Brexit

[Fish Tacos]

Anyone else watching this live?

http://www.bbc.com/news/politics/eu_referendum/results

[Ubik]

Devastated.

[Fish Tacos]

Well, it looks like Brexit is happening! https://gfycat.com/parchedthreadbareguineafowl

The British Pound is currently pooping the bed, as of right now it's gone down from 1.50 USD to 1.34 USD, the largest one day drop in 30 years.

[anguyen92]

So I'm hearing word that the Prime Minister had resigned. Ubik, I hope everything will be all right for you, man, in amidst of all of this uncertainty.

[Ubik]

Thanks Kev, it's a bit of a bloodbath all round here today. PM to go, leader of the opposition about to get kicked, currency and markets dropping like stones, our central bank trying to calm shit down...

Anyone wanna sell their country for me? May feel like moving...

[Timotheus]

Shocking decision... Hopefully this won't inspire other countries...

[Mr. Slash]

The Brexit not through yet. In the end the parlament still has to decide about the Brexit. And it's not unlikely that the politicans go against the majority since it's pretty much a 50/50 result. Still 3/4 of the British parlament is against the Brexit. On the other hand, a decision which goes against the majority of voters would be a slap in the face for the British citizens.

[BSC]

I'm embarrassed for my country. Shocked to hear that 52% of voters believed the lies of the 'leave' campaign, we've found out only this morning that Farage's claim that the additional £350mil a week would go to the NHS was a 'mistake'.

I anticipate that most of the people who voted for leave will probably expect some kind of overnight departure from the EU, without knowing it'll take a minimum of two years to leave, and then they'll wonder what is going on and why we haven't left asap. They'll then wonder why in two years time (or however long it takes) why their food shopping bill has gone up and be outraged.

I'm still a bit too shocked to really process my thoughts, when I went to bed last night it seemed confident that we would remain. I think there's so much misinformation and ignorance regarding the EU that to do a referendum on the matter was just a mistake. Don't we elect our politicians to make big decisions such as these? I find it laughable that David Cameron (thank god he's going, although I shudder when I think of who will replace him) said that leaving the EU could result in World War Three, although he's the one who promised a referendum!

P.S - Not forgetting that there's no actual plan on how we're going to leave. The majority of this country just voted for a shit load of uncertainty.

P.S.S - I live in Wales, a country which has benefited greatly from EU funding, and only a few constituencies in Wales voted to remain?

[AB23]

This was just a shocking decision from a country that I never thought it would happen to.

For any Britains looking to move, check out Canada (mostly cities surrounding the Montreal area, cost of living is pretty cheap and its a gorgeous city), or look at one of the 7 states w/out a state income tax (Texas, Florida, Alaska, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nevada, and Washington). Sincerely concerned for you guys, so hope that helps. Very cheap cost of living here right now, but that may change in the future if the states eventually adopt an income tax.

I can speak personally, I bet the cities of Dallas and Houston (2 huge cities in Texas) cost literally half as much as it costs to live in most places in the UK. So if you can transfer your job skills to a market like that in any way shape or form, while still not worrying about an income tax, you're alright.

To put it in perspective, I live in an 1100 sq ft. high rise condo in the nicest area of Dallas. Including bills, cable, wifi, etc, it costs me about $1150. That's about 830 pounds. That's just my choice too... because I have a job that is paying me a little more than most of my friends and I like a lot of space. I have several friends that live in a 700 sq ft (one bedroom with a private office, living room, kitchen, etc) that pay about 600 bucks in the nicest area of Dallas. (430 pounds)

Good luck.

[Violent Corpse]

Come over to Pakistan. It's thrilling to live somewhere you could piss off someone for the stupidest reason and get shot behind your back for it some day.

[Lotha]

Let's not turn this into a competition about which country is the shittiest

I was very surprised to hear this. I guess you can always rely on people to fuck stuff up.

[nagpo]

Come over to Pakistan. It's thrilling to live somewhere you could piss off someone for the stupidest reason and get shot behind your back for it some day.

lol I think part of the reason they voted to leave was because they didn't want immigrants to come in.

[Jim]

I'm neutral so I have no opinion on the matter

[Violent Corpse]

^ That's a first.

[Andy92]

Britain just had to steal our thunder and have an independence day.

[gbruin]

I've watched pretty closely but didn't say anything since it wasn't my fight, but I'm really surprised and pretty disappointed that the referendum went this way. Seems the U.S. is not alone in short sighted and egocentric overreaction.

[Fish Tacos]

I've only been following this recently, but I'm disappointed with the dismissive nature of people calling a majority of voters bigots and xenophobes. Is it so far fetched that some of the "fear mongering" may have legitimate points or that they may have been considering other elements than just immigration? We've heard "those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it" so often that I think we throw out the baby with the bathwater when considering topics like nationalism as purely evil and globalism as the ultimate good. I feel like if anything the real fear mongering has started now.

People are always afraid of change, it doesn't necessarily mean it's for the worse. Once the shockwave disperses, time will tell. Personally, I'm excited for them, that a nation was able to rally together with their concerns and effect change at this level, at least thus far, is no small thing. I'm also very keen to see what happens in the next few years as this turn of events is a socio-economic wet dream in terms of a real life case study on so many different fronts, it's a great litmus test for the US or other countries who might face similar circumstances in the future.

[Ubik]

A week before the vote, one of the leading figures of Leave unveiled a poster that bore a striking resemblance to Nazi anti-refugee propaganda. Later that same day, one of our best young members of parliament, a mother of two young kids, was murdered in cold blood by a man who later gave his name in court as "Death to traitors, freedom for Britain". Polling evidence has repeatedly shown immigration as the top concern for Leave voters, with one taken yesterday showing large majorities of the Leave vote thinking of both immigration and multiculturalism as forces for ill in the country. Interviews with Leave voters in the working class northern cities that swung the result had an enduring theme - they want an end to immigration. In one vox-pop I heard earlier the guy said he wants us "to stop letting the muslims in", so either he's not entirely aware that the EU referendum was unlikely to have much effect on this or was advocating a more explicitly racist policy along the lines of Trump.

So yeah, pretty sure immigration was a dominating reason.

[Fish Tacos]

So yeah, pretty sure immigration was a dominating reason.

Yep, I don't disagree. My only point is that such examples should be used carefully when generalizing. One might similarly point to the Grand Dragon of the Klu Klux Klan endorsing Hillary or to the physical violence that has been displayed at Trump rallies and paint people that don't support Trump as violent and bigots which I'm sure is a sentiment many people on this board would not feel comfortable with.

[zazthespaz]

This stuff scares me. Granted, I don't know much about it, but between Brexit (which based on what I do know and think was the wrong decision) and the U.S. election (which to me appears to be one extreme against another), we might be entering some dark times. I keep thinking about something I heard/read that said historically nations only last about 200 years. America has surpassed that and England definitely has... are these the downfall of each?