On the Morning of June 24th 2016, I awoke as normal to the Sound of Radio 4's today program, as I open my eyes and started to listen, I heard something that I just couldn't believe, the referendum had gone in favour of leaving the EU.
I sat up and just listened, unable to take it in or comprehend what I was listening to, thinking it must have been some kind of bad dream, but no! It was real.
At first it made me feel sick, then just numb and finally very angry, and this got worse as I realised exactly what had happened. as I travelled to work, people were gloating about it? thinking it was funny? I was fuming at this reaction, and this carried on at work, it was a bad day indeed.
Eight Months on and I am still perplexed and still angry, and it is getting worse. So why am still I so angry and upset?
I think I can break this down into several areas.
1. What made me initially very angry, was that people were talking of 'winning', like it was some kind of game, it was such a flippant thing to say about something so serious that I just couldn't believe it. It also made me realise that sadly, many people didn't realise the implications or the importance of it, if they did then this flippancy wouldn't have occurred, and some of this was from people I know!! Which leads me too number 2.
2. I actually felt let down by friends, some family members, colleagues. people I thought were better, more informed than that, people I respected. it was a massive stab in the arm to realise that people who you know can let you and the country down so badly. It may seem like an over reaction but that is how I felt and to a certain degree still do, don't get me wrong, it wont ruin long standing friendships but it was a genuine shock.
3. I was very disappointed in my former Political Party and I still am, I have been a Tory voter all my life, because I genuinely believe in conservatism, but coupled with the decision to hold the referendum in the first place, the hash of the campaign and then the outright disgusting way in which they have bulldozed their way towards triggering article 50, I no longer support the party after 30 years. They have convinced the general public (or a large percentage of the general public) that this is going to be OK, when it clearly isn't. Over optimistically gallivanting around, playing to the tune of what can only be described as a dictatorship, all in the name of self enhancement and power.
4. Consistently being told by Brexiteers stupid things like 'Get over it, you lost' or 'Everything will get better in the end' or the worst 'its the will of the people' or the even worse 'it was a democratic vote'.
Firstly, no, I will not get over something, that could, and probably will harm my children in the future, especially when we can still make sure that it is done correctly, and we have all lost in this situation, nobody is a winner.
Secondly, Everything will not get better in the end, because there is no end, also all indicators and people in the know, i.e Economists, academics, business leaders etc, point to exactly the opposite!! Only the people in power, and who want to continue in power think anything but that.
Thirdly, It is not the will of ALL the people, it is the will of an increasing small amount of people who voted to leave, 72.2% of the voting public turned out to vote, which means over 27% of people didn't vote, so it isn't their will, furthermore, 46.6% voted against leaving and it certainly isn't their will either. if you then count the further 10% of people who wished they hadn't voted to leave then the saying 'it is the will of the people' is a downright lie!!
Lastly, it was NOT a democratic vote, it was an advisory vote, which by law then needs to be democratically agreed in parliament, which was proved in the recent case, but then the Government and its MP's behaved decidedly undemocratically in the vote in parliament, only the Lords seem to have the backbone to make this a better and more democratic proposition now, which is quite ironic really.
So there you have it, its not an exhaustive list but at least I feel a bit better having written this article.
Jon Davis.
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