Anyone else worry that we could end up with civil war and the break up of the UK?

[KennDodd]

All because of that wretched unnecessary referendum.

A number of surveys have shown just how many people think violence and the break up of the UK is a price worth paying for Brexit (or no Brexit). We've already got increased tensions in both NI and Scotland. Brexit has all the far right racist groups on their side, so quick to violence, Remain has the young on its side, so again quick to violence. Politicians and the media seem to be intent on only raising the temperature further.

This isn't something that keeps me awake at night or anything but I think people are naive if they think it could never happen here. I suppose one way to avoid it would be if Brexit did happen and the sunlit uplands and all the Brexit promises actually happened. I don't know anyone (Leave or Remain) who believes everything will suddenly get a lot better anymore though. Even if it did I still can't see any solution for the border in Ireland.

Miljah
You come from a camp where 'Leave Means Leave!'- entirely without context, which is regarded as conclusive evidence of 'The Will Of The People'.

I don't think I give that impression at all.

The referendum didn't care about age, social group, intelligence, ethnicity.

Try telling that to the posters on this forum who were not eligible to vote in the referendum, not to mention the under 18s.

And, the most googled term the day after the referendum was 'What is the EU'? .....The fact stands alone.

Actually, you are not reporting this correctly (you are not the only one) - it was second among EU-related questions;

GoogleTrends
"What is the EU?" is the second top UK question on the EU since the #EURefResults were officially announced.

I've found this helpful article from The Telegraph 2016;

"Google Trends data isn't actually representative of the number of total searches for a term, but a proportion of all searches at a given time.The company highlights spikes in searches based on what else is being Googled at a given moment in a geographical area."

"In the month before the referendum "What is the EU" was searched an average of 261 times a day in Britain, according to Google AdWords.That means if searches increased by 250 per cent, as Google announced on Friday, there were still fewer than 1,000 or so people typing the question into the search engine."

So, 1,000 people who didn't vote, foreign tourists (4.3 million Americans visited the UK in 2016) and teenagers?

Could be remain voters who didn't know what they were voting for of course.

www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/06/27/were-brits-really-googling-what-is-the-eu-after-voting-to-leave/

I literally cannot make any decisions about my life and will not know where I am living or whether my job will still exist until Brexit is sorted.
Surely that's mostly due to temoaner MPs who think if they drag this along for long enough they'll get a rerun of the referendum with 3 questions - Remain, Leave with some stuff, and Leave with some other stuff. So the leave vote is split. Unfortunately the Leavers are not quite stupid enough to fall for that.

Why do remoaners keep going on and on??
You feel you lost because leavers are numpties who believed lies. Fine.
If you really DID belieave all leavers are numpties why oh why keep bleating on about it. Leavers are numpties. Ok. No ones arguing. Now PLEASE move on

this beautifully encapsulates the level of thick we have to deal with. wreak havoc on our lives and then demand we move on.

absolutely unbelievably dim.

People who want Brexit to now be pushed through, as there clearly is an argument for, would do themselves a big favour in terms of credibility if they stopped using the ridiculous Sun/Daily Mail made up word "remoaners". It just heightens the perception of people who voted leave as being dim sheep that believe whatever the tabloids tell them.

Fatshedra - calling people 'remoaners' makes you sound like a bit of a dick.
You feel you lost because leavers are numpties who believed lies. Fine.
No. You think remain voters feel they lost because leavers are numpties etc. I believe all (remain and leave) voters were woefully uninformed, particularly about things like the GFA. Being 'uninformed' does not equate to being a 'numpty'.
Such a complex issue should never have been the subject of a binary vote.

Surely that's mostly due to temoaner MPs who think if they drag this along for long enough they'll get a rerun of the referendum with 3 questions - Remain, Leave with some stuff, and Leave with some other stuff. So the leave vote is split. Unfortunately the Leavers are not quite stupid enough to fall for that.
Talk about projecting. IMO it's 'dragged on' because the government does not have the balls to say 'Brexit will damage the UK socially, economically and politically, but we are going to plunge blindly forward because willofthepeople...'

And... It's all dragged on because of endless bickering between Leave MPs who couldn't bring themselves to vote for TM's deal because it wasn't Brexity enough for them, but are willing to panic-vote for BJ's deal because it looks like the country has changed its mind.

We need to take a leaf out of France's book. Their farmers spread dung and block roads at the drop of a hat.

People in the UK only protest violently against very specific injustices. Brexit is far too generalised.
I hope there is no escalation of sectarian tensions in NI.

Such a complex issue should never have been the subject of a binary vote

How else could it have been done? Either UK leaves or remains.

Civil war, definitely not.
A bit of rioting in London that won't affect much of the country, probably.

clav once you start quoting what has, sadly, over the past few years morphed from a serious, albeit right wing newspaper into a comic, a DM-for-people-with-'O' levels comic, The Telegraph, you've lost me, I'm afraid.

In the interests of fairness I don't read quotes from The Independent either.

Miljah

Don't worry Miljah - I know it's more 'comforting' in the 'Remainer bubble'.

