Your reasons resonate with mine. Our opinions at that point might have been over trust in our establishment to have the guts/willpower to deliver it which is why I haven't taken part in national or local elections since. I never believed a self serving establishment would ever do it.....and I still don't.
It will take new political parties who reject hyper globalisation with a change to PR to even begin to change...but then you have the challenge of a tribal electorate that just elects the same dross over and over again in fear of the 'wrong party' winning.
Unless the electorate stop the tribalism non of the aforementioned problems change.
There was a Scottish poet who once said he 'didn't believe in the collective wisdom of individual stupidity'. I think that of politicians and the electorate.
I love that quote from the Scottish poet. It supports Dominic's first point - if power is spread thinly I think the damage that stupid people can do is lessened - no one is a socialist with their own money, only other people's.
I don’t think I read this before voting, but it wouldn’t have mattered as you hit every nail I was concerned about on the head. It began the great unravelling - when Merkel et al realised they’d fucked up, having given Cameron nothing, when Westminster and the elites panicked and pulled every trick in the book to undo it, the EU negotiated in the worst of bad faith, and we were lied to at every turn. Only Boris could save us, and but for Covid, he might have made a success of it. Which makes you wonder : was Covid simply a ruse to put Trump and Brexit Boris back in the box and nail down the lid?
PS I live in France, was born in Germany, and hold an Irish passport. I’m still glad we’re not in it.
I don't think Boris had the vision to see beyond his infatuation with his wife. Re-designing Britain was not on the cards for him though maybe it was for Cummings. Anyway spot on!
Spot on Dominic, as true today as it was back then. I, like you am a Europhile, speak another language, live abroad, have dual citizenship, but detest the EU.
You could add to your reasons transparency, at the very least (vd Leyen’s jab deal, among others). You could certainly add the DSA, by which the EU awards itself the power to censor ‘disinformation’, they being the arbiters of what constitutes disinformation. Goebbels would have been proud.
It is blindingly obvious that we have been betrayed by our own leaders who are reluctant to sever the EU links. The point about accountability rings loudest- they don’t want us to have a say on who leads us.
Bloody marvellous as always. I vaguely remember us joining the EEC (I think it was called) and thinking, well actually this is about trade, it’s about grouping together for the common good and being able to compete with America. Ok let’s do it. The gradual creep from this to the EU controlling laws, money supply, who can come into our country and most importantly a creeping and toxic ideology of a liberal left has resulted in the Grotesque Chaos (to quote the last Labour leader who was any good) we see today.
I like Boris, I like his non-conformist ways, but oh boy did he miss a golden opportunity. Onwards and Upwards and thanks for all you do.
Spot on, Dominic - then and now. Like you, I weighed up hard facts before voting Leave. I earned strong, vociferous condemnation by irate ‘liberal’ friends whose reasons to vote Remain were far more emotive and tribal. It was shocking and unpleasant but, I am pleased to say, we got over it.
Well said, Dominic. I would add “ Failure to secure Europe’s military posture against the eternal enemy -Russia.” Germany’s fatal reliance on Russian gas, thanks to Merkel.
I voted for Brexit, I never thought it would happen though. My reasons were largely the same as yours, with the addition that the crony capitalism in the EU is only eclipsed by that of the US. I hoped that a significant leave vote would lead to EU reform, (how naive). We now have a ridiculous situation where our government doesn’t want to leave and refuses to make any of the benefits of Brexit manifest. Worst of both worlds.
In hindsight don´t you think you were brainwashed by false government propaganda about the advantages of leaving the EU ? For a non Briton it was obvious at the time - even without any strong feelings about the benefit of keeping Great Britain in the EU. Or was it just British arrogance and naivity ?
Your reasons resonate with mine. Our opinions at that point might have been over trust in our establishment to have the guts/willpower to deliver it which is why I haven't taken part in national or local elections since. I never believed a self serving establishment would ever do it.....and I still don't.
It will take new political parties who reject hyper globalisation with a change to PR to even begin to change...but then you have the challenge of a tribal electorate that just elects the same dross over and over again in fear of the 'wrong party' winning.
