So I awoke early on Friday morning and was disappointed to discover that leave had narrowly won and it seems we are out of the EU. I wasn’t the only one to be disappointed as the pound and the stock markets dropped significantly on the news. I’m glad that I’m not picking up my pension anytime soon…
Since the vote Britain seems to have become a very different place. I don’t just mean in the way that the pound has plummeted, the stock markets are in free fall, the major opposition party looks about to self destruct and that it could precipitate the break-up of the union. No, I am talking about the people on the ground. The ordinary, normal people who have become very different animals in the last few days (myself included I should add). People who would politely post family pictures on Facebook and others who would comment how marvelous they looked are now locked in increasingly heated debates about the rights and wrongs of Brexit (again, myself included).
What is even worse is that the vote seems to have made some people think that it is now absolutely acceptable to be openly racist. When did ticking a box on a bit of paper suddenly allow all humanity to be thrown out of the window? Except, perhaps, that immigration was for many the underlying reason that they voted to leave in the first place. They could be in for a very nasty surprise as we negotiate our EU exit and find that in order to trade with other member states that we have to accept freedom of movement and pay AND don’t get any say in the laws. This is summed up nicely in this graphic stolen from the Independent:
So, in summary, there are some pretty horrible people about and I feel thoroughly depressed about the future of the country.