EU referendum: The UK votes to leave the EU

[Tailikku]

I would want to sign that pet. because Americans are concerned about the effects to the world economy considering that the British Pound is at an all time low coupled with the vote to leave.

[PaddyFancy]

I try to sign it but of course I don't get the email needed to click a link and make my signature official.

[Spin Attaxx]

Oh good, then it's not just me who has that problem.

[Treacher]

Looking through the news about the decision, one comment jumped at me:

"#Brexit was decided on June 23rd? On Sonic's 25th birthday? "Hey UK! Enjoy your future, it's gonna be great!"

Huh, how many Sonic fans voted for "leave", I wonder. Maybe he's just taking the piss.

[Patticus]

The Guardian is reporting that Brexit has succeeded in wiping $2 trillion off global markets.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2016/jun/24/global-markets-ftse-pound-uk-leave-eu-brexit-live-updates?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

It's a bloody good thing the British economy doesn't rely on the financial sector, isn't it? Oh wait, hang on... shit.

Also tonight, a clip from Yes, Minister, a British political sit-com from the 1980s, is doing the rounds. Probably the most exposure the show will ever have, this century anyway.

 

[Tani Coyote]

This... this is insane.

I have no doubt there's an element of overreaction here (there always is with financial matters), but such a massive hit like this... it really goes to show it's a lot more than that.

I guess there's an overall feeling that the good times before the Great Recession never really returned, and Britain's large economy quite possibly threatens the calm we've managed to develop.

Also, dramatization of a conversation with my father, who's favorable to Brexit:

Me: "I really don't think this was a good idea."

Dad: "The people have spoken!"

Me: "Maybe so, but that doesn't mean they didn't make a bad decision."

Dad: "Why's it bad?"

Me: "LOOK AT WHAT'S HAPPENING [YOU DIPSHIT] LOL."

[Phos]

Weirdly, it seems like Japan somehow managed to get the worst of it, the Nikkei 225 went down 8.5%. Well, at lease of those not so directly involved. 

Ive heard that going against this referendum would be political suicide, but would it really? Even ignoring the number of pro leavers who now regret their decision, it was still a very narrow majority, and it seems as though the most influential (and by that I mean wealthy)  sections of the U.K. largely seem to prefer to remain. 

Interestingly, The U.K. leaving the EU actually simplifies some of the complications that Scotland faced in the previous vote for independence, namely the concerns over their currency. Should Scotland leave, they would almost certainly use the Euro. 

Which also reminds me, I can't help but imagine a somewhat comical scenario where Ireland reunifies, and Scotland and Whales join them in a sort of "United Britain". 

A friend linked me this funny thing:

https://giant.gfycat.com/SilkyBoringHorsechestnutleafminer.gif

[Tani Coyote]

Given how narrowly Wales was decided, it might just be a good idea to let Wales' individual subdivisions vote on leaving Britain or not as well.

Northern Ireland has an interesting situation, certainly. I don't know if they'd want to join the Republic given the history, but I don't know if they really want to remain with Britain either. Becoming an independent state within the EU might be a good option to minimize disruption. They could always form some sort of confederacy with anybody else leaving Britain, but that has its own issues.

It really is interesting to plot all the various hypotheticals. All we really know for certain is Scotland's leaving the first chance it gets. Even if the referendum is overturned by Parliament or a second round of voting, I don't think the Scottish trust England anymore. The economic futures of both places have clearly diverged, and it stands to reason their political borders should as well.

[Mogtaki]

6 hours ago, Raccoonatic Ogilvie said:

Given how narrowly Wales was decided, it might just be a good idea to let Wales' individual subdivisions vote on leaving Britain or not as well.

Northern Ireland has an interesting situation, certainly. I don't know if they'd want to join the Republic given the history, but I don't know if they really want to remain with Britain either. Becoming an independent state within the EU might be a good option to minimize disruption. They could always form some sort of confederacy with anybody else leaving Britain, but that has its own issues.

It really is interesting to plot all the various hypotheticals. All we really know for certain is Scotland's leaving the first chance it gets. Even if the referendum is overturned by Parliament or a second round of voting, I don't think the Scottish trust England anymore. The economic futures of both places have clearly diverged, and it stands to reason their political borders should as well.

I've not heard anything from Welsh people so far, but I can confirm that us Scots and the Irish are so pissed off by the results that a bunch of people are legit wanting Ireland and Scotland to unite under their Celtic roots and make their own united trading partnership. Irish are talking about uniting the republic and northern into one Ireland again and Scotland is moving for independence once more.

