Funny you mention that. Ireland had to have a referendum on the Lisbon treaty which would ratify the treaty across Europe. We voted overwhelmingly against it. Which threw a hammer in European gears completely. So, out they came with the fear mongering and Europe is good for us and we're better off in it blather, and they made us have the same referendum again.


There won't be a second referendum in the uk. But it may be challenged or actually ignored. They have 2 years to implement and it'll take at least that long for negotiations but the EU want them out ASAP to prevent a rout of other countries following suit. Sweden Holland and France could be up next.

I can't tell you how much I agree with this article. It got me rather emotional, like.
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2016/06/i-want-my-country-back

Maybe instead knee jerk whinging like a scorned prom date, people should take a breath and see what actually happens. This end of the world shit is annoying. Look up man, the sky didn't fall, and your not suddenly a Trump supporting racist.

It's not like Britain is experiencing an immigration crisis. There was fear involved in that decision, so it's not an entirely rational one. Further, if Britain had stayed in EU, they would've had a big role in shaping policy for the whole continent.

"Oh you've shot your foot off? Lol, just take a breath and see what happens, man."

"I heard the UK shot itself in the foot"

"No, it was no a non-binding vote to leave the EU"

"Oh you've shot your foot off?"

"Can't say since it will take one to two years to renegotiate existing treaties and trade agreements, there is no way to judge should the government of the U.K. enact the will of its citizens, so..."

"Oh you've shot your foot off?"

"Well, the U.K. is the second largest economy in Europe and 5th largest in the world and both sides benefit from as much trade as possible between the Kingdom and the continent, participate in common defense and energy projects , so..."

"Oh you've shot your foot off?"

"Tensions are running high right now. Markets were not anticipating a leave win, and a lot of people lost money on Friday. The biggest challenge is perception. Younger citizens in the UK, fueled by globalist media organizations and the echo chamber of social media , fear they have been betrayed by older voters who want to go back to some storybook idea of the UK that can't exist anymore. As the long process of separation goes forward, both sides are going to have to do a lot of damage control to ensure that all sides feel taken care of and that the economies of Scotland and Northern Ireland who do business through the UK are taken care of as well so..."

"Ha! You admit it was racist old people!"

"Xenophobia was certainly an element of the equation, but not all of it. Globalization isn't always a good thing even if it does create a more multicultural society especially when people don't feel like their voices are being heard or worse, being ignored. And The EU itself has seemed helpless in the face of the Arab/African immigration crisis and expanding Russian aggression on the eastern border. Self determination is a powerful idea for many people and it's easy to see why people might not trust the Union to put what's good for Britian first if it negatively effects other member states"

I'm sure Britons anxious about the dramatic and historically unprecedented increase in immigration since the late 1990s will find this very reassuring.

No, voting to exit the EU won't stop that alone or by itself, but it's an emphatic vote for greater accountability from the country's political institutions.

On point 2:

whoa, cameron had sex with a pig?

yet another university sexual assault goes by the wayside

on a serious note though - i was thinking about some things along these lines earlier today. the whole of the idiocracy must feel validated. the soccer hooligans had their way. what is it going to be like for people who look "non-native" now? people who's last names aren't "johnson" ... ?

as an American, one of the biggest concerns I would have regarding a Trump presidency is not just what he would do if elected, because congress can always try to stymie or impeach him; but rather, what would the impact on the tenor/dialogue of the population be like? what would the social impact be? When George W Bush was in office it felt like it was impossible to have a sane conversation with a person. Everything was terror this and support your troops that and all the imbeciles were on a high horse and brought their megaphones into every room to dominate and drown out any reasonable conversation. there was goddamn endless over use of the american flag, you'd fucking see it everywhere and what it looked to represent in that era just starts to make you nauseous.

then that ended. praise obama. the tea partiers have been annoying, but they have not dominated the national discourse; and they don't have "their man" in office so as they crum-bum about in society they are less inclined to start beerhall putsching all over the place at will. having a reasonable conversation is expected. eccentric hatred and recitation of right-wing catch phrase dogma is subject to intense scrutiny at a national level.

but with Drumpf at the helm, mouth-breathers everywhere would have their day. they would rule the roost spewing nonsensical backward garbage this way and that. and it would be impossible again to have a conversation about anything sane without some loudmouth ignoramus jumping in and shitting all over everything.

i can't handle another 4 or 8 years of national witch hunt-grade dialogue

i feel terrible for the UK because the mouth-breathers appear to have won

hopefully they will go easy on the "non-natives"

yeah things are soooo much better now.

Leave philosoraptor out of this, Burt.

God damn you.

Racist people ARE far more likely to engage when you avoid acknowledging their racism.

The question is: why exactly does immigration incite so much anxiety? The overwhelming majority of research shows its effects are either null or positive to an economy and to a society. And immigrants are neither more nor less likely to be terrorists or criminals than natives. Immigration-related anxiety is driven by either misinformation, fear, or a combination thereof when adequate screening procedures are in place at the borders.

ABNorman, all kidding aside, in a previous post you implied you were not impressed by the arguments of either side. What made you choose?