The EU - we are on the home straight folks!

Hopefully, whitewave, those who are interested in nature will read it and vote to stay in.
As will those who read this report from the RSPB.

www.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/martinharper/archive/2016/06/02/guest-blog-the-balance-of-risk-means-nature-is-safer-in-the-eu.aspx

What baffles me are the claims this is not a racist country and immigrants have always been welcome, this is so not true. Untill it became ilegal in the sixties it was common place to see signs in Windows - no Irish, no blacks, no dogs.

I was in a relationship for several years with a man from St,Kitts, when he tried to buy his first house he met such racism. He would view a property and by the time he went back to the estate agent the property was sold, often these properties were still on the market months later , lodgings too were difficult and this was the seventies . He then came here rented a property and later bought a house.

Not every one is racist but a large number are , it's how IKIP keeps going.

Annie when we sold our second house in the early 80s, a lovely Indian family came to view. The next day we had a deputation of neighbours telling us we must not in any circumstance sell to Indians. When we sold our last house, a wonderful Iranian woman wanted to buy it to open a nursery. A deputation of neighbours put in an objection- which took months to overturn.

The nursery is now highly popular and rated too.

So we have most of the world supporting our remaining in the EU, plus most economists, plus most of the large institutions, and now most of the institutions associated with the environment or nature.

But still Brexit knows best.

@ whitewave

The trouble is that BREXIT doesn't even have a rational argument, just loads of lies, myths and money to shout about their cause.

I have come to the conclusion that the Brexiters simply have an agenda which is the neo liberal cause. They can't abide what they see as anything that interferes with their sacred cow - the free market - which of course most realise simply can't exist in this global economy.

Nothing they say about leaving makes any sense, so I am now sure they have a hidden agenda, as what else can it be?

There seems to be paranoia in some posts. Why does there have to be a hidden agenda? So you don't approve of the Brexiters - that's fine, but it's just your opinion, plenty of people do approve - do they all have a hidden agenda too?

I agree whitewave and daphnedill, but I am very worried that this decision, which will have such a far reaching effect on the future lives of our children and grandchildren is going to be made by an irrational, even whimsical vote on one day.

Politics is so volatile and this is a serious complex issue it should never be decided by a tiny majority of those that turn out on one day. So many will be influenced by foreign based newspaper proprietors and others with a vested interest.

I entirely agree varian. Its the thought of these people voting on a whim based on nothing very much that has me really worried.

Anniebach, The sixties was 50+ years ago, things have moved on since then, racism does exist, but nothing like it was 50 years ago. In my experience those that are racist are often in our age group, because we still hold 50 year old views. Most younger people are far more prepared to accept people for themselves rather than their race. Schools and universities are now multicultural places and have very few racial problems. When I was a teenager, I did not have any Black, Asian or any other ethnic friends. Both my children have as many friends from ethnic groups as white English friends.

The examples I gave re selling houses were in the late 80s and 7 years ago- not the 50s.

Jane/Varian, it is worrying that some like, myself, can not understand the arguments put forward by each side. I have made a decision, but I am far from happy that it is the right one. I am sure I am not alone in being unable to pick my way through the "facts".

If there is anything I read or hear which I am not sure about, GandTea, I look at www.fullfacts.org to see if they have fact checked it. It usually confirms my view that there is no real reason to leave.
It's noticeable that most of those who have had a postal vote have voted to leave, and are no longer listening to any arguments or reasoning.

Sorry, www.fullfact.org

This is there latest factfind.

fullfact.org/europe/why-should-we-leave-eu/

These are questions that many people have asked.

fullfact.org/ask

Some of them have been answered.

fullfact.org/economy/ask-full-fact-british-steel-and-eu-rules/

Manufacturing is now less than 10% of GDP. Most of our trade is in services.

fullfact.org/europe/eu-facts-behind-claims-trade-rules/

www.theguardian.com/global/video/2016/may/31/eu-referendum-brexit-for-non-brits-video-explainer

I find some of the interviews being shown on TV and letters in newspapers are quite disturbing. The views and hate being expressed seem to be very far from what I thought we had achieved as a country and our values.

People keep saying they want Britain to be great again, but short memories seem to forget some of the terrible things that happened in the past that Great Britain was responsible for, I feel strongly that we can not turn the clock back, but must think of the future for our children and grandchildren and isolation and looking inwards will not make things easier or better.

@ GandTea

I'm really glad that you've decide to vote Remain, because I believe it's the right decision.

My vote has never been in dispute, but if I were a waverer, I would ask myself the question whether leaving the EU would make the UK a better place and that would depend on my values.

I don't think there's any doubt that the UK is in pretty bad shape (except for a minority) and I can understand why people want change. People need to ask themselves what's important to them. Here's a list of some of the things which concern me:

Sell of state assets;

Rising inequality;

Under-performing economy;

The north-south divide is growing;

The housing situation is getting worse;

Student debt is crushing opportunity;

Class sizes are growing out of control.

Food banks are continuing;

Universal credit is not working;

Social security sanctions are delivering misery to many;

Businesses are failing;

Real wages remain insufficient to make ends meet for far too many;

The tax gap remains out of control;

The NHS is at breaking point;

The court system may already be broken.

Biodiversity is reducing.

Mental health services are hopelessly inadequate to meet need;

Election scandal which threatens to undermine the idea of democracy;

Rising air pollution in cities and towns;

Social services at breaking point;

Human rights laws at risks;

Demoralised teachers and doctors;

Woeful provision for technical training and education.

All the above are the result of the UK government, not the EU. Leaving the EU would not improve the situation and could make matters worse. The EU has become a scapegoat for people's grievances.

The EU isn't perfect by any means, but leaving wouldn't make anything better. I believe that the UK is much stronger within the UK.

I don't expect everybody has the same concerns that I do, but I expect some of them are the same. The EU has become a scapegoat and if I were a waverer, I would be asking myself how leaving the EU would actually make any difference to the things which matter to me.

When I look at the track record of the main players in the BREXIT camp, I am more than ever convinced that if they were more powerful (which they would undoubtedly be if we leave), my concerns about the state of the country wouldn't be addressed and my list would probably grow even longer.

sell = sale (typo)

GrandTea, I know it was fifty years ago, fifty years ago we ended the death penalty , people still want it brought back, there are things that do not changed .

DD you have provided us with a long list of things that are wrong with this country....have you changed your views and are you now campaigning for the 'out' vote?

^just that this is the state of the country when we are still in the EU so .....^

But I do agree completely with your statement that the 'UK is much stronger within the UK'