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Original poster

Is Brexit the biggest act of self harm to the IK?

143 replies

Ownedbykitties · 01/12/2024 21:04

I heard it described as such on the radio last week and I have been mulling it over. Perhaps it is? Though I cannot quite get past the fact the our politicians and the government, who are paid to make these decisions in the best interests of the people and the country, asked the general public whether we should remain or leave. How could the vast majority of us hope to know the intricate details of either staying in or leaving, and if it would be a deliberate act of self harm to leave? Then to cap it all off, David Cameron walked away. Yet, for something that affects individuals personally, the politicians are asked to decide on the Assisted Dying Bill. I'm confused.

OP posts:
Ringpeace · 01/12/2024 21:16

"How could the vast majority of us hope to know the intricate details of either staying in or leaving, and if it would be a deliberate act of self harm to leave?"

You don't need to have benefited from the best education money can buy - like David Cameron - to know that voting leave would be a bloody stupid idea.

Hoppinggreen · 01/12/2024 21:20

Basically Brexit is a long suicide note

DrCoconut · 01/12/2024 21:31

Yes it is. People who supported it wouldn't listen and now we're all going to pay the price for years.

Ringpeace · 01/12/2024 21:53

At the time I worked for a large news media organisation and had to collect vox pops from the people on the various Remain and Leave protests in Central London.

The Remain lot were multiracial, articulate and informed. Let's just say that their Leave counterparts... weren't. Some were openly hostile to a member of the "mainstream media".

(And yeah, I know that's a tiny snapshot of the voting populace.)

ssd · 01/12/2024 22:05

Its worse in Scotland, the majority here voted to remain but we were ignored.

parietal · 01/12/2024 22:50

Brexit was always an incoherent idea with no logic behind it. But people voted for it. Then Boris implemented a pretty stupid version of brexit. And so far Starmer hasn't tried to improve things. So bad all around.

To give one idea of why it is stupid, I'm a scientist and work with scientific instruments made in Germany. We used to be able to buy equipment, use it , send it for repairs, get it back etc all seamlessly. Now every time the equipment goes to / from Europe, the transport costs are bigger and it sits in a warehouse for 3 days waiting for customs paperwork. Even when no money is due. But time and paperwork costs us money. Repeat this a million times for every small business and science project across the UK and you can see why things are slower and more expensive than they used to be.

Moonlightstars · 01/12/2024 22:51

Of course it was. It was completely illogical and all about making farage and his friends richer.
It's was obvious then it's even .ore obvious now.

LuluBlakey1 · 01/12/2024 22:54

That and 14 years of utterly corrupt, self-serving, lying Tory government that stripped out public assets which were handed on a plate to Tory cronies.

MrTwatchester · 01/12/2024 22:55

Cameron never thought the referendum would happen. He made it the centrepiece of their 2015 election manifesto because they were tanking in the polls. They fully expected to be in coalition with the Lib Dems again, and that the LDs would have the referendum scrapped as part of the coalition deal.

Cameron was the most scandalously lazy and superficial PM we’d had, until Johnson and Truss surpassed him.

happinessischocolate · 01/12/2024 23:03

Yep absolute self harm

A vehicle hit my car 18 months ago, they managed to damage both the driver door and the rear door. The garage had my car for 4 months waiting for the new doors to arrive for a standard vauxhall corsa.

According to the garage, pre brexit the doors would usually arrive in a week, 2 at the most now they get sent in the same time frame but disappear in transit/customs for months until they randomly get delivered with no warning.

The insurance company had to pay the garage extra for storage of my vehicle and for a hire car for me for 4 months.

And people wonder why their insurance premiums have gone up!

DarkAndTwisties · 01/12/2024 23:06

ssd · 01/12/2024 22:05

Its worse in Scotland, the majority here voted to remain but we were ignored.

You weren't ignored anymore than the rest of the population who voted remain. And actually, I'd argue that remain voters weren't ignored as such, remain just didn't win. I voted remain.

Referendums are not a good way to decide something like this, where one of the options is extremely wooly and that side can make any kind of promise they like without any kind of need to follow through. I agree with the act of self harm comment. The whole thing is just completely idiotic.

user44221 · 01/12/2024 23:12

happinessischocolate · 01/12/2024 23:03

Yep absolute self harm

A vehicle hit my car 18 months ago, they managed to damage both the driver door and the rear door. The garage had my car for 4 months waiting for the new doors to arrive for a standard vauxhall corsa.

According to the garage, pre brexit the doors would usually arrive in a week, 2 at the most now they get sent in the same time frame but disappear in transit/customs for months until they randomly get delivered with no warning.

The insurance company had to pay the garage extra for storage of my vehicle and for a hire car for me for 4 months.

