To think Brexit has damaged the country's mental health?

[KennDodd]

I know it's damaged mine but my job was under threat (colleagues lost their jobs instead) because of Brexit so not surprising. I think Brexit has caused huge stress, anxiety and anger in the country. David Cameron should be ashamed.

The only bonus is that the Tories are crumbling before our very eyes

Yep, my job is under threat, my DF's life possibly if the shortages of various medicines are as bad as predicted. If house prices crash I'll be stuck in my one-bedroom flat in a crime-ridden area for the foreseeable future which means I'll likely not have children. Honestly miserable and hopeless and frankly I hate leavers for inflicting this on me.

YANBU I feel quite angry about it all actually. David Cameron should hang his head in shame, how fucking dare he cause all this mess and then sod off to leave someone else to sort it all out
This is politically illiterate. Parliament voted to hold the Referendum, by a large majority. As they did with Article 50. I think it's shocking that mp's did this.

The only bonus is that the Tories are crumbling before our very eyes

Yes. If there's one good thing that will come of this mess its that the Tory party has effectively destroyed itself. Hardline Brexiteers will feel that they betrayed them and they have driven away all of the remainers, moderate Conservatives and centrists. Oh dear. Not...

Yanbu. It's caused problems in my close, non-drama loving family :( I can't see past the fact that some very close relatives don't want what's best for my children. I appreciate they see it totally differently.
If you'd enabled voting you'd have got 52% yabu, 48% yanbu surely

Yanbu

Pukkatea that is shit. Sorry :(

I think Brexit has just brought to a head the uncertainty about the very rapid cultural changes that have occurred over the last 25 years. This is a discussion that needed to happen in a country very much at odds with itself, in which people have very different opinions about what it means to be British - and what the future of the country ought to be.

It is certainly pretty fucking painful, but maybe wrestling with one’s identity is always painful.

I agree. If we leave the single market, this will have a major impact on my dp's work and he may lose his income. It's been so stressful for both of us having this hanging over us for 3 years. It's one of the reasons we didn't try for another baby, too much uncertainty.

Imo the mental health of this country is in a poor way. But the reason is the growth of social media, where people feel as though posting on some online forum means that their opinion has any weight.
Until society finds a way of using social media rationally this will go on. And yes, I am aware of the irony of posting this online

People have been losing their jobs (or forced to take huge pay cuts) for years before Brexit, that's why Brexit happened. It was only happening to the working classes though (and far away from London), so nobody gave a shit.

For those who are happy (quite rightly imo) about the problems this is causing the Conservatives, how happy are you going to be when Labour loses the North in the next GE, as it is bound to?

I agree...that plus the never ending Indy ref threat here in Scotland is pretty stressful and the uncertainty of both, no question impacts the nations mental health. Referendums are awful...I think any change should have 75% majority before any change is made.

YANBU

It’s caused division in my family - we simply just avoid it as a topic now because it causes so much resentment. I think the reason people don’t talk about it is exactly that, I’d never bring it up with people I didnt know because it colours everything

The poster who said the well off will suffer & those without much will be better off when we leave, honestly have you ever known the well off to suffer?? My DH & I will be ok because we are compared to most ppl pretty well off; tiny mortgage nearly paid off, DH job is pretty much as Brexit proof as it’s possible to be, we have savings, we’ll be ok we have a cushion but I really worry for ppl who don’t.

Prices are rising steadily, the pound is tanking on a long term basis, ppl involved in industries like farming are going to be very badly hit, many of the poorer regions will get nothing that will match the amount of EU subsidies they had before

I know Javids gone on a spending spree but the money he’s talking about a. doesn’t kick in till 2020 at the earliest, b for the most part is not new money c. Was there to be spent before but the government apparently preferred to let ppl suffer than spend it. Plus in 2020 the central government grant to local authorities goes which means all money has to be raised locally through council tax, business rates, increased parking charges & yet more service reductions

I hear people say oh let’s just get it over with - the withdrawal agreement is only the start, we then have to renegotiate everything which will take years possibly decades. Brexit will poison the UK for years to come

UKIP was a threat to both major parties

Total nonsense. They only ever had ONE MP elected. They (very briefly) had two MPs when a Tory defected but he didn't last long. Their highest ever vote share was 13% with 3.8 million voters in 2015. Prior to that their vote was never more than 3%. Their own leader failed singularly to become an MP on many occasions.

In our existing first past the post system they were never, ever a threat.

The Brexit Party which has appeared is nonsense. It doesn't have members but supporters. Its own leader is not elected. And he has the gall to talk about other organisations being undemocratic.

Two things are responsible for the state of the current problems. 1) David Cameron using a referendum to try and solve the divisions in the Tory party. 2) The unbalanced amount of airtime given to Farage over the last 10 years by the media compared with leaders of other minor parties or (later) protest groups.

Why should the latter have occurred? One has to suggest "follow the money".

Were they though, really? They've only ever had two MPs. What they mainly seemed to have was a shouty little man who got a disproportionate amount of air time.

Err - yes. UKIP got more votes in the 2015 GE than the Libdems and SNP put together. 12.6% of the votes compared with the libdems 7.9%. They came 3rd - so they certainly were an important threat to both major parties and had the power to influence the result!

And pretty much every reason I hear for Brexit is a consequence of the British government’s actions not the EU

Eton college seems like nothing more than an entitled, arrogant over privileged cunt factory.
That is so right it deserves a thread of it's own.

Yes, I know many people who are very worried and frustrated.

I also know many people who just want to 'get it over with a No deal' which shows such a complete lack of understanding that I worry about their intellectual health.

I have been asked by a few people I had recently met, "Are you a remainer or a brexiteer?" so I do find it is spoken about in real life but it is toned down from the online debates. It is becoming a subject to avoid as it's such a hot potato. It is extremely divisive and as the debate has gone on people who didn't have strong opinions have been pushed further towards a binary choice. It is very damaging to the country's mental health. I also hate the way the media have influenced the language of the debate. Brexiteers sounds all swashbuckling, then there are remoaners. Brexit itself is a ridiculous word. Now they are trying to call new legislation the Surrender bill. Good job that overall we aren't as stupid as they think but obviously it will have some influence, like advertising.

All of this stress and expense and I wasn't even given a vote

This is a really important element of the referendum. I understand why countries put a time limit on how long you can vote after migrating but these were exceptional circumstances. To deny a vote about leaving the EU to people living in the wider EU felt almost like a scam to me (and I don't even live in the UK, I'm just a horrified non-EU citizen who cannot understand why anyone would choose to give up that enormous luxury)

Total nonsense. They only ever had ONE MP elected.

They had 12.6% of the vote and came 2nd in large numbers of constituencies. Had their growth continued, even by small percentages, they'd have got a lot more seats in a subsequent election. If we'd had proportional representation, they'd have had 70+ seats. Their threat to both main parties needed neutralising, hence the referendum!

The poster that said David Cameron should be jailed got it right, he is never mentioned in the (right wing) press/media yet his inability to put down right wing tories with obsessions on anti Europe and British nationalism has caused this whole mess He had to call a referendum because he promised this faction in his party a referendum this allowed Farage et al to whip up fear and gain votes.
He absoloutely should at the very least face an inquiry into his actions, but no let’s all distract the masses with talk about his writing hut and new book

But again, never more than two MPs kazzyhoward. Without Members of Parliament you don't actually have any real power.

But we don't have proportional representation.