So much negativity about brexit....

[newmun]

Is anyone looking forward to it? Did anyone who vote leave happy they voted it? Or regretful?

It's still crap.
And practically all the reasons are crap too.

My sis voted brexit because London is a bit crowded. Our grandparents were immigrants...

Of course we have military co-operation across borders. This does not require political unification with 27 other countries.

For a start, the EU is not about military cooperation, although that could be an outcome. Political unification means a lot more. It means joint decisions and getting behind those decisions, without the need for individual treaties that must be negotiated before any action takes place.

A bit like a United Kingdom, made of separate countries with some political independence, I'd say.

"Countless people lived, worked, travelled and studied in Europe before the EU existed. It really wasn't that difficult."

As said, it was nigh on impossible, if you were WC.

Now we'll, or rather we have been since the vote, face hostility as UK Citizens. Even in places like Morocco, which has French owned hotels. The attitude towards us has changed.

I didn't notice any day to day changes then

I’m alright, Jack.

The only benefit to Brexit will be the upsurge of newly named posters on MN whining about how shit it is and how they didn't vote for it.
As for the poster stoutly declaring that they will just eat what they are selling in supermarkets, I have bad news for you. Based on actual personal experience of living in a country with empty supermarkets (former USSR), there'll be fuck all there and massive bad tempered queues to buy what is there if we crash out.

I'm reeeeeally looking forward to seeing whether my brother's insulin and other essential, life-preserving medications which he takes in a daily cocktail that it has taken literally decades for his consultants to calibrate properly will still be available! It will be so exciting. And if not, we'll have the fun of watching as he fits, his hair falls out, he goes blind and then dies. Oh, it will be such fun. Then we can plan his funeral, which is just a big family get-together, when you think about it. Just like Christmas. But you know, horrific and tragic and totally avoidable.

Yay.

@Itinerary:

However, one-size-fits-all political unification isn't necessary

So, you look forward to the break up of the UK?

The EU makes rules to suit large corporations which can afford to lobby it constantly.

You are aware that large UK corporations already spend millions lobbying the UK government, why would that stop post-Brexit? If anything, we will see more of it as US corporations pile in.

I object to having been told I was suddenly a so-called "EU citizen" with no choice.

What substantive impact does that have on you?

Our taxpayers' money will all stay in the U.K. to be spent on UK priorities. The EU's goal of improving prosperity and employment hasn't worked,

Would you argue that English taxpayers money should not be invested in N Ireland, Wales & Scotland?

I do not want our young people to be called up to an EU Army

I don;t want them called up for a Moon Army. Just as likely.

After Brexit we can look outwards around the world

We can do that now!

It's so annoying when people hark back to things we could do "before". We've been in the EEC/EU for 45 years. The world is a completely different place and travel/work/study opportunities have changed accordingly. 45 years is the same amount of time that passed between Queen Victoria's reign and the end of WWII - another example of how much things can change in the same time period. Pretending things can go back to the same as they were before is utter nonsense.

Based on actual personal experience of living in a country with empty supermarkets (former USSR), there'll be fuck all there and massive bad tempered queues to buy what is there if we crash out.

I also have lived somewhere with nothing in the supermarkets - I wonder if we'll have hard currency shops so we can buy sugar/flour/butter/cheese?

Something to Look forward to, eh @drspouse ?

well I was looking forward to the great opportunities that were to be on offer; how life would improve as we became a land of milk and honey and restored our standing as a great seafaring nation with an Empire. Our manufacturing industries would rise like phoenixes from the ashes and our reliance on the financial services that pay huge bonuses to their chiefs would recede. I wanted to see unicorns frolicking in the southern lit uplands.

In reality, I’ll have to make do with the glow of being sovereign to keep me warm at night, perhaps augmented by the burning of blue passports as the cost of living soars ever higher for normal people.

Meanwhile, the fat cats don’t get their come uppance, they get fatter as they buy assets at knock-down prices and make money from us plebs paying to use the services they’ve “rescued”. There is no miraculous resurgence in our manufacturing industry as the rest of the world remains global and can get cheaper elsewhere.

Still, at least we won’t be dancing to the tune of some foreign suits, eh?

It would be great if we could have rationing and food vouchers back again. I've always wanted to give ersatz coffee and sawdust bread a try

@bellinisurge I know, and the country I lived in was warm, fertile, and could (did) produce all those things but they were still only available in hard currency shops.

Still, you could usually get (horrendous) mixed fruit jam in the actual supermarkets, and a rotating selection of maize meal, rice, or peanut butter.

After Brexit we can look outwards around the world

You'll have to. Country by country, again.

I fear that our new 'independence' following the no deal Brexit would lead to large global corporations flooding the market with unregulated products to the detriment of those small and midsize UK companies which are supposed to benefit from it.

@drspouse , at the risk of sounding like a Monty Python sketch, I had a flipping ration book.
I remember getting the heebeejeebees on a visit back home to Sainsburys.
I really don't see that as good times. And we could so easily descend down to it with interruptions to food supply.

The Commission is unelected, and the MEPs we elect represent their political grouping in the EU, not the interests of our country

You could say the same about our MPs as well.

The Commission is unelected, and the MEPs we elect represent their political grouping in the EU, not the interests of our country

How is that different from the UK government and Parliament?

@Itinerary - the Queen is unelected. The House of Lords is unelected. Our judges are unelected. Hope you are lobbying to change all that too.

The Commission do the grunt work. They are not the big decision makers - they are the equivalent of the civil service in the UK.

It’s debatable we will even leave, and this is just another Brexit circle jerk

“mmmm chlorinated chicken” Do you drink tap water? You realise there is traces of chlorine in it right just the same as that chicken? Keep making moronic comments like that and you’re just as bad as the steriotypical leave voter.

The argument against using chlorine is more to do with cutting corners than any harmful effect from the chlorine.

SilverySurfer done and dusted

My DD was a newborn at the time of the referendum. Even the more positive forecasts suggest it would be until her grandchildren’s generation that things will get start to be in the same situation as we were before the the referendum. I am also aware that I am in the only generation post WW2 to be in a worse situation than their parents so a return to the status quo ain’t that great either.

Positives:

An end to acquis communautaire.

Transparency in law making.

An end to 'Ever Closer Union'.

An end to British Politicians proclaiming 'We'll never agree to that', going to Brussels, and coming back to sheepishly admit 'We did agree to that'.

An end to being the New Kid on the Block because we weren't there in 1957.

An end to being the butt of the Franco-German hegemony.

An end to being a net contributor.

An end to mopping up everyone else's unemployment problem.

A return to power residing with people who can be voted out if they abuse it.

Forcing our politicians to address our problems for once.

@Satsumaeater people think that EU has no proper auditing? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! (and then a large snort). That is hilarious! I have worked on several EU projects and every single one of them was audited by both our internal auditing team and the EU and everything had to be documented to a much higher degree than usually. We told our researchers to not apply for EU grants of less than 30.000 Euros for otherwise the auditing costs would mean that it simply wouldn't pay off at all. We had to implement a new time registration system in order to comply with the EU rules otherwise we wouldn't be able to pass the audit and would have to pay the grants back. If someone had even had EU pay for a trip to a convention we had to send in more documents. Good lord. "No proper auditing". People really do love to spout opinions about issues they know nothing about.