Does anyone still think the referendum was a good idea?

[whydidhesaythat]

Just checking.

The media will soon be sick of reporting stock market and currency fluctuations

As I said a lot of the economic stuff went over my head (I delegated my thinking to experts on that score - I couldn't find any experts arguing FOR leave) however I don't think consistently moving downwards is flucuation is it?

Fluctuating is moving up and down not just down and down?

Nope, should never have been a referendum.

Yes.

A4Document will you have to revert to being Foolscap if we're out of the EU?

Agree with Bertrand and other PP.

It's been 20 years since I studied referenda at A-level and I still maintain that there is no place for them in a representative democracy.

Hitler used plebiscites in the 1930s to force through his unique brand of fascism and pave the way for mass murder. I don't feel that this is an appropriate way to make decisions in a democracy.

I keep seeing referendum and Hitler put in the same sentence, as with Yoko's post. But of course, the vast majority of referendums around the world had nothing whatsoever to do with Hitler! No-one says we shouldn't have elections just because there have been corrupt elections in some places at some times.

Oh FFS - www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/wales-has-changed-its-mind-over-brexit-and-would-now-vote-to-stay-in-the-eu-poll-finds-a7120246.html

No...

A4 Hitler systematically implemented fascism in Germany through a whole series of referenda. On the face of it, democratic. Giving the public a stark binary choice led them down a terrifying path.

I'm not 'tarring all referendums with the same brush', I'm pointing out that they can be used in a profoundly undemocratic way with frightening consequences.

I believe that Brexit is one such example.

No, it was a terrible idea. And the ramifications of the outcome are horrific. Scientific and medical research teams losing their funding. Rural communities losing subsidies and support. Economy crashing. EU nationals fearful for their future and UK citizens overseas equally uncertain.

To be fair though, I don't think any of the Tory leader candidates have written anything like Mein Kampf.

Keep you eye on Gove though, peregrina

Yup, I nearly said something about Gove, especially with regards to the situation in Northern Ireland.

Perhaps, unlike many others, I did think about this when I voted, and think it's a tragedy that someone has so little regard for a hard-won peace agreement.

No.

It was never a good idea.

Nope

Absolutely not, but I never did anyway.

No It was a terrible idea, far too complex to ask the public, it''s apparent so many people voted for the exact opposite of what they thought they might get.

Most importantly, what were people who voted to Leave voting for exactly? There's no plan, no clear definition of what it meant, no clear definition of the process after the referendum. Now various options being spouted, none of which seem workable, and everyone seems to have a different idea of what they voted for. Cue politicians now spinning " the public clearly voted for...' except they didn't.

Most importantly, what were people who voted to Leave voting for exactly?

To leave the European Union. Even if there is "no plan" yet, it's probably the only chance we'll ever have.

It was a fabulous idea and the outcome has made me very happy. I'll be even happier when we get a new PM who will start the lengthy process of getting us out.

"...too complex a decision for general public"

That is an awful statement. Snobbish, narrow minded and just plain wrong.

Either we live in a democracy or not.

Thankfully, we do.

Well I was on the fence but now nothing I have read would convince me we are better in in the long term. It's utterly shit in the short term.

So yes, sort of.

Oh and to crossroads categorically disagree with taking a handful of refugees is a disgrace that's one of my main HATE points of the EU the way refugees have been managed.

For Germany to wilfully open the floodgates to refugees was fucking cruel. They may as well have put those people in those boats themselves, and for what? A promised land where their culture is alien. They are hated by an increasing far right. Unable to support their families and with no future prospects? Lovely.

Damn right the Uk only took a handful, the most vulnerable from the camps thus not encouraging others to kill themselves trying.

We are also the 2nd biggest spender on the camps after the USA to make the conditions more bearable and safe for the most vulnerable unable to travel, to have a hand in trying to stabilise their home country to enable them to go home. Not because I'm a racist shot but because pre-war were Syrians an immigrant issue? No. They'd rather be home, with their community, family and country, not here isolated and reliant on others who begrudge them.

Oh and yes I know we fucked up a vast amount of countries in the first place, still think our policy is of far greater humanity than the shitty EU response.

It's easy to look like the good guy, harder to be the bad one for the better reasons.

GreenwoodTree, did you see what Clarkey thought of Gove -

"I think with Michael as prime minister we'd go to war with at least three countries at once."

And in answer to the OP, no.

It was a terrible idea and I believe it was irresponsible of David Cameron to agree to it. In so doing, he showed a reckless disregard for the economy and for the long term prospects of this nation and its citizens.