Talking about brexit

I know what you mean varian about Brexit dividing the country, but we have to try to get along in spite of that, and not carry on with resentments and childish insults ( see the above post by Maizie) especially as we are supposedly mature people.
It obviously bothered you ( disagreeing with a relative at a funeral ) which is why you posted on here. Naturally some on GN will say the equivalent of ‘you go girl!’ But I think you realise that a funeral is not the place for disagreements of any kind.
It seems from what you say that no harm was done this time and you apologised to the wife of the deceased, but it shows how careful we should be.

I think it was wrong of the other woman to talk about Brexit at the funeral of someone she knew she disagreed with.
It was belittling the man who had died, and his views.

I can't get over the fact that she thought Brexit was 'all good fun'

It wasn't lemon in disguise, was it?

Perhaps I should tell you that we did not create a scene, did not descend to a slanging match but eventually parted on an "agree to disagree" basis. Neither of us had changed our views, but I don't think it did this lady any harm to meet someone who disagreed with her. I am used to hearing different opinions but she seemed to assume that I would agree with her.

I did later tell the widow of the dear departed that I had had this disagreement with her relative and apologised but it didn't seem to bother her at all as she is also Liberal Democrat and knew that this lady was not of our persuasion.

Although I have always been interested in politics and have some quite strong views, I don't think I have ever felt so concerned as I do about brexit. It is the defining issue of our times and British society is very divided in a way we have never previously experienced. It has therefore become much harder to ignore provocative statements, especially when expressed at the funeral of someone who, were he still able to do so, would have argued very passionately against them.

Depends if you want to risk a bloody great row in public, or
Don’t care about offending.If so, go ahead.There are ways of
Dealing with it, just as any touchy subject that you don’t want to get embroiled in.
If talking to friends at a party or a meal out I would say very little either if I value them.We have friends who voted both ways and DC who voted both ways, and we all get on just fine ( by saying very little.....least said , soon mended.)

Why would someone even introduce the topic if they didn't want to talk about it?

varian did say that she didn't start the topic.

There are some occasions when it's probably a good idea to change the subject and talk about the weather and I think a funeral is definitely one of those.

Even if provoked I wouldn't rise to the bait.

When are we allowed to express a political opinion in a social situation? When someone else makes a statement we disagree with? When they say something quite offensive and tacitly assume thatwe share their views? Or never? Should we just change the subject abd talk about the weather?

No, a forum is for opinions jura as you well know.
That’s why we all post our comments in the news and politics threads.Be a bit funny not to discuss politics on them.

Great advice Lemongrove - stick to it - a Forum is very much a social situation too.

Varian if at any event somebody mentions Brexit, either for or against I just say sorry, I don’t talk about politics.
Or, you may want to say something along the lines of ‘ I can’t agree with you, sorry, better not discuss it’ it can be said with a smile to take any sting out of it.
I never get into anything political in a social situation, ever.

Well I live in Germany and was in the UK for some weeks in September. I agree with jura2 it is like walking on egg shells especially as we are better informed here with solid well written an researched newspapers like the British newspapers used to be before Rupert Murdoch got hold of them.

I heard last week that poor Mrs May was to blame that they only had 2 years to discuss leaving when actually that is the time that any country has which wants to leave, and nothing to do with TM

I have yet to hear a really good reason to leave and if that means liking the company of such as Rees- Mogg then heaven help Britain when it has achieved its goal.

Those of us who are unionists, paddyann might be supporters of the Liberal Democrats, the Labour Party or the Tory Party. It is utter nonsense to claim that all unionists are Conservatives and I think you know that. What all of us, and the majority of Scots, have in common is a pride in being both Scottish and British.

This has absolutely nothing to do with the subject of this thread whichnisvabout when wr can or cannot talk about brexit.

of course the tabloids influenced the vote..in exactly the same way they influenced the Scottish referendum...remember the Daily Records front page on "The VOW" that'll be the same vow that the same paper said didn't exist a few weeks later ...the vow that Cameron overturned within hours ...and created EVEL ..now we can have MP's in Westminster who can vote on matters affecting Scotland but we cant vote on anything except purely scottish matters EVEN where the results will affect us...and of course NO scottish MP can ever be PM ....such a fair union!!I too would equate Tory and unionist Varian ...it seems to us that BOTH creatures have the same end game .That goes for Tories of all hues and unionists of all parties .

Yes, lemongrove I do feel a bit uneasy about that conversation, which is why I started the thread. But the lovely Tory lady brought up the subject of brexit. Should I have just pretended to agree with her??

That would not have been honest and would also, in a sense, been letting down the dear departed who was an ardent Remainer. Can you suggest how I should have responded. whilst being true to his and my own beliefs??

That's brilliant thank you MaizieD

Just don’t air your views at funerals! With relatives of the deceased....does nobody get that?

Not democracy, Tegan, fascism.

I do hope Tegan2 that you are not right It would be a very sad state of affairs if you were.

Well, I think you've got your answer Varian; you have no right to air your views anywhere...it seems thats how democracies work these days....

Who are you calling a snob? and why??

Here is the dictionary definition of the word.

noun
1.
a person who imitates, cultivates, or slavishly admires social superiors and is condescending or overbearing to others.
2.
a person who believes himself or herself an expert or connoisseur in a given field and is condescending toward or disdainful of those who hold other opinions or have different tastes regarding this field:
a musical snob.

I do not direct silly names such as snob. moron or racist to any fellow GNetters. I would advise any who are tempted to do so to think better and desist.

Try this, then, Bridgeit, it has data from two polls:

reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2017-06/Presentation%20of%20Key%20Findings_The%20Press%20and%20the%20Referendum%20Campaign%2020th%20Sept.pdf

Varian what a bigoted snob you are.

This is an after the event article , it is not a poll taken to prove a correlation between DM readers & how they voted in the referendum