Topic: The UK Votes to Leave

[Kpyna]

I'm not super informed on this, but I have a feeling that this is the hot topic of today. The vote to leave was overwhelmingly old people, and the vote to stay was overwhelmingly young people, which is really how all politics work isn't it? Anyways, I'm guessing we're going to mostly be on the same side but I just want to learn most about this and do some theoretics and stuff. I heard about the possibility of this while I was studying in Europe and everyone I spoke to about it in Italy and Spain said they were super scared it would the beginning of the end of the EU... I don't know if it will come down to that, but we shall see.

Anyways, I wake up this morning and it turns out the value of the pound has dropped by 10%... found this fun image



so 'splain here and don't clog up 1st world problems because is it really just a first world problem when your currency plummets like that in hours, also the unstoppable tide of nationalism that's sweeping the world right now is also a concerning piece of this

ALSO DAVID CAMERON STRAIGHT UP RESIGNED??? Did we know this was going to happen??? What have I woke up to?!

[Shaymin]

Ok before I evem begin I'm on a tablet with sick nasty awful autocorectangular so forgive me for any mistakes

So I'm a staunch believer of the EU. So many places only exist today because of Europe funding- places like the Gardens of Eden. They were funded with EU money because of how poor and basically crappy the area was - and the crappier, the more EU funding it can qualify for. So, basically, rip in pieces places that relied on this money (south West England,  all of Wales,  other parts of England too)

The Leave campaign was basically full of either lies, hearsay or inflated figures. First of all, the £350 mil a week thing they kept quoting? Lies. It's more like £270 mil a week. Farage and Co were quoted with saying they'd spend this money on the NHS - and yet he appeared on Sky News this morning and said that, no,they weren't going to spend that money on the NHS as promised.

Leave was also focused on ~ teh evul immigrantz ~, blaming all of them for our economic woes. They also confused refugees fleeing from persecutions do war with economic migrants (which obviously they're not the same), and basically filled their campaign with a healthy dose of racism.

Cameron said if vote Leave won, he would resign. Some MPs sent him a letter, urging him to stay on, but hes a man of his word and I respect that- even if abiding by his word meant he's screwed our country over and lost his job in one fell swoop.

The remain campaign did it's best but was lacklustre- and Corbyn sat back and watched instead of really helping out until the last possible moment, so I'm not surprised at calls for him to step down.

And yeah, it's another case of the older generations, the baby boomers, reaping the benefits of something before deciding they don't like having to pay the membership fee and screw over their kids and grandkids. I'm disappointed beyond belief and so utterly incensed by this complete debacle

[Laprabi]

I voted leave because I believe that Britain's sovereignty is more important than the EU's money, which by the way is a net loss for the UK, we pay more into the EU than we get out of it. The EU benefits Germany more than anyone else because the existence of the Euro allows the Germans to sell their industrial produce at competitive prices. Look at how it has shafted Greece and Spain, who 'enjoy' massive levels of youth unemployment, 50% for Greece and around 40% for Spain. Greece even hired Goldman Sachs to fiddle with their balance sheets to even gain them EU admission in the first place, and since Greece can't default on their debts, again another fault of the EU, things will only get worse and worse for them.

The EU was 'required' upon its creation; a bulwark against communist expansion was needed, hence the need for a strong and united Europe. That was then, but communism is now dead save for Cuba and North Korea.

The remain campaign lost because their strategy was based entirely on fear; fear of the unknown and 'better the devil we know'.  Also time for a fun little fact about Jeremy Corbyn: he is actually anti-EU. But instead of sticking to his principles he abandoned them and toed the party line, as Labour is a pro-EU party. Showing his lack of a backbone in my view.

The pound dropping is not a bad thing either. A weaker currency means your exports are cheaper and therefore more competitive. Besides, after the initial shock it rallied back up again anyway; in the long term that shock is literally nothing.

The elderly vote did admittedly win it for Brexit, but upon examining the voter turnout statistics you will find that only 36% of people aged 18-24 even voted, on an issue that will affect them more than anyone else. This number for the 65+ demographic? 83%. The total voter turnout was around 70%, the highest it's been for any issue in decades. If you are angry at anyone for the result, it shouldn't be the elderly who, through the democratic process, made their voice heard, and fought for this great country in two world wars.

