Thoughts on Brexit?

Just some initial thoughts.

I’ve avoided thinking about it yesterday, but check in before bed, and immediately regret it. There’s enough that’s ominous in the first set of results that the immortal words of Aliens’ Frost come to mind: “I’ve got a bad feeling about this drop.” I go to sleep before it starts to become clear.

I wake up to a text from a political journalist friend of mine: “Oh god”

I find myself in desperate need of a suicide pact breakfast. On the way to bacon, I find myself people watching. I live in Lewisham. We’re firmly remain. But still, 1 in 3 people. I look at people with suspicion, trying to guess the who and the why. C notes that’s of the people who votes, so it’s more like 1 in 4 if you include the people who didn’t vote. This is slightly comforting, but only slightly.

Still - Highest pro brexit place in the country was the West Midlands. That’s where I’m from. The gap between where I came from and where I am now is suddenly very clear. I’m aware even if Remain won, the results and the map of the results speaks to a country that’s divided by enormous, violent pressure. As others have noted, the results are a rejection of every single part of the political mainstream.

In the co-op, Karma Police plays and i manage a grim smile.

Immediate economic drop. God knows how much of it will stick, or how bad it will go, but the “I told you so” is going to be distinctly unsatisfying. “I told you Rome was highly flammable, Nero” you say as the flames lick around you.

The demographics of the votes are obviously getting a lot of comment. 60+ hugely pro leave, 30 and under hugely pro stay. There’s the “you have fucked our future and are going to die before you see what happens” argument, which I find it hard not to have sympathy for. But, average age is longer than you think now, and I suspect this will hit hard enough and fast enough for people to see exactly what they voted for. Currency collapse like this hits those on fixed incomes like pensions and savings in a particularly hard way. Don’t worry: they’ll suffer like the rest of us. If we burn, we’ll all burn together.

Cameron has clearly cemented his position as one of the worst Prime-Ministers in history. At least Chamberlain never fucked a pig. If this were a board game, I’d be congratulating Johnson (And I think we should all stop playing into his brand by calling him “Boris”) for a game well played, but sadly it’s real life, so it’s fucking reprehensible opportunism. And the “without a bullet” from Farage in the wake of Jo Cox is as unforgivable thing as he’s ever said, which has stiff competition.

This is the worst sort of political decision - both unethical and unwise, and I fear for both this divided country and Europe as a whole.