Sunday 26 June 2016

The Brexit Blind Date

First off, I have been expat for too long to have had a vote in the EU referendum. Second, this is not a post about whether or not I agree with the result. Just the process - 

Imagine other decisions being made in the same fashion. 

1. So you apply for a job and if you get the offer, you have to take the job. (OK, play along it's not that far off what actually happened.) You have no idea what the job role is, nor what you'll be paid, how many hours you'll have to work, who your boss is, nor what your promotion prospects are. But you apply anyway and "hope for the best" or convince yourself that "it will all work out". 

2. So you buy a house. It's a huge commitment. Depending on the mortgage you take out, it's a 15-30 year albatross around your neck at least. All you know is you're sick of living in rented accommodation (fair enough) which is cheap but you don't like the wallpaper and your landlord is a bit of a second hand car dealer. You spend ages humming and haa-ing about whether or not to buy, (two years to be exact), jump in with both feet and..................buy a house you haven't seen; no idea what repairs it might have, what the local schools are like, and where you'll do your shopping. (Or if you'll have any money left over after paying the mortgage to buy food, for that matter). 

3. So you go on Blind Date (see below) but Cilla (again, play along - in my world Cilla lives forever) forgets to tell you that there is no getting out, and you'll be required to marry your choice at the end of the show. Your three options are behind a curtain..................... Enough said. 

How to make a lifelong commitment (not)

See where i'm going with this? No matter how you voted (and really, don't tell me) - I cannot believe a referendum that took two years to pull off, apparently had no plan for the day after WHATSOEVER! 

All I'm saying is, the world may be laughing at the USA having Donald Trump as the Republican nominee (and I laugh/cry along too)., but voting without a follow-up plan? What did everyone think was going to happen if Brexit won?

Anyone? 

13 comments:

  1. These analogies are spot on. I despair of the whole miserable situation - it's laughable and frightening in equal measure.

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    1. I mean really. They've had two years to develop Plans A, B and C.

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  2. I don't think anyone really expected Brexit to win, not even the Brexit people. The Referendum came about as a result of a power struggle in the Conservative party and I believe the thought process was, "We'll get this Referendum thing out of the way, and then we'll...what do you mean, Brexit won?"

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    1. But wouldn't you think Boris or Fartage would have at least a teeny idea of what to do next?

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  3. I've never felt so gutted. We're all in a state of shock & I'm glad I had nothing to do with it.
    Seems like the rug has been pulled from under my feet.
    It would be laughable if it wasn't going to affect everyone so much.

    Maggie x

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  4. Everyone I know is in shock - including some of the people who voted to get out. Listening to Boris Johnson explain that there's 'no rush' to activate Article 50 gives you an indication of just how unprepared they were for this eventuality. Quite a bit of speculation among our American friends as to how this scenario does not bode well at all for the November elections in the US.

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    Replies
    1. I am a bit worried about that because it seems to legitimize the racists here. However, Trump (as usual) made himself look like the To**er he is when he gloated about how well his golf club is going to do. He has also not mentioned The Wall in a good while and has now said there will be no mass deportation. That will really annoy his base.

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  5. I'm half American and half British, very proud of my parents in Hasting, East Sussex for voting LEAVE. to leave this undemocratic Brussels master, and in the Dailymail today the EU wants a one super state with one army the EU army and one bank.

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    1. Aw, was trying not to debate the pros and cons of the referendum results. Mind you, if you get your facts from the Daily Mail.............

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    2. I think the word "undemocratic" needs to be carefully used, when we have a government who tosses out big questions for the public to vote on in a black/white yes/no way (Scotland? Europe? What next?). How democratic is that, honestly?

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  6. Great analogies! Just what we all needed....another mini-recession and a dip in 401k funds, etc.

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  7. I've been writing about it today for work and comms experts I was interviewing are seeing a lot of parallels between the vote Leave success and the rise of Trump. Scary....

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    1. Yes - thin on facts and details. Trump made an economy speech yesterday with no plans and today he says (of the Turkey bombing) that we have to get "vicious".

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