The Morning After

Like many another Blipper, I'm having trouble finding words today. But I'll try to come up with something to mark this catastrophic moment.

Firstly, well done to Remain voters in Scotland, Northern Ireland, London and throughout these islands for seeing sense and voting for it. Liverpool had a 58% vote in favour of remaining in the EU but it wasn't enough.

I fail to see how, at a time when our economy is still distinctly shaky, so many people have just decided to damage it further, putting more jobs at risk. I fear a clamping down on fragile gains made for employment rights, equality and human rights. I fear that whoever becomes the next Prime Minister will be far more brutal and right wing than the one who's departing - and he's been bad enough. I fear for the poor and vulnerable. I fear for the NHS, the environment and the arts. I fear for anyone who looks, sounds or is 'different' in any way.

I shed some tears this morning and as the day's gone on I've experienced a range of emotions including shock, anger, fear and terrible sadness. But I'm determined not to lose heart and not to give up on all the things I care about. The 16+ million of us who voted to remain a part of something bigger must stick together and do all we can to protect the values we share - love, friendship, trust, acceptance, creativity, cooperation, a helping hand and a welcoming embrace. Those are the values I always thought were British - I don't believe Farage, Johnson, Gove or May share them.

The song I listened to as I waited at the bus stop this morning was The Few by Billy Bragg, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxMzgSgiId0 It sums my feelings up rather well...


(On a happier note, I'm going to bang on again about how fabulous the case/lang/veirs album is. You can now see the lovely Neko, kd and Laura perform the whole album live in Portland, Oregon just a few days ago, here... www.npr.org/event/music/482505160/first-listen-live-watch-neko-case-k-d-lang-and-laura-veirs-perform-their-new-alb It's positively therapeutic on a day like today and well worth an hour of anyone's time!)