Unless the electorate stop the tribalism non of the aforementioned problems change.
There was a Scottish poet who once said he 'didn't believe in the collective wisdom of individual stupidity'. I think that of politicians and the electorate.
I love that quote from the Scottish poet. It supports Dominic's first point - if power is spread thinly I think the damage that stupid people can do is lessened - no one is a socialist with their own money, only other people's.
I love that Bettina. Socialism in a nutshell.
Bring back the Friendly Societies say I!
Me too
I don’t think I read this before voting, but it wouldn’t have mattered as you hit every nail I was concerned about on the head. It began the great unravelling - when Merkel et al realised they’d fucked up, having given Cameron nothing, when Westminster and the elites panicked and pulled every trick in the book to undo it, the EU negotiated in the worst of bad faith, and we were lied to at every turn. Only Boris could save us, and but for Covid, he might have made a success of it. Which makes you wonder : was Covid simply a ruse to put Trump and Brexit Boris back in the box and nail down the lid?
PS I live in France, was born in Germany, and hold an Irish passport. I’m still glad we’re not in it.
I don't think Boris had the vision to see beyond his infatuation with his wife. Re-designing Britain was not on the cards for him though maybe it was for Cummings. Anyway spot on!
I was really relying on Cummings, but for reasons I’ve never understood or heard him explain, he completely lost the plot over Covid.
Spot on Dominic, as true today as it was back then. I, like you am a Europhile, speak another language, live abroad, have dual citizenship, but detest the EU.
You could add to your reasons transparency, at the very least (vd Leyen’s jab deal, among others). You could certainly add the DSA, by which the EU awards itself the power to censor ‘disinformation’, they being the arbiters of what constitutes disinformation. Goebbels would have been proud.
Yup!
It is blindingly obvious that we have been betrayed by our own leaders who are reluctant to sever the EU links. The point about accountability rings loudest- they don’t want us to have a say on who leads us.
I wrote this a few months ago about the squandering of Brexit. Maybe your readers would enjoy it Dominic. https://lowstatus.substack.com/?utm_source=navbar&utm_medium=web&r=evzeq
I'm sure they would - just check the link though
Oh thanks Dominic. I meant this link. Apologies to all. https://open.substack.com/pub/lowstatus/p/why-brexit-is-like-playstation?r=evzeq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Absolutely love this Dominic. Spot on.
Thank you sir.
Bloody marvellous as always. I vaguely remember us joining the EEC (I think it was called) and thinking, well actually this is about trade, it’s about grouping together for the common good and being able to compete with America. Ok let’s do it. The gradual creep from this to the EU controlling laws, money supply, who can come into our country and most importantly a creeping and toxic ideology of a liberal left has resulted in the Grotesque Chaos (to quote the last Labour leader who was any good) we see today.
I like Boris, I like his non-conformist ways, but oh boy did he miss a golden opportunity. Onwards and Upwards and thanks for all you do.
Thanks Matthew
Spot on, Dominic - then and now. Like you, I weighed up hard facts before voting Leave. I earned strong, vociferous condemnation by irate ‘liberal’ friends whose reasons to vote Remain were far more emotive and tribal. It was shocking and unpleasant but, I am pleased to say, we got over it.
Well said, Dominic. I would add “ Failure to secure Europe’s military posture against the eternal enemy -Russia.” Germany’s fatal reliance on Russian gas, thanks to Merkel.
I voted for Brexit, I never thought it would happen though. My reasons were largely the same as yours, with the addition that the crony capitalism in the EU is only eclipsed by that of the US. I hoped that a significant leave vote would lead to EU reform, (how naive). We now have a ridiculous situation where our government doesn’t want to leave and refuses to make any of the benefits of Brexit manifest. Worst of both worlds.
You, always, seem to be right.
In hindsight don´t you think you were brainwashed by false government propaganda about the advantages of leaving the EU ? For a non Briton it was obvious at the time - even without any strong feelings about the benefit of keeping Great Britain in the EU. Or was it just British arrogance and naivity ?
Strong govt propaganda? The govt was all Remain