Has the penny dropped (as fast as the Pound)- Brexit is a disaster

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This edition, I understand, has an audience solely of people who voted for Brexit. If they reflect the trend of the polls there will be folk in the audience who have since changed their minds. Hence a possible bunfight...

Ah!

Was there any need to consciously uncouple from he Customs Union?

www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/02/dont-be-misled-leaving-the-single-market-and-customs-union-was-a-tory-decision

Callistemon21

^Watch Question Time next Thursday..the audience will be made up entirely of those who voted Leave. It will be a bunfight, but very interesting^

QT usually tries to pick an audience with differing, balanced views. If everyone in the audience agrees, why will it be a bunfight? 🤔

QT usually, according the them, picks an audience which reflects the voting pattern of the constituency it is recorded in.

Which isn't 'balance'.

This edition, I understand, has an audience solely of people who voted for Brexit. If they reflect the trend of the polls there will be folk in the audience who have since changed their minds. Hence a possible bunfight...

Dickens

MaizieD

Unbrexiting? Eek! 😵

I agree with the sentiment, but... "Unbrexiting" is a bit like Gwyneth Paltrow's "Conscious Uncoupling" 🙄

Made up word, Dickens

I thought people would like it. Big

Oh, is it reverting back to the pre referendum format then? And will Farage be on the panel?? Again…

AS Farage has said that Brexit has failed it would be very interesting if he were...

Katie59

“Watch Question Time next Thursday..the audience will be made up entirely of those who voted Leave. It will be a bunfight, but very interesting.”

No it won’t because the questions will be selected to be controversial, it won’t conclude anything. The facts are, we have left the EU and just have to do the best we can, nothing else matters

Oh, is it reverting back to the pre referendum format then? And will Farage be on the panel?? Again…

Watch Question Time next Thursday..the audience will be made up entirely of those who voted Leave. It will be a bunfight, but very interesting

QT usually tries to pick an audience with differing, balanced views. If everyone in the audience agrees, why will it be a bunfight? 🤔

world events

I think many, if not most, posters on here voted Remain.

However, there are ways and ways of inviting debate and to immediately put others on the defensive is not a good start.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jun/13/uk-exports-record-worse-than-any-g7-country-except-japan-in-last-decade Brexit is still in the forefront of many people's minds.

Joseann

^Standing right beside you Fleurpepper. Keep going. Those who yawn and bully you to shut up are usually those who voted for Brexit and who now secretly feel guilty^

Not true, have you read the whole thread, specki4eyes? The majority here are saying they voted remain.

It's not the premise, it is the whole way it is presented.

If the poster had presented this as reasonable points for
discussion, the whole thread might have gone completely differently.

There are many questions, other workd events which have caused disruption too. Perhaps there are no answers but now Johnson has gone will there be some progress in possibly rejoining the Customs Union?

MaizieD

Unbrexiting? Eek! 😵

I agree with the sentiment, but... "Unbrexiting" is a bit like Gwyneth Paltrow's "Conscious Uncoupling" 🙄

As people who voted for Brexit appear to no longer be interested in discussing it, then hopefully they won't notice.

I have often said that once a party gets into government if it has a sufficient majority, it can do what it likes, regardless of any manifesto promises it has made, because the greater part of the electorate don't take much notice of what is going on anywhere outside their own lives in between GEs.

The very fact that we have had a corrupt, incompetent and overly authoritarian government for the past few years, one that is determined to take away our freedom to protest, wants to remove our rights under the ECHR, is happy to legislate to break international law, and has done nothing to improve our dire public services seems to have gone unnoticed by many posters.

And, as they already seem to think that Brexit has made no difference to anything then 'Unbrexiting' should be no problem...

👏👏👏 Foxygloves.

Excellent post Dickens.
From what I hear, Starmer's government will be looking for pragmatic closer alliance, sector by sector.
As people who voted for Brexit appear to no longer be interested in discussing it, then hopefully they won't notice.

specki4eyes

Standing right beside you Fleurpepper. Keep going. Those who yawn and bully you to shut up are usually those who voted for Brexit and who now secretly feel guilty about how they have helped to turn Great Britain into Little Britain, bobbing about vulnerable and alone on rough and chilly seas. Winston Churchill must be turning in his grave after he fought so bravely for a united Europe.

Funny how that huge weekly amount promised for the NHS never materialised, nor the massive trade deals with the US, nor the reductions in illegal immigrants..etc etc....
Watch Question Time next Thursday..the audience will be made up entirely of those who voted Leave. It will be a bunfight, but very interesting.