And people wonder why their insurance premiums have gone up!

We had needed a part replaced on a Dornbracht tap and it was a similar story. Our plumber said that pre-Brexit every plumbing supply place would have had the part in stock, but now they don't want to deal with the paperwork and paying customs, so don't order them until they're needed - it took months to get it.

ACynicalDad · 01/12/2024 23:21

I heard that France and Germany are in economic decline, it may not be looking great today but we could all feel very differently if there's another eurozone financial disaster in the major economies in the next decade.

XmasTopic · 01/12/2024 23:22

I guess you could describe Brexit as an early government effort at assisted suicide.

username358 · 02/12/2024 00:36

Brexit was a really, really stupid idea. I don't think we should have anymore referendums because the public are too easily swayed by absolute shite.

The AD bill was a stupid idea as well and the discussions reminded me off Brexit.

I know that people are going to vote the Tories back in and they're going to come out of the ECHR which is also an act of self harm.

It seems neverending.

Xenomorphs · 02/12/2024 02:02

Ownedbykitties · 01/12/2024 21:04

I heard it described as such on the radio last week and I have been mulling it over. Perhaps it is? Though I cannot quite get past the fact the our politicians and the government, who are paid to make these decisions in the best interests of the people and the country, asked the general public whether we should remain or leave. How could the vast majority of us hope to know the intricate details of either staying in or leaving, and if it would be a deliberate act of self harm to leave? Then to cap it all off, David Cameron walked away. Yet, for something that affects individuals personally, the politicians are asked to decide on the Assisted Dying Bill. I'm confused.

well there have been many times the public think they know better than the govt, and well they got their vote

Xenomorphs · 02/12/2024 02:04

username358 · 02/12/2024 00:36

Brexit was a really, really stupid idea. I don't think we should have anymore referendums because the public are too easily swayed by absolute shite.

The AD bill was a stupid idea as well and the discussions reminded me off Brexit.

I know that people are going to vote the Tories back in and they're going to come out of the ECHR which is also an act of self harm.

It seems neverending.

which begs the question why do we let the public vote for the govt / political party ?

tobee · 02/12/2024 04:21

The massive irony is that the we were told it would be "take back control" and "Brexit". But actually they are not a thing. Brexit is a {}, a nothing, a vacuum. It's not even a coherent philosophy or ideology. Because it's nothing. And everybody pro Brexit had totally different ideas as to what it is. Or even worse - no ideas. Nigel Farage seemed particularly proud of this. Cunt.

edited to add Cunt.

username358 · 02/12/2024 04:56

Xenomorphs · 02/12/2024 02:04

which begs the question why do we let the public vote for the govt / political party ?

Show quote history

People have a tendency to blame politicians when things don’t work, but as I always tell people, you get the politicians you deserve, and if you don’t vote and you don’t pay attention, you’ll get policies that don’t reflect your interest. - Obama* *

SharpOpalNewt · 02/12/2024 05:00

ACynicalDad · 01/12/2024 23:21

I heard that France and Germany are in economic decline, it may not be looking great today but we could all feel very differently if there's another eurozone financial disaster in the major economies in the next decade.

They are our neighbours. We are affected by any decline in our trading partners, whether we are in the EU or not.

PearBears · 02/12/2024 05:08

There never should have been a vote in the first place. Awful combination of David Cameron pandering to the Tory right wing and his hubris thinking that the country would never actually vote to leave. Arsehole. DC doesn't get nearly as much shit as he should do for the endless negative impact of Brexit on the UK.

username358 · 02/12/2024 05:10

PearBears · 02/12/2024 05:08

There never should have been a vote in the first place. Awful combination of David Cameron pandering to the Tory right wing and his hubris thinking that the country would never actually vote to leave. Arsehole. DC doesn't get nearly as much shit as he should do for the endless negative impact of Brexit on the UK.

IMO he's the worst PM we've ever had because of Brexit.

NOTANUM · 02/12/2024 05:13

ssd · 01/12/2024 22:05

Its worse in Scotland, the majority here voted to remain but we were ignored.

Try London where the M25 circular road
made us an island of millions!

alwayscrashinginthesamecar1 · 02/12/2024 05:24

Well I haven't lived in the UK for over twenty years, and Europe for more than a decade, but Brexit pissed me off at the weekend! I was sending a Xmas gift from Europe to NI and when I got to checkout, I was charged 20% taxes on top, presumably because of Brexit. I was not impressed.

TheaBrandt · 02/12/2024 05:28

Having a referendum was a bloody stupid idea. It was a complex decision that politicians should have had the balls to decide not the public - like they just did with the assisted dying bill. It’s their job. Was told yesterday the most popular search term just before the vote was “what is the EU?” 🙄🙄