UKH

This isn’t a Brexit thread! 

I realised today that since the referendum, I can’t remember anyone at work discussing Brexit. My exposure to people at work is pretty broad. Definitely nothing from direct colleagues or others in the organisation. The closest has been wondering whether to put in an EU grant proposal now, or leave it until after October. I interact with countless companies, and also organisations like NHS, and again, the closest was someone at Rolls Royce commenting that their aero engine order book has never been healthier since as they described it ‘the pound is now at a healthy level’.

So, let’s not discuss Brexit on this thread, it’s been done to death on UKC. I would be really interested to know what people think about our engagement with it. Does the media, especially social media completely distort the picture? I’m a die hard listener to Radio 5, and it’s on in the car and in the kitchen at home. Except recently I’ve turned it off. I used to make a point of watching the excellent ‘beyond 100 days’ on the bbc news channel. Not any more, there’s only binge watching boxed sets on Netflix now. Never hear about it in the local shops or pubs. Stopped reading newspapers online. 

How much of the country has gone ‘meh’ do you think?

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

It could be that people have just given up discussing it with people they want to maintain a relationship with due to its polarising nature. 

I discuss it on here because I don’t really care if anyone takes exception as I know very few from here in real life.

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

In answer to the question of how much of the country has gone 'meh', I think that varies according to how much media is ramping it up on any given day.

It has definitely had effects on my life though.  I'm off to Thailand next week, and having watching the pound depreciate against the Baht.  So far, it's eaten over £100 into my holiday fund over the last three months.  The pound/economy is tanking chaps!

I know several people who are somewhat anxious about supply of meds after October, specifically diabetics.  Yes, the are stockpiling (sensibly), but that is only short term.

I will no longer go to my local pub due to finding the right wing views intolerable, and I know that sooner or later I will vent my views which won't have a pretty outcome.

In my work I am very aware of increases in concern/anxiety amongst my clients, and it peaks notably when Brexit is live in the media.

I do think the last few days will have substantially cranked up tension.

In reply to gribble:

I went past a bloke in a hi-vis jacket and hard hat today, evidently on a cigarette break from the building site. He was on the phone and the words I caught as I walked by were ‘....balance between Parliament and the executive....’

jcm

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

Any politician worth their salt will do a photo op in a high viz vest and hard hat once in a while. Are you sure it wasn't an MP?

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

By chnace I was on a Sky News slots about Brexit early on this week. They wer doing a segment on Tuesday and they cut into a small group of business owners whom they have got in to reflect on what they thought about the current state of play.

It was funny becuase all were owners and all were remainers ( a reasonable reflection of what business owners generally think).There was one guy who had voted leave, he owned a microbrewery, but had now converted to being a remainer.I think SkyNews were a bit surprised because  Congleton overwhelmingly voted leave.

Anyway before the camerea cut in on us the interviewer blatently said to us; " if you want to cut in on anybody at anytime just do so, and really say what you think. " Needless to say we ignored him and let each other speak.

Made me realise that the press are having a field day and stoking the flames a bit too much.

Its all playing to 24 hour media too much.

I gave up on Question Time along time ago, its a bear pit.

I still discuss with Brexit friends, but we keep it low key and witty.

In reply to neilh:

Whilst working in the office in Holland I got the general impression that my Dutch colleagues where reluctant to bring up the subject of Brexit, I discussed this with some and they were worried they might find out I was a Brexiteer which they would have found embarrassing as Brexit is viewed in Holland pretty much the same as we view Trump and his rallies. 

In reply to neilh:

Interesting, if not that surprising.

Agreed about QT. But then I never could stand it, especially back when Robin Day presented it.

In reply to jethro kiernan:

That's actually quite surprising! Didn't they also vote to leave?

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

He's probably a highly qualified and educated Civil Engineer, not all us professionals wear push suits and wigs

In reply to gribble:

I’ve bought a few electric guitars from overseas over the last six months which have gradually been ramping up in price.

interesting thing is that import taxes don’t always get levied. Sometimes they come straight through. So much for hard borders!

In reply to ScottTalbot:

They haven’t had a referendum and after seeing the state we’re in they have absolutely no intention of holding one, the Dutch were along with the danish aligned with the UK on EU matters and whilst they have their Farage equivalent (Geert Wilders) the wealth gap is not as great in Holland so there is less incentive to burn the house down.

They generally in Holland feel a little disappointed and perplexed by the UK because of the big three in Europe the UK was the one they most aligned with.

In reply to kevin stephens:

And not all hiviz wearing techs are knuckle dragging morons.

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

I'm going to parkrun in the morning, then see some old friends. This weekend will be class.

Beware the bollotics.

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

We talk about it at work but then we're spending close to a hundred grand a month preparing for it on our product alone. God knows how much the whole company is spending.

In reply to jethro kiernan:

Isn't that because that's exactly how it is. Same underlying causes (disaffection of those left behind in the global economy), and the same exploitation of this by unprincipled politicians for their own ends, employing populist slogans, blaming foreigners etc. It's all part of the same trend and all very worrying. 

Martin

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

The weird thing is, l can't remember the last time I had a discussion with a Brexiter, face to face or on social media. Is it cocooning yourself off from people with different views? Or is it that brexiters keep it secret to avoid bad feeling or to be considered thick? Or are we living in a polarised country in which people stick with what they are comfortable with?

In reply to paul_in_cumbria: Brexiteer at work who wont shut up about, so can't escape it. 

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

I don't engage with friends and relatives about Brexit. My remain friends are so worried about it that it makes them feel ill. I want to keep my Brexit friends so I absolutely don't want to hear what they have to say about betrayal and surrender and overcrowding etc. It makes me feel so disappointed. It's like they're putting on a Dada clown mask. 

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

Do people hush their tones when you walk in and start mumbling “rhubarb rhubarb”?

Once a PVC-R (if memory serves?), always an agent of darkness?

In reply to wintertree:

I always thought the skies darkened when the Bursar walked past. For PVCRs it’s all unicorns and rainbows😁

In reply to neilh:

I still watch question time religiously, the format is very bad and the panel useless and you never learn anything about the topics being discussed, however it’s listening to the audience I find interesting. It gives you a real insights of what and how people actually think. (And recently, it’s not been pretty)

In reply to wintertree:

All joking aside, I had to be an agent of darkness far more as HoD and Dean than as PVCR. I delivered the last REF, andId had enough of climbing the slipper pole. The next step would be DVC, but thankfully I managed to land a full time endowed research chair which will see me through till I retire.

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

At the cost of having everyone ever alert for the sound of your footfall through their cracked open office doors... 

Seen from below the whole process of REF - included the resources gobbled up to complete the return - add to my growing sense of despair.  Still, perhaps there’s an endowed chair awaiting me 20 years hence.  Seems unlikely!

In reply to Pete Pozman:

Why?? Turns out they’re ****s. It happens. Good opportunity to weed them out.

jcm

In reply to wintertree:

I was also on a REF panel for engineering. Off the record, the returns at the Universities we assessed could have been replicated exactly just by looking at citation rates. This without the expense and heartache of the REF process.

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

My wife and two of my three children aren't British citizens, so it makes it a bit harder to go "meh".  Just trying to get the app to work (on my phone - she's got an iPhone which it doesn't work on) so she could make her settled status application has been frustrating enough to not really let the issue fade away. In for a penny, in a for a (much devalued) pound and all that...