John Oliver nails it

[gillo]

I am genuinely terrified of the possible result of Thursday's Referendum. I want my country back - not handed over to Farage, Boris, IDS, Gove and their goons. I believe we are part of Europe in every possible way, not just geographically. If we leave, we lose so much - not just economically but culturally and in domestic terms. That "red tape" the

Comments

[kazzy_cee]

It really is worrying isn't it!

[gillo]

It's actually making me quite ill with worry.

One consolation - on the Guardian website someone has linked to a study suggesting the people ha5rdest to contact by7 pollsters are most likely to vote "Remain". I know our phone blocks random calls. Perhaps it's not as awful as it looks?

[kazzy_cee]

Did you see this on FB? https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=USTypBKEd8Y

Hopefully he's made sure all his students understand and they are voting.

[gillo]

Yes. Very rational - too much so for the gut-instinct Brexiteers?

[denorios]

I'm worried too. For a while I thought there wasn't much to be worried about - that it would be a bit like the Scottish referendum, that people would talk a good talk but when it came to actually voting they'd err on the side of caution. But now I'm not so sure...

I'm not so worried that everything will go to shit if we leave the EU. It's more...how do I put this? I really don't like the mindset and mentality of the people who want to leave, because so much of it seems a kneejerk reaction to refugees and immigration and a resort to a kind of blinkered British nationalism that I thought we'd moved beyond. And if we do end up voting to Leave, it will almost be a vindication to those people, almost handing them a mandate to continue to behave like that. And that's what worries me, that it will just encourage this closed-minded, right-wing, Little England mentality, but with the reinforcement of the fact that a lot more of the country agrees with them that we thought!

[heleninwales]

I share your worry about how leaving would appear to vindicate the racist views of so many of the strident voices in the Leave campaign. The thing is, even if we did leave, immigration is not going to fall to zero, so they're not even going to get what they say they want.

[gillo]

So much of the 'stridency' is damned close to racism. Farage's latest poster makes me feel almost physically ill.

[heleninwales]

Even Gove has condemned that poster. Heaven knows, I haven no love for Gove after his total cluelessness regarding education policy, but I think there is a shred of human decency hidden inside somewhere, unlike Boris and Farage, who are just out to further their own ambitions and have jumped on this Brexit bandwagon as a way to do so.

[kathyh]

I'm very worried too and "batshit crazy" to leave is exactly the right phrase for it. The EU might not be perfect but if we leave we are still influenced by it with no say at all.

[gillo]

Exactly. And the hubris of the thuggish element could be awful - and lead to some nasty incidents.

[kerkevik_2014]

What puzzles me is that people do not see that after thousands of years of inter-tribal warfare; warfare between cousins in royal families and internecine political squabbles Europe is finally trying, not always successfully, but trying to settle their problems by peaceful means. Why are certain countries so obdurate about this? Well look at European history and you will see that mostly the countries that are most anti-European are those with histories of for long periods of being the policy makers on the continent; especially the English; not British please note

[gillo]

Thanks for the link.

I agree completely - we just don't like being 'one of the many' - some idiots actually dream of empire again. Grrr.

[bluegerl]

Thanks for this, and the song!!! Sounds just like the English Football supporters! That seems to be the attitude England has to the EU.... and seriously, I think the vote will be so close that the pros and the cons will be at each other's throats for months and years to come because the BBC and Humphries has to have something to waffle on and on about

[gillo]

There's a lot of paranoia about people from Poland, Rumania and Bulgaria, and one or two of the Baltic states. FFS - the entire population of Latvia is less than that of Birmingham.

I just hate the racism it's whipping up. I want to be properly part of Europe.