Why are we leaving?

CK33, it's the same with my Spanish daughter in law, who has lived here for over twenty years.
People make comments about EU citizens going back where they came from. My son says that's my wife you are talking about, and they actually think she has that accent because she teaches Spanish, not because she IS Spanish.
It's the same with my Danish daughter in law, who does not have an accent. People say they will be pleased when all those foreigners have gone back home and are no longer taking their jobs, not realising they are talking about her.
You are right, the atmosphere has changed. People in this country feel freer to insult foreigners. It's quite appalling.

Then report the post lemongrove,

dj your post to bambam is a personal attack. What gives you the right to call someone not very intelligent, in fact stupid? If any one is showing their stupidity here, it's you
I've reported your post and asked for it to be removed. Your just slinging insults about and being offensive. Nothing impressive or clever about that.

Try and be original next time maybe.

Copying words again durhamjen tut tut.

Bambam, you are not very intelligent, are you?
In fact you are stupid.

ck33 I wish you all the best too, and yes, like others have had comments when in France ( not other EU ) countries though, but assume they are ignorant oafs, you should do the same.
Controlling immigration from EU countries is not the only reason for us to leave, but see nothing wrong with that anyway.
You have been here such a long time and have family here, when we have formally left the EU I imagine any comments will cease, presumably you have a choice of which country to live in.I have not read any of your other posts so couldn’t be expected to know that you are not British.
Remainers just love labelling anybody xenophobic because it plays into their constant message that all 17 million or so British people only voted that way because they hate anyone from other EU countries.Which is rubbish.I have visited France and Italy and Spain hundreds of times and love the countries and the culture, but I don’t want any more EU bureaucrats running the UK.I imagine if they were allowed a referendum, a few other countries would wish to come out as well.

So much for taking back control - Reuters is reporting that the Brexit divorce plan is to be sent to the WTO for their approval, which is why countries are beginning to linked up to object to our plans like USA

I know, we also have «them» and I am sorry for you. Ancestral ennemies!. the history between our 2 countries does n’ t favorise trust!,,, look at the atmosphere during the 6 nations rugby cup. But that hides a genuine respect and curiosity towards such a different culture across such a narrow sea. (As I look German and my accent has anglicised, the comments were not specifically anti French! ).

Bamabam,

I'm intrigued as to how your friend in Spain managed to vote in the referendum if she has lived there for 30 years. No Brit who had lived abroad for more than 15 years had a vote.

As EU nationals living in the UK are being used as bargaining chips and there has been no agreement on their rights after Brexit, nor the rights of UK nationals resident in the EU, I don't see how anyone can say with any certainty that everything is going to be hunky dory post Brexit. The noises coming from May haven't been particularly reassuring, nor have the actions of the Home Office in sending hundreds of letters to EU nationals resident in the UK telling them to prepare to leave (even though these have turned out to be sent in error).

I'm afraid that Brexiteers' insousiance in the face of all the evidence isn't at all reassuring.

ck33
I have spent a lot of time in France and I can say that I've had many anti British comments made to me, and that was long before brexit. But these people were probably just as ignorant as your neighbours.
I spend a lot of time in the winter with Germans, and i can honestly say that there has never been any animosity towards us, unlike some of your countrymen.

Referenda that are conducted in the way the EU referendum was are only ever going to be totally destructive. With a pure first past the post system you could, in theory, change the whole future of the country by just 1 vote. This is not democracy. The 48/52 difference was not a clear enough margin to give any government a mandate for Brexit. In the 1979 Scottish devolution referendum the result was a narrow majority in favour of devolution (52% to 48%), but a condition of the referendum was that 40% of the total electorate should vote in favour in order to make it valid. But the turnout was only 63.6%, so only 32.9% of the electorate voted "Yes". In the EU referendum only 37% of the electorate voted to Leave and so, had the rules been the same as those in 79, the result would not have been valid. A far safer outcome.

Wow! ck33 that is shocking! You have never said this before and so I had to wonder why you were so afraid.
After saying that, the people who said these things about your accent are obviously low-life so do not paint us all with the same brush.

It's all scaremongering loopyloo! Life is full of uncertainty!
Leaving the EU is full of uncertainty but we cant live in permanent fear of uncertainty. Things change and we adapt. Or we can carry on howling at the moon.