We trust England as much as a mouldy bag of salad right now.

This was made out of good fun, but then it started getting many thousands of upvotes on Reddit so now we're starting to wonder how realistic a Celtic trade union will be.

[Tani Coyote]

6 minutes ago, Mogtaki said:

I've not heard anything from Welsh people so far, but I can confirm that us Scots and the Irish are so pissed off by the results that a bunch of people are legit wanting Ireland and Scotland to unite under their Celtic roots and make their own united trading partnership. Irish are talking about uniting the republic and northern into one Ireland again and Scotland is moving for independence once more.

We trust England as much as a mouldy bag of salad right now.

This was made out of good fun, but then it started getting many thousands of upvotes on Reddit so now we're starting to wonder how realistic a Celtic trade union will be.

Well, Northern Ireland's certainly in an interesting position. While it could secede to form its own country, there's also the options of either joining with Scotland or Ireland.

Though I think it really boils down to how much of a separate identity they have. That Ulster nationalism never really picked up the same way Scottish nationalism did weakens the case for independence. At the same time, if they have that much of an economic stake in this, it would make perfect sense to cut ties with England and break off.

The American colonists had a lot of cultural overlap with England, but we separated anyway over issues of politics and economics. If the Northern Irish deem leaving the EU to be of similar importance, they just might break off after all.

[Mogtaki]

18 minutes ago, Raccoonatic Ogilvie said:

Well, Northern Ireland's certainly in an interesting position. While it could secede to form its own country, there's also the options of either joining with Scotland or Ireland.

Though I think it really boils down to how much of a separate identity they have. That Ulster nationalism never really picked up the same way Scottish nationalism did weakens the case for independence. At the same time, if they have that much of an economic stake in this, it would make perfect sense to cut ties with England and break off.

The American colonists had a lot of cultural overlap with England, but we separated anyway over issues of politics and economics. If the Northern Irish deem leaving the EU to be of similar importance, they just might break off after all.

It's not that kind of union I was talking about. I'm talking about a trade union, nothing to do with them joining Scotland over Ireland but rather the whole island join with Scotland as a kind of 'United Kingdom' of their own through partnership and trade.

Also Scotland and Ireland have deep roots. We consider ourselves basically the same family. But yeah England aren't doing either of us any favours and neither has Wales. We just want what's best for our people.

On a side note: Nicola Sturgeon is wanting to get in talks with Brussels with Scottish trading independence so who knows how much Scotland will be affected by this in the end. If we can still be considered an EU country without being labelled under the 'United Kingdom' maybe we have a chance.

[PSI Wind]

I find it absolutely insane that people think voting for Leave out of fear of ISIS and, basically, muslims, will make them safer. I'm sorry, but ISIS WANTS as many people in the Middle East to join them. Being xenophobic towards these people and treating them almost like the Jews pre-Concentration Camps in Germany is EXACTLY what ISIS wants. They WANT people to think we will be cruel, unjust, and disgusted at them to the point where the only place they will feel at "home" would be with ISIS. So, congrats guys. You didn't just make yourselves safer, you made yourselves weaker and the enemy stronger.

[Mogtaki]

4 minutes ago, PSI Wind said:

I find it absolutely insane that people think voting for Leave out of fear of ISIS and, basically, muslims, will make them safer. I'm sorry, but ISIS WANTS as many people in the Middle East to join them. Being xenophobic towards these people and treating them almost like the Jews pre-Concentration Camps in Germany is EXACTLY what ISIS wants. They WANT people to think we will be cruel, unjust, and disgusted at them to the point where the only place they will feel at "home" would be with ISIS. So, congrats guys. You didn't just make yourselves safer, you made yourselves weaker and the enemy stronger.

What? Are you getting the referendum confused with Trump or something?

It's to do with money and EU policies, how Brussels pushes policies on the UK that it has no say in.

You may want to read the thread a bit.

[PSI Wind]

Just now, Mogtaki said:

What? Are you getting the referendum confused with Trump or something?

It's to do with money and EU policies, how Brussels pushes policies on the UK that it has no say in.

You may want to read the thread a bit.

It's part of the reason, but you do know that another one of the main reasons people voted to Leave the UK were for much stricter immigration control.

[Mogtaki]

Just now, PSI Wind said:

It's part of the reason, but you do know that another one of the main reasons people voted to Leave the UK were for much stricter immigration control.

Cameron was supposed to be in charge of immigration. The biggest push for the Leave movement was that £350 million EU membership fee going into better things like the NHS (which turned out to be a load of hooey since Farage doesn't even know where the money's going to come from).

