Brexit vote: how's everyone feeling?

[dbskyler]

Since I have a lot of British flisters, I just wanted to check in and see how everyone is feeling about the Brexit vote. Are you happy? Sad? Scared? Excited?

Comments

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I didn't want to make assumptions, because the coverage here in the States over the arguments around Brexit has been terrible -- we're not an island, but we try -- but it does sound like the forces of xenophobia have won out for now. It's scary and depressing, and I'm sorry.

[thisbluespirit]

It's unreal. We seriously just broke everything. We broke our economy, the pound affects the dollar, which affects everyone else, so we have damaged the entire world's economy, the UK is breaking up (literally, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Gibraltar are seriously discussing leaving in different ways), we validated racism here (the numbers of non-Brits and non-white people being shouted out at school and in the streets that now they'll have to leave is appalling), some EU countries have already begun sacking their British employees (Austria, I think), and other EU countries now have right-wingers demanding their own referendum, so we have shaken the EU. If the EU falls apart with an aggressive Russia in the wings, we're all in trouble, including the US, who always worry about Russia. Oh, and on top of that, we've kicked off Irish issues only weeks before the Ulster marching season.

It wasn't bad for a day's work, was it? I hope that tomorrow will see some more positive courses being worked out - it's even possible that we might have a second referendum and not leave - which would be good!

I'm still enough in shock that it's so dreadful it's almost funny. Except it isn't. If we ended the world, we're all terribly, terribly sorry. We didn't know it would happen - we thought we were an island.

[arcanetrivia]

(literally, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Gibraltar are seriously discussing leaving in different ways)

I heard rumblings Northern Ireland might consider the idea of trying to rejoin the Republic of Ireland? It boggles the mind. (Wouldn't that make a lot of angry Protestants?)

What's the deal with Wales? I heard they too might be contemplating the idea of leaving the UK and I was like hold up, you voted Leave for the most part in the first place, now you're saying you want to do this because everyone else is doing it, or what? *headscratch*

[thisbluespirit]

I heard rumblings Northern Ireland might consider the idea of trying to rejoin the Republic of Ireland? It boggles the mind. (Wouldn't that make a lot of angry Protestants?)

Oh, yes, I think that's why everyone's avoiding the subject since Friday - they either try for reunification and cause trouble with the Loyalists or they don't and we end up with an immigration border between the Republic and NI and trying to figure out the Good Friday Agreement, which specifically relates to the EU in places, so Northern Ireland is probably the most screwed over bit of the UK right now. It really doesn't bear thinking about. I hope peace holds out for everyone.

Wales did vote Leave, so they're not calling for a Referendum or anything, but they also have a devolved gov't and so I think they were saying they're going to make their own negotiations with the EU when we leave, not just go along with whatever England arranges. And also if they're left alone with England, I suspect they might want some serious discussions about how that relationship works now it's changed. But I don't know. Honestly, the only person who seems to have a single clue about anything at the moment is the Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon. The rest of us are just waiting for the Tories and Labours to cease their respective internal wrangling and actually attend to the small matter of the country and what it does next.