I also haven t heard that any other EU country (apart from Britain) is preparing to ask UK citizens to leave, to be taxed extra, to register on a special list, to ask for citizenship etc... the UK citizens in the EU are safe . They haven’t been told to «b* r off» by passers by . Their biggest worry is the UK s decision about the status of EU citizens here as they can understand that their adoptive countries would implement the same discrimination. Sorry I sound so miserable...but I am!

MaizieD replied for me.
I have had 3 aggressive remarks made to me , related to my accent and therefore origins, since last year, after having spent 27 years teaching in compréhensives in «difficult» areas without any problem.! Something has changed in this country and i suppose these incidents have made me feel fragile. I am grateful that I am blonde and white skinned as I cannot imagine how hurtful «racism» could be as compared to «simple xenophobia». Some neighbours have stopped saying hello. It has opened a Pandora s box. I don t feel at home anymore.

You are very confrontational and abrasive Maizie. No my friend in Spain voted to stay in EU! She has lived there for over 30 years as have all her expat friends. None of them are worried about having to leave. It's not going to happen!

We can't deport people with criminal records so don't think law abiding foreign citizens have much to fear.

Bambam

You have very clearly not been keeping yourself informed of the current uncertainties faced by EU citizens resident in the UK and UK nationals resident in other EU countries. I'd suggest that you do a bit of research.

(Did your friends in Spain vote Leave, by any chance?)

In case you hadn't noticed, Argentina and the Philippines aren't in the EU so the case of your son's friend is completely irrelevant.

ck33 can I ask you a question. Why do you feel that you can't live here any more when we leave the EU? And has something bad happened personally to you to make you feel this way?
You say that you have lived and worked here for 40 odd years and your children have been born here. You must be settled here by now, Gb leaving the EU doesn't mean that people have to leave. And what about your children? They are British, do you think that they will be happy to leave.
You sound very fearful for some reason but if you can calm down I'm pretty sure your life here will be more or less unchanged.
I have friends living in Spain and they have no intention of returning here after we leave, they say they can't see much of a change for them.
My son has a friend from Argentina living here with his Phillapean girlfriend and their son, born here three years ago. I have spoken to them and they don't see any problems with living here after we leave EU. Try not to listen to the scaremongers, it will be fine.

I have no idea which country ck33 comes from but presumed the UK, and that she didn’t want to stay here once we leave the EU.

You are being disingenuous, lemongrove or not reading people's posts very carefully. It seemed blatantly obvious that *ck33^ wasn't British.

All you Leavers who cheerfully tell people to get out if they don't like it would look pretty stupid if 16 million people, + the 3 million EU nationals living here, all left the UK. Particularly as most of them are of working age and are currently paying the taxes and NI which pay your pension and any medical treatment you might need.

I didn't believe in unrestrained immigration, nothing to do about race or colour before you jump on that. Did not like Brussels over ruling decisions we make as a country. Felt sorry for all those fishermen unable to fish their own waters. The people spoke, if others couldn't be bothered to get out of bed to vote, perhaps they will if we are to have a referendum on another issue. Fed up with how long it's taking, but we are not only trying to please Europe our own people are intent on disrupting it because of sour grapes. Do you want a democracy or not? Like a bereavement or a death, thing take time. I have friends from many countries and they can understand shy we did it. Like Corbyn lots of people want to de rail anything to get their point over. These people bullying May are bullying cowards, whether you like her or not. Their actions and language are a disgrace. She behaves with quiet dignity but you can see how nervous she is, there are other ways, ie democratic means to get someone out.

it is obvious that people have voted with their guts and that «dislike» of some people (Cameron, the Eu «migrants» .....) has been an important motive. Why, when I have paid my taxes here for more than 40 years, didn’t I have a vote in this referendum, when newly arrived (including students from the commonwealth who had no intention to stay in the UK ) had one? Why should I register to stay here after 42 years? Lemon grove, I tell you, it feels like the end of a love affair. I wish you all the best .

To say this again, if I was living in say Spain, and they wanted to leave the EU, I would understand that they wanted to make their own decisions on everything and not immediately assume that they didn’t want any foreigners living there at all.

Some posters throw around the xenophobia/ race comment a bit too easily.