The UK will be fine, despite what remain might lie and tell you. The USA, Canada and Germany have already said that they are desperate to trade with us. Hardly the 'isolation' that remain promised.  Also, Aston Martin have just announced that they are investing £200m in a car plant in Wales. Hardly the death of British industry that we were told would happen.

Even so, arguing about the result accomplishes nothing. The result is final, and that petition to have another vote simply shows the arrogance and contempt for democracy that Remain have, simply because they lost. Instead, we should accept this result and forge a new path for the UK. The future is bright.

EDIT: Apologies for any typos, I typed this on my phone.

[Lord Raven]

wow laprabi you should move to america and work on the trump campaign

im sure u wouldnt be out of place

[the bread dragon]

The future is bright.

i actually laughed at this

[Lord Raven]

I mean I read Laprabi's post and it reeks of the entire misguided bullcrap that lead to this referendum being passed. Effectively, passive racism among other issues and this thing about British isolationism. I mean, I generally hear British culture is antisocial, but this kind of shows it.

My friend (not on tumblr, btw, since I don't even touch that website) posted this to summarize the issue. It's frankly ridiculous that this was passed.

I can't believe even AFTER the referendum is over people are still confused about what powers the EU has.
 
The EU has no sovereignity over anything. There is no EU police or EU army to go after a country if they decide they're not going to obey particular laws or agree to demands (and creating an EU army would be impossible unless every single state agreed to it btw). The EU is merely a collective block of nations who come to agreements, using the power of their interconnected markets as a leveraging force against external and internal forces. All EU law must be signed into law by each member's own parliaments, and if a member violates those rules the worst that can happen is that they get sent fines they can refuse to pay, people get upset at them and don't vote with them on other issues, or they eventually get kicked out of the single market.
 
EU law cannot be imposed on any of its members anymore than NATO can keep its members to keep their commitment to spending 2% of their GDP on defence (protip, only the US, UK, Greece and Estonia honor that commitment). One only has to look at how pathetic the EU's response to the migration crisis has been to understand this, the EU can't MAKE any of the member states who refuse to take any migrants in do anything.
 
The Luxembourg Compromise is a pretty blatant example of how flimsy the framework of the EU really is.

Furthermore, from my understanding, despite being "free" from EU trade regulations, they will still be expected to follow it when trading with other EU nations. So what was the point of getting out of the EU anyway?

[Inferna]

I voted to remain.

From a Scottish perspective I felt very disenfranchised with the leave side. It just seemed to be UKIP and the like harping on about immigration and ~taking back our country (aka England)~. UKIP have very little, if any, relevance in Scottish politics. Yes we obviously funnelled a lot of money into the EU but there's going to be a lot of things in a few years time we won't have access to now. Things like freedom of movement and a lot of workers rights.

It was actually quite surprising that all of the Scottish constituents voted to remain (although it wasn't a pure sweep, about 60/40). Especially the islands, as back in the last EU ref they voted out and issues like fishing are important.

Now back in 2014 I voted yes to independence for Scotland. I can see why Brexit was so enticing to a lot of voters: power and 'taking back the country'. The similarities between an elite 1000s of miles away ruling and dictating what you can and cannot do. The yes campaign was very similar in those respects but obviously with the major difference of wanting to remain in the EU. Since then though I can see very little of the promised changes implemented.

Now with Scotland and the majority of NI voting to remain there is definitely a rift developing again between Scotland/NI and England and Wales. Personally the idea of yet another possible referendum in two years sounds exhausting. I would love for an indyref2 to happen and for it to be successful but I'm already very cynical about politics in general lmao.

You may be confused as to why I voted yes to independence and to remain, both have opposite ideals but at the core was wanting to remain in the EU. Heck I even agreed with David Cameron (yes Scotland hates the Tories we've been through this before). I would much rather him than Boris Johnson tbh.

The issue of immigration was what made me vote remain. I saw that aspect of it as just racist tbh (obvious allusions to Nazi propaganda). Living where I am I don't see it as a problem, it's something I'm just used to now. Whereas a lot of the older generations here intensely dislike the polish and Eastern European people who have been able to come here. As long as they are working and contributing then I don't see why not. If they've come to scrounge benefits then it's an entirely different story. I'm sure in places like Spain that the Spanish are sick of us coming over just to lounge in the sun after retirement and not contribute, it works two ways. It made me laugh that a lot of people assumed that if it was out then our borders would close instantly, go on lock down. Things take time and until the official process comes into play then people can still come here. I think a lot of people were getting immigrants and refugees confused. That's a whole different kettle of fish and one I won't go into.

