The Brexit

[Algernon Moncrieff]

1) How do you feel about it?
2) Do you think it will/will not happen?
3) If it happens, what will be the impact on the US?

[Kelvin Mace]

1. Scotland will get a second chance to go independent

possibly with Wales and Northern Ireland as well.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Very unlikely there'd be a push for independence in Wales

They are split, pretty much like the UK overall, very evenly: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36463580 , and full independence hasn't been that popular in Wales.

While Northern Ireland is more strongly pro-EU, the vote there wouldn't be for independence, but unification with the Republic, and that would be a different kettle of fish.

[Kelvin Mace]

14. I agree that Wales is split,

but if you are watching Scotland head out the door, then you start giving serious thought to joining them. NI would probably love to reunite with the Republic, but there are a lot of old resistances to that, so that exiting to the EU might be a more acceptable intermediate step. Also, perhaps some deal where the three countries join the EU together, but all of them are pretty damned tired of having their fates controlled by London.

Just my opinion, such that it is.

[KamaAina]

25. At the very least, Wales could be a separate entity as Scotland is now

rather than part of 'England and Wales".

[OnDoutside]

52. They've never really shown much of a desire to breakaway, even though

I remember Wales being far more anti-English than the Scottish going back 30 years ago, but when it came to doing anything about it, the Scots have been far more progressive. That said, Thatcher shutting down the Coal industry ripped the heart out of the Welsh people. They survive on an umbilical cord from Westminster nowadays.

[BooScout]

61. Wales won't leave the UK.

It's just not going to happen. There's no call for it here (I live in Wales btw). Wales as a country is better off as part of the UK and the Welsh realize that. The English are not particularly well loved here....but neither is there much of a call for Welsh independence other than the occasional Plaid Cymru political posturing.

As to NI.....and the Republic of Ireland .....it depends on who you ask about staying in the UK and whether they are Catholic or Protestant....the Protestants slightly out-number the Catholics.

[hill2016]

2. well

the main supporters of Brexit are very anti-immigration because "they" are stealing jobs, places in school, medical services, etc. and are generally a drain on social services.

If it happens it would play directly into Trump's message and constituency and probably strengthen his anti-immigration platform.

[Corporate666]

16. Not my perception

it's not about immigration - it's about governance.

People feel that technocrats in Europe are making the rules for them, and they have no vote on those people or on the rules that are being implemented.

Some of the rules are outright lunacy.

I think the UK would be substantially better off leaving the EU than being part of it. The same arguments were made when they kept the pound over adopting the Euro, and that very well for them. I don't see that Britain gained much from joining the EU - certainly little if anything over what they would have gained without the EU. But they have been saddled with layers of regulation and bureaucracy that are shockingly onerous.

[truebrit71]

23. Total bollocks.

It is being championed by the British version of the tea party. It is almost entirely anti-immigrant. Could the deal Britain gets be better? Absolutely, but the answer isn't to leave the EU. That would be akin to amputating the entire leg for an ingrown toenail....

[Corporate666]

33. I disagree

Everyone I know who is in favor of leaving the EU isn't anti-immigrant, the vast majority of comments I hear are about economics and being tired with Brussels technocrats thinking up new rules and regulations.

I think that what Britain puts into the EU is vastly greater than what they get out (some have to give more for some to get more - simple math) and Britain would do well do ditch the EU. I will be voting in favor of a Brexit and it has nothing to do with immigrants.

[auntpurl]

37. Where do you live?

If you live in the US, and you don't live in one of the Northeast/Midwest states, or California, you are benefitting from their economy. If you do live in one of those states, you are already propping up the economies of less well-off states, and I bet you don't complain about it. This is what we do in an enlightened world - the richer states/countries give more.

If you live in the UK, well, you don't travel in my circles, that's for sure.

[former9thward]

56. I don't live in one of those states and our economy is doing just fine.

We are not "propped up" by those states. But that is besides the point. States are not nations. Nations in the EU have completely different histories and cultures. They do not share the same values. To suggest they can be one economy is false optimism.

[auntpurl]

58. Well, I'm very pleased you won't get to vote in the referendum.

I'll leave it at that.

[Corporate666]

60. I spend my time between

the UK and USA, I have citizenship in both.

