EU referendum, brexit and the aftermath

Sturgeon's speech about Scotland/Brexit today is well worth a watch

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/ni-politicians-threaten-legal-challenge-to-brexit-1.2733162#.V5VUCIWcwi4.twitter

The Good Friday agreement is linked to the EU...so unsurprisingly NI needs to know where it stands.

NI needs to know where it stands

On its own, ignored by Westminster and Dublin, poorly-served by its own miserable bunch of weasels. The usual.

No bitterness otherwise, no? Tell us what you really think ;)

But to say I'm not happy with BrexSHit is an understatement. I am beginning to understand more why people don't try to change things and just leave. I have some hopes for NI but they all depends on growth and if the EU money isn't replaced, there may not be any. It's a clusterfuck.

Another little factoid:

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/brexit-triggers-fastest-slump-in-business-optimism-for-seven-years-a3303876.html

We are up north this week in North Yorkshire. Not much has changed here since we last visited pre Tour de France. But then again these folk are a resilient bunch.

I'm up in York. Not a huge difference, most people up here are a little fatter and more racist than real people, but otherwise perfectly pleasant.

In case anyone is interested, this is what I just sent to my MP.

Dear MP

I'm contacting you to urge you to take two actions in the aftermath of the EU referendum. The first is to seek to ensure that the rights of EU immigrants currently living in the UK are protected. Not only should the rights of these people be protected because of the strength, vibrancy and diversity that they bring to our communities, but also as a matter of principle. Having come to the UK with the reasonable expectation of finding a life-long home for themselves and their families, their futures should not be used as a bargaining chip in future negotiations, but protected as a soon as possible for the sake of our communities and because it is the right thing to do.

The second action I urge you to take is to campaign and vote against triggering Article 50 and our exit from the EU for the forseeable future. Those of us who campaigned and voted against leaving the EU are not required to now endorse that decision simply because of popular opinion. Indeed, if we thought it was a bad idea before the referendum, it would be morally deficient of us to remain silent after the referendum. As the parliamentary representative for your constituents, who voted 3:1 to remain in the EU, I hope you will continue to represent their views and interests to those who are planning the future of our country.

Please note that I am not suggesting that the views of the 51.9% who voted to Leave the EU should be ignored. A close result in either direction would have given the government a strong mandate to negotiate for reform of the EU. The calls for referenda in other EU countries reveal a wider discontent with the EU that, if and when these referenda are held, would provide multilateral support for substantial EU reform.

Although this course of action may not be popular among MPs I hope you will consider it for the following reasons:

1. The majority in the referendum was relatively small. This qualifies a lot of the further reasons laid out below. If the majority had been large (>2/3, for example) then there would be a stronger argument that we should simply muddle through the following issues as best we can; however a majority of less than 4% does not constitute a strong enough mandate to proceed in the face of other factors.
   
2. The campaigns, especially the Leave campaign, were riddled with factual inaccuracies from which key Leave campaigners retreated almost instantly apparently in the knowledge that they were incorrect.
   
3. A large number of those who voted Leave apparently now regret their decision.
   
4. The Leave campaign presented two fundamentally opposing views: the first was a vision of Britain unchained with less regulation and more open to globalisation; the second is a protectionist model of Britain isolated in order to reduce immigration. The incompatibility of these stances means that there is no possible model for Brexit that satisfies all or even most of those who voted Leave i.e., there is no mandate for any specific course of action.
   
5. The impact on the British economy has already been ruinous. Additionally there are already examples of the impact on science in the UK, an area in which we truly lead the world, as cooperation and co-funding with researchers in the EU becomes less certain.
   
6. The current negotiating stance of the EU means that very little can be established before Article 50 is triggered, leading to yet further instability.
   
7. The process of renegotiation is completely uncharted and will take years and countless worker-hours that could be dedicated to more worthwhile things.
   
8. A decision to commit to our continuing membership of the EU is not binding in perpetuity. An elected government with a manifesto commitment to leave the EU or a further referendum with a larger majority would provide a clear mandate to do so.
   
   

Yours sincerely,

A. Constituent

I think that's a great letter, and I don't disagree with anything in it.

However my approach moving forward is going to be different I think. We had the facts on our side before Brexit and we'll have the facts on our side after Brexit, but the small number of people who made the difference in voting for Brexit were not swayed by facts, they were swayed by rhetoric, by argument, by entertainment.

I'm going to become the left wing version of trump. I'm going to make single USB connectors mandatory - fuck all this USBa and USBb shit, it's going to be USB and THAT'S FUCKING IT. There're too many soft drinks: I'm going to nationalise the beverage industry - the only two flavours of soft drink in my decently run socialist society are going to be orange and coke. Mandatory blazers for everyone. Everyone has to have an OKCupid profile detailing their past misdemeanours so that there's no such thing as boardroom one-up-manship. Everyone has to say please and thank you.

boardroom one-up-manship

No Dr Pepper?

TWO MiLLION YEARS DUNGEON FOR BOTH OF YOU

USB-C tho

THREE MiLLION YEARS DUNGEON

USB-C tho

Won't be backwards/forwards compatible with USB-D tho.

That's it, I'm voting for Brexit.

It was nice whilst it lasted ...

• the only two flavours of soft drink in my decently run socialist society are going to be orange and coke.
  

Spot on description of my Scandinavian childhood in the early 80s.
(sometimes there was lemon flavour too)

Spot on description of my Scandinavian childhood

^ Hahaha, beat me to it. My family moved to the UK for two years in '89 (I was 12) and I remember it all looked like a theme park in comparison (yes really). Mum couldn't work as a doctor though because the UK wasn't in the EU and uni degrees weren't easily translatable. History apparently now repeating itself in my lifetime, makes me feel old. Bohoo, stupid Brexit.

Also @BleakReference lol, great rant.

Heartened that after doing this

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/13069060/

I got this

:)

From the grauniad

Although Smith is mostly differentiating himself from Corbyn on delivery, not policy, on Europe he said enough to suggest this could become a key policy dividing line. Smith has already said that the people should get a chance to vote on the final Brexit deal, either at a general election or in a referendum. Today he implied, without being fully explicit, that Labour under his leadership would campaign to stay in. He said Labour should be fighting to stay in Europe. (See 11.41pm - I will post the quote soon.) Corbyn, on the other hand, has shown no interest in trying to reverse the EU referendum vote, and Smith’s words suggest the leadership contest could become one with implications not just for Labour, but for Britain’s relationship with
the EU too.

Clever position to campaign on, but at the same time, how's that going to win over the voters who've left Labour for Ukip? I suspect that would make him a number of enemies in the PLP.

I don't have the energy for ironic lols anymore.

awesome!

You'd think he would have learned something from watching the Conservative party tear itself apart over Europe.