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Brexit
Original poster

Do you discuss Brexit with friends or avoid the subject completely?

83 replies

BigSandyBalls2015 · 05/01/2019 13:15

Just curious.

We're out for dinner tonight with two other couples - I'll be the only remainer amongst the six of us …… could be an interesting night, esp with drinks flowing.

OP posts:
ISdads · 05/01/2019 21:40

How can you be friends with those people though? Don't you have standards?

madmum5811 · 05/01/2019 22:02

I cannot get my head around people who drop friends because of a different brexit vote. Do they drop folk who do not vote tory/labour/liberal. I am glad I do not have such shallow friends to be honest.

ISdads · 05/01/2019 22:08

I couldn't be friends with anyone who read the dm because they liked it, or voted for brexit because they liked boris johnson. Or voted leave as a protest vote. Seriously ... how could you count them as actual friends?

lljkk · 05/01/2019 22:08

In a group of Leavers I would try to talk about anything else.

Lottapianos · 05/01/2019 22:10

I do get it madmum. I was absolutely furious with my Leave voter friend and didnt contact her for a couple of weeks after the vote. She's lovely in many ways but I despair of her reading the Daily Mail every day and regurgitating their bile about everything from Tony Blair to Jeremy Corbyn to Victoria Beckham

Jellykat · 05/01/2019 22:22

I don't know any leavers and we discuss it at work a lot, as it's already having an impact.. I'm afraid if i was socialising with leaver friends, i wouldn't be able to keep my mouth shut, i'm that angry about it all!

BackInTime · 05/01/2019 22:26

Half of work colleagues voted leave so we avoid the subject as much as possible. PIL are also leavers and we have had some tricky discussions but I have just accepted that they are totally delusional and try to avoid the subject.

I think there is a lot of avoiding and lip biting going on right now.

Ta1kinPeace · 05/01/2019 22:26

In a group of Leavers I would try to talk about anything else.
THIS
A late colleague and I agreed on about 85% of things
(Chris Chope and Brexit being among the 15%)
We agreed to disagree
and generally stuck to topics on which we agreed in the months before his death

mumblechum0 · 05/01/2019 22:31

I’m also in a Remain bubble, and whilst at first we were all aghast and panicking about it, there’s now an unspoken rule that we all ignore the elephant in the room; it’s out of our hands, and we’ll only get depressed by talking about it.

Mistigri · 05/01/2019 22:40

I'm in a remain bubble as far as my personal social circle is concerned. Of the two people in my family who I know voted leave, one - my dad, a very long time eurosceptic and soft brexiter - now changes the subject every time brexit is mentioned Grin

SittHakim · 05/01/2019 22:45

I talk to people who I know agree with me (Remain voter), or people who won't be upset by the disagreement. I have a dear friend and present colleague who voted Leave, and I have no compunction about going to see him whenever the shit-show gets particularly bad and saying "This is all your fault!"

But, unusually for London, I was working in a place that was split down the middle at the time of the referendum, and some of my colleagues from that time are still friends. I can't, and don't, discuss Brexit with a couple of them: we could have a fight that would be the end of our friendship as they're quite thin-skinned. And like a poster up-thread, we actually agree about most other things, and I'd regret the end of the relationship.

dapplegrey · 05/01/2019 22:48

ISdads so you can’t be friends with anyone who has different opinions to you?
What would you say to someone who said “oh I couldn’t be friends with anyone who voted Labour?”

ISdads · 05/01/2019 22:53

No, I didn't say that, did I?
I gave several specific examples but they do have things in common.

Reading daily mail unironically

Voting to leave a trading bloc based on finding a uk politician funny

Voting to leave a trading bloc as a 'protest'

Can you guess what they have in common? It isn't their political allegiance at election time.

helzapoppin2 · 05/01/2019 23:04

I’m a Remainer in a Remain bubble, but have still learnt not to voice any opinions.
I’m desperate to remain, but any “thinking around the subject” brings derision and the suspicion from others that maybe I secretly voted Leave after all. I’m fed up of this.