I do not believe the EU is analogous to the USA. The cultures of individual EU countries is vastly different, and each individual country is MUCH more independent than any US state. Therefore, being in the EU adds a lot of bureaucracy. They need to revise the EU setup - it's already had a few serious issues crop up and they are running out of bandaids.

Sure, there are some that dislike being in the EU due to being against immigration. But it's not xenophobia from what I have seen - it's a brush used to unfairly paint all Brexit supporters, and equally inappropriate as those who say liberals are lazy handout-seekers or republicans are racists.

[OnDoutside]

53. UKIP are only a side show, this wouldn't have come about but for the split amongst the Tories.

The only positive is that this will kill the issue, if Remain wins (which it should), and the Tories will be in disarray.

[muriel_volestrangler]

38. Here's what the trade unions think about the "layers of regulation and bureaucracy"

that you think are "shockingly onerous":

Working people will have a big stake in the referendum because workers’ rights are on the line. The TUC is concerned that leaving the EU puts at risk many vital workplace rights currently underpinned by EU law – paid holidays, extra maternity rights and better conditions for part-time workers, as well as many better jobs in export-reliant industries.
RESOURCES
WORKERS' RIGHTS: Brexit impact
An independent legal opinion from Michael Ford QC identifies the dangers of Britain leaving the EU for working people.
BETTER OFF IN - Working people and the case for remaining in the ​EU
This paper looks at the likely impact of Brexit on the core concern of trade unions: good jobs with decent pay.​
A BIG DECISION FOR WORKERS - Interactive guide
Guide to help you understand the main issues that affect working people.
THE NHS: How Brexit could affect our health service
BRITISH STEEL: Why Brexit won’t save our steel
HEALTH AND SAFETY:
- What Brexit would mean
- The benefits for UK workers
WOMEN’S RIGHTS: The risks of Brexit
Women workers’ rights and the risks of Brexit​
This report outlines 20 ways in which EU law has improved the rights of working women in the UK
WORKING PARENTS & CARERS - Risks of Brexit​
​RACE EQUALITY: The risks of Brexit
FREE MOVEMENT IS A TWO-WAY STREET - Brexit would risk it all
PART-TIME AND TEMPORARY WORKERS - Risks of Brexit​
RIGHTS FOR OUTSOURCED WORKERS​ - Risks of Brexit
VIDEOS
The EU referendum: A big decision. Don't risk it! - Explanatory animation
Stuart's story: Don't risk our car industry by leaving the EU

https://www.tuc.org.uk/EUref

[LanternWaste]

39. What data is your perception predicated on?

What objective data is your perception predicated on?

[Corporate666]

62. The most telling one

is that the vote in favor of leaving the EU has always been strong, even before it was the EU. Certainly not as strong as it is this year, but it has trended from about 1/3rd in favor to about 1/2 in favor steadily over the years. Certainly, there is an immigration portion to it, and a governance portion to it. The portion for whom immigration is an issue aren't just xenophobes - those I've seen and heard expressing their viewpoints have relevant points. And Cameron has even taken on some of those relevant points in his promises to extract a better deal from the EU.

I also note that most of the rest of the EU is strongly opposed to the UK getting a better deal than it has, and would rather they leave - and also that Cameron has been pretty much unsuccessful in getting the things he said he'd get.

Painting it as a bunch of xenophobes is like saying those that support Trump are just a bunch of racists. I am not saying you said that, of course, just talking in generalities. But it's a lazy charge to make that doesn't address real and legitimate issues of the voters.

My .02

[Agnosticsherbet]

3. I think it's a bad idea. I am not into nationalism.

The world is safer with strong international organizations.

I think it will happen.

It will weaken the European Union and possibly lead to its disolution. It will likely cause at least a mild recession in England and hurt the Euro.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

4. Brexit is a suicide pact

The UK needs the EU a lot more than the EU needs the UK and when forced to choose a lot of British industry is going to decide that their future is brighter with the EU and vote with their feet.

The impact on the US will be a complicated reckoning with the UK that nobody really wants. Traditionally bilateral negotiations between the US and UK were pretty ugly affairs because of entrenched interests on both sides.

[TampaAnimusVortex]

15. I suggest watching the "Brexit Movie" - UK is being crushed by the EU currently

[Zynx]

22. That's the UKIP view of it. It's also totally wrong.

[truebrit71]

24. Absolute horseshit.

Nigel Fucking Farage? Gimme a break...

