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So in my newsfeed, I just caught two somehow related news (Switzerland has withdraw its application to EU and the attack on Jo Cox by a supposed "Britain First" supporter) which reminded that the Brexit referendum is already in one week, on the 23th June.

So it would be interesting to have the point of view of our fellow UK'ers (and possibly other Europeans but it would be less relevant) on what could change (or not), what's at stake, the propaganda from both sides, and so on....

Keep it civil and polite please, thank you ;)
(I'm probably going to regret posting here, as political threads here degenerate to awfulness, but anyways here goes nothing:)
I personally think the British will chicken out and choose to stay in the EU -after all this is what happened 2 years ago, when the Scottish said they wanted to leave England but ended up deciding against it.
An acquaintance of mine is of the opinion "I'd like them to leave, to hell with these snob hypocrites!" btw, so I guess that's indicative of how everybody else sees the British....
Post edited June 16, 2016 by Treasure
I'll be voting to stay.
Sure, the EU is flawed and a little corrupt. But so is our own government. Things are on the up here again, businesses are doing better again and employment is increasing. There are hardly any empty shops on the local high street, compared to about 50% of them being empty even a few years ago.
Will leaving the EU change any of that? Honestly, I have no idea. But I'd rather not take the risk.
I think the drive to leave is driven by an innate racism (the main reason given time and time again is to stop immigrants) and it doesn't really take into account the real facts.
Yes, Europeans (specifically Eastern Europeans usually) are taking our jobs. Except they're jobs no one here wanted to do in the first place. So in actual fact we need those immigrants coming here to make sure those jobs get done.

On top of that, I'm an Irish immigrant myself and while I doubt leaving the EU will have any effect on the relationship between the UK and Ireland I'd still rather keep free movement between the UK and Europe.
Plus I run a traditional Italian wood fired pizza van, and we import quite a lot of stuff from Italy, with different trade deals outside the EU we may end up paying a lot more and it could hurt our business and income.

Incidentally, I voted no to independence too, for slightly different reasons. Scotland's drive for independence portrayed Scotland as a conquered subjugated state desperate for freedom (like Ireland was 100 years ago) but it couldn't be farther from the truth. Scotland joined the UK of it's own free will, it has a lot of extra powers to govern itself independently already and got more (is getting more? not sure on that) after the referendum. There may have been benefits to independence, but for me (particularly living on the border) they didn't really out weigh the benefits of staying.

As for the campaigning. It's a ridiculous load of BS on both sides. The truth is no one really knows what would happen if we left until we did (same as for Scottish Independence) and anyone claiming they do is lying. People blame so much on the EU here it's ridiculous. If I have time later I'll try dig some specifics up.
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Nothing will change. Regardless of if we vote out, we wont leave the EU. What will happen is there will be some time of posturing, some wording will change, concessions will be made by EU which eventually will disappear, and then we will be back where we start from. I do find it highly amusing that the general public think democracy exists. Its masses of spin, smoke and mirrors, the real action happens between vastly rich people/organisations behind the scenes who none of us will have heard of or get to vote on. Two things run the world, money and power and that is reserved for a very small group.
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Fairfox: Is it really a case of "chickening out"? Seems likeee a loaded term to me!
Well I dunno but that's how I felt when the Scottish did the same thing - I was like "But the British have been oppressing them for so many centuries, why would they want to stay with their overlords? Freaking cowards!"
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Fairfox: "Everybody else"? Seems (x2) moar like it's telling of your friend; I <3 teh Brits! Imma going to see 'em in July. ALL OF 'EM.
Tbh, I don't totally understand what you mean (guess I don't speak Temmie..). I just mentioned my acquaintance's opinion (it's actually a relative and not a friend) and I meant that this is probably the opinion of people who don't hold the British in high regard because these guys kept/keep butting into e.g Greece's/Cyprus's business... (imo afaik it's generally a habit of the Brits to butt into everybody's business...)
Post edited June 16, 2016 by Treasure
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nightcraw1er.488: Two things run the world, money and power and that is reserved for a very small group.
Well, you still can do revolution. Only with help of, and to invite a different rich people to that group.

But the proponents are not jumping and not burning opponents live, so I guess you are right with approximation.
Post edited June 16, 2016 by Lin545
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Leave the sinking ship as fast as you can UK. If EU keep putting the vast majority of its citizens in second or even third place EU will break up or explode sooner rather than later. EU is like a steam ship without a security vent.
Inb4 thread gets axed because jamyskis calls everyone he disagrees with a Nazi cunt. :P

Hopefully, the Brits don't want to spend their future being crushed under Merkel's jackboot.

