Remain voters here have come to feel something like foreigners in their own land; most had come, they explained to me, because they felt they had no voice, either in their own city, or in the wider country. “Will this change a blind thing? Probably not,” a sanguine history teacher said, “but of course I had to come.”... If they shared a perspective, it appeared simply one of urgent concern...
At the front were several couples who had found themselves caught up in the plight of those three million, suddenly unfortunate souls from another EU country living in the UK....[One] couple have considered moving to Sweden, but that might well leave Davidstate [sic] feeling like an exile [so EU membership somehow reconciles this family's internal politics?]...Julia Hoult and her German husband, Dieter Krapp, were sitting a few rows back. Having raised three children in the UK and having lived and worked all over Europe, they moved to Lincoln from Austria a couple of months before the referendum, and now have reason to wish they had not.[ What the reasonis is unexplianed]...[Another German woman] seems close to tears when she describes how she has watched attitudes harden: “England no longer seems like home to me,” she says. She is bemused by the fact that acquaintances and neighbours seem so often these days to reference the world wars.[never saw the Fawlty Towers joke at the idiocy of Brits who can't avoid talking about the War then?]
Then:
Many of the older people announce themselves determined to prove there was no simple generational divide in the demand for a second vote....[generational or family politics again then?]...there is genuine anger about the “blatant lies” that the Leave campaign told that made the solutions to complex historical social problems seem so simple.[ Remaining also looks like a simple soultion to me -- and have the activists of Project Fear always told the absolute truth?]...That anger is perhaps most clearly expressed by [another person]...“I don’t think we realise how lucky we have been – all these years of peace [sic] and relative prosperity [sic!] ,” she says, “but I really fear we are about to find out.”...[A nun] phrased her opposition to the “utter misdirection of our politicians” in slightly more measured terms, calling not only for a second vote but also for a government of national unity. [under God,no doubt]
The Observer editorial returns to abusing Leavers:
[Hard right Tory Brexiteers have] a grossly distorted, sentimental view of history that portrays this country as a unique exemplar of enlightened governance, swashbuckling enterprise and imperial endeavour that rose, by right, to be first among nations. [They ignore the] the collective peace and security that increased European co-operation has brought.[where have these people been?]
What does Remain mean?
it means the chance to travel, study, work and live abroad [none of these will be possible after Brexit?]. For [the PVers] , Europe means inclusiveness, shared values and laws, mutual tolerance and a joyful openness to the majestic richness of myriad lifestyles, languages, traditions and beliefs [not what the current polls in the East indicate] ...Europe is where many of our young people, this country’s future, already dwell, spiritually, culturally, politically and aspirationally [so its an imagined identity again?]....Many of Britain’s best and brightest may simply up and leave.[unlike current practice then?.I thought the Observer thought travel and work abroad would be threatened?]
No word of any criticism of these cliched fantasies, of course. They would be laughed at if they were about the supposed virtues of just Britain, an argument which is close to what has been condemned just above. Every country imagines it represents these virtues,of course, but it is stillhard to see how 'Europe' has become a focus for them. Instead of askingany questions, the Observer goes back to attacking Brexiteers:
stick-in-the mud reactionaries... an imagined nirvana at the apogee of the Victorian age? And how will they achieve it? On this, for more than two years, they have never, ever been clear or honest....all they seem to know, and what they seem most to enjoy, is whingeing from the wings [rich from people who lost the Referendum] ....[class distinction again]
And, on an interesting constitutional note:
Britain is on the brink of a historic calamity, for which the country’s entire political class must share the blame. Brexit, on any currently available terms, will be a disaster. No deal will be worse. The politicians have failed, so the people [ie the metroplitan new petit bourgeoisie] must take charge. We must have a second referendum.
And if Remain wins that one -- what next, as an interesting blog asks?
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