Could hardly be further from the truth, but go on thinking that way if it makes you happy.
Alternatively look around you at the world today , the magnitude of the issues facing First World countries and see how the UK is hardly facing its demise, despite those who continually put it down - and , unsurprisingly, from a safe distance.

suelld

Dickens

Louella12

Fleur, I don't know a soul who is bothered about Brexit. It's done. What is this vast majority you talk of? Ridiculous. Brexit is not on most people's minds. We're getting on with life. Why don't you take up a note productive hobby? We're not going back into the EU. Suck it up .

We're not going back into the EU. Suck it up .

How rude!

In fact, the decision whether or not "we" ever go back in might be taken decades down the line by following generations - when many of us will no longer be around to have a say.

And, as with most political decisions, it will largely be based on the economic climate at that time - if the then government of the day consider it to be in our interests (or theirs) then there is a distinct possibility the country will rejoin.

I would love to rejoin!

I would love to rejoin!

I would like to also. But it's an unrealistic aim IMO at the moment. Apart from anything else, I believe that support for such a move would have to be at the very least, 70%, and although there's been a shift in people's attitudes / perceptions / feelings - about leaving, I don't think there's anywhere near the seismic shift that would be necessary.

Those who aren't happy with the way things have evolved since Brexit doesn't mean they've changed their minds - they simply think it wasn't "done" properly!

We're so far off re-joining... certainly whilst we have a party dominated by Eurosceptics who (to quote the journalist Rafael Behr) comply with the sacred rule of English Euroscepticism, according to which “Europe” must always be understood in terms of things done to us by them; never things we do to ourselves.

And as long as there is the belief that the EU rules which apply to all non-EU countries are a punishment inflicted on us for daring to leave... any thought of rejoining is dead in the water.

And if Starmer's Labour party is in office in the future - well, he's made a commitment to "make Brexit work" and I'm pretty sure if he starts to deviate from that, support for the party will leak away.

The best we can hope for at the moment is a more cordial relationship with the EU instead of the childish hostility that Eurosceptics are keen to foster. If there is any way that a more civilised relationship with Europe will make life easier for British businesses (those that are affected - my family ran a business and it is no longer viable)... then I hope that Starmer can make Brexit work!

suelld
Thank you for answering my question, it’s appreciated. The reason I wondered is because we regularly send parcels to our daughter and her children in New Zealand. They take rather a long time to get there, and we use a particular posting service which is a bit cheaper as it is very expensive, but nonetheless the less, we do it without any real difficulties. I wondered what the difference was to send to the EU, in particular second hand books.

From our friends and our children's friends I suspect it is much more talked about in circles where it actually matters. This includes people in business and industry who have trade connections with the EU or rely on fast delivery of component parts, people who provide services such as IT consultancy in European countries etc etc.
There is also much discussion about the limiting of choices for children and grandchildren from those who have benefited from freedom of movement.
If it doesn't affect you or your children and grandchildren directly then I guess you don't talk about.

Joseann

^Standing right beside you Fleurpepper. Keep going. Those who yawn and bully you to shut up are usually those who voted for Brexit and who now secretly feel guilty^

Not true, have you read the whole thread, specki4eyes? The majority here are saying they voted remain.

Indeed. I voted to remain but, all these years later, I’ve moved on. I can’t remember the last time it cropped up in any conversation I was involved in, other than the matter of the DUP’s predictable reaction to the Windsor agreement some months ago.

Oreo: "Total rubbish".

Are you saying then that your world and mine is divided? Q.E.D.

Demise of the UK ? You’re joking, of course. It is still one of the richest countries in the world. Still reaping benefits from its colonial past and still with fingers in lots of pies worldwide. Punching far, far above it’s weight.

Perhaps Brexit is just or mainly talked about, by people who live abroad a lot?

Greta

Oreo: "Divided over what?"
Well, we could start with Brexit! There's a reason many don't want to discuss it; it makes them feel uncomfortable. I sense this so leave topic well alone when I meet people.
I find it incredible how you can claim the nation is not divided. Head in the sand?

Total rubbish.
It was divided 7 years ago and maybe for a couple of years after, but has now moved on in case you haven’t noticed.
It’s only on forums that any heat continues and not in real life, the pandemic put things in perspective for most people.
It doesn’t make anyone feel uncomfortable to talk about it unless you drone on to their face with your own views.Do you?
Life goes on and for the majority in the UK there’s little if any difference to being in or out of the EU.After voting to remain I was a little worried at the time as to how things may change in the UK, but pleased to say life is much as normal.There are worries of course, due to many other factors such as the war in Ukraine and energy prices.

And for my lighter comment of the day .....
My dog and I are now off on a cruise of the Gulf before it gets hot. He doesn't look very excited, does he? But then Brexit is far from his thoughts.