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Brexit – the storm rages on

1
I wrote this just over a year ago, a week after the Brexit vote. So much has happened since then and yet I feel like we are still in the same predicament. The storm clouds have yet to clear…

It’s been a long, draining week, but I have finally found what I have been looking for. I have found a Leave voter who is willing to talk openly and without fear about her decision. She is a former barrister; bright, well educated and passionate about this country. There must be many more like her. You need to speak up. We need to hear your voice, get to grips

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with your thinking, because you have taken us on a journey that will define all of our futures.

I grew up messing about on boats, so I am going to use a sailing analogy to explain why the Leave camp need to start this intelligent conversation. Imagine you are on a beach, standing shoulder to shoulder with a friend. Both of you are looking out to a turbulent sea. The wind is picking up. There is a small dinghy at the edge of the water, rigged and ready to go. It is an old boat, but it has good sails and has withstood many a storm in the past.

You

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have to make a decision: do you stay, or do you go? Your friend decides to go. Her decision wins, because she is bigger. That is democracy. And so, reluctantly, your stomach filled with dread, you step into that boat and go. A few metres from the shore, you realise the rudder is broken. You look at your friend, your crew, and you say: “Why did you decide to leave the safety of the shore? Can’t you see the waves are getting bigger? We can’t steer this boat without a rudder. We are going to capsize.”

A decent crew wouldn’t accuse you of having

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a tantrum. She wouldn’t label you “out of touch”, tell you everything will be “fine”, that you need to ignore the water pouring in over the sides, that you need to “move on”.

My barrister friend was a decent crew last night. She doesn’t know where our little boat is going but she has faith that on the other side there is a bigger, better beach. I have to believe her, or at least go along with her thinking. I have no other choice. She is as worried as me. But we both know that we can sail a boat without a rudder if we work together and

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use our sails to steer. I think her decision to sail into the unknown is madness. But the least we can do is have intelligent conversation about how the hell we’re going to get to the other side.

Her reasons are linked to the thorny issues of sovereignty and regulation. For me, the price we had to pay to gain more control over these areas was too high. I was not prepared to sacrifice our economy, freedom of movement and access to the free market. It is OK to disagree. I hail from Italy and we all know that Italians love a good fight.

Like many of

SelfishMother.com
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the 48%, I was heartbroken when I woke up last Friday morning to discover my country had decided to rip up decades of European cooperation. We are living through a pivotal time in our history. Day after shocking day since then I have watched my country implode. As Alistair Darling bluntly put it a few days ago: “There’s no government, there’s no opposition and those who got us in this mess have disappeared.”

This is not the time to be reserved. We can’t just shrug our shoulders and hope our politicians know what they’re doing. Because they

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clearly don’t. There won’t be any left at the rate we’re going. It is becoming increasingly obvious we are at the mercy of a big power game between a bunch of posh boys. They have gambled with our country and lost.
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- 12 Jul 17

I wrote this just over a year ago, a week after the Brexit vote. So much has happened since then and yet I feel like we are still in the same predicament. The storm clouds have yet to clear…

It’s been a long, draining week, but I have finally found what I have been looking for. I have found a Leave voter who is willing to talk openly and without fear about her decision. She is a former barrister; bright, well educated and passionate about this country. There must be many more like her. You need to speak up. We need to hear your voice, get to grips with your thinking, because you have taken us on a journey that will define all of our futures.

I grew up messing about on boats, so I am going to use a sailing analogy to explain why the Leave camp need to start this intelligent conversation. Imagine you are on a beach, standing shoulder to shoulder with a friend. Both of you are looking out to a turbulent sea. The wind is picking up. There is a small dinghy at the edge of the water, rigged and ready to go. It is an old boat, but it has good sails and has withstood many a storm in the past.

You have to make a decision: do you stay, or do you go? Your friend decides to go. Her decision wins, because she is bigger. That is democracy. And so, reluctantly, your stomach filled with dread, you step into that boat and go. A few metres from the shore, you realise the rudder is broken. You look at your friend, your crew, and you say: “Why did you decide to leave the safety of the shore? Can’t you see the waves are getting bigger? We can’t steer this boat without a rudder. We are going to capsize.”

A decent crew wouldn’t accuse you of having a tantrum. She wouldn’t label you “out of touch”, tell you everything will be “fine”, that you need to ignore the water pouring in over the sides, that you need to “move on”.

My barrister friend was a decent crew last night. She doesn’t know where our little boat is going but she has faith that on the other side there is a bigger, better beach. I have to believe her, or at least go along with her thinking. I have no other choice. She is as worried as me. But we both know that we can sail a boat without a rudder if we work together and use our sails to steer. I think her decision to sail into the unknown is madness. But the least we can do is have intelligent conversation about how the hell we’re going to get to the other side.

Her reasons are linked to the thorny issues of sovereignty and regulation. For me, the price we had to pay to gain more control over these areas was too high. I was not prepared to sacrifice our economy, freedom of movement and access to the free market. It is OK to disagree. I hail from Italy and we all know that Italians love a good fight.

Like many of the 48%, I was heartbroken when I woke up last Friday morning to discover my country had decided to rip up decades of European cooperation. We are living through a pivotal time in our history. Day after shocking day since then I have watched my country implode. As Alistair Darling bluntly put it a few days ago: “There’s no government, there’s no opposition and those who got us in this mess have disappeared.”

This is not the time to be reserved. We can’t just shrug our shoulders and hope our politicians know what they’re doing. Because they clearly don’t. There won’t be any left at the rate we’re going. It is becoming increasingly obvious we are at the mercy of a big power game between a bunch of posh boys. They have gambled with our country and lost.

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I am a freelance journalist and mother of three utterly delicious, yet totally infuriating girls. Still trying to figure out the work/ life/ kids balance. Born in Portsmouth to an Italian daddy and English mummy, who we lost to Cancer far too early. I mourn her and miss her daily. Have lived in London, Rome and Sao Paolo. Currently feeling unsettled on England's painfully divided South coast. Partial to a glass of wine.

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