[TampaAnimusVortex]

34. Exactly which point made are you refuting and with what evidence? /nt

[whatthehey]

41. Well Farage being the British version of Trump is a good start.

[TampaAnimusVortex]

44. I didn't see that point in the video.

What time stamp is that?

[whatthehey]

72. All of it. I don't worry about refuting Icke's lizard people claims either

Some people have no credibility prima facie.

[muriel_volestrangler]

42. "UK is being crushed by the EU currently" - that's the horseshit

The UK is doing fine. The EU is a good influence on workers' rights for the UK, and for human rights too. The general agreement among economists (eg the IFS) is that the UK benefits from the single market.

Do you live in the UK? I do, and I don't remember you commenting much in the UK forum, so I suspect you don't. That you link to the Farage-based "Brexit: The Movie" indicates you've been reading some very dodgy people. The filmmaker, Martin Durkin, is infamous for his lying 'documentaries':

Brexit: The Movie is a very bad film, but not for the reasons you might think. And its red carpet gala premiere at the Leicester Square Odeon was a grim Boschian fever-dreamscape, but not in the way I'd expected. If you're reading this, chances are you're one of those awful smug metropolitan liberals, and you have a fairly decent idea what a Brexiter looks like. They're the bitter middle-aged, someone perched on the edge of civilisation in some declining seaside town where they collect snowglobes and prejudices and slowly crumble, blaming every problem they see on the feckless foreigners. And that person was there, complete with a 1970s moustache and flashing a T-shirt that read "it's time to break away" for the cameras. Inside the cinema, a man in a bright purple suit, a Ukip rosette, and chrome-shiny loafers stood a little gormlessly in the middle of the lobby, waiting for someone to interview him. But most of those who'd slipped on their bowties to watch a feature-length film about leaving the EU were reactionaries of a different timbre. The crowd was full of what appeared to be sixth-formers, gangly with pinched-in faces, still growing into their dinner jackets, the kind of kids who occasionally exclaim "huzzah!" without any sense of shame.

Between them were the potato-headed men with their scabbed, port-stained faces and their leathery wives, draped generously in tan cloth and ancestral privilege. "My word", one exclaimed after a jostling collision. "I can't have seen you since Balliol." Another chance encounter was more familiar. "I saw you in the Lords yesterday", said one potato to another. "There should be a special entrance here for peers of the realm." Not that it would have been any less crowded. A little further off, another peer of the realm, the 12th Baron Monson, was touting a spare ticket for £20. This is the face of our new social insurgency. Brexit is the upper classes in revolt.


The film itself tried to paint a different picture. It's the latest production from auteur Martin Durkin, best known for his controversial (and comprehensively debunked) 2007 documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle, and somewhat less known for an episode of NASA's Unexplained Files titled "Did We Nuke Jupiter?". This latest venture is a crowdfunded political broadcast (almost half of its £100,000 budget came from a single hedge fund manager); after the London premiere it's to be released free on the internet, chopped into easily tweetable slices, with the aim of convincing the undecided to vote us out of the EU come 23rd of June. Before the showing, Durkin jumped up onto the stage to give a few remarks. "There's a lot of you here," he said. "Hurrah!" The audience shouted "hurrah!" in return. I was in Hell.
...
But mostly, there are talking heads; a lot of talking heads. Nigel Farage makes his first appearance a few seconds in, looking like a greased-up newt; the audience bursts into wild applause, and there's more clapping every time he appears on screen, which fortunately means that you can't really hear what he's saying. There's James Delingpole. There's Melanie Philips. Weirdly, all the chinless squawkers are filmed from slightly below, making their heads look even more like puffed-up party balloons. Tony Blair gets boos and hisses. Footage of Ted Heath signing Britain into the European Economic Community has someone shouting "nonce!" Every rude swear was met with uproarious laughter. This isn't a documentary, it's panto.

https://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/brexit-the-movie-review-sam-kriss-martin-durkin

Nigel Farage? James Delingpole? Melanie Philips? These people alone are reason to reject 'Brexit'. Just search for any mention of them on DU. They have no redeeming features whatsoever. They are the Donald Trumps of the UK.