MsTSwift · 05/01/2019 23:08

Same Looking. Don’t socialise with or even know a single leaver. So any conversation is of the head shaking this is shit all in agreement type of chat which is soon exhausted.

Catsandbootsandbootsandcats · 05/01/2019 23:19

How can I be friends with her?

Well, we've been friends for 30 years and apart from disagreeing on politics we get on really well. So it's best to just not discuss it at all. Which we never did before to be fair.

At least she doesn't read the Daily Mail.

(I used to read the Daily Mail though! A very long time ago.)

Suppose I should have disowned my mum as well, who also voted leave.

ISdads · 05/01/2019 23:28

Oh well, if you used to read the daily mail, and she voted brexit because she thought bojo was funny, no doubt you have lots in common. I wouldn't really worry about it in that case.

importantkath · 06/01/2019 06:23

We banned all talk of Brexit over Christmas, we are expats who's situation is rather delicate (we live in a Non EU country but our work permits are dependent upon freedom of movement for EU citizens) and the majority of our family and friends (and the area we come from) voted leave. My DM especially, takes the DM as gospel and regurgitates its articles as facts, which is quite hard to take (DH works alongside people who are assisting the British Government in writing new policies and trade agreements, so has a little inside information, but DM announces everything as project fear).

As expats, we all discuss it regularly. I only know of one expat who voted to leave, and she is quite open and reasoned about it. No one would ever attack her as they are curious and fascinated about her logic (because it is a rarity in our community) and we are able to discuss it rationally.

EffOrf · 06/01/2019 06:30

Can’t say that it has ever been mentioned at work since the vote and then it seemed to be about 50% of each amongst my colleagues. It’s not something I would really discuss with neighbours or friends

Petalflowers · 06/01/2019 06:37

I’m in the ‘bored of Brexit’ camp, so apart from passing comments, don’t tend to talk about it anyway.

Some of my friends voted leave, some stay, and vast majority I have no idea how they voted. I’m not going to socially exclude them because they voted a certain way.

When my dc play football, we say you can be friends of the pitch, but rivals on the pitch. I think the same principals apply here. Ie, you can disagree with people politically, what football team they support, oasis or Blur etc, but you can still be friends with them.

startingafresh1 · 06/01/2019 06:40

I'm a remainder. I totally accept everyone has a right to their own opinion and should vote accordingly.

Following the ref I was happy to discus BREXIT and hoped that my leaver friends, family and colleagues (about 50/50), would be able to help me see their POV. I was struggling to empathise with their views, I wanted to change that- admittedly partly to allay my own worries.

Frustratingly I didn't find anyone who could explain to me why they voted leave in any way that made sense to me. After a sad discussion with FIL who voted leave to stop all the illegal immigrants claiming benefits, (a statement I believe to be patently untrue and misleading), I gave up.

Colleagues can see our business struggling over the impact of BREXIT, friends in NHS can see a possible recruitment issue, FIL realises his multiple trips abroad with his Dog will be impacted, BIL sees his daughters future education opportunities at risk. But they are all still glad they voted leave.

I'd love someone I trust and respect to explain why they voted leave and reassure me it was for the best.

helzapoppin2 · 06/01/2019 09:30

starting, I feel the same. The news media dwells on the negatives. Even the DM seems to have changed tack and doesn’t support it. No politicians seem to be able to say how we’d be better off. You’d think such a momentous decision would have somebody with a clear vision of the advantages.

Helmetbymidnight · 06/01/2019 09:35

Yes with remainers. Less so with leavers.
The people I know who voted leave are unable to make any sense on the subject, no longer care, think it’s already done, or ‘its fine’

1tisILeClerc · 06/01/2019 09:50

{ You’d think such a momentous decision would have somebody with a clear vision of the advantages.}
Well the likes of the ERG, Mrs May herself and others with a large investment portfolio are rubbing their hands with glee about the prospect of a 'No deal' Brexit. They are not likely to have the reason why plastered all over the media because unfortunately if you are not in that sort of financial position things are very likely to be shit, for a long time.

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 06/01/2019 11:09

It’s like on MN.
I discuss it with some friends, just the way it’s separated in one topic here.

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