Posts Tagged ‘ Brexit ’

The word “vermin” appears

Jun 26th, 2016 10:05 am | By

The Guardian reports on the hideous fallout of the Brexit vote:

People have been reporting incidents of racism believed to be fuelled by the result of the EU referendum, including alleged racist graffiti and cards reading “no more Polish vermin” posted through letterboxes.

Suspected racist graffiti was found on the front entrance of the Polish Social and Cultural Association (POSK) in Hammersmith, west London, early on Sunday morning.

The incident comes as Cambridgeshire police are investigating reports of racist laminated cards being distributed in Huntingdon on Friday in the hours after the leave result was announced.

According to reports from the Cambridge News, a number of cards saying “Leave the EU/No more Polish vermin” in both

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Guest post: The last time this kind of nationalism was seen

Jun 26th, 2016 9:32 am | By

Guest post by Pieter Droogendijk, originally on Facebook.

It’s a particular kind of person that calls for leaving the E.U, and congratulates the U.K. for doing so. Lots of labels have been used to describe them. Racists, bigots, isolationists, xenophobes, whatever. They may be some of those, or even most of those, but not one of them describes everyone.

But there is one label that describes them all:

Nationalist.

Every one of them thinks Britain is better on its own. ‘Cause fuck everyone else, right? We don’t need the krauts, or the poles, or those milk-drinking clog-fuckers in the Netherlands! Fuck Brussels, and fuck the E.U. We’re the best, ’cause Great is in the name, son!

Nationalism. And it’s … Read the rest



A poison chalice

Jun 25th, 2016 4:22 pm | By

This post by Tom Short has 32,504 shares on Facebook at the moment – by the time you look it will be more. Thoughtful friends of mine have shared it. It’s interesting.

If Boris Johnson looked downbeat yesterday, that is because he realises that he has lost.

Perhaps many Brexiters do not realise it yet, but they have actually lost, and it is all down to one man: David Cameron.

With one fell swoop yesterday at 9:15 am, Cameron effectively annulled the referendum result, and simultaneously destroyed the political careers of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and leading Brexiters who cost him so much anguish, not to mention his premiership.

How?

Throughout the campaign, Cameron had repeatedly said that a

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They knew it was a lie

Jun 25th, 2016 12:35 pm | By

Nick Cohen says pay attention to the lies.

I am not going to be over-dainty about mendacity. Politicians, including Remain politicians lie, as do the rest of us. But not since Suez has the nation’s fate been decided by politicians who knowingly made a straight, shameless, incontrovertible lie the first plank of their campaign. Vote Leave assured the electorate it would reclaim a supposed £350m Brussels takes from us each week. They knew it was a lie. Between them, they promised to spend £111bn on the NHS, cuts to VAT and council tax, higher pensions, a better transport system and replacements for the EU subsidies to the arts, science, farmers and deprived regions. When boring experts said that, far

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Whether nationalism is really the fever and liberalism the normal condition

Jun 25th, 2016 11:29 am | By

Benjamin Wallace-Wells at the New Yorker raises the possibility that has me clutching the blankets in fear.

The question this ultimately raises is whether nationalism is really the fever and liberalism the normal condition, or whether it might be the other way around. In France, Nicolas Sarkozy’s party of the center-right and Marine Le Pen’s party of the nationalist far-right are leading early polling for next year’s Presidential election, with the parties of the left and center-left trailing well behind. In the U.K., the majority of voters now appear to be more nationalist than David Cameron’s Tories were. The Tories have become Boris Johnson’s party, and even further to the right there is the ascendant United Kingdom Independence Party. The

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Silly walk

Jun 25th, 2016 11:06 am | By

The New Yorker puts it very aptly:

The artist is Barry Blitt.… Read the rest



A victory for xenophobia

Jun 24th, 2016 12:20 pm | By

Jim Al-Khalili on Twitter:

Sad and shocked this morning. Presumably as an immigrant I should hand my job back to whoever it is I took it from. A victory for xenophobia

Some replies:

Phoenix on the Right ‏@BigButterNutJoe 5 hours ago
@jimalkhalili You should absolutely leave. What kind of Brit has a last name like Al-Khalili? Your people have a home.

TJWP ‏@Hriob_Zagel 5 hours ago
TJWP Retweeted
Well with an attitude like that you should probably leave since you don’t seem to support the county to begin with. https://twitter.com/jimalkhalili/status/746207671515123714 …

Randolph Carter ‏@occidissident 5 hours ago
Randolph Carter Retweeted
That’s a start. Then self-deportation. Take your skill set and benefit your own country, your own people #brexit https://twitter.com/jimalkhalili/status/746207671515123714

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Timing

Jun 24th, 2016 11:58 am | By

The Washington Post shares a depressing fact:

Awakening to a stock market plunge and a precipitous decline in the value of the pound that Britain hasn’t seen in more than 30 years, voters now face a series of economic shocks that analysts say will only worsen before they improve. The consequences of the leave vote will be felt worldwide, even here in the United States, and some British voters say they now regret casting a ballot in favor of Brexit.

“Even though I voted to leave, this morning I woke up and I just — the reality did actually hit me,” one woman told the news channel ITV News. “If I’d had the opportunity to vote

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Spam spam beans and spam

Jun 24th, 2016 11:33 am | By

I’m seeing this all over Facebook:

I actually remember that Britain, the one that had never heard of quiche or hummus or gelato, the one where “baked” beans on toast was considered an acceptable meal.… Read the rest



If you eat the cake, you no longer have it

Jun 24th, 2016 10:58 am | By

Cornwall voted to leave but hey don’t take away its EU subsidy ok?

The Cornish council has issued a plea for “protection” following the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union.

Cornwall, which has a poor economy and as such has received millions of pounds in subsidies from the EU each year for over a decade, voted decisively to Leave.

But this money is now threatened following the severing of ties with the EU.

Well it would be, wouldn’t it.

John Pollard, the leader of Cornwall council said: “Now that we know the UK will be leaving the EU we will be taking urgent steps to ensure that the UK Government protects Cornwall’s position in any negotiations.

“We

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Britons have voted for a myth of Camelot

Jun 24th, 2016 7:44 am | By

Some reactions:

Onjali Rauf:

Woke up with a gasp…that still hasn’t ended. Am in mourning for a UK that once was and will never again be. The rhetoric of racism has won. Lessons of the past ignored. And the future security of our human rights laws, our ability to tackle our government on injustices, and the EU funds which have helped thousands of charities survive to do our government’s dirty work, is in jeopardy. Oh Britain…what have you done?

Bill Cooke:

It’s a sad day for Britain, and for the world. Britons have voted for a myth of Camelot that never existed. We’ve shat on the future of the young generation, who supported Remain by 3

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