BREXIT: THE MOVIE IS A LIBERTARIAN'S WET DREAM

There’s not much that unites everyone in Britain’s fractious “Brexit” campaigns, but if there’s one point they all agree on, it’s the claim to be “anti-establishment.” From Eton-educated former London Mayor Boris Johnson to sometime City trader and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Nigel Farage, “Leave” campaigners like to portray themselves as revolting against a shadowy elite.

So Newsweek experienced a little cognitive dissonance at the Wednesday night premiere of pro-Leave documentary Brexit: The Movie at the Odeon cinema in London’s Leicester Square. The venue recently hosted Ben Affleck for the first U.K. outing of Batman V Superman, and the Brexiters were determined to have their own red carpet experience. The champagne poured forth both before and after (when the crowd gossiped to pumping trance music at the “glamorous and decadent” W Hotel bar nearby). The guest list included Margaret Thatcher’s former Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson and ex- Daily Telegraph editor Charles Moore. An aide even told shy Tory MEP Daniel Hannan, who entered through a side door, to go out and come back in properly for the benefit of the waiting paparazzi.
...
In some ways this isn’t surprising. The likes of UKIP MEP Douglas Carswell (who features in the film) and Vote Leave campaign director Dominic Cummings have often argued for a classical liberal Brexit vision. Farage is said to hold similar views privately. But the UKIP leader long ago grasped that voters who don’t obsess over trade regulations need other issues to latch on to. He’s always preferred immigration, the likes of Boris Johnson and Michael Gove more often go for the notion of “sovereignty.” (When Newsweek put this to Farage after the film, he dismissed the criticism: “There are lots of different arguments about this,” he said, “That Brexit movie is designed very much at the 5.2 million men and women running small businesses”).

But Brexit: The Movie is perhaps best understood as Britain’s Euroskeptic community talking to itself. It certainly excited the faithful, who whooped through much of Wednesday’s showing, except the bit of archive footage showing former Prime Minister Ted Heath taking the country into the then-EEC, when they shouted “Judas!” And for that, it’s worth seeing. As Newsweek watched Tories, Ukippers and the odd maverick Labourite hobnobbing under the afterparty’s neon lights, the impression was of a new establishment waiting to take on the mantle after June 23. After Brexit, our new overlords might be obsessed with tearing up rules while the old lot love to make them. But in many ways, they don’t look so different. As they might put it in Brussels: plus ça change.

http://europe.newsweek.com/brexit-movie-review-nigel-farage-michael-gove-douglas-carswell-eu-referendum-459234

‘Brexit - The Movie’ Paints a Thatcherite Dream Of Post-EU Britain

The central thrust of the film was the EU has too many regulations, and too many regulations stifles growth.

Many of the talking heads talked fondly of the Industrial Revolution - a time when British entrepreneurship and a lack of state intervention made the UK the workshop of the world.

Strangely, no one mentioned the huge exploitation of workers, including children, which that entailed. Perhaps the Sadlers Committee Report of 1832, which revealed the dire treatment of children in textiles mills and factories, was a piece of fiction and it was all peace, love and money during the Industrial Revolution.

Nor in the film was there any talk of workers’ rights, common security goals or countries coming together to combat issues such as climate change - all things EU remainers point to as reasons to stay in.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/owen-bennett/brexit-the-movie-_b_9915388.html

[TampaAnimusVortex]

45. Lots of ad hominem there, not a lot of substance.

Such as..

"Strangely, no one mentioned the huge exploitation of workers, including children, which that entailed. Perhaps the Sadlers Committee Report of 1832, which revealed the dire treatment of children in textiles mills and factories, was a piece of fiction and it was all peace, love and money during the Industrial Revolution. "

Is it your contention that they want to exit because they want to re-enable child labor? Sorry, but I'm having a bit of trouble digesting hyperbolic silliness like that. I do however take their point as to losing a great deal of sovereignty by giving unaccountable and unelected bureaucrats authoritarian control over their lives with little or no recourse. If you can't control the people who control your life, your in some serious trouble. Maybe instead of worrying about which partisan side you should come down on to appease the party gods, you might want to try and use logic and independent thinking.

[muriel_volestrangler]

46. Then the talking heads in the movie shouldn't mention the Industrial Revolution

Really, if you're going to base your opinion on Brexit based on a rejoinder by a Huff Post reviewer to part of a film, then I'm glad you don't have a vote in the matter, because you're looking at a trivial remark rather than the facts.

