My mum, dad, sisters, nephews, nieces, brother-in-law, and cousins all voted Leave. As far as I can tell, pretty much the only members of my family to vote in favour of Remain were me, my partner, and my three daughters. Ever the black sheep, I have now tarred my closest loved ones with the same sticky brush.
This EU Referendum was a nasty, nasty campaign. It divided us more than any other issue I've seen in my lifetime. From many on the Remain side there was an unpleasant sense of haughtiness, and the sense I got from many Leave voters was anger. They were angry at how they saw their country changing, angry at feeling powerless, not having a voice, and angry for being called racist, or stupid, or ignorant, by condescending "left-wing intellectuals".
If the goal of the Remain campaign was to make their opponents entrench their position by patronising them, then good work.
This is a win for the disenfranchised, for those who feel they've lost control of their lives, who wanted to hit back at a sneering establishment, who they felt didn't have their interests at heart, who they didn't feel understood them.
"Decent, ordinary, people", the awful, anything but ordinary and decent, Nigel Farage has called them this morning, and... much as it pains me to admit... he's sort of got a point.
However, the win for Leave is also a win for Farage, Gove, Johnson... rich white men, who mostly have only their own interests at heart; the very definition of the sort of establishment figures that many on the Leave side claimed to despise.
This EU Referendum was a nasty, nasty campaign. It divided us more than any other issue I've seen in my lifetime. From many on the Remain side there was an unpleasant sense of haughtiness, and the sense I got from many Leave voters was anger. They were angry at how they saw their country changing, angry at feeling powerless, not having a voice, and angry for being called racist, or stupid, or ignorant, by condescending "left-wing intellectuals".
If the goal of the Remain campaign was to make their opponents entrench their position by patronising them, then good work.
This is a win for the disenfranchised, for those who feel they've lost control of their lives, who wanted to hit back at a sneering establishment, who they felt didn't have their interests at heart, who they didn't feel understood them.
"Decent, ordinary, people", the awful, anything but ordinary and decent, Nigel Farage has called them this morning, and... much as it pains me to admit... he's sort of got a point.
However, the win for Leave is also a win for Farage, Gove, Johnson... rich white men, who mostly have only their own interests at heart; the very definition of the sort of establishment figures that many on the Leave side claimed to despise.
The trouble is, you look at many of those supporting Remain, and the picture isn't much different.
Leading the call were an alleged posho porksmith, a half-arsed scarecrow, and a bunch of multimillionaire celebs, who probably take their kids to school in a gold-plated helicopter.
The image of Bob Geldof on a boat, sticking his fingers up at the Leave campaign, pretty much summed up the tone of most Remain supporters for me. You don't win support, you don't make your point, by telling people to eff off, and sticking your fingers up at them.
Especially when you've more money sat in your bank than most people will earn in their entire lives.
Leading the call were an alleged posho porksmith, a half-arsed scarecrow, and a bunch of multimillionaire celebs, who probably take their kids to school in a gold-plated helicopter.
The image of Bob Geldof on a boat, sticking his fingers up at the Leave campaign, pretty much summed up the tone of most Remain supporters for me. You don't win support, you don't make your point, by telling people to eff off, and sticking your fingers up at them.
Especially when you've more money sat in your bank than most people will earn in their entire lives.
LAST NIGHT
Weirdly, as I was in bed last night, I realised there was a part of me that wanted Leave to win.
Not because I think Leave is a good idea. I feel that it's a terrible idea - apparently the rest of the world does too, apart from the rich idiot Donald Trump. But Remain was the dull option.
We'd have woken up this morning, and nothing really would've changed, other than Nigel Farage having a bloodied nose.
Leave winning means we're in uncharted, raging, waters, and something about that is ever so slightly exciting. I can see the appeal. Though that's the only part of leaving the EU which I can see the appeal in. But I have to accept that I might be wrong.
My vote was as much an emotional decision as it was an informed one. I can track it back to my own desire to want to feel a part of something, of belonging, of feeling that we're stronger the more of us there are, and of not liking bullies who seek to divide, and pick off the weak.
Speaking nationally, I'm in a minority now... because that's democracy. Those of us who live in London are in a bubble, evidently out of touch with the rest of the rest of the UK (apart from Scotland) - and last night proved it more than ever. For whatever reason, 52% of voters chose Leave, and there's no second-guessing their motives. They're individuals, not a mass of "racists" or "idiots".
I mean, on social media this morning there's hysteria about the country being ruined as a result of the referendum. Are they right to be all doom and gloom? Honestly...? I dunno. None of us do.
Weirdly, as I was in bed last night, I realised there was a part of me that wanted Leave to win.
Not because I think Leave is a good idea. I feel that it's a terrible idea - apparently the rest of the world does too, apart from the rich idiot Donald Trump. But Remain was the dull option.
We'd have woken up this morning, and nothing really would've changed, other than Nigel Farage having a bloodied nose.
Leave winning means we're in uncharted, raging, waters, and something about that is ever so slightly exciting. I can see the appeal. Though that's the only part of leaving the EU which I can see the appeal in. But I have to accept that I might be wrong.
My vote was as much an emotional decision as it was an informed one. I can track it back to my own desire to want to feel a part of something, of belonging, of feeling that we're stronger the more of us there are, and of not liking bullies who seek to divide, and pick off the weak.
Speaking nationally, I'm in a minority now... because that's democracy. Those of us who live in London are in a bubble, evidently out of touch with the rest of the rest of the UK (apart from Scotland) - and last night proved it more than ever. For whatever reason, 52% of voters chose Leave, and there's no second-guessing their motives. They're individuals, not a mass of "racists" or "idiots".
I mean, on social media this morning there's hysteria about the country being ruined as a result of the referendum. Are they right to be all doom and gloom? Honestly...? I dunno. None of us do.
UNITE
But it has happened. It is what it is. Those of us who voted Remain are best off shutting up and moving forwards.
We live in a democracy, and there's no point whingeing when your side loses, or spouting paranoid, embittered conspiracy theories about the vote being rigged, because... y'know... pencils.
And the main concern now is how we find a way to stitch the country back together. We need to move forwards in a way that doesn't hand additional power to an ugly force that could seek to piggyback its way to even more strength, on the concerns of 52% of our population. The last thing we need might now is more hatred and fear being stoked up.
We have to seek to make this an opportunity rather than a disaster - and it's for the politicians who supported Leave, those who will leap into the vacuum that appears in David Cameron's wake, to put their money where their rhetoric is. They need to prove to us that this is the best thing that could have happened to Britain.
You got what you wanted. Now prove to all of us that you were right.
But it has happened. It is what it is. Those of us who voted Remain are best off shutting up and moving forwards.
We live in a democracy, and there's no point whingeing when your side loses, or spouting paranoid, embittered conspiracy theories about the vote being rigged, because... y'know... pencils.
And the main concern now is how we find a way to stitch the country back together. We need to move forwards in a way that doesn't hand additional power to an ugly force that could seek to piggyback its way to even more strength, on the concerns of 52% of our population. The last thing we need might now is more hatred and fear being stoked up.
We have to seek to make this an opportunity rather than a disaster - and it's for the politicians who supported Leave, those who will leap into the vacuum that appears in David Cameron's wake, to put their money where their rhetoric is. They need to prove to us that this is the best thing that could have happened to Britain.
You got what you wanted. Now prove to all of us that you were right.
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