And it’s a pretty dismal list…
- Apparently there is nothing of more economic or financial importance in the world than BREXIT.
- The 17.4m people who voted for an exit are either undereducated or racist bigots.
- The millennials and generation Y are all ageists when it comes to voting – opinions and concerns of pensioners don’t matter and should not be heard because they haven’t got long to live.
- A lot of people don’t think democracy should operate when it delivers the ‘wrong’ decision.
- The media are generally incapable of undertaking any rational and balanced analysis of why the majority vote was to exit.
- It will still be the end of the economic and financial world as we know it.
- No it’s not so bad after all; the UK economy is strong and the fundamentals are good.
- A small number of extremely wealthy people have lost a lot of value in their investments.
- It’s not made a scrap of difference to those who don’t have two half pennies to rub together.
- UK markets went down and then back up again.
- Sterling is lower but that’s good for UK exports.
- European markets dropped down far more because the perceived economic impact will be much greater.
- The Italian banking system is on the point of collapse.
- A large number of people who own property and holiday regularly in Europe think that not being a member will disrupt future plans.
- Most people under the age of 40 think their future European job prospects will be impacted.
- Our main political parties are a shambles and at war within themselves.
- The parliamentary parties in general would still prefer to stay in, despite the vote.
- Nobody had prepared a contingency exit plan.
- We have no idea whether or even if we will leave the EU.
- The EU has no intention of reforming itself and wants to use the vote as a method of driving through a United States of Europe.
- Eurocrats want to boot the UK out as soon as possible but senior EU member state politicians are far more sanguine.
- EU politicians want to change the rules so that it is legally impossible for a future member to leave the EU.
- No senior UK politician wants to press the Article 50 button.
- The commonwealth has a GDP of $10.4bn and 2.2bn people and the UK will be allowed to trade with them again.
- If Le Pen’s party wins the election next year it will call an EU referendum; if there is a majority to exit it will effectively shut down the EU.
- A majority of Italians would probably vote to leave the EU if allowed a referendum.
- Scotland may or may not have a legal right of veto.
- Donald Trump cares as much about international sensitivities as those at home in the U.S.
- Many North American financial analysts think the UK is deserting a sinking EU ship.
- We may or may not have a general election later this year the result of which could culminate in a decision to veto/ignore the EU referendum.
- UKIP support could evaporate during the next general election as its main platform and purpose has been fulfilled.
- UKIP support could increase during the next general election because the two mainstream parties have become disconnected from their constituencies.
- Several million UK citizens think that enough has changed since June 23rd to warrant a second referendum.
- Nearly 50,000 of the 800 citizens of The Vatican City and 24,000 North Koreans think we should have a second referendum…..
I think I’m barely scratching the surface. It’s no wonder people are angry, anxious, frustrated, and generally confused or bemused when there is such a demonstrable lack of leadership both in the UK and the EU.
I’ll give the political class and media 2 out of 10 for performance, integrity, lack of bias and professionalism at the moment.
Despite the protestations of many in the mainstream and social media, I think the really sad aspect of the referendum is not the result but the extreme intolerance demonstrated by people who disagree with a different perspective. I’m also very much of the view that the way to persuade people is not to patronise, disenfranchise or to alienate through insults and branding.
Most UK citizens are only heard through the ballot box. It is a right bequested by previous generations to ours, one that has been fought for through mass protest and sometimes behind the barrel of a gun. There always will be disagreements in democracies but the answer is not to trade insults but to listen to concerns, and if reasonable act on them.
You win votes by giving people something to believe in and vote for.