The Germans are waging an ideologigal blitzkrieg against Brexit right now. The current edition of Der Spiegel features the Union Jack on the cover with the words "Please don't go!" boldly written across - sounds like something an abusive spouse would say. "Why Germany needs the British" says the subhead, which is quite telling. This is not about Britain, it's not about the EU, it's purely about German interests. Pay no attention to their deceit! Do the sensible thing and vote leave!
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Treasure: (I'm probably going to regret posting here, as political threads here degenerate to awfulness, but anyways here goes nothing:)
I personally think the British will chicken out and choose to stay in the EU -after all this is what happened 2 years ago, when the Scottish said they wanted to leave England but ended up deciding against it.
An acquaintance of mine is of the opinion "I'd like them to leave, to hell with these snob hypocrites!" btw, so I guess that's indicative of how everybody else sees the British....
They're probably trying to coerce better positions in certain topics, they know they aren't going to leave EU, kek, too dependent and intertwined with EU economy. They would be giving up voluntarily their capital citys renown as a business centre aswell methinks.
If they do, well good for them, I'd actually like to see the clusterf*ck which will start :9 All the journalism uphype and so on. Tragic headlines and so on. Heh.



OT:Threads usually degenerate if some of those bleeding heart sjw-s start nitpicking stupid wordings out of peoples posts and derail the rest of the post.
Post edited June 16, 2016 by dewtech
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Dear Britain,

Putin wants you to leave.

Please don't.

edit: well, so much for civility.

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dewtech: OT:Threads usually degenerate if some of those bleeding heart sjw-s start nitpicking stupid wordings out of peoples posts and derail the rest of the post.
Eat shit and die, turd.
Post edited June 16, 2016 by Starmaker
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fronzelneekburm: Inb4 thread gets axed because jamyskis calls everyone he disagrees with a Nazi cunt. :P

Hopefully, the Brits don't want to spend their future being crushed under Merkel's jackboot.

The Germans are waging an ideologigal blitzkrieg against Brexit right now. The current edition of Der Spiegel features the Union Jack on the cover with the words "Please don't go!" boldly written across - sounds like something an abusive spouse would say. "Why Germany needs the British" says the subhead, which is quite telling. This is not about Britain, it's not about the EU, it's purely about German interests. Pay no attention to their deceit! Do the sensible thing and vote leave!
Are you german by any chance?
You get the most from EU (economical hegemonism and making/changing laws to fit your economical wants) and stil most of you want to disassemble EU :) What's the story behind that? Also if UK leaves, then EU gets worse in terms of power lines. (Only 2 bigger countries remain: France and Germany; who can and probably will bend everything to benefit them)

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Starmaker: >I don't know what OT means
Nice civil posting dude.
Post edited June 16, 2016 by dewtech
Leaving won't solve any problem except that UK won't be able to be part of any upcoming negotiations about amendments and regulations especially and including the negotiations between the EU, China and USA as well as the emerging markets in the south. They way of Switzerland and Norway is not a solution as neither of these countries have a vote within the EU but have to accept any changes the EU adopts trough its parliament if they want to get access to the EU market. The vision of the Brexit-Group of a prosperous trade with the US or China was already officially destroyed as both countries stated that their main trade and negotiation partner in Europe is the EU, not a singular country (see the problems between China and Switzerland and their free-trade negotiations). The Empire has gone. Furthermore, it is important to look who is supporting the leave campaing: Robert Murdoch and his media empire, the rich who deny their workers their rights, the bankers who hope to earn more money by abusing a faulty system they created and which was responsible for the financial crash.

No, the EU is not the solution for every problem and we seriously need to rethink the structure. However, leaving won't solve any problems because what happens in Europe affects the UK as well, if we want it or not. Only by remaining UK be a part of the changes required to lead the EU to a prosperous future for the UK, its citizens and all people in Europe.
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adaliabooks:
Umm... Can I be an immigrant?
I also supported NO for independence.
TBH no newly independent nation is at good condition.
Most of them are third world. :P
I swear to God as soon as I started reading this thread I got an email offering me deals on European cruises. I'm sure it's a coincidence, but the parallel tinkles my tankle.