As you can tell I've not mentioned money at all. I'm more into the human side of politics, how it actually affects people 'on the ground'. I don't pretend to try and understand the large amounts of money flying around, I guess that sounds dumb but whatever.

Just my rambling contribution.

[Shaymin]

ok laprabi that's great and i'mma let you finish but let's go over some of ur nice facts here : ))

I voted leave because I believe that Britain's sovereignty is more important than the EU's money, which by the way is a net loss for the UK, we pay more into the EU than we get out of it. The EU benefits Germany more than anyone else because the existence of the Euro allows the Germans to sell their industrial produce at competitive prices. Look at how it has shafted Greece and Spain, who 'enjoy' massive levels of youth unemployment, 50% for Greece and around 40% for Spain. Greece even hired Goldman Sachs to fiddle with their balance sheets to even gain them EU admission in the first place, and since Greece can't default on their debts, again another fault of the EU, things will only get worse and worse for them.

the uk is a tiny, and i repeat, tiny stupid little island drifting off of the coast of europe, that still thinks it owns half of the world according to people like you. we are not big. we are not powerful. we have 70 million+ people. to some countries (like russia) we're nought but a blip on the radar. being in the "club" (aka, the EU), strengthened our position in the world. we were part of a 300 million strong economic area rivalling places like america. we had free trade - yall know what that is, right?? little import and export tax on goods send to and received from the mainland. now we want out?? say bye to that mate. say bye to companies who came to the uk SPECIFICALLY to trade with the eu. say bye to thousands of jobs.

i'll touch on greece for a second here. the reason greece sucks so much anus right now is because the government played the fiddle whilst athens burned. their first issue was civil servants working two jobs and never turning up to their government one, and NOT. PAYING. TAX. not because they were part of the eu. a second reason was they wasted so much money on the olympics. so, they dug their grave, now they gotta deal with it. and as for ur goldman sachs claim... i'mma need some sources on that : )

The EU was 'required' upon its creation; a bulwark against communist expansion was needed, hence the need for a strong and united Europe. That was then, but communism is now dead save for Cuba and North Korea.

the eu was created after the second world war, to ensure we never had to go through all that crap again. we'd done it twice and everyone was like "ok folks that's IT i'm taking away ur weapon privileges lets all try to get along". we tried to join then but charles de freaking gaulle, british hater extraordinaire, vetoed our submission. thank god he wasn't in power when we tried again : )

The remain campaign lost because their strategy was based entirely on fear; fear of the unknown and 'better the devil we know'.  Also time for a fun little fact about Jeremy Corbyn: he is actually anti-EU. But instead of sticking to his principles he abandoned them and toed the party line, as Labour is a pro-EU party. Showing his lack of a backbone in my view.

AND THE LEAVE CAMPAIGN PROPOGANDA WAS FULL OF LIES.

It's been less than 72 hours since only 37% of people who were allowed to vote decided we didn't want to be part of the eu anymore for the leave's top cronies to admit they lied. more money on the nhs?? a lie. reducing immigration?? a lie. they lied and lied and lied and people, being stupid and gullible, ate it up. "curse those immigrants!!" they cried. "curse the EU!!" they cried. "take our country back!!" they screamed. from what? a fascist dictatorship? yall are dumb

The pound dropping is not a bad thing either. A weaker currency means your exports are cheaper and therefore more competitive. Besides, after the initial shock it rallied back up again anyway; in the long term that shock is literally nothing.

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MY GOD GET A LOADA THIS HAHAHA

"the pound dropping is not a bad thing either" YEAH M8, IF UR EUROPEAN OR AMERICAN!!!!!!! our pound being worth less means people travelling to the uk can buy more pounds per their money!! how nice for them : )) for us in the mean time it means prices of things originally in euros, dollars, yen, whatever, ARE NOW MORE EXPENSIVE. the pounds value dropped to LESS THAN IT WAS DURING THE 08 WORLD CRASH. it's was worth less than it was in 85. British people living overseas lost HUNDREDS trying to rebudget. people overseas might not be able to meet their rent. might not be able to eat all for the greed of a couple of idiot cronies who thought "yeah the EU sucks"

"initial shock" the pounds value basically threw itself off a cliff. that's not shock. that's economic suicide.

