As a British citizen, I am oscillating between sadness and rage: Brexit is the worst of times

[TubbersUK]

38. I've been in the midst of it for weeks

I know exactly what it's about unfortunately. The central and recurring issue was, sadly, immigration - Farage and his noxious colleagues made quite sure of that.

That's not to say that working people and families in the UK aren't struggling, millions are and have been for years - including many members of my own family. It's frankly heartbreaking to see them juggling multiple low paid, insecure jobs and still sink into debt and despondency. The periods on benefits are unspeakable.

How has this happened? Because of the actions and inaction of successive UK governments. Because, Conservatives in particular, believe that the rich are motivated to work hard by more money and the poor by less money. Because they and the Blairites deliberately eroded the safety net while neglecting to plan, invest and manage the economy in the best interests of us all. You know the form. UK Conservatives and their ilk need no encouragement to put the bite on the most vulnerable and are prepared to justify it in any way they can.

Yet, they didn't really get fingered for any of this during the referendum campaign. Instead, Brexit made sure that the EU (which goodness knows is an imperfect thing) took the flack for the erosion of our quality of life - and the vehicle they used to do that was immigration. They threw in some other tidbits like imaginary £350,000,000 payments into EU coffers, but they majored on immigration. It's a time-honoured technique and, based on the many Brexit voters I've encountered, it worked.

That is my experience.