1. The Elephant in the Brexit Room (TEITBR) - Overview

So here we are, 3 weeks after the UK referendum on membership of the EU, and the negativity continues.  It is absolutely fascinating to see that people on all sides of the argument seem unable to get past the effects of democracy. Don't get me wrong, I was as disappointed as everyone else in the 'politics of fear' that the campaigns (both of them) ran, and as surprised as everyone else that the 'Leave' campaign succeeded.. albeit by a small margin (52:48). However, I wonder, if the result had been the other way, if the vitriolic displays of the 'remain' camp would have been echoed by the 'leave' camp? We will never know.

What is obvious is that peoples capability to do actual research is all but gone. The campaigns themselves were ridiculous, as not a single provable fact was produced, for general public consumption, by either side. Not a single MEP came out in the media, or anywhere else, prior to the vote, to explain the good or bad about remaining or leaving the EU. These people are paid £250k+ expenses per year to be able to do just that, explain what is going on, some have made millions out of their position (Yes Mr & Mrs Kinnock, I am looking at you... you were the leader of the Labour Party back in the day, how does that work?) . What did we get to make a decision on? Nada, Rien, Nout.. not a whimper.
The result of this is that, as per normal in 21st century, we look to the media to give us information. Sadly, if ever the media actually gave a balanced view on anything, those days are gone.. long ago. So we are left with trawling through biased writings from sponsored journalists, or what people are actually believing from what they have heard/read on the various social media sites. These views, unless put forward by people who actually work for the relevant organisations will be just that, a view, similar to this series of blogs, and there is nothing wrong with that, as we live in a free world, where we can express our views without recrimination....except it appears we can't, as TEITBR is not something we can mention.. so we immediately get a distorted view.

So, more to save me repeating myself in various emails justifying my position, I came to write this. It is a series of blogs, explaining my viewpoint, with, hopefully a bunch of facts backing that up. No, there are little if any pretty pictures, graphs or other statistics to back this up, except in order to point out certain facts, and the sources will be declared. Yes, there will a few view points from me, based on personal experience, and also the facts as I see them. Some of these may be seen as 'distasteful' in the 21st Century, but they will be factual.
For each of the subsections below, there will be a link to the blog post that discusses in detail. All these, I feel should be 'put out there' as they are relevant to the final conclusion, and where we should be heading.

A Brief History of Europe (or why it is a dream to head for unity in Europe)

For the last 2000 years+ all countries in Europe have fought each other, whether for marital reasons, land, power, who knows.... but they have. The Romans were the last people to get a United States of Europe. The only clear period, to my knowledge, was during the reign of Queen Victoria, after the Napoleonic wars, when the major countries in Europe were building empires elsewhere, and killing themselves and local inhabitants, in far off lands.
The early 20th century was the proof that it cannot work. We do not get on. We all want to take over, and be the strongest nation. The spirit of co-operation, while it may work at the individual level, will never work at the country level. We just aren't built that way. History proves that. So why try?

What the EU was, is and is not now

There is a lot written on the growth of the current EU here, so is pointless restating that.  The EU came out of the EEC, (which in turn came out of the European Coal and Steel Community ), and was put together in 1951, to try and stop the constant battling, by getting people to trade. Britain was not a member, but did start EFTA as an 'optional' Free Trade Bloc, but still allowing the Commonwealth to exist, and the members to make their own customs arrangements. It was all about Free Trade , a good thing. The EEC, a group of 6 countries, that promoted free trade, or so we thought, had a hidden agenda that we were not aware of. The EEC then carried out that hidden agenda to become the EC and then the EU, the start of a plan to build a 'Superstate', under the auspicies of 'creating a competition bloc against USA/China/India.. or so we are sold (not a typo) by our politicians. It is now in the final stage of becoming that superstate, with monetary, political, legal, and military integration. Is this what we really want?

The 1975 Referendum, The Referendum Party, and the Campaign for June 23rd 2016 

The 1975 Referendum took place 2 years before I was of voting age, and was sold as a 'Free Trade Bloc' to the British public, and was actually after we had joined the EEC. So the referendum was on 'continuing membership' of the EEC. There was a little known or talked about fact, that there was sub-clause stating that members would move towards political, monetary and legal integration as well.
By 1994 it was apparent that this further integration was taking place. It was no longer only about free trade, but about the creation of a 'superstate'. Sir John Goldsmith formed, and financed the Referendum party to stand at the 1997 election on the ticket of only getting a referendum on our further continuation of the EU project. Their proposed referendum question was:

"Do you want the United Kingdom to be part of a federal Europe or do you want the United Kingdom to return to an association of sovereign nations that are part of a common trading market?"

They polled 810,860 votes, coming 4th, and representing 3% of the turnout. John Goldsmith died in July 1997, but his daughter, and other supporters continued the pressure on all governments since then, resulting in the final promise of a referendum, and the June 23rd 2016 vote.
The 2016 referendum campaign was a shocking display of lack of facts, and  complete avoidance of discussion from the very people who have been paid handsomely to give us this information... namely the MEPs . Lies and untruths given on all sides, in order to panic the electorate to vote one way or the other.  

What the Heck Just Happened?
Come June 24th the UK was in general shock. The Leave camp had assumed that Remain would win.. after a healthy fight. Remain camp had assumed they would win. The pundits assumed Remain would win, as did all the statisticians.
They were all wrong (me included ... fwiw).  The fallout has been immense. Everyone is playing the 'Blame' game. Our PM stood down, the opposition went into disarray, the leading politicians in the Leave camp hit out at each other, the old got blamed by the young, England got blamed by the Scottish, Armegeddon is descending on us, affecting our way of life, incomes , children, locusts are coming... OMG! .. well... that shows a nice rounded argument put forward by a group of people that believe Europe can act for the best interests of everyone doesn't it?   

 

Where do we go from here?

Well, its simple isn't it We can either ignore the result of the referendum, its not legally binding anyway, and carry on regardless, or we can actually do what Britain is brilliant at.... profit from it. Change the way we look at the world, make use of what we have, and become something that no other major sovereign nation has done before. Ideas on this blog... and some may say its cloud cuckoo land, but then ... we live in different times.

Is this the death of Democracy and Free Speech
It appears that a group of people with the funds, and the access to senior judges, have brought about a challenge to the government,, in an attempt to halt the process of leaving the EU. This is undemocratic. Surely they should spend their efforts in gaining traction to re-enter the EU after we have left. 
Aside from this undemocratic action, there have been more personal attacks on those that voted to leave. The author has lost more than a couple of 'friends' who no longer want to do business, or even talk, as he voted 'the wrong way'. That is their perogative.... however, it is a sad fact that friendships are lost, and business deals are lost, purely on a thought of how this country should exist. Weird!     

The Finances of the EU deals form a Uk perspective (a work in progress)
This is a breakdown of the financial aspects of the Uks membership of the EU. It is still a work in progress, but exposes the issues as to why the EU has turned out to be expensive from a Uk perspective.. this is also true for other member states, and has been largely hidden from the electorate.