A non contentious question - I think/hope!

[MyDogIsNicerThanYourDog]

I do follow all the Brexit discussions but I wanted to ask this; I don't live in the UK but I am interested to know if the latest news regarding triggering article 50 is actually something that real people, living real lives are interested in/talking about or is it a media frenzy? Not so much interested in either side of the story - just if it is affecting daily life/conversation.

[Piscivorus]

I find it is not discussed much among our friends because there are still differences of opinion.

I live in a very Leave area and I think there is a real suspicion among Leave voters that the rich/elite/establishment are trying to undermine the result so it seems to me as though people are watching and waiting to see what happens

[annandale]

I never bring it up. I have friends I am certain voted leave (usually the poshest and most educated ones, though not always - incidentally I fully accept that I'm fairly posh myself - oh no, I'm the liberal elite, I forget the insult de jour) and I have no wish to hear them express their views on immigration, hunting law reform and the rest of it - leave won, and one of the silver linings is that we shouldn't have to hear the Eurosceptics banging on about it now as we have had for the past 24 years.

[annandale]

insult DU jour, quelle horreur.

[AccioMerlot]

"call for a second referendum etc"

because asking people the same question twice is some wicked intellectual plot to con them, or...?

[TuckersBadLuck]

pretty good impression

That's my point.

I've been thinking it ever since the Three Stooges were put into their posts. Maybe they're just that - stooges. It's all being set up for it to fail and it will be their fault.

[AccioMerlot]

My personal 'conspiracy theory' is that any politician with any brains or political nous wants their fingerprints off the Titanic success that Brexit will be. Hence we are left with the genuinely incompetent in charge; I don't think there's any pretence going on there. TM's previous career has shown her to be deaf to good sense, the law, public opinion... plus ca change.

[Brokenbiscuit]

It's discussed a lot in my daily life. Firstly in work, as it's a major source of concern for my employer. We are already feeling the impact but know that the worst is yet to come.

It's discussed in my family as well (all remainers) and with like-minded friends. I avoid discussing it with the leave voters who I know, as I still feel very bitter and angry about the result, and there just isn't any point.

[InfiniteSheldon]

We discuss it a lot at home and socially it's terrifying for democracy in this country that a group of elite europhiles can seek to overturn a vote. We live in dark days.

[twofingerstoGideon]

OP, please be assured that there aren't 16 million 'elite europhiles' in the UK! I'm sure you can see that for the Faragist rhetoric that it is. Those of us who don't support Brexit are also 'the people', despite Leavers appropriating that label for themselves.

[twofingerstoGideon]

But Sheldon is right to be concerned about democracy in this country. Only yesterday we heard the wannabe new UKIP leader, Suzanne Evans, saying judges should 'be subject to democratic control'. Terrifying stuff indeed.

[InfiniteSheldon]

I meant those that brought the court case not Remainers as a whole as many of my family friends and colleagues voted Remain. But hey you keep up your us and them rhetoric it's working well for you. And yes subjecting judges to democratic control is awful dark days indeed.

[twofingerstoGideon]

You know that case was partly crowd-funded by 'the people', don't you, Sheldon? 'The people' raised around £175,000 to help pay the costs. I was very happy to make a contribution, because I felt strongly that as the UK is a parliamentary democracy, parliament should be fully involved with the triggering of A50, not because I was seeking 'to overturn a vote' (your words).
The 'us and them' is not just rhetoric, is it? Sadly, the country is divided.

[lalalonglegs]

I also chipped in for the A50 case and am unlikely to be described by anyone as part of the elite. But one of the named claimants and one of the biggest donors - Deir Dos Santos - is a Leave supporter: how does that square with your cabal of "elite europhiles" theory?

[InfiniteSheldon]

That depends on your reasons. A donation made to ensure due process is followed or a donation in the hope of overturning a vote? One is fine one is undemocratic and shameful.

[Mistigri]

The donations were made to fund the legal procedure.

I expect that you'll be telling us it's also shameful to fund Ukip protests outside the Supreme Court?

[twofingerstoGideon]

That depends on your reasons. A donation made to ensure due process is followed or a donation in the hope of overturning a vote? One is fine one is undemocratic and shameful.

However, the Daily Mail, Express, many MN posters, all decided to put their own interpretation on the High Court case, deciding it was 'undemocratic and shameful', despite voting for 'British laws'.

[Piscivorus]

Those attitudes are probably not helped by the interview with Gina Miller in The Times the week before which I read as her saying her motivation was to stop Brexit as she had enough money to do that and nothing to do with sovereignty or parliamentary process. I had not read anything about her, personally, before that article and came out of it thinking what an appalling person she appeared to be and what a dreadful situation we have allowed ourselves to be in that something as important as this is being dealt with through the courts at the behest of the super-rich rather than through parliament with the interests of the people paramount