The report came up with a scenario for growth if the UK had stayed inside the EU, and compared it to forecasts the Office for Budget Responsibility made in March last year.
I don’t think these stories are “designed” to do anything in particular; they’re just reporting on reality.
It’s no more than a story about “a building has burned down” is “designed” to make arsonists think about what they’ve done. Sometimes it’s just about reporting the facts.
And in any case, Leave voters aren’t a monolithic group. They run the gamut from “die hard UKIP hardcore eurosceptics” to “I just wanted to give David Cameron a bloody nose”. There’s a significant group of Leave voters for whom “Brexit has cost us lots of money” is an interesting story with cut through.
Honest question: did people voting for Brexit even know what they were actually voting for? I recall that the top Google search in the UK the day after they passed the bill(?) for Brexit was “what is brexit”.
Remain voter. I voted for an idea. I have absolutely no idea about the logistical challenges, the financial aspects or anything with regards to Brexit, and I would bet that the vast majority of people would (or should) say the same.
Brexit wasn’t something that should have gone to a public vote, it’s just too big a question to reduce down to ‘leave or remain’.
Citizens assembly would have been a significantly better device for sorting this stuff out, but that wouldn’t have appeased the Tory Party, and Cameron never dreamed it would go against him, and it would have taken significantly longer to get an answer…even if it was one that would have given us a genuine answer that we could move forward with.
Ultimately we asked a country of people, many of which had spent years being fucked by the establishment to vote for something heavily favoured by the establishment…and then got surprised when they decided to stick it to them by voting the other way.
A lot of leave voters were so sure that remain would win that they disregarded the negative consequences because they wouldn’t actually happen. They voted leave to show that they weren’t happy with the status quo.
Yes, I voted remain but certain stories - not necessarily this one - is just pandering to remainers. There was an article a few years ago which drew out loads of spurious correlations from surveys to make leave voters look stupid, i.e. “Leave voters are less likely to wear fresh underpants”.
Maybe it was supposed to be light hearted but it looked like punching down to me.
I don’t think it’s punching down as much as it’s just reporting stuff that’s happening. Pointing out the Brexit is a disaster isn’t calling people stupid it’s calling the whole idea stupid. Which it was, and which it is.
Writing an article highlighting that Brexit voters were less likely to change their underpants when statistically they are going to be from poorer demographics is punching down.
I push back against this idea because many of those people that voted for Brexit were already being left behind financially. If you were getting repeatedly punched in the face, maybe you’d be willing to vote to get kicked in the stomach instead.
If these type of stories are designed to try and get Leave voters to think they’ve made a mistake, it won’t work.
Leave voters knew there would be an economic hit and were willing to take that hit personally, so much was their dislike of the EU.
I don’t think these stories are “designed” to do anything in particular; they’re just reporting on reality.
It’s no more than a story about “a building has burned down” is “designed” to make arsonists think about what they’ve done. Sometimes it’s just about reporting the facts.
And in any case, Leave voters aren’t a monolithic group. They run the gamut from “die hard UKIP hardcore eurosceptics” to “I just wanted to give David Cameron a bloody nose”. There’s a significant group of Leave voters for whom “Brexit has cost us lots of money” is an interesting story with cut through.
Honest question: did people voting for Brexit even know what they were actually voting for? I recall that the top Google search in the UK the day after they passed the bill(?) for Brexit was “what is brexit”.
Remain voter. I voted for an idea. I have absolutely no idea about the logistical challenges, the financial aspects or anything with regards to Brexit, and I would bet that the vast majority of people would (or should) say the same.
Brexit wasn’t something that should have gone to a public vote, it’s just too big a question to reduce down to ‘leave or remain’.
Citizens assembly would have been a significantly better device for sorting this stuff out, but that wouldn’t have appeased the Tory Party, and Cameron never dreamed it would go against him, and it would have taken significantly longer to get an answer…even if it was one that would have given us a genuine answer that we could move forward with.
Ultimately we asked a country of people, many of which had spent years being fucked by the establishment to vote for something heavily favoured by the establishment…and then got surprised when they decided to stick it to them by voting the other way.
A lot of leave voters were so sure that remain would win that they disregarded the negative consequences because they wouldn’t actually happen. They voted leave to show that they weren’t happy with the status quo.
Yes, I voted remain but certain stories - not necessarily this one - is just pandering to remainers. There was an article a few years ago which drew out loads of spurious correlations from surveys to make leave voters look stupid, i.e. “Leave voters are less likely to wear fresh underpants”.
Maybe it was supposed to be light hearted but it looked like punching down to me.
I don’t think it’s punching down as much as it’s just reporting stuff that’s happening. Pointing out the Brexit is a disaster isn’t calling people stupid it’s calling the whole idea stupid. Which it was, and which it is.
Writing an article highlighting that Brexit voters were less likely to change their underpants when statistically they are going to be from poorer demographics is punching down.
I push back against this idea because many of those people that voted for Brexit were already being left behind financially. If you were getting repeatedly punched in the face, maybe you’d be willing to vote to get kicked in the stomach instead.