What do you think about Yourope then?
I have had it with this fucking referendum.
I resent the way the whole country has been sucked into the internal wranglings of the Tory Party.
And how this has refuelled the evil xenophobia of the popular press, in particular the Mail, the Express, the Sun.
And how our so-called impartial broadcasters – the BBC, even Channel 4 News – have implemented this dreary pretend "balance" – as if the choice were on a knife-edge between serious arguments and serious proponents, when in reality it is plain from all the evidence that Britain exiting the EU would be insane.
Never mind the obfuscations about economics, let's look at who's advocating that Britain remain in the EU (or "Europe", as it is colloquially known – so what continent are we attached to, then?):
The Conservative Party (minus those John Major used to call the "bastards"), the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru, the Bank of England, the IMF, the TUC, the President of the USA, the vast majority of independent economists, former Greek finance minister Yannis Varoufakis (who you'd think would have good cause to resent the EU's part in stuffing his government's policies), the leaders and major political parties of all the European nations....
And now look at who's advocating leave: UKIP. A few maverick politicians including those on the make in the Tory party who think Brexit will usher in a period of power for them. And er... well, that's it. Oh yes, presidential hopeful Donald Trump. And it is said Vladimir Putin would be well pleased with Brexit – I wonder why?
Oh, and some on the far left. George Galloway, if he floats your boat. Lexit! Some with no agenda other than to give Cameron and Osborne and "the establishment" a bloody nose. What a laugh that would be! Well, for half an hour, perhaps, before the dawning horror of what comes next.
But then there are those who argue the fall of the government following Brexit would actually trigger a general election in which Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party would sweep to power on a surge of socialist fervour and reverse all those neo-liberal policies and we would live happily ever after, and the other European nations would see the wisdom of what we have done and also elect socialist governments and the EU would be disbanded and an era of peace and social justice would ensue in Europe.
The level of delusion here is frightening.
Though admittedly not as frightening as the delusions peddled in the right-wing press. Immigration is out of control! Immigration is putting an unbearable strain on the NHS!
I have recently spent two weeks in an NHS hospital, and what I saw was a large proportion of "immigrant" staff – including senior consultants, junior doctors, nurses, care assistants – helping to hold together a service that is cracking under the burden of public sector cutbacks, and in some cases having to put up with the petty racism of an overwhelmingly elderly, white, working class English clientele, who each morning ordered their Mails and Expresses and Suns from the man who came round with the newspaper trolley.
OK, not all of them were ignorant.
But the only comfort I drew was that these people are going to die soon (though not soon enough for the referendum), and there is strong evidence that the younger generation of this country have a completely different and better attitude. And if the referendum were to be settled by them it would be a no-brainer.
I resent the way the whole country has been sucked into the internal wranglings of the Tory Party.
And how this has refuelled the evil xenophobia of the popular press, in particular the Mail, the Express, the Sun.
And how our so-called impartial broadcasters – the BBC, even Channel 4 News – have implemented this dreary pretend "balance" – as if the choice were on a knife-edge between serious arguments and serious proponents, when in reality it is plain from all the evidence that Britain exiting the EU would be insane.
Never mind the obfuscations about economics, let's look at who's advocating that Britain remain in the EU (or "Europe", as it is colloquially known – so what continent are we attached to, then?):
The Conservative Party (minus those John Major used to call the "bastards"), the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru, the Bank of England, the IMF, the TUC, the President of the USA, the vast majority of independent economists, former Greek finance minister Yannis Varoufakis (who you'd think would have good cause to resent the EU's part in stuffing his government's policies), the leaders and major political parties of all the European nations....
And now look at who's advocating leave: UKIP. A few maverick politicians including those on the make in the Tory party who think Brexit will usher in a period of power for them. And er... well, that's it. Oh yes, presidential hopeful Donald Trump. And it is said Vladimir Putin would be well pleased with Brexit – I wonder why?
Oh, and some on the far left. George Galloway, if he floats your boat. Lexit! Some with no agenda other than to give Cameron and Osborne and "the establishment" a bloody nose. What a laugh that would be! Well, for half an hour, perhaps, before the dawning horror of what comes next.
But then there are those who argue the fall of the government following Brexit would actually trigger a general election in which Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party would sweep to power on a surge of socialist fervour and reverse all those neo-liberal policies and we would live happily ever after, and the other European nations would see the wisdom of what we have done and also elect socialist governments and the EU would be disbanded and an era of peace and social justice would ensue in Europe.
The level of delusion here is frightening.
Though admittedly not as frightening as the delusions peddled in the right-wing press. Immigration is out of control! Immigration is putting an unbearable strain on the NHS!
I have recently spent two weeks in an NHS hospital, and what I saw was a large proportion of "immigrant" staff – including senior consultants, junior doctors, nurses, care assistants – helping to hold together a service that is cracking under the burden of public sector cutbacks, and in some cases having to put up with the petty racism of an overwhelmingly elderly, white, working class English clientele, who each morning ordered their Mails and Expresses and Suns from the man who came round with the newspaper trolley.
OK, not all of them were ignorant.
But the only comfort I drew was that these people are going to die soon (though not soon enough for the referendum), and there is strong evidence that the younger generation of this country have a completely different and better attitude. And if the referendum were to be settled by them it would be a no-brainer.
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