The elderly vote did admittedly win it for Brexit, but upon examining the voter turnout statistics you will find that only 36% of people aged 18-24 even voted, on an issue that will affect them more than anyone else. This number for the 65+ demographic? 83%. The total voter turnout was around 70%, the highest it's been for any issue in decades. If you are angry at anyone for the result, it shouldn't be the elderly who, through the democratic process, made their voice heard, and fought for this great country in two world wars.

let me tell you something. my grandad, bless him, has dementia. he's in his 80s, was a kid during ww2. so, probably didn't vote. cause, yknow, not sound of mind and all that. for anyone to have served in EITHER world war (let's not forget that the last serving survivor we know of world war 1, Harry Patch, died 7 years ago), they'd be well into their 90s. here's the age demographic for 2011 see. now given not many people live over 90, we can say a lot of them folk are dead, and probably also rolling in their graves. they didn't fight for this. 65-80 year olds didn't fight for this. baby boomers were born AFTER THE WAR. baby boomers who had cheap housing, good jobs, free university education, baby boomers who've taken all of this away from our generation. they decided after reaping the benefits of the eu, that we weren't deserving of the same. so no. i'm not going to sit by and not be angry at the people who took something great away from us : )

The UK will be fine, despite what remain might lie and tell you. The USA, Canada and Germany have already said that they are desperate to trade with us. Hardly the 'isolation' that remain promised.  Also, Aston Martin have just announced that they are investing £200m in a car plant in Wales. Hardly the death of British industry that we were told would happen.

"desperate to trade with us", again, sources'd be nice. now as i said earlier many big businesses and manufacturers came to the uk to trade with the EU. my local Airbus is one of them. We've got Nissan, Sony, Vauxhall, and more. they were all backing remain. so these businesses are no longer going to make as high a profit when import taxes are slapped on us for trading with the eu. you know what they'll do?? Oh, that's right, up and leave. we're not going to be "fine". we're going into an economic downturn and yknow, i won't be surprised if we drag the rest of the world with us.

Even so, arguing about the result accomplishes nothing. The result is final, and that petition to have another vote simply shows the arrogance and contempt for democracy that Remain have, simply because they lost. Instead, we should accept this result and forge a new path for the UK. The future is bright.

yes it does. so many people/idiots who voted leave are now thinking "oh no what have i done" bc they used it as a protest vote or didn't think they'd win. there are also people who said "oh i didn't vote cause i didn't think it'd count ((" aka the 28% of MORONS who didn't vote (im looking at u. u should've voted. meet me in the pit), could have easily won it for remain.

ps, the future is bright?? what have yall been sniffing cause i want some of that to deal with this garabage


Oh, and by the way? Don't you dare pretend you speak on behalf of the brave men and women who fought and died in both world wars. Don't pretend you know what they would have wanted. Veterans of WW2 particularly fought against a government which blamed a certain group of people for their economic woes and let rampant nationalism go unchecked. Sit down.

[Laprabi]

I'm glad someone has actually gone through my post and has constructed an argument against it instead of just saying that it made them laugh or saying it's 'racist'. I'll honour your commitment by doing the same.

Quotes have been shortened and double post incoming, because I broke the 10k character limit.

the uk is a tiny, and i repeat, tiny stupid little island drifting off of the coast of europe ... say bye to companies who came to the uk SPECIFICALLY to trade with the eu. say bye to thousands of jobs.

A tiny island that has the 5th largest GDP in the world, behind Germany, Japan, China and the USA. Our military expenditure is the 4th (or 5th, depending where the stats come from) largest IN THE WORLD, behind the US, China, Saudi Arabia and Russia. Russia are 6th on the list where Britain is 4th. We are hardly isolated, unless you've been living in a different United Kingdom to the one I've called home for the past 20 years.