[Stasis]

That petition is receiving such a lot or signatures in a short amount of time. Is it 100% real people or could a group of people be working together to create multiple signatures? 

If a second referendum were to happen, which is unlikely,  how would it effect all the carnage that is currently going on?

[Neon]

I have to say I really don't comprehend the whole ''vote leave to stick it to the elites'' angle I've been hearing. It makes no sense to me because not only will the elite be fine even if they do lose money, but all this is going to do is boost the tories ability to completely shaft these same Leave voters living in many poverty-stricken North England areas. Once again it'll be the poorest and most vulnerable people that feel the impact the most, more cuts to public services and benefits. They rally against the EU in an attempt to stick it to the tories only to let one sociopath clever enough to masquerade as a clown right into one of the top positions. And to think no election was necessary...but yet I still hear crap about the EU being undemocratic. 

I will never stop being angry at this giant fucking mess.

[Boomer]

20 minutes ago, Stasis said:

That petition is receiving such a lot or signatures in a short amount of time. Is it 100% real people or could a group of people be working together to create multiple signatures? 

People looked at the IP addresses used to sign the petition, only around 360,000 were located in the UK.

The other 1,000,000 plus weren't.

[Mogtaki]

20 minutes ago, Mark Hoppus said:

People looked at the IP addresses used to sign the petition, only around 360,000 were located in the UK.

The other 1,000,000 plus weren't.

Bah, I knew it. What's worse is that's going to be noted when it's debated which'll really just nuke the chances of the petition ever being considered to be of "UK interest".

Look I get it, people want to sign it, but if you're not from the UK or a British territory you shouldn't sign it in the first place. It screws over any chance that it'll happen.

Whatever anyway. Let Scotland and Northern Ireland break away, let London become an EU city. I dunno the plans but the future's going to be interesting.

[ImPantsAtThis]

1 hour ago, Mark Hoppus said:

People looked at the IP addresses used to sign the petition, only around 360,000 were located in the UK.

The other 1,000,000 plus weren't.

Out of concern, I've notified my MP of the petition (and several aspects against its credibility) in case parliament takes it seriously, and this was a point I brought up. So at least one MP knows this -- then again, they're pretty much a 'who?' in the party, so who knows if it'll have any influence.

Edit: Since posting this, the json has updated and there are ~2.4m signatures listed from the UK. So that point is now moot, but you still have the issue of >1000% of Vatican City signing it. 

[Treacher]

Oh god, what!?:

http://archive.is/ELc8w

How many places are going to secede because of this? I'm not expecting that much besides those currently in the U.K., but can you imagine a state or two seceding following the 2016 USA elections? Probably will amount to nothing, but you never know for sure.

[Nepenthe]

I mean, Texas can try. It's not going to end well for them, but they can try:

 

[Treacher]

2 minutes ago, Nepenthe said:

I mean, Texas can try. It's not going to end well for them economically, but they can try:

 

 The kicker is: it's not just Texas: "We intend to mimic that process here in California by putting an independence referendum on the ballot so we can exercise our right to self-determination and vote to leave or remain part of the American Union," Louis Marinelli, president of the Yes California Independence Campaign, told Reuters.

"Long before Brexit was seriously considered, a 2014 Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 23.9 percent of Americans were open to the idea of their own state exiting the Union."

 

I may not be remembering correctly, but I think there were talks in the past, at least for Texas, about people really wanting to leave the Union, but nothing came out of it. Same deal with other states such as Long Island & the rest of New York State; nothing really but talk so far.

 

 

[SenEDDtor Missile]

1 minute ago, Treacher said:

 The kicker is: it's not just Texas: "We intend to mimic that process here in California by putting an independence referendum on the ballot so we can exercise our right to self-determination and vote to leave or remain part of the American Union," Louis Marinelli, president of the Yes California Independence Campaign, told Reuters.

"Long before Brexit was seriously considered, a 2014 Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 23.9 percent of Americans were open to the idea of their own state exiting the Union."

 

I may not be remembering correctly, but I think there were talks in the past, at least for Texas, about people really wanting to leave the Union, but nothing came out of it. Same deal with other states such as Long Island & the rest of New York State; nothing really but talk so far.

 

 

Welp, I'd better get ready to leave California in the next few years then. Especially if this California independence thing is headed by batshit crazy conservatives (is it?).

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Unless Texas and Cali plan on fighting a second Civil War (lol hahahaha~), they really need to shut the fuck up and stop being stupid.

The UK leaving doesn't mean that they can attempt the same. And whoever is spearheading that is just showing how much of a moron they are.