Maybe instead of worrying about which partisan side you should come down on to appease libertarians, you might want to try and use logic and independent thinking.

I am frankly shocked to find a poster here supporting people like Nigel Farage, and putting up libertarian propaganda like "Brexit: The Movie". It's strictly for right wing Thatcher worshippers. You might think you're an 'independent thinker' for that, I suppose. It's contrary to common decency, at least.

There is a sort of left wing case to be made for leaving the EU, but you haven't even tried, so far. You're following the worst of the British right wing. Who knows why.

[TampaAnimusVortex]

47. Again with the ad hominems and little substance

So it's your position that any country should remain a part of a union regardless of the circumstances?

Correct, I do not live there and have less than a comprehensive understanding of UK politics, but if someone is making the point that the populace has little control over these indirect leaders, maybe you should be addressing that issue instead of just tossing names.

You might not care if that is or isn't the case, but to just brush aside what appears to be (last poll I looked at) the majority of people's opinions as unimportant, then maybe the problem is your simply out of touch with their real concerns. Maybe you should be asking why people feel threatened by the union and more comfortable with local rule?

[muriel_volestrangler]

48. The polls are close; but, then again, the polls for American president are close

That doesn't mean you can't point out that Trump is a bigoted conman, and the people who say they'll vote for him are largely doing so out of their own bigotry. Similarly, trying to stop immigration is a prime concern of the Brexiters:

The leave campaign appears to have picked up three percentage points. The potential in the leave campaign’s strategy is reflected in responses suggesting that two in five voters (41%) cite immigration as one of their two most important issues when deciding how to vote. Just over a third (35%) cite Britain’s ability to make its own laws without EU interference and 29% cite the impact of leaving on the UK economy.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/04/poll-eu-brexit-lead-opinium

See #38 for the trade unions reasoning of why staying in is the best idea.

The main thing is that the 'someone' you have shown here are right wing people whose concerns are about getting less regulation and rights, and more profit for corporations.

[auntpurl]

36. You may not know this, but Nigel Farage (the guy in the film) is the UK's slightly less fascist

version of Donald Trump. I wouldn't be looking to him for anything resembling the truth. He's not even the head of his own shitty isolationist party anymore.

[GoneOffShore]

40. Ah, words from the head Kipper. The British equivalent of the Tea Baggers.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

67. Post-War Britian did a pretty good job of smothering themselves

The Pro-Brexit position boils down to they, 21st Century Britain are just so damn important that the Europeans will independently give them everything they have now and more and they will be able to negotiate better deals directly with the US combined with an Eastern European welfare queen narrative.

When Britain joined the European Union they needed to be saved from themselves. Britain's standing in the modern world is exclusively because of their role in the European Union. Not the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers that have no fighters or inconsequential colonial anachronisms.

The problem with Brexit is painfully simple, what the old Tory's prefer is really irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. The commanding heights of the British economy will vote with their feet.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

5. Rule Britannia!

We are the greatest nation in the history of civilization. Europe can bugger off.

[auntpurl]

6. "One Hour of Patriotic British Music" sounds like a threat

[Iggo]

57. Is it all the same song?

[auntpurl]

7. I hope it will not happen.

I live here. Lived here for a long time now, have British and French relatives.

It's a terrible idea. Also, when Putin, Le Pen, and Trump are all on the same side of something, it's a pretty safe bet to be on the other side.

I'm not allowed to vote, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[leftynyc]

9. What are the polls saying?

From what we're hearing here, it's a very tight battle.

[auntpurl]

11. Same here.

Very tight, too close to call.

It's even hard to tell where people are on the issue judging by their politics. Labour is in the Remain camp, but so's David Cameron.

Many people have told me they're not sure they'll even vote in the referendum because neither side has done a good job explaining what will actually happen if we leave/stay - what will the consequences be? What are the benefits and the negatives for each side? Many people don't understand the issue very well.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

30. You had to wonder if this was the outcome when GB failed to adapt the Euro

It's like they had one foot in the EU and one foot out.

[auntpurl]

35. To be fair, the UK contributes a lot financially to the EU

and if we didn't have our own currency, we would have been dragged down with the Greece/Spain mess the way Germany has.

