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Re: Way to go, Cornwall.... [cartsman] [ In reply to ]
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I have to say, even as someone that wanted to stay in, the sense of schadenfreude seeing Schulz, Tusk and Juncker getting schooled by Merkel is giving me some pleasure

even still these clowns think that they are going to be dictating to Germany what the policy will be for dealing with the UK - they're insane
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Re: Way to go, Cornwall.... [oldandslow] [ In reply to ]
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I don't think that the Brits really had any clue what they were voting for and what would be the ramifications.

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?
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Re: Way to go, Cornwall.... [BLeP] [ In reply to ]
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BLeP wrote:
I don't think that the Brits really had any clue what they were voting for and what would be the ramifications.

In a vote of this nature, the ramifications are almost impossible to predict though. The politicians leading the Leave campaign weren't actually in power, and unlike a normal election "winning" the referendum doesn't put them in power, so they can't actually make any promises about policy (or rather any promises they do make are even less credible than politicians usual election pledges). And the EU obviously isn't going to put any kind of deal on the table for what Britain would get if they left, since doing so simply makes the Leave campaign more credible.

So voting Leave was a leap of faith that firstly British politicians will actually pay attention to the concerns of the voters and make some changes, and secondly that the EU will be grown-up enough to negotiate a deal that recognises that we're all still each other's closest neighbours and trading partners, rather than cutting off their nose to spite their face. Opinions on how the EU would behave were largely predictable given the views of the person offering their opinion. At some point in the next few years we'll see who was right.

The fact that so many people were prepared to make that leap of faith is testament to how make of a divide there has become between our political and metropolitan classes and vast swathes of the country. Not all of the things that people are concerned about are necessarily directly the fault of the EU, but referendums often turn into a vote on people's satisfaction with the government generally. When a lot of people feel that their views aren't represented by any mainstream political party, and then there's a referendum where nearly all the mainstream politicians are lined up on the same side, it's always highly likely that they'll take the rare opportunity to give them a good kicking.
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Re: Way to go, Cornwall.... [cartsman] [ In reply to ]
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it's come about as a result of their concerns being completely ignored by mainstream British politicians and by the EU.


Of course, it can be persuasively argued that the EU was unfairly scapegoated for long-standing national policy failings. Time will certainly tell, but your sentence above certainly admits to that possibility. Here in the US, major decisions like this (treaties, ratifications, various taxes, amendments) require super-majorities. I was struck during the Scottish referendum that huge, potentially irrevocable policies didn't require some form of super-majority support.
Last edited by: oldandslow: Jun 26, 16 14:42
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Re: Way to go, Cornwall.... [oldandslow] [ In reply to ]
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Super majority rule is probably a good idea with hindsight. Having a decision like this made by 52% does leave the potential for a divided country. Obviously too late to change the rules now though (doesn't seem to be stopping some people from trying).
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