Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

UK votes to leave EU

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

591–600 of 1001 posts

Re: UK votes to leave EU

#591

Post by tonyedgecombe »

zghst wrote: post #358
imperio59 wrote: post #340

The most interesting thing is the age distribution of votes: HOW AGES VOTED (YouGov poll) 18-24: 75% Remain 25-49: 56% Remain 50-64: 44% Remain 65+: 39% Remain Read into it what you wish, but this really sucks for the younger generation who did not want this yet will be stuck with this decision, likely for their entire lifetime.

I find the younger are usually more naive and more easily manipulated. They're young, they'll live and adapt

My children are much more engaged with all the issues than my parents who continually parrot what they have read in the papers without any critical thought. I don't think this is unsual.

Re: UK votes to leave EU

#592

Post by etatoby »

rvanmil wrote: post #529
_ph_ wrote: post #468

A very sad day for everyone in Europe. The EU is not only about trade regulations, but about a continent who had a not very peaceful history finally growing together. The freedom of movement for European citizens was not only "convenient" but in fact an important civil right. When you live or have a business in one state of the US, you are bound to local regulations of course, but being part of the US granted you a l…

I don't think an undemocratic government is required to achieve freedom of movement across the EU states. The problem however is that this is the only choice we have right now (and I sincerely hope the brexit will lead to a more democratic EU, instead of a collapse). Personally I think an undemocratic central government limits your freedom a lot more than any other benefits that might come from supporting such a gove…

> I sincerely hope the brexit will lead to a more democratic EU, instead of a collapse

I really hope so. Right now most decisions are taken by the Commission and the ECB, which are neither directly nor indirectly elected by the people. A bit more democracy would help here.

Although I'm a firm believer that too much democracy is bad: see the topic of the day, where old and/or provincial people (fact) just voted hundreds of rights away from the younger generation and from urban people.

I'm sure our media will widely publicize any and all troubles brits will face in the coming months / years by not being part of our union and this will hopefully help reduce support for the most troublesome nationalist parties.

On the other hand, the UK never really played fair with the rest of us, what with keeping their own coin and having "tax haven" rates. So I'm not entirely sorry that they left. I'm sad for their younger people, of which I personally met a few in many occasions. This was a decision made against their will, which is never a good thing.

Re: UK votes to leave EU

#593

Post by Khaine »

cabalamat wrote: post #568

> What culture do Germans, Greeks, Latvians, Bulgarians, Fins, and Spaniards share? The one that used to be called the Roman Empire, then Christendom, and is now called Western Civilisation. It is also arguably the greatest achievement of the human species.

Yeah and it died with the Western Roman Empire

Re: UK votes to leave EU

#594

Post by spraak »

cabalamat wrote: post #568

> What culture do Germans, Greeks, Latvians, Bulgarians, Fins, and Spaniards share? The one that used to be called the Roman Empire, then Christendom, and is now called Western Civilisation. It is also arguably the greatest achievement of the human species.

> It is also arguably the greatest achievement of the human species.

Bleh, gross

Re: UK votes to leave EU

#595

Post by jjgreen »

a13n wrote: post #12

Can someone please give an unbiased summary of what this means and how it will impact the UK, Europe, and the rest of the world?

Scottish independence in 2 years, a 10 year recession for what's left of the UK, a 3rd ground war in Europe within 20 years.

Re: UK votes to leave EU

#596

Post by grondilu »

_ph_ wrote: post #468

A very sad day for everyone in Europe. The EU is not only about trade regulations, but about a continent who had a not very peaceful history finally growing together. The freedom of movement for European citizens was not only "convenient" but in fact an important civil right. When you live or have a business in one state of the US, you are bound to local regulations of course, but being part of the US granted you a l…

> I would guess no small part of them will try to move to the remaining EU states.

You seem to underestimate the language barrier. I once talked to a few British young people about which country they would like to move to and I recall they mentioned New Zealand and the US, none of them mentioned any country in continental Europe and when I asked why I got confirmation that language issues matter.

That's one reason among many why Europe can't quite work as a federation as the USA do.

Re: UK votes to leave EU

#597

Post by PythonicAlpha »

That is a clear vote against a Europe that is not about democracy or peace, but solely about trade regulations and the interests of big corporations.

The people in Europe see, how many regulations just come from Brussels to be just acknowledged by their own parliaments and the democratic process is just circumvented. They see, how much is just for the benefit of big corporations and not for their benefit.

In Germany, we see, how the European idea is misused by our own politicians to bring up laws that they would not dare to let be voted on in their own parliaments. They just go to Brussels, let the law be decided there without much democratic intervention and than the law comes back into our country to be just acknowledged without discussions.

The European idea is (was) a good one. A really united Europe would be a good thing and also a strong one. But that is just an idea and not the reality. We saw it with Greece. We are not united. In the end, every nation is just looking on their own benefits and money. We Germans really acted shamefully in this situation and we already have a big trench between northern and southern Europe. Old sentiments and even hatred is growing again in the EU.

The idea was, to have a Europe, where never again will be war. We are now steering in a direction, where wars are getting more likely again, this time because of the EU and the Euro.

Is it good, that UK leaves the EU? No, it is not.

The only thing, I hope is, that the politicians might learn a lesson from it or the whole EU will break.

Re: UK votes to leave EU

#599

Post by DonaldFisk »

acd wrote: post #499

It is sad that Britain leaves the EU. Britain is one of EUs founding countries. One can wonder how this on the long term affects peace in Europe if there are external challenges like a country being invaded. A good thing I can see is that British offshore banking will not be allowed to siphon off European tax payers money. In my country there is things like pharmacies where medicines are payed by the wellfare state t…

It wasn't one of EU's founding countries. Those were France, (West) Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

Re: UK votes to leave EU

#600

Post by gottam »

thesimpsons1022 wrote: post #93

anyone else concerned? The entire world seems to be moving towards fascist right wing nationalist politics. Whether it is the brexit, trumpism, or the austrian elections. Europe keeps getting destabilized. If i was an enemy of europe and freedom, id be cheering. Instead i'm deeply concerned.

its knee jerk reactions to the extremist left politics

the internet and the media has taken away a lot of the moderates

Post reply on HN