EU referendum, brexit and the aftermath

i have at no point been optimistic about brexit. Each day the rising dread gets worse

I thought it was going to be bad cos

1-Tories would implement it, the current lot are xenophobic so i didn't see that going well
2-It would be soooooooooooooo much work
3-NI border

I hadn't even thought about the pure monetary costs and the huge drop in the £ and the odds of incompetence cubed, so holy cow, it's been a revelation so far.

At the time I knew it would be a bad idea in the way I know cutting out my liver and throwing it away is a bad idea (note, I have no idea what the liver does, apart from get into a bad state if you drink loadsa alcohol).

With what we have now learnt about Brexit, in my analogy, it is akin to having done the op, and now feeling how my body is dying, with a painful death as the outlook.

So to answer your question, through actualisation it is somewhat worse than imagined.

The 3million EU nationals group did a quick survey [unfortunately not on their public page yet] ...atm 13% of EU nationals (with their kids/spouses, some of which are British) are leaving over Brexit.

42% was definitely staying, 45% was not sure and it depends on how Brexit goes.

This is an informal not controlled survey over 2700 people, not age, income or location adjusted, so the results can be off quite a bit.

But 10% of 3 million that's...300.000 people + partners/kids
Even 1% it's 30.000 people + partners/kids
So, yay.

Guardian reader posted this link
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2017/596826/IPOL_STU(2017)596826_EN.pdf
'Some lunch-time reading; 'UK Withdrawal (‘Brexit’) and the Good
Friday Agreement', a paper produced by Queens University, Belfast for the European Parliament. I haven't been able to find an equivalent paper produced by the British government.

Basically the EU in interwoven with the GFA at every level. Preserving the GFA in the context of Brexit is a herculean task;'

This evenings' reading.

Oh dear...

European parliament says Brexit talks have not made enough progress to justify open trade negotiations

The European parliament says not enough progress has been made in the Brexit talks to justify open trade talks after the EU summit in December. The parliament’s Brexit steering group, which is chaired by Guy Verhofstadt and which represents the main political groups in the institution, has issued a statement in a press release headed: “Brexit: progress but not enough.”

William Wallace is going to be upset about that opening line and he's just the first in the queue.

Forgive my lack of memory but from what I learnt at (a Scottish) school, Wallace never invaded, subjugated or occupied England, did he?

He didn't stay but he spent some time vandalising the north of England.

Bonus points for using the No True Scotsman fallacy in this context. Respect.

I thought he made it as far as Smithfield.

Oh dear...

European parliament says Brexit talks have not made enough progress to justify open trade negotiations
The European parliament says not enough progress has been made in the Brexit talks to justify open trade talks after the EU summit in December. The parliament’s Brexit steering group, which is chaired by Guy Verhofstadt and which represents the main political groups in the institution, has issued a statement in a press release headed: “Brexit: progress but not enough.”

Does this mean that we'll see banks execute their "run away plans"?

Do we count the 1977 Wembley pitch invasion too then?

Snapping the cross bar was definitely vandalism, if not an act of outright hostility.

Yes - they'll be running away to Leeds I believe.

And who can blame them? Leeds is very close to the perfect city.

I've never heard Bradford described as that before.

Leeds is very close to the perfect city.

Is it in cycling distance?

The thickness of a wardrobe back-panel away.

Some official stats (i.e. ONS) on net migration in the year since the referendum

https://visual.ons.gov.uk/migration-since-the-brexit-vote-whats-changed-in-six-charts/

'So, you don't want to come back to Britain because there are too many people here like you?'

'Yes, could be'

Proud Brit live in France, hates the EU, voted to Brexit, but would never want to come back to the UK because the roads are too busy and there's too many immigrants.

I quite like James O'Brien. He has the patience of a saint speaking to people sometimes...

http://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/james-obrien/this-ex-pat-hates-the-eu-but-lives-in-france/

Reminds me of the person in the FT article the other day

https://www.ft.com/content/afef7700-d0f2-11e7-9dbb-291a884dd8c6 (yeah, paywall)

One thing underpinning many Brexiters’ confidence in Britain’s position is the belief that the country will be just fine without any preferential trade deal with the EU securing access to the bloc’s single market. So they argue the UK — not the EU — has the leverage in the Brexit talks.

They tend to dismiss the warnings of big job losses by banks in the City of London and the CBI, Britain’s biggest employers’ group, if there is no post-Brexit transition deal with the EU as just more of the scaremongering they believe Remainers engaged in during the referendum campaign. The fact that the sky has not fallen in and life has changed little on the ground in south Wales since the Brexit vote has only deepened their conviction.

“There are people queueing up to have trade deals with us,” said Mr Boucher’s wife Sue, citing Australia and New Zealand.

Neither Mr or Mrs Boucher trust the BBC — and its reports of mounting Brexit costs — so they seek alternative sources of news. “He’s constantly on YouTube, looking for stuff,” Mrs Boucher said of her husband.

During the referendum, she was the secretary for the anti-EU UK Independence party in Torfaen, the south Wales county that encompasses Pontnewynydd.

Her Ukip membership has lapsed but her Brexit fervour remains strong. In fact, her only apparent regret is that the fall in the value of the pound since the EU referendum may foil the Bouchers’ plan to sell their house and retire to Spain.

Pay off in the final line.

Makes me so mad.

I read your comment, read the text and was still surprised by the final line. What a bunch of cunts.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-europol-michel-barnier-speech-kicked-out-european-police-cooperation-eu-benefits-amber-rudd-a8082081.html well it keeps getting better.