I say this, to be clear, as a strong proponent to Remain. But we give a lot - as we should, we are a fairly rich country comparatively speaking.

[AngryAmish]

10. 1. I am hoping for it.

2. Unknown.

3. Little impact on US.

I think it is the best hope for a unified Ireland.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

13. I think unified Ireland is coming anyway

I think England is becoming increasingly comfortable that the Protestants won't be persecuted/have their property seized/etc. My guess is sometime in the next decade.

[geek tragedy]

20. Issue is whether the Protestants are comfortable. nt

[Algernon Moncrieff]

27. I think they are/will be

Ireland proper has -- how shall I put this -- an evolving relationship with Mother Church. I think a united Ireland with tolerance for all will be a reality.

[geek tragedy]

31. I hope you're right, nt

[OnDoutside]

55. I don't think so, as there's little demand for it in the Republic of Ireland. Financially it would

cost too much to take on the north, which is heavily dependent on subsidies from London. A bit of a Puerto Rico really.

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. I hope it won't happen, but it is very close

Wikipedia is the best list of polls: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum#Standard_polling_on_EU_membership

There has been a notable difference in the results of online and telephone polls. Separating them out, telephone polls have averaged out at about an 8% lead for Remain, unchanged over the past few months - but the variation in results is a bit more than online polls. Online, it's gone from a dead heat a couple of months ago to a Leave lead of 1 or 2%.

What produces this difference, no one has yet worked out. It could be that people who sign up to do online polls are more enthusiastic, and the Leavers are generally more passionate. It's unlikely to be an age thing - there's a consistent indication that the younger you are, the more likely you vote Remain.

Which brings up the registration levels; although it is in theory a legal duty to register to vote (it also produces the lists from which jury service is drawn), many people don't, especially those who move house regularly, which means fewer younger people are registered. There was a push to get people to register - you can do it online, with your National Insurance number (equivalent of the SSN in the USA), before the closing time of the end of Tuesday just gone. And so there was a surge in the use of the website, which crashed it. They've now extended the registration period until midnight tonight. Hopefully, this will get more young people registered, and they'll have enough enthusiasm to vote Remain in a couple of weeks' time.

Impact on the US? Not much, I'd think. Some financial companies may look at transferring some personnel from London to somewhere in the EU (Amsterdam has been suggested on the grounds of widespread English usage, while still being a nice place; Dublin might be a destination too). It would complicate the TTIP negotiations, since that's been with Britain as part of the EU so far. The Brexiters are mostly confident they'd negotiate low-barrier agreements with the USA and other countries - very few see it as a way to set up tariffs or controls.

[Blue_Tires]

17. Brexit?

1. I think it's kind of ironic, given that Britain has bent over backwards to persuade other countries to stay in (most recently Greece)

2. Not sure (personally, I don't want it to happen)

3. Impossible for me to predict...

[whatthehey]

18. Stupid. Doubt it but possible. Small inconvenience.

[geek tragedy]

19. Bad idea. Bad bad idea.

If nothing else, it very well could push the Scots out of the UK and into the EU.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

28. ...and if the Scots go, it's likely that the Welsh will want out

Last edited Thu Jun 9, 2016, 11:45 PM - Edit history (1)

Even (less likely) the Cornish might seek independence.

You then have to wonder if this will renew and embolden Quebec to again seek an exit from Canada?

[BooScout]

65. Not to be the spelling police...

But it's Welsh....not Welch. There's a difference, lol

[Algernon Moncrieff]

71. Sorry!

[geek tragedy]

68. Mineral rights would revert to the indigenous people's if Q secedes nt

[KamaAina]

64. Scotland has a formidable entry barrier into the EU.

Any EU member state can veto a new admission. In Scotland's case, that would likely be Spain, which would be terrified that admitting Scotland would embolden their own Catalan and Basque separatists.

[Yavin4]

21. I don't know what it is, but it sounds yummy.

Is it some kind of breakfast treat?

[Algernon Moncrieff]

29. It's like the breakfast you get at Starbucks at the airport before leaving?

[smirkymonkey]

59. I hear they're lovely with tea

[KamaAina]

26. 1) Pretty negative. 2) It's starting to look more likely.

3) I'm more worried about the impact on the UK and the EU.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

32. The CNBC types feel that global recession follows an EU exit.

I worry about chain reaction effects.

