To be embarrassed to be British?

[ReasonablyIntelligent]

I've just seen on the news that the 29 Brexit Party MEPs all turned their backs (quite literally) during the European anthem in yesterday's opening session to the European Parliament.

Regardless of Pro-Brexit / Anti-Brexit debates, this is deeply deeply inappropriate, insanely undiplomatic and will have done nothing other than make the UK look ridiculous, childish and plain rude.

I'm ashamed to be represented by these people and the way things are going, ashamed to be a part of a country that is behaving like this.
Everyone else in Europe must think we are dirt.

I liked the T-shirts but then I voted Remain.

YABVU!

We voted to leave. Our vote, like it or not, was democratic and both the EU and our own government have done everything they could to thwart the democratic outcome.

For those of you who worry we can't survive without the EU, get an education. The FTSE is higher than it has been for years. Look around the world at all the countries doing very well without being in the EU.

I’m a Remainer, but I nought the t shirts were a misstep. But turning your back like that- particularly on live musicians- is just crass.

“We” didn’t vote leave. 37% of those eligible to vote on the day voted to leave. The rest of us voted Remain or couldn’t be arsed.

Look around the world at all the countries doing very well without being in the EU.

Yes, do. Most of them have some fairly high levels of corruption or dictatorship. The Middle East? Russia? The US-bloody-A that we're so desperate to copy? Is this what you want for us all in Britain? Is this the best we can do?
The EU, as imperfect as it is, is built on the founding principles of democracy, fairness, equality and law.

I find most politicians are ridiculous tbh.
The way you see them all heckling each other in the House of Commons, our children wouldn’t be allowed to behave like that in schools!

@Alsohuman
“We” didn’t vote leave. 37% of those eligible to vote on the day voted to leave. The rest of us voted Remain or couldn’t be arsed.

on that basis we never vote for anything. you might as well say 35% voted to remain. The rest didn't so, ipso facto, they are happy to leave.

Still not “We” is it, love?

“on that basis we never vote for anything. you might as well say 35% voted to remain. The rest didn't so, ipso facto, they are happy to leave.”

Actually, the usual thinking is that people who don’t vote are happy- or at least accepting- of the status quo.

You took my comment completely out of context HA tenants are worried about ANY unqualified trades people in their home because a lot of housing associations cut corners
@HelenaDove I apologise I took your post up wrongly, it was another poster who said it was intimidating as they didn't speak English, I got it mixed up.
Nothing at all to do with HA tenants, I will be a HA tenant if I get lucky.

Actually, the usual thinking is that people who don’t vote are happy- or at least accepting- of the status quo

I don’t know, I was always under the impression the people who didn’t vote were happy/accepting of the alternative outcome otherwise they would have gone out and voted for the status quo.

No I am not ashamed to be British I just don’t like our politics at the moment

Do I think German should feel ashamed for having a right wing party (further right that Brexit Party) in The Bundestag

Or that the French should be ashamed that so many (a third) voted for Marine Le Pen’s right wing party

Or that Polish, Hungarian, Austrians should feel embarrassed about being the nationality they are because of the countries politics

I don’t support the Brexit party but turning your back has often been used in politics and should have been used when Trump visited it would have been far more disrespectful to him than a stupid giant blimp

No worries Emerald I hope you get a tenancy

otherwise they would have gone out and voted for the status quo

See i think the opposite so it makes no sense to me

If you are happy the way things are you dont say anything

But I appreciate like everything people have a different view

Very few people were expecting Leave to win. That is why it is logical to assume that people who actively wanted to leave were more likely to turn out to vote in an attempt to change what was widely seen as a forgone conclusion. While people who were accepting of the status quo or who were not particularly bothered either way wouldn’t have bothered to vote.

That’s spot on, Bertrand. Several people have told me they wish they’d voted now and their reason for not bothering was exactly that.

Why the shock UKIP was the third party in the uk in number of votes they received in the previous election

It wasn’t not known that many many people were feeling dissatisfied and felt left behind (you only need to look at wage growth to have an understanding of this) if you read papers that didn’t just support your political views, if you listened to phone ins, if you took note of polls it was all there

The writing was on the wall put a very popular ambitions politician in the mix (Boris) I fail to see how it was such shock

It was foolish and incompetent for those very people who should have know better (politicians) to be so out of touch - as so many are far too interested in their own gains

People are just excusing themselves - fine if you didn’t vote as you felt it was too complex to understand or just not interested but to claim it was because you felt leave didn’t have a chance to win so didn’t bother when this certainly didn’t look like the case especially during the last few weeks of campaigning is such a lame excuse

If you are happy with the way things are then surely you go out and vote to make sure it stays that way. Choosing to sit it out at home on the assumption that it was going to be a remain win, even though the last set of polls before Ref day were showing the opposite, that should have been enough to get people out voting to keep the status quo if that's what they really wanted. We were told numerous times every voted counted.

I'd agree they probably weren't sufficiently fussed either way but think it's quite a stretch so see how they can be claimed as silent Remainers.

That’s not how the human psyche works. People happy with a service they receive say nothing, those unhappy complain.

People who were switched on politics were aware that Leave was doing well. But most people aren’t switched on to politics. And by definition, the people who want a change are going to be more active than the people who are not particularly politicially engaged, reasonably content with the status and who have been assured that the result is a foregone conclusion. It’s not an excuse-it’s an explanation. What very few people anticipated I think, was the number of people who voted leave simply because the government wanted them to vote remain. The famous protest voters.

“If you are happy with the way things are then surely you go out and vote to make sure it stays that way”

No- that’s not how people work. We’re far more likely to complain if we’re not happy with something than praise if we are.

You didn’t need to be switched on to politics to know that leave gained a huge amount of momentum

You couldn’t escape the referendum the polls the discussions it was everywhere and in the last few weeks of the referendum it never ever looked as though it would be an easy win for remain they were often slightly ahead but so were leave at times

Didn’t bother with any of it fine but to claim well it was obvious remain would leave so I didn’t bother is an excuse

But it is an excuse that many ardent remainders like to hold on to in the belief that remain should have won. We didn’t and I don’t think we would win a second vote

Remain would win (not leave)

No- that’s not how people work. We’re far more likely to complain if we’re not happy with something than praise if we are.

That's as maybe ordinarily but we are not talking about a shopping experience! If people weren't able to differentiate between a shopping transaction and a vote on the country's biggest peacetime change then maybe we get what we deserve.

Anyhow 16m people managed to come out and say they were happy with the service.