I'd rather sink or swim as a European.

@Savage I live in Spain with a Spanish pension, but have a British passport and East African origins. I'll swim regardless of the outcome.

@OwlInASack Think! How many times has Britain been told by Brussels it cannot do something?

@ToolGuy i agree. When Southern Europe desperately needed higher interest rates to curb inflation and speculation (the building boom, for example) the ECB in Brussels LOWERED interest rates to favour Northern, especially German, needs.
Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Ireland suffered badly. Later, as countries like France faced problems, Brussels softened a little. Why? It became worried by all the anti-EU parties gaining seats in national assemblies. Now, Britain would have been less tempted to leave, but make no mistake. The moment the bureaucrats feel safe, they will once again become autocrats.

@Petter Don't you mean, how many times has the dailyfail falsely claimed we are forced into something, like straight bananas, ffs. do a fack check, it;s laughable, moreso that some are taken in by it, lol

@Petter Virtually never...it was a Dailyfail lie

@Petter, @Savage Oh you got there first Savage

@Amisja I lived through it in Spain. Now I pass by derelict, half-built apartment blocks, daily. Today they are all owned by the banks from which speculators borrowed money at stupidly low rates.
Unemployment is still one in five people. (20%)
Spain was not profligate. It was driven into recession by speculators borrowing at unrealistically low rates.

Gain nothing...lose everything.

I think for a ever decreasing number of Brits there was an idea that the EU had taken away our sovereignty and charged us for the priviledge. They were scared that we would allow Turkey to join the EU. Also...brown people. There is nostalic idea of thatched cottages, postmen on bikes and rosy cheeked children. It NEVER existed.
The truth is prior to us joining the EU, we had strong union representation. Thatcher got rid of the unions. However that didn't matter because the EU provided UK workers with reasonably strong worker's rights. Once we leave it will mean that employer's will race for the bottom. 60 hour weeks, no guaranteed leave, no maternity leave or paternity leave. No paid sick pay or disability and wholesale selling off of the NHS.
Nothing to stop them, no checks or balances. Ok no workers from EU but who is going to pluck the chickens or wipe granny's bum? We will see loss of worker's rights, we will see widespread shortages and very scarily medications (90% of which we import from EU).
The actual practicalities are insanely intricate. It took us 40 years to create this union, it is going to take us that long to divorce. We have 5 days! The worst thing is half of us never wanted it in the first place. I am shocked and depressed and I do not know one person who voted for it.

@ToolGuy who is over-regulated?

@ToolGuy JC won't become PM but that shouldn't matter as we have a parliamentary democracy and not a president. The EU was not..is not overly regulated. There is waste and duplication but that can be sorted. Nothing good will come from Brexit, it won't even reduce the immigration the Brexiteers think it will (I don't care). Capitalists will just employ cheaper workers from African or SE Asia.

@ToolGuy We should resist making British politics all about personalities. JC is anti-establishment and consequently will never be voted in. Plus there is the whole (massively over-exaggerated) anti-semitism row. Its chaos.

Well done

Yep

Shall we go and find an island? Please bring your art and your huge brain.

@Amisja Sounds like a good idea - unfortunately, I have neither of those things!

@Jnei You certainly have a big brain

@Amisja It just looks that way because I have a weirdly lumpy skull.

@Jnei I disagree on both counts.

@Kafirah (I just took it out to get this photo)

@Jnei No one without a huge brain would be able to take that out successfully. Q.E.D.

@Kafirah There's special hatch round the back. Feel about in your hair and you'll find the button to open it.

@Jnei Oh, I know about the hatch. It's the disconnections and reconnections in between extraction that's proving my case.

@Kafirah You still have wires over there? European brains have connected by Bluetooth for years!

@Jnei I prefer hardwired connections. More dependable, solid state. Never have to worry about connectivity issues or electromagnetic interference. It's all controlled by the FCC... you know how they can be. Also, if you know where to look online, you can find repair manuals fairly easily.

@Kafirah "Radio interference affecting my brain/spinal cord link" is a brilliant excuse when you want to go home from work early, though.

@Jnei That's true. I just swap that reason out for an overloaded capacitor. Doesn't happen often, but they don't need to know that. Besides, it makes them believe I'm prone to over-thinking things, which, in today's society, is equated to working harder, so they tend to look the other way, lest you go to HR to report discrimination...

@Jnei hahaha ya daftie