I know what free trade is. Free trade makes it so whoever can produce a good at the cheapest is the only one to sell it. Free trade is also the reason that Africa is still wallowing in poverty while South Korea, who rejected free trade in the 1960s or 70s to build up their industry, is now one of the world's strongest economies. Here is support for my claim that free trade has harmed Africa, for reference.

In case you've forgotten we are still a member of the G8 and have veto power in the United Nations. Something that we had before the EU and will continue to have after it. The 'thousands of jobs lost' claim is once again remain scaremongering. Here are some articles that refute that claim.

Aston Martin to go ahead with £200m Wales plant
Remain-backing energy giant won’t leave post-Brexit UK and plans to invest MORE, says MP
UK: Foreign investors eyeing property amid post-Brexit price-fall

That last article also provides another reason as to why the pound dropping was in fact a good thing. It's basic economics. Investors are drawn towards cheap things, in the exact same way that regular people are drawn to a '50% off!' sign.

i'll touch on greece for a second here. the reason greece sucks so much anus right now is because the government played the fiddle whilst athens burned ... now they gotta deal with it. and as for ur goldman sachs claim... i'mma need some sources on that : )

Here's your source. And this was found after a very, very quick Google search, along the lines of 'Greece Goldman Sachs scandal'.

I will agree with you though in that Greece largely screwed themselves, massive welfare payments and retirement at age 50 are some of the culprits there. This does not for a second mean that the EU isn't partially to blame. Default on debts is forbidden under the EU constitution. If Greece had their own currency, as any economics student will be able to tell you, they would be able to devalue their currency and default on their debts so the recovery process can begin. Instead, they will continue to get further and further into the red.

the eu was created after the second world war... thank god he wasn't in power when we tried again : )

While the idea of 'never having another world war' may ring true, you cannot deny the intention of halting communist expansion if you have even the most basic understanding of the geopolitical situation of the world after WW2. It's the same reason that the UN recognised the nationalist Taiwanese Government as the rightful Govermnent of mainland China. It's the same reason the USA intervened in Vietnam. It's the same reason the USA supported the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

AND THE LEAVE CAMPAIGN PROPOGANDA WAS FULL OF LIES ... they cried. "curse the EU!!" they cried. "take our country back!!" they screamed. from what? a fascist dictatorship? yall are dumb

Are you using fascism as a political buzzword or for its actual meaning? Because the political buzzword that is so readily thrown around by political opponents of say, Donald Trump for example, is so far removed from it's original meaning that it can be ignored.

Still, there were lies on both sides. I'd also love to know where you're getting this '37%' figure from. Even if it is true, less people voted to stay than did leave. That's democracy and if you don't like it, why don't you go and live in North Korea, Cuba or Venezuela? I hear all three of those countries are lovely at this time of year.

I disagree with the assertion that the referendum result was largely driven by racism. This ignores and marginalizes all of the black, minority and ethnic groups that also voted to leave the EU. Believe it or not, over 50% of Sikhs and Jews in the UK voted in favour of leaving the EU. Anyone who cries 'RACISM!!1!1!' in the face of that is quite frankly deluded and racist.

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MY GOD GET A LOADA THIS HAHAHA"the pound dropping is not a bad thing either" ... "initial shock" the pounds value basically threw itself off a cliff. that's not shock. that's economic suicide

While all this may be true to an extent, it is short-sighted to think it will last. If you have the faintest idea how markets work, you would know that it was hedge funds that caused all of this; they overwhelmingly bet on remain, and had positions to reflect this. When the markets closed and the news broke that Britain would be leaving, they all panicked and tried to keep themselves from losing money, hence the economics shocks.

The drop in the pound is not 'economic suicide'. If you're calling what happened to the pound 'economic suicide' then I suggest you look at what happened to the Euro after Brexit. Spoiler: its value plummeted. Worse than the pound, which I reiterate, has rallied since.

I said it before and I said it again, in the long run, it's NOTHING. And not being able to eat is a gross exaggeration, we are not going to go the way of Zimbabwe, who printed money to pay for literally EVERYTHING, and that is why their population are starving to death.

let me tell you something. my grandad, bless him, has dementia. he's in his 80s, was a kid during ww2. ... so no. i'm not going to sit by and not be angry at the people who took something great away from us : )

My grandparents are either dead or were too young to remember the war. It's the generation of my great grandparents who fought and died in WW2, so while you are correct in saying that all the WW1 veterans are dead, the WW2 veterans are the ones who fought and died to halt German expansion. In my honest view however we should have fought the Soviets as well (Winston Churchill and Operation Unthinkable, look it up), but that's a story for another day.