Mystery How else could it have been done? Either UK leaves or remains.

It should never have been put to a public vote. It was ridiculous to make a complex issue the subject of a referendum.The public in general knows fuck all about trade deals, the GFA, the economy etc etc (as has now been proved). Hope this is clearer .

It should never have been put to a public vote. It was ridiculous to make a complex issue the subject of a referendum

Don’t see the difference. What question would have been asked for a public vote that was difficult to the referendum question?

The public in general knows fuck all about trade deals, the GFA, the economy etc etc (as has now been proved)

Maybe they were not interested in either of those things? Impossible to prove, but I would say that leave won because media heavily promoted the following:

Immigration is damaging the UK

UK gives EU £50 million per day

EU commissioners are not elected

Article 50 was signed by all EU members in 2009. Hence Brexit and a potential no deal was sanctioned by every EU member.

GFA was signed by Ireland and the UK in 1998. However, by signing Article 50 eleven years later that allowed both Ireland and the UK to leave the EU without a deal, both Ireland and the UK effectively modified the GFA without realising the implications.

Obviously a deal is better than no deal. However, if the parties that want to cancel Brexit completely reject every withdrawal agreement that is proposed, are they not making a no deal outcome more likely?

However, if the parties that want to cancel Brexit completely reject every withdrawal agreement that is proposed

it's interesting how Leavers always overlook the fact that it was the Brexity Brexiteers who voted down May's deal because it wasn't Brexity enough and because she's a woman

If they had voted for her deal we would have left at the end of March but that doesn't fit in with your narrative, does it?

Don’t see the difference. What question would have been asked for a public vote that was difficult to the referendum question?
Are you being deliberately obtuse, Mystery?

it's interesting how Leavers always overlook the fact that it was the Brexity Brexiteers who voted down May's deal because it wasn't Brexity enough

Incorrect statement. Check the results of the three votes on the withdrawal agreement proposed by T May. LibDems, SNP voted unanimously against the deal. Likewise the number of labour MPs who supported the deal never exceeded five

May's deal wasn't Brexit

If they had voted for her deal we would have left at the end of March but that doesn't fit in with your narrative, does it?

SNP will reject all withdrawal proposals as they want Brexit cancelled of the basis that Scotland voted remain overall.

LibDems will also reject all withdrawal proposals as they too want Brexit cancelled. Jo Swinson has said publicly that she would reject another vote if it was to leave. Also said if LibDems were in power they would revoke article 50 without referendum.

Labour voted against the conservatives for the sake of it as they wanted a general election as before Brexit Party appeared they thought 40% of the vote was still theirs and had a chance of winning a general election. Watch any episode of question time before the EU election on 23 May 2019 and you will see the labour MPs all pushing for a general election.

So it is those who want Brexit cancelled that prevented Mays deal from going through. What they don’t realise is that they are increasing the likelihood of no deal.

Hilarious.

May's deal wasn't Brexit
We are incessantly told by Leavers that the type of 'leave' wasn't on the ballot paper. Of course May's 'deal' was Brexit. Not your version of it maybe, but the binary choice was between remain and leave, and TM's deal most certainly wasn't remain. Therefore, it was Brexit.

Let's all remind ourselves that Mystery - who pops up from time to time to cheerlead Brexit - will be totally unaffected by it as he does not live in the UK and will not have the pleasure of Operation Yellowhammer.

That's why I don't read his mansplaining any more He's many thousands of miles away in the Far East and won't be affected by the fallout of Brexit.

I also think he gets a hard on kick out of the people responding to him . I'm assuming it's still the same inanities that he started off with, as I now just scroll past his posts

Others should take the same approach ....it's interesting how I have to do less scrolling when people ignore his inanities

@Pinkblueberry - Civil war - as in people taking up arms against each other i.e. Kill each other over Brexit? No I don’t think so ... get a bloody grip

Head of the PSNI reckons the current WA will result in loyalist violence. A hard border is likely to result in republican violence. Or does it not count if it only happens in NI? A word to the wise - the IRA found it much more effective to bring their campaign to mainland UK. I suspect the loyalists w I'll have observed and learned from that.

@InfiniteSheldon - May's deal wasn't Brexit

May's deal involved leaving the EU. Maybe not in the way you wanted but nonetheless it was brexit.

@MysteryTripAgain - GFA was signed by Ireland and the UK in 1998. However, by signing Article 50 eleven years later that allowed both Ireland and the UK to leave the EU without a deal, both Ireland and the UK effectively modified the GFA without realising the implications.

I can't believe you're still spouting this nonsense. Signing A50 into law did not alter the GFA. Governments need to be ensure that actions they take comply with their responsibilities. Therefore, if the UK or Ireland leave the EU they have a moral and legal responsibility to do so in a way that does not threaten the GFA. The EU also has a moral responsibilty to ensure they support this. The EU and Ireland have done this.

The UK, by invoking their red lines, are showing a complete lack of integrity by trying to leave in a way that does not fulfil their obligations under the GFA. However, either of the WAs allow the UK to leave w hole fulfilling their obligations.