If Brexit Happens...

Your mileage may vary, but geographic divisions notwithstanding, the clear majority within the UNITED Kingdom voted leave. Neither side can claim to be above reproach in this campaign, and IMHO, the sooner the sour grapes camp stops whining, the better off we'll all be.

This kind of attitude is just the sort of thing to make folk in Scotland even more annoyed than we already are.  It's just lovely to characterise us all as a sour grapes camp and whiners.  Insulting people really helps unity in a difficult situation, too.

This kind of attitude is just the sort of thing to make folk in Scotland even more annoyed than we already are.  It's just lovely to characterise us all as a sour grapes camp and whiners.  Insulting people really helps unity in a difficult situation, too.

Northern Ireland too. Especially considering the Brexit vote can have ramifications here that are quite substantial. There was a lot of emphasis in the Good Friday Agreement that the UK and Ireland were both in the EU.

It is not by chance that in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which has done much to reduce these tensions in recent years, so much emphasis is laid on the membership of both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland in the European Union.  Nationalist sentiment in Ireland since 1973 has seen the sharing of British and Irish national sovereignty within the Union as an important softening of the bipolar choice between British and Irish dominion in Northern Ireland. A DUP-inspired option for the UK to leave the Union will be seen by many nationalists as a reconstruction of political and even physical barriers between the north and south of Ireland, which the Good Friday agreement was designed to reduce.

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexitvote/2016/04/28/troubles-redux-brexit-would-put-the-good-friday-agreement-in-jeopardy/

We also receive a large amount of funding from the EU for peace/reconciliation projects and infrastructure to help build a post-conflict economy. There is a real possibility that this could end up re-igniting tensions and destabilizing the peace agreement. So, sorry to those that think it's whining and sour grapes, but for some of us, it's fear of one day, things literally blowing up around us.

U.S. expats in London: I'm doing a story for Bloomberg about the impact of Brexit on American professionals in London - has the pound's drop negatively impacted you? Has Brexit made it less likely for you to stay? Anyone moving back and finding it difficult because of currency swing? Please contact me on stebaker@bloomberg.net  - thanks

Don't  know about anybody else but I have been living in the UK since 89 and have permanent British residency.  However, because I don't have UK citizenship, I was not able to vote in the referendum.  Nevertheless, like many others I was shocked by the outcome. I def thought that "remain" would take it.  What is coming out now is that people voted "leave" not expecting their vote to count but did it as a protest vote - in the end they royally screwed themselves.

So now the new word on everyone's lips is "regrexit" ...  I knew that people were easily lead and could, if given the chance, prove themselves phenomenally stupid.  But I think in this case, 52% of the British population truly outdid themselves.  Now everyone is crying in their teacups and wants to take back their vote or have a new referendum. This time what? For keeps?  This is not a game people, it's not like when you were kids and you could do take backs.  So thanks to 52% of the British population who voted leave, the country is now royally screwed. 

I think Cameron must have taken his stupid pill the morning he woke up with the idea of having a referendum.

My big worry is that the same thing will happen come November and people will vote for Trump not expecting him to get in but as a protest vote  against God knows what and in the end vote the psychopath right into office!

I think Cameron must have taken his stupid pill the morning he woke up with the idea of having a referendum.

At the time I thought it was clever. But by basing stay's stance on what he could "negotiate", he put himself in a bit of a corner. Is May doing the same thing? 

Where we are at now....I think a lot about the lack of transparency....we don't know anything about what is going on behind doors. That may be the nature of things...but can a democracy function under these sorts of conditions? With people not knowing what is going on?

My big worry is that the same thing will happen come November and people will vote for Trump not expecting him to get in but as a protest vote  against God knows what and in the end vote the psychopath right into office!

I heard a great interview on NPR with the guy who ghost wrote "the art of the Deal".  After spending a lot of time with Trump, he was terrified at the prospect of a Trump Presidency.  He said Trump didn't have the attention span needed to do interviews for the book, so the writer just had to listen in on his phone calls for months.   According to him, Trump was incredibly sensitive to every slight and would start epic conflicts over nothing .   Add to that the tiny attention span, and we've got a real problem brewing. 

I believe Bush Jr. was actually smart and all that dumbness was an act.  His policies were evil but made sense for what they intended to achieve, which was to make a ton of money for some and make the military more powerful. 

I think Trump is a masterful demagogue who effortlessly uses populism to achieve his goals.  We have no idea what those goals are since his biggest political master stroke has been a complete refusal to name any policies he supports. 

I agree that he may be a psychopath as well.



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Don't  know about anybody else but I have been living in the UK since 89 and have permanent British residency.  However, because I don't have UK citizenship, I was not able to vote in the referendum.  Nevertheless, like many others I was shocked by the outcome. I def thought that "remain" would take it.  What is coming out now is that people voted "leave" not expecting their vote to count but did it as a protest vote - in the end they royally screwed themselves.

