt so ashamed of my homeland