Sunday 26 June 2016

Moving On...

You've probably gathered now that I'm firmly in the Remain camp. Two days on and I'm still angry, confused and upset over the decision. But the majority have spoken.

If I put aside for the moment concerns about the economy, about jobs, about political stability and so on, what has really worried me over the past 24 hours is the way people are treating each other.

There have been some messages on Facebook which I've found genuinely upsetting. Members of the Leave camp telling others to grow up, to get over themselves, to stop being hysterical. Members of the Remain camp making personal and insulting comments about those that have voted to Leave.

These kind of comments show a basic lack of understanding and compassion for what other people are going through. The irony being that the people making these kind of comments are banging on about democracy in action and then want to deny people their freedom of speech.

And let's face it. If the vote had gone the other way we would be seeing exactly the same kind of uproar on social media, just the other way round. 

I've seen debates go on for weeks in the media about the winner of the Great British Bake Off, about dogs cheating on Britain's Got Talent, about controversial voting in X Factor and yet only 24 hours after a vote which could potentially change every aspect of our lives we're supposed to just accept and it move on!

The real cause of anxiety for many people is the fear of the unknown. No-one really knows what's going to happen and there will probably be winners and losers. But I do believe that this will impact people's lives.

What about the Brit living and working in continental Europe who is paid in sterling and suddenly has no idea how much money they have to live on?

What about the Europeans living in the UK, or the Brits living abroad who suddenly have no idea what their future holds?

What about those working for companies based in the UK who may see their job shifted to the continent?

Only 2 days on and we're already hearing that the House of Commons is in turmoil. 

One of the shadow cabinet is sacked and approximately half have threatened to leave. 

The Prime Minister has stepped down and somewhat churlishly refused to action Article 50 until his successor is in place. 

The Conservative party are fighting over who will be the next PM and are already backtracking and saying there is no need to rush to invoke Article 50 while the EU are telling us to get out already! 

The Lib Dems wade in by saying they will rejoin the EU if elected, but I think you'll find they don't want us after this! 

Some organisations and countries around the world must be rubbing their hands together in glee at the fact that we've pressed the 'Self-Destruct' button,

A petition demanding another referendum has reached over 2 million signatories and will therefore have to be debated in Parliament. Personally I think this is a backwards step. After all the pain the referendum has caused why the hell would we want to go through all that again? And where does it end? If the vote went the other way on the second attempt would the Leave campaign demand another referendum. 

We have to accept the decision and plan for the future but we also need to understand that some people will find this difficult. 

The irony is that at the moment we've chosen to break free we actually need to show unity. We need to stand together to make the best of what we have. And the first thing we can do is show compassion towards our friends who might feel differently to us. 

People are upset. Let them scream. Let them shout. Freedom of speech is one of the important pillars of our society. Let's not lose that as well. 

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