My mother always advised me never to discuss politics. Wise words, but it has simply become too hard to ignore the rather large elephant in the room. Whether or not (and how) the UK leaves the EU is a monumental decision that will affect generations to come. It could also have serious repercussions on a world order that has delivered more than 75 years of peace in Europe, which is historically unprecedented. This is not a time for posturing, this is not a time to play chicken and worst of all, this is not a time to seek personal gratification on the big stage. It seems the whole world has gone mad and there is so much utter nonsense spewed about that everyone has lost sight of the most glaring issue at hand: What about the people, stupid?
The reality is, that for more than forty years, the economies (and people) of Europe have become intertwined, by design! It made the whole thing more efficient. You know, make the parts where it’s cheap, ship the stuff to where we can add value and allow people to move freely. Just-in-time, productivity, synergy, are all the things we have been benefitting from, and it is part of the reason why the FTSE 100 Index was at 300 in the beginning of the 1980’s and has grown to more than 7,000 ever since. And everyone is happy.
But now some say, well screw this, I want to have my cake and eat it too and I have no idea what we are going to do, but we are going to change everything anyway. That’s right, we are going to risk decades of prosperity, the wellbeing of our grandchildren, just because some plonker wants to be prime minister, and another thinks she will be remembered for her stoic achievements. It is insane, it is idiotic, it is wrong, and it is a scam (yes, we are talking about all the lies and false promises that were made for this ridiculous referendum, that should never have happened in the first place).
By now, we have got more of the facts, we understand more of the repercussions, and we know more about the practicalities of ripping a limb from a living torso. Why then would we deny the very people one more chance and make sure that we are doing the right thing? When we buy our goods at the shops, we get a 14-day return policy as a matter of law. It is there for a reason, we are only human and we can make impulsive or irrational decisions. And after going home and thinking about the £128 billion big screen TV we just bought, we may want to change our mind. In fact 40% of on-line sales are returned, no questions asked and everyone accepts this process. So why not now? It is absurd, it is undemocratic, and it needs to be stopped. Demand a second referendum, the people’s choice is the only way forward.