[KamaAina]

43. Hmmm. Upon further reflection, I was thinking

a) the Brexit would ding the EU as a giant trading bloc, thus elevating the USA's status; and
b) it would tend to drive the UK toward trading more with us.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

49. 1) Terrified, 2) Maybe, 3) Not much

Brexit would be an utter catastrophe for us here in the UK, but I can't see many ways it would affect the USA.

Right now I think it's more likely than not that we'll stay in the EU, but not by much. My fingers are crossed.

I won't be able to vote in person, but I've arranged for a proxy vote, and made doubly certain that she will vote to remain.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

50. I think it sounds like some sort of edible breakfast bar.

Sort of like Biscoff.

[BooScout]

66. I love those!

I stock up on them every time we go to Spain. I wish I could find them here in the UK.

[pampango]

51. "Trump breaks with Obama (Hillary and Bernie too) on Brexit"

Britain wouldn't be hurt "at all" in terms of trade negotiations with the United States if it exited the European Union, Donald Trump says.

President Barack Obama had warned in an April visit to London that Britain would move to "the back of the queue" in negotiating trade deals with the United States should it exit the European Union.

He said a trade deal between the two countries could still happen, "but it's not going to happen any time soon because our focus is in negotiating with a big bloc, the European Union, to get a trade agreement done."

"Britain's such a great ally that they went into things that they shouldn't have gone into -- like, as an example, going into Iraq, OK? With me, they'll always been treated fantastically," he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/15/politics/donald-trump-obama-brexit/

Britain's unions ready to join fight to stay in European Union, top official says

Britain's trade unions are close to joining the push to keep the country in the European Union, bringing grass-roots muscle to a fight that has so far been dominated by big business and bankers, the head of the country's largest union group said. ... The TUC, which represents most unions, remains a political force with close ties to the opposition Labour Party which is broadly supportive of EU membership.

Unions will fight to stay in, emphasizing jobs and workers' rights, Frances O'Grady, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, told Reuters in an interview. "What we need to do is start putting rights and jobs center stage in the campaign debate," O'Grady said. "The bulk of the rights at work that matter to us originated in the European Union."

The EU-mandated protections for workers would be at risk if Britain votes to leave the EU. Many lawmakers in Cameron's Conservative Party resent them as an embodiment of EU over-reach into the affairs of member states.

For the TUC, by contrast, they are sacrosanct. "A Brexit would have massive implications for jobs, rights, and the very fabric of the UK," O'Grady said, referring to a possible British exit. "If you take that floor away, workers will be worse off. It's a hell of a gamble for those, who want to leave Europe, to depend on particularly the government we have now to protect the rights on which so many people's working lives depend."

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-unions-idUSKCN0V517H

[snot]

54. From an economic point of view,

many countries (e.g., Greece) would be/have been better off controlling their own currencies.

Apart from that, there are pros and cons. But I generally dislike forms of government that are as unaccountable to voters as the EU's seems to be.

[BooScout]

63. I live in the UK....

1. If I could vote I would vote against it. I can't vote since I retain my US citizenship.
2. I think it probably won't happen.....but no one really knows. I think a lot of people won't make up their mind until the day they vote.
3. It could impact the US by destabilizing Europe and that isn't in America's best interests at all. It could also affect the US election with Trump coming out ahead on that issue.....especially in regards to the immigrant crisis in Europe right now. If Brexit does happen....expect Trump to jump on it.

[struggle4progress]

69. 1914 and 1939 suggest to me that the world is safer with a unified Europe

[Spider Jerusalem]

70. Let's see:

1) I think that the whole referendum thing is idiocy; Cameron attempting to appease the Eurosceptic wing of the Tory party, nothing more. I think that voting to leave would be a mistake. I sincerely hope that the result is "Remain", not only because as a UK resident I think that the UK as a whole and the part of the UK I live in benefit more from EU membership than not, but also because, after so very publically endorsing "Leave" one hopes that a spectacular defeat will put an end to the looming spectre of Boris Johnson as future Tory leader and PM.

2) I don't know; I think it'll be close. I hope it doesn't, but I fear it may.

3) The financial uncertainty is something that could trigger a global recession (major fall in the currency of the world's fifth-largest economy, which is also home to a significant portion of the global financial industry? Yeah, that won't go well...)