Leavers speak -- to the Guardian!

A rather rare venture by the Guardian into Leaverland,especially coastal constituencies.There are still a few textual shifters, and lots of nice but possibly nostalgic photos, but otherwise a halfway reasonable job:

people were often surprised to be asked their views, saying they felt they weren’t important enough for anyone in London to ask. People plied me with tea, biscuits and sandwiches, took me on tractor rides and to the bingo and made a few jokey marriage proposals. Most said they still wanted to get out of Europe.

Most spoke as if they felt tricked by Brussels and trapped in a world that was turning against them. “They’ve wound us in their little web, with their laws and suchlike as that, and they rule us”...“They block anything that we want.”

reasons were more individual and varied than I expected [but then some textual shifters, despite this discovery]...Some wanted to revive a nostalgic rosy past or keep immigrants out. Some thought they were taking back control, some wanted an end to the EU bureaucracy that they saw as hurting their livelihoods, and some thought it was time London paid attention to smaller voices....Others had more concrete goals: a grandmother in Skegness hoped that the decline of her town, designated the most deprived seaside area in Britain in a study by the Office for National Statistics in 2013, might be slowed down if taxpayers’ funds stopped heading to Europe.... a fisherwoman, wanted better leaders. “We need to stand on our own two feet, we’re a capable country,” she said.

people I met said all they wanted was to find a way to make a living....Derek Brown, a kipper smoker, held up some herring and pointed out that none of the fish he used were locally caught....“There’s no work around here [Redcar] ,” said John Mohan, a 73-year-old who spent 40 years at the steelworks. “No nothing now. They’re gonna pull all that down shortly, all the works.”

[Another textual shifter] 'I saw punters slot two-pence piece after two-pence piece into the [games arcade] equipment, almost robotically.'

Chris Baker, a remain voter, [in Brighton] was worried about the hardening tone of debate in the UK. “I think we’ve seen a lot of the negative stuff already, with people acting out against foreigners, and we’ll get more of that,” he said. “We’ve seen some impact of people not coming here – you know, a shortage of nursing, and soon a shortage of people picking vegetables and all those summer-type jobs that English people don’t want to do.” [would you, Chris?]

a farming couple, Andrew and Helen Arnold, who had told each other only recently they had voted on opposite sides in the referendum. She wanted to leave, he voted remain. Over tea and homemade cakes in their cosy kitchen, she asked him why he had wanted to stay in Europe. “I don’t like change,” he said.

I wish Garton Ash had read this piece -- or Y Couper.