The EU is a failed project. It advocated for greater integration in Europe with the eventual goal of an EU superstate. When it was formed it worked because it only included strong economies; France, West Germany, Britain et al. Its downfall, which again benefited Germany, was including weaker economies into the mix.

"desperate to trade with us", again, sources'd be nice. ... we're going into an economic downturn and yknow, i won't be surprised if we drag the rest of the world with us.

You want sources? Okay. And another.

Ohhh, soo many countries who will refuse to trade with an independent UK. You seem to forget that they want our money. They aren't going to realistically sacrifice their own economic wellbeing simply because we left an undemocratic political union. Anyone who thinks so is simply being obtuse.

Double post incoming, sorry.

[Laprabi]

yes it does. so many people/idiots who voted leave are now thinking "oh no what have i done" bc they used it as a protest vote or didn't think they'd win ... could have easily won it for remain.

Did they? Please provide a source for that claim, seeing as you've asked me for sources.

I did vote and I voted for Leave. Unless that was directed at someone else. I reiterate, only 36% of people aged 18-24 could be bothered to vote on an issue that will affect them more than anyone else. If this demographic disagrees with the result, they have themselves and ONLY themselves to blame. The registration website crashed the day of the deadline. I registered to vote weeks in advance, as should have anyone who actually cared about the result.

ps, the future is bright?? what have yall been sniffing cause i want some of that to deal with this garabage

The highest quality cocaine, imported straight from the Colombian highlands. /s

Oh, and by the way? ... rampant nationalism go unchecked. Sit down.

You lecture me on claiming to know what they stood for, but you weren't there, you don't know what they stood for either. In terms of geopolitics, believe it or not WW2 was started (by us) to halt German expansion. Learn more about the geopolitical situation of WW2 before you lecture me on it. You might not like what you discover. The assumption what we knew about the Holocaust is also wrong; we didn't know about it until we discovered the camps after the German defeat. Or you can analyse any existing reconnaissance photos yourself.

Well that was long. I doubt anyone here will agree with me though. Oh well, such is life.

[Lord Raven]

I disagree with the assertion that the referendum result was largely driven by racism. This ignores and marginalizes all of the black, minority and ethnic groups that also voted to leave the EU. Believe it or not, over 50% of Sikhs and Jews in the UK voted in favour of leaving the EU. Anyone who cries 'RACISM!!1!1!' in the face of that is quite frankly deluded and racist.

did you just invoke the "this referendum can't be racist cause minorities voted for it"

because news flash: just because minorities voted for something doesn't mean it can't be racist

I'm glad someone has actually gone through my post and has constructed an argument against it instead of just saying that it made them laugh or saying it's 'racist'. I'll honour your commitment by doing the same.

i mean i would've done it

but i had no guarantee you'd actually respond to it

[Kerou 犠牲]

Whilst I wouldn't say the referendum was completely racism driven it definitely outed closeted racists within Britain. The amount of people I've heard say they wanted out solely because of immigrants was quite a lot, even from people I didn't expect. There were a few who voted out without even realising the potential of what it would cause as well. I think from both sides there was a lot of naivity.

It's happened though, we can judge all we want now but we can't even say whether it will be a good thing or not now until a few years have passed and the effects will come to light. Until then we just live on our lives and roll with the punches.

[Spriter]

Since the referendum, and whilst oh boy Leave definitely wasn't all about the xenophobia / racism, it's shocking to hear of several incidents wherein "immigrants" (really british-born people of non-british descent) have been given abuse on the streets based on the vote to leave. Not all leave voters did but it's been on the up since the vote. Shocking.

If there is at least one certain downside so far, that's probably it. Fortunately a lot of leave voters definitely made sense of it themselves and made up their minds.

So in spite of the whole "young 'uns didn't half turn up did they hnghhhhh" thingy, could the vote actually have been extended to include 16 and 17 year olds??? Again stupidly low turnout probably meant doing so would not have made a difference, but seeing as how the decision will affect us younger people for longer than a good few people...any sense in that? Personally yeah, I reckon it could have been inclusive of them...but again, not many would probably have voted.