So now the new word on everyone's lips is "regrexit" ...  I knew that people were easily lead and could, if given the chance, prove themselves phenomenally stupid.  But I think in this case, 52% of the British population truly outdid themselves.  Now everyone is crying in their teacups and wants to take back their vote or have a new referendum. This time what? For keeps?  This is not a game people, it's not like when you were kids and you could do take backs.  So thanks to 52% of the British population who voted leave, the country is now royally screwed. 

I know I shouldn't say anything......but I never learn......

Just how is everybody "screwed"? I'm sure some people will be negatively impacted.....who knows how many? Nothing but guesses at this point. Who knows?.....it could just end up better.

"Everyone" is crying in their teacups? Not from what I've seen, and with the people I know who voted Leave....I haven't heard anybody say they sure wish they could change their votes. 

Anybody who says they know how this is all going to turn out....doesn't know what they are talking about. The best people can do is guess how things are going to turn out.......they will either be right or they will be wrong and it isn't for sure one way or another.

The country is not screwed....52% of the population didn't out do themselves. I haven't heard any one that I know who voted leave say they regret it.

Most people voted they way they wanted, not as a protest.

Can we see what happens before we doom the country? None of us can see into the future. These scaremongering posts are getting old......

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I actually have seen people say they regret their vote but that was the very day after and it were just a few people who said they didn't actually think it would happen. Well, it did, but I must say I haven't heard of any "regrexit" since. I think that is largely because nobody knows what is going to happen yet, really. Everything is still in limbo.

I was upset at the vote but I have learned to just sit back and see what happens. It is a slow transition, not a quick exit, so I think (hope) all the affairs are in order before we are 100% free from the EU.

I predict a Tory/UKIP paradise. Fewer consumer, environmental, and worker protections, less holiday/maternity, etc. The EU was far from perfect, but I do not trust this gov't to look after anyone other than their rich buddies.Maybe not all doom and gloom, but another step away from human values and toward corporatism.

One industry that WILL have problems is higher ed. We rely on EU funding for teaching, research, community outreach, etc. ERASMUS is a nice programme too that likely ends when we leave. My visa is up very soon. and I am seriously weighing options before I renew.

I predict a Tory/UKIP paradise. Fewer consumer, environmental, and worker protections, less holiday/maternity, etc. The EU was far from perfect, but I do not trust this gov't to look after anyone other than their rich buddies.Maybe not all doom and gloom, but another step away from human values and toward corporatism.

One industry that WILL have problems is higher ed. We rely on EU funding for teaching, research, community outreach, etc. ERASMUS is a nice programme too that likely ends when we leave.

You are absolutely spot on here.

Listen you folk saying "Oh it isn't so bad", "We'll muddle through" are advocating turning over this monumental period of change to people who have made no plans at all, and who have shown time and time again that they are not at all interested in the prosperity of Great Britain as a whole, but only a small segment.

This should come as no surprise. Trickle down economics, the sort they openly back and work towards, is based on allowing the top tier of society to operate unrestricted and unregulated with the unfounded hope that some of it will slosh over on the rest of us. It doesn't work that way. The wealth of the top 10% has soared while that of the bottom 50% has stagnated and retreated.

Let there be no doubt that the institutions of the EU have contributed to this terrible regressiveness. But unlike with the Tory/Blair-led regimes....there have been instances of support for families and workers. The concepts are at least not alien as they are to our current leadership, a leadership which has purposely targeted the vulnerable, the sick, the low paid and immigrants....all for some now-deserted, inane attempts at austerity.

And regarding higher-ed/research....Great Britain is not a powerful nation, its people are not stronger than others...there is no "tough" gene in their makeup. The football squad is not a powerhouse....the stuff we make is not better than the stuff other people make....British beef is fine but no better, really, than that from cows from many other nations.

What we do have, the thing that made Britain stand out (aside from suspect colonialism), is that early on the scientific method caught on. Having shrugged off the smothering blanket of the Church....Britain adopted research. And very early on Britain fostered partnerships in this area between nations. The EU, with all of its problems, has succeeded greatly in building on this concept, leading to even greater scientific cooperation.

We are living now in an Age of Discovery unparalleled. To turn our backs on it is very foolish. 

U.S. expats in London: I'm doing a story for Bloomberg about the impact of Brexit on American professionals in London - has the pound's drop negatively impacted you? Has Brexit made it less likely for you to stay? Anyone moving back and finding it difficult because of currency swing? Please contact me on stebaker@bloomberg.net  - thanks

Did you do a story on this?
Interested in your findings.