EU referendum, brexit and the aftermath

Is it in the Rhubarb Triangle?

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/news/york-street-interchange-100m-roads-project-for-belfast-on-hold-following-brexit-vote-35143817.html

Cos 40% is EU funding. No hard guarantees...so... (and yes that intersection is fun times during rush hour...)

I'm afraid I would say that this scheme is entirely misconceived urban road-building and would be a dreadful waste of public money. It's standard predict-and-provide, stone age highway engineering. Not the fault of the EU but of Belfast city 'planners'.

It's a weird and not forward thing to be sure.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37706836

Old white people laughing at innuendo. #brexitmeansbrexit

#carryonbrexit

#workbants

#parliabants

#primebantister

Bit of a discussion going on on my Facebook feed at the moment...

Friend 1: Not heard anyone mention this yet but... is May's hardball stance on Europe all just a smokescreen? She doesn't want to leave the EU, but doesn't want to commit political suicide by not taking us out and is using the law courts to force her hand.

Friend 2: Being in her position, the legal challenge buying her some time will be massively appealing.

Friend 1: I think it's very clever. By saying it's a hard Brexit it has forced the markets to react badly and the pound to fall.
May admitted today that parliament would have to have a debate on Brexit once the terms of the negotiations had been ratified. A minor victory for the remain camp maybe, but with, yet again, a huge effect on the markets; the pound rallied strongly against the dollar.
By demonstrating the effect real Brexit will have she has scared the shit out of manty leavers including some top Tory MPs. It's fascinating to see it play out, and very scary!

Friend 2: As [friend 1] suggests, I think public opinion is moving away from leave; I don't think people can be bothered with the uncertainty against the perceived benefits of there being a few less Polish people in Stoke in 5 years time, or whatever.

Any thoughts?

^ possibly

She could just be an actual utter cunt and properly going for it?

Friend 1 and Friend 2 are obviously into each other and should just kiss.

#brexitslashfiction

I dunno...it's possible, and some people suggested it.

But then why the xenophobia and Davis Davis Davis Davis Davis... saying parliament will be kept out of trade negotiations?

Unless that's a smart ploy too: Whip up so much hassle than the furrins go on strike, and parliament revolts and votes down brexit or whatever...

It still has done massive damage to the UK brand though. Sigh...

#brexitspeculationbantz

Or May is pissed off she can't keep the furrins out, she has form bitching about immigration. And she doesn't like human rights very much. It's still possible she believes it :(

UK Brand?

The union jack?

A quick look at the comments section under any vaguely related news report would suggest leavers are still very happy about their decision. I suspect because they often don't have the education to understand what it means - example comment under article from a pro-leave source about a survey showing 4% of leavers (and 1% of remainers) have changed their mind: "If 4% of leavers have changed their mind, who's to say that 4% of remainers haven't also changed their mind?".

Queen, Tea, Jam, Stiff Upper Lip, Queen's English, Oxford, BBC historical dramas, good universities...I read they love that image in parts of Asia for example.

But if you couple it with "meh furrins", once that reaches the same fanclub...

4% of leavers (and 1% of remainers) have changed their mind

Most people will assume this means: 51.89-4+1 = 48.89% leave and 48.11+4-1 = 51.11% remain.

But if it's a percentage of the voters who have switched it remains a slim Leave majority:-

Leave: ( 51.89 * 0.96 ) + (48.11 * 0.01) = 50.2955
Remain: ( 48.11 * 0.99 ) + (51.89 * 0.04) = 49.7045

Although I suspect the figures are rounded to the nearest percentage and therefore all bets are off; it doesn't take much (4.4% and 0.8%) and the calculation swings to remain (just).

tl;dr meaningless stats are meaningless

How many will have died?

Oh I don't trust the methodology at all (particularly as they had it as ~75% of respondents voted leave), it was more the utter illiteracy (numerical in this particular case) of people commenting.
They don't understand numbers or stats, so things like facts, studies and science suddenly have as much weight as anecdote and personal feeling.
It's the same thing with people believing shiny websites over actual medicine.

Us humans tend to believe
-Anectodal stories [see anti vaccination stories]
-What others around us believe [even if they have the IQ of a head of lettuce]
-It happens to others, not to us [until it does]

More than pesky abstract facts. Of course, you can be taught this is so, and work with it, but most people aren't (it's not part of the curriculum) and so people can be played and manipulated using basic psychology.

[though perhaps there's no big plan behind all this, and it's just simply incompetence]

I think this is where the media creating the whole concept of the EU as being "anti-democratic" has been really destructive as it excuses the current moronic diatribes of treason, sovereignty and ignoring the will of the people, whereas in reality we've an outdated and unfit first past the post system, a cabinet of privately educated millionaires, overseen by a few hundred unelected toffs who sit around with a dead ferret on their heads claiming already subsidised champagne lunches on expenses.

Plus Farage saying if Leave lost by 1 or 2% the referendum should be re-held as it wouldn't be legitimate, but now all leavers coming out with the poor sport/remoaner logic is pretty fucking rich.

tl:dr some turkeys really do vote for christmas.

But if it's a percentage of the voters who have switched it remains a slim Leave majority:-

Leave: ( 51.89 * 0.96 ) + (48.11 * 0.01) = 50.2955
Remain: ( 48.11 * 0.99 ) + (51.89 * 0.04) = 49.7045

Still a crushing mandate for destroying the country, mind.

^ This.

EVERYONE thAT VOTED lEAVE YOU LOST ALRIGHT THIS IS DEMOCRACY JUST SHUT UP YEAH