UK to leave EU

[Aractus]

Your thoughts?

[Tiberius]

Fucked.

^ Pretty much sums up my feelings and is an apt description of Britain now.

[account_inactive]

Brilliant. We've regained our sovereignty and I am pleased with the result.

[account_inactive]

What's your thoughts, OP?

[Aractus]

Well I don't really have what could be described as a healthy respect for the UK as it is. I see them as largely stuck in the past, and the EU did offer an avenue for positive change. However it is in many ways an affront to democracy, and I would like to see Britons use this opportunity to get important democratic reforms started. If they fail to do that then they won't have regained sovereignty.

Oh and I am very pleased that UK citizens were given the ability to give their direct decision on the matter through a referendum. I think we need (e.g. in Australia) to look at ways to give citizens a greater say over things rather than always rely on politicians who often fail to represent their constituencies.

[Tiberius]

Referendums only work when the population is educated on the matter at hand. They should be reserved for civil rights matters and not for complicated economic issues.

If you held a referendum to end taxes, how many idiots do you think would vote yes?

[SteelCurtain]

^^^Fuckin Yup^^^

ETA: Except for the civil rights part. Civil rights referendums can go horribly wrong when there is an underrepresented or disenfranchised minority's rights at stake. If segregation laws were up for referendum, there are some portions of the South in America which would happily vote to segregate schools/businesses. Hell, there are places in America where black people would vote to segregate themselves.

[The Grand Nudger]

-and then immediately begin to bitch about the government and their shitty roads. Pretty much how I see the next decade going for the soon-to-be-former UK.

[abaris]

The immediate and expected reactions. From the BBC.

Tokyo traders react to markets
Posted at 07:15

Currency traders in Tokyo react to the dramatic fall in the value of the pound in the wake of the UK's vote to leave the EU.

The move in sterling is the biggest one-day fall ever seen and London's main share index, the FTSE 100, is expected to open sharply lower, with indications of a fall of around 7%.

Dutch anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders has congratulated the UK on its Leave win. And he's called for a Netherlands referendum on the EU.

We want be to in charge of our own country, our own money, our own borders, and our own immigration policy."

[Aractus]

Referendums only work when the population is educated on the matter at hand. They should be reserved for civil rights matters and not for complicated economic issues.

If you held a referendum to end taxes, how many idiots do you think would vote yes?

You don't do your argument any favours by labelling your opponents as uneducated hicks who can't understand complicated matters.