The "wise" political elite decided to hold the referendum on EU membership.

It's pretty clear the UK is not an isolated case...

In a traumatised Netherlands, faith in the EU is plummeting | Joris Luyendijk | Opinion | The Guardian

This paragraph seems particularly apt...

"Each of these debacles made the traditional elites look helpless and inept – in Wilders’ favourite slur, “naive”. When those same elites then implore their voters to trust them on the EU, the euro and immigration, many voters now think twice."

Actually, it wasn't the "wise" political elite who decided to hold the referendum. It was David Cameron who stuck it into the last election platform to make the Brexiters in his party toe the line until after he and Gorgeous George could sell the lie to the electorate that the economic meltdown was the previous Labour government's fault rather than their own.

It's evening again in France and benignity is still not a word in English or any other language of which I'm aware.

Benignity - definition of benignity by The Free Dictionary

Ah, I forgot American.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/de...lish/benignity

Enough, enough. Yes, I do believe that international cooperative groupings can have benign intent. Why don't you?

Do you think that the EU policy making bodies are a mystical conspiratorial sect intent on subverting democracy? I don't.

I mistrust centralized power.

As Novo pointed out, it was Cameron that was pushed into a referendum to control political in-fighting in the Tory partyand to quell UKIP's rising popularity.

The rising EU dissent in other EU nations is precisely why this referendum is turning into a time bomb. For all its democratic failings and budget wastage, the union has kept members from each other's throats for the past 60 years. If Brexit triggers a domino effect, who's to say where we will end up. The stability, cooperation and integration we take for granted now could easily be swept away in a decade or two. And for what gain? The economic arguments are impossible to pin down, so it really comes down to migration control. There is something to be said for that, but leaving the EU is not necessarily the way to achieve it.

Getting back to the wisdom of the masses:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/...d-anger---and/

Never understand this one. On the one hand I hear people going on about what will happen when all the Albanians get the right to move into the UK - well hang on a second, if in fact all European countries join the EU, the UKIP nightmare, and the UK then is no longer a member, doesn't that actually mean you will be dominated by a foreign entity?

How is the UK going to manage in that situation? If you don't want to be dominated by the EU, surely being in the EU and having a vote in what happens is the solution?

The only reason for this referendum is for the Tories to stuff UKIP. That was the deciding factor I reckon, because Cameron wanted Tory unity by having a referendum and it had the added bonus of: win or lose, UKIP is finished.

If they win, well the UK is independent of the EU, so they're done. If they lose, they've lost in the referendum they've wanted for years, so they're done.

Yes exactly, this is another one, the "burdensome EU regulation" - er... actually standardization of regulation has helped the UK. And let's face it, geographically the UK is still in Europe physically, and thus will have to comply with EU regulations in order to trade with member states. As is the case with Switzerland for example.

But as for sovereignty, the powers of the EU are limited by what the treaties allow and the UK has MEPs and is in the EU Council. I have no doubt many member states would breath a sigh of relief if the UK left because consensus would be easier to achieve. And that consensus would not be in the best interests of the UK, most likely.

Also I looked up the net migration figures - 5.46/1,000 for the UK from last year and 5.66/1,000 for Canada! But we control our immigration.

This migration argument is another one - all these UKIP and BNP types going on about it. Well, the EU member states are mostly Christian and white countries. "We can do more with the Commonwealth." Oh you mean those Commonwealth countries like India, Bangladesh and Pakistan whose immigrants you complain about?

Is Polish sausage really that great of a threat to British culture?

Anyway I think Eddie Izzard made the best comment about how EU regulation has done away with roaming charges.

Yes - of course, when you go and sit on a beach near some shithole in Spain it will cost you more to gaze into your phone if the UK leaves the EU.

Brexit defeated...

Speaking for myself, I'm on holiday to avoid that. Not that I've had anything other than a land line phone.

We arrived back from a 2 week holiday today to be greeted by our postal ballot letters for the EU referendum.

We shall send them back tomorrow - so glad to see they've arrived promptly.

Wow, the pound has tanked. 1.82 Clearly the jitters are setting in. Good timing for our forthcoming UK trip