The last time I checked, a thread on our sister forum which touches on our leaving or remaining in the EU, has not had a single post in favour of the UK remaining a part. How do the members of this forum feel about this topic? As the forum allows us to have our own poll, it is possible to either post your opinion, or remain anonymous and just cast a vote. I think comments from overseas should be interesting too. Perhaps I should declare my own current opinion. I think that as I may well not be around long enough to have to live with the long term repercussions of this decision, perhaps I should abstain, and leave the decision to those who are younger.
How do I feel? Despite the problems of the country in which I live, I am very glad that I left the UK when I did, nearly 31 years ago. The UK is not, now, the UK where I was born and brought up, and I think I would probably vote for the UK to leave the EU.
I am edging for leaving the EU at the moment. The leaflets we had for staying in the EU are all for businesses not for the people The leaflets for leaving the EU benefits people more than businesses But then you do need a degree in politics to understand both leaflets.
I cannot imagine living in the UK where Brussels [or wherever it is] says no, you cannot sell those carrots because they do not fit our view of a perfect carrot. Etc, etc, etc. Where fields upon fields of perfectly good vegetables MUST be plowed into the ground because the EU says they are not good enough shape. My government is far from perfect but no other country tells us that mis-shaped vegetables MUST be plowed into the ground. That is just one example of what the EU is doing to the UK. Next will be EU instructions that only two sheets of loo paper are allowed to wipe oneself, and do not think I am joking because that is the way the EU is going.
@Malka I don't know how accurate these stories are. Rosie Boycott, amongst others, has has an ongoing internet campaign to encourage the major supermarkets to allow us to buy these 'ugly' fruit and vegetables. If there really was an EU rule, we would have to reject them. I'm beginning to think that it is the supermarkets which were imposing these standards. We all prefer perfect, but in a hungry world all food wastage is sinful.
I only know what I read on the online UK newspapers, but regarding wonky vegetables, why have I read about farmers having to plow in cauliflowers as they are the wrong size? I was not aware that some supermarkets do sell "wonky" vegetables - much of what is grown here is exported as A1 and we only get "wonky" fruit and vegetables, and only in season, which tends to be very short. Why? Because the A1 produce is exported and we have what is left. When soft fruits like plums and apricots are only available for maybe two weeks a year, it is frustrating. We have not had any bananas for weeks now because they are out of season here [they are grown in the north] and most were exported. But I do not think that our farmers would plow in any fruit or vegetables as has been reported in UK newspapers as being "wonky" or mis-shapened. Maybe I should just blame the UK media? The problem is that I do not know who/what to believe so have to rely on the media. But. I am not very happy about million pound houses being given as public housing, and I would like to know whether that is just media hype or the truth.
Well, I have no opinion of my own... But I've seen the UK bash other parts of the EU for poor dog laws and other things. It doesn't seem like there's a good relationship between the two. With that being said, it's probably best if the two just go separate ways. Now again I'm way on the outside looking in, so my opinion is almost completely invalid. But then, from what I've seen, people from Great Britian and England seem to despise people from Scotland so truly I don't really know what's going on.
@Malka In answer to your last point. I have to agree that it is hard to understand why certain families have been provided with such expensive accommodation by their local authorities, just because they have made the choice to have what most of us would think is an excessive number of children - sometimes numbering into the teens. Since you emigrated, house prices have risen so much in most areas, (but especially in the South East), that many young couples have little hope of being able to buy their own home, and social housebuilding is lagging way behind demand.
It will not affect me and my children and grandchildren will have to sort themselves out. They are no longer my responsibility. But what about the expats who moved to Spain or elsewhere, and no longer will have the benefits of National Insurance and their pensions and their winter health allowance, and the benefits of National Health Service. None of that applies to me as I do not rely on any of those allowances, but there are going to be a heck of a lot who do and will not if Brexit comes into being. Their problem, not mine. But I still think that if I had a vote it would be for out and not remain.
Yes, I think Bolsover polled a staggering 72% for Leave, only beaten by Boston at 76%. (Guess who stayed up all night). I can't help wondering what have we done though - will Scotland and N. Ireland now go their own way to stay in the EU? Can the EU survive, or are we just the first domino to fall. So many questions to answer now. A time for strong leadership, but from whom? Bojo? Eeek!