Whatever the case, it's all a bit late to worry. We have to pull it together for now.

also that vote wasn't legally binding so somebody could pull a fast one and start a civil war, hahahahaha poor joke sorry

[lets all go out for some frosty chocolate milkshakes]

as usual there will be an Economic Backlash cos we decided to rock the boat at completely the wrong time and as usual its gonna be the middle to bottom line thats gonna suffer at the end of it all so i all hope you all got some savings handy!!!!!!! (what am i talking about this is mid-to-low class we wish we had savings.)

So in spite of the whole "young 'uns didn't half turn up did they hnghhhhh" thingy, could the vote actually have been extended to include 16 and 17 year olds???

think about your typical uni student and now think about their typical track record for turning in assignments on a timely manner and the number of extensions they totally need cos me cat was sick and it was sooooooooooooooo traumatic like. now extrapolate that to something you can literally do in about 15 mins and even less if you do a postal vote and thats ur answer for why the youth vote is so terrible.

i really dont want to sound Crotchety and Old here but sadly its the truth.

[Laprabi]

Whilst I wouldn't say the referendum was completely racism driven it definitely outed closeted racists within Britain. The amount of people I've heard say they wanted out solely because of immigrants was quite a lot, even from people I didn't expect. There were a few who voted out without even realising the potential of what it would cause as well. I think from both sides there was a lot of naivity.

It's happened though, we can judge all we want now but we can't even say whether it will be a good thing or not now until a few years have passed and the effects will come to light. Until then we just live on our lives and roll with the punches.

Yup, sad to say. A lot of people voted on the basis that it would mean we'd "kick out those dirty immigrants", which obviously is not going to happen. Anyone with a brain knows that the world doesn't work like that.

Our lives won't actually change that much until the process actually begins. It won't happen instantly, it's simply not possible. There's thousands of pages of legal documents that need to be gone through first.

Since the referendum, and whilst oh boy Leave definitely wasn't all about the xenophobia / racism, it's shocking to hear of several incidents wherein "immigrants" (really british-born people of non-british descent) have been given abuse on the streets based on the vote to leave. Not all leave voters did but it's been on the up since the vote. Shocking.

It's just the media playing up a few isolated incidences of drunk racists abusing people on the streets, once again due to their misguided belief that a Brexit means all the immigrants will be kicked out. Stupid people exist everywhere.

So in spite of the whole "young 'uns didn't half turn up did they hnghhhhh" thingy, could the vote actually have been extended to include 16 and 17 year olds??? Again stupidly low turnout probably meant doing so would not have made a difference, but seeing as how the decision will affect us younger people for longer than a good few people...any sense in that? Personally yeah, I reckon it could have been inclusive of them...but again, not many would probably have voted.

I'm glad that 16-17 year olds are still not allowed to vote, and my reasoning for this is that I was talking to a friend last time who had gotten into an argument over the referendum in a Facebook group chat (a lot of these people were either just turned 18 or still 17) and one of the reasons I heard for wanting to stay was that they thought that if Britain left the EU, they would stop selling magic stars in the UK. This wasn't a joke either, which I thought it could have been. To me this is just indicative of the political ignorance and arrogance of this generation, despite the fact that we have access to more information that in any period of history prior to this.

The low turnout, 36% of 18-24 year olds, of which I was one, actually got up and voted. The voter registration process was painfully easy. If I managed to do it, so could all of these other people. Once again, they have no-one to blame but themselves.

think about your typical uni student and now think about their typical track record for turning in assignments on a timely manner and the number of extensions they totally need cos me cat was sick and it was sooooooooooooooo traumatic like. now extrapolate that to something you can literally do in about 15 mins and even less if you do a postal vote and thats ur answer for why the youth vote is so terrible.

i really dont want to sound Crotchety and Old here but sadly its the truth.

Yup, as a student myself, I know how bad people are at turning in assignments on time. A lot of my friends failed their first year, although none of them are on my course. Thankfully I am not one of these people and have never needed to ask for an extension on an assignment. So far. Let's hope that doesn't change.

Another thing, uni students who consider themselves 'more educated' than the old, and therefore believe that their vote should be worth more, disgust me with their arrogance. Education and knowledge are two completely different things.