Question Time Thurs 22nd June 2023 - Brexit Special

[Pipsquiggle]

Just wanted to make you aware of this programme tonight.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001n3px

Question Time Special - all the audience voted Brexit and it's in Clacton which I think was the most 'Leave' area.

I will be very interested in how the audience feels now and if any have changed their minds or become more entrenched.

I know, but what a bizarre thing to fixate on!

She was actually one of the best bits, as she was at least funny. Most of it was just deeply depressing.

I know!
And a cheer went up with the audience when Redwood and the Ukip bloke talked about maximising 'brexit freedoms ' by reducing regulations. I bet not one audience member even wondered 'what regulations might they be?' It's like we don't have enough shit in the sea already, let's give companies freedom to pollute the land and air (even more) as well.

Brexit threads are often populated with leave voters saying we're not stupid , we're not racist, I've got ten PhDs and I voted Leave. Where are these posters to defend their people now? Sadly the QT audience actually compared favourably to most Leave voters I know IRL who come out with such shit as 'you have to be Polish to work in Aldi, they won't hire English people' . And then defend such statements when I point out that I've been many times to their local Aldi and never even heard a foreign accent in there, everyone, without exception, working there looks and sounds white British and local.

Even the nuclear power bloke, he can't be thick. How can he be fooled into thinking ending freedom of movement would make getting staff into the country easier when brexit was very clearly an anti immigration vote for many, many people?

YY it’s such an ignorant and easy argument to say “we want to be free of regulations” when pre-Brexit it was those very rules that were keeping our coastal seas free from sewage , children’s toys free from lead and other harmful chemicals, and our chicken safe to eat.

Capitalism is probably one of the best imperfect systems we have to operate our economy but it can’t he allowed to run unfettered without checks.

I’d have had more respect for the lady if she had mentioned farming regs which I think most people can sympathise have become very cumbersome for the individual farmer, but they are designed to benefit the environment or the consumer collectively.

Not to mention of course that the UK either led the way or played a significant role in forming, adjusting and then ratifying much of this EU regulation, it wasn’t imposed on us from above.

@Kendodd unfortunately a lot of people just hear the 'soundbite' and don't think of the consequences - hence saying 'we need to cut immigration' which was part of the leave campaign- these people didn't think well who is going to do the jobs ? They didn't factor in the fact that plenty of their mates have took retirement at 57, others simply don't want low paid work and are more than happy to get by on fixed benefits or jobs under the radar. Nor did they factor in the gvt would start allowing an awful lot of 3rd country immigration from places like India, Pakistan and phillipines- and no they aren't all brain surgeons. Now whilst this isn't a massive deal, it's not what these people voted for and nor is it single young people doing a couple of years in the UK - it's families , most of whom will be staying.

I was hoping at least one Brexiter might come on here and tell us what they thought of the show. That's why I posted this here

I suspect even Louise is too embarrassed...

I so wanted the Brexit audience to come out fighting, endless whataboutery. 'Yeah, but!' - but- nix. They had nothing; apart from the small business owner, drowning under red tape, gaslit by Habib.

But they were quiet. Defeated. Roused a small cheer for something like 'bonfire of regulations' by a bloke who made it clear he thinks UC is a drain on the economy that needs sorting <uncomfortable seat shifting by the audience>.

As a Remainer, I actually NEED Leave to believe in this. I can't, because the promises made were unobtainable fantasy.
But, fuck's SAKE, Clackton. Own this!

To paraphrase the old saying;

Harwich for the continent
Clacton for the incontinent

They are conspicuous by their absence, aren't they!

They probably can't defend the almost embarrassing thickness of so many of that Question Time audience.

I'm glad that programme was aired, frustrating though it was to watch. It has amply proven so many of the points that Remainers have been making for years. That so many people were simply unable to grasp, even in a very basic way, what they were actually voting for.

I mean, how can they defend someone who appeared to have voted leave because she thinks that builders should be allowed to plunge off roofs willy-nilly? It's surely just too absurd for words.

So I imagine (hope) that the Brexshitters were suitably embarrassed by the programme.

I don't imagine Leave voters were embarrassed, I bet they were nodding along like churchill dogs to roof women and the bloke who watched immigrants arriving at the airport and go straight to the benefits office (I guess he must hang around at the airport and follow them).

@Kendodd or at the benefits office? Because they’re always exceptional and worthy, in a way other people aren’t.

What annoys me most is that we are told that it's not ok to call them uneducated or out of touch or Daily Mail/Express obsessives- and we must have sympathy with why they felt that way-- however it's totally fine if they want to call us snowflakes or remoaners and have no sense of understanding why many of us are so angry at losing freedoms and opportunities for ourselves and our young family members.

The thing is most of the people that featured here have secure housing (bought yearsago or socially rented) are either retired or have a bit of a part time local job and don't look as if their lives would change that much whether they were in or out the EU. The ones who have lost out mainly are indeed the ones who didn't vote for it, business relocating overseas, NGOs moving to EU, multi national marriages , jobs requiring travel and flexibility, contracts abroad etc. in fact several people on that programme, who do have businesses , now had a very different take on the situation.

These people don't give a shit about it impacting other people- so I'm afraid I don't feel guilty for calling most of them bigoted and selfish.

I understood, from the aftermath, that many, many people didn't bother to vote. I think Brexit is a lesson to all of us to use our vote.

And a lesson to the government to set a threshold. Or to pander to a small part of their party.

You could smell the Daily Mail newsprint in the audience. The damage these newspapers have done to the Boomer generation is incalculable. And we have to pay for their voting choices.