So glad I’m not filthy rich, it must be awfully stressful!
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My family has had many heated political discussions but to cause a rift serves no purpose whatsoever. Everyone had an opinion and the right to vote in the referendum. I certainly wouldnt cross anyone of the Christmas card list just because they voted to leave. If the exchange rate is unfavorable I’ll just have to suck it up and get on with life. No one forced me to move here and let’s not forget that the referendum vote was about rather more than how it might affect us as individuals.
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When folks find that their children are voting in a way which they themselves would not, then I think those parents should be proud that they have brought up their children to think for themselves and make up their own minds about things instead of just blindly following family influences.
Further credit is due to the parents when those children are brave and bold enough to admit openly that they have voted in a way that they probably knew their parents would not approve of.
Such parents should be proud that they have raised their children to be independent free thinkers.
Personally I know a number of people (family and friends) who voted differently to myself, but I wouldn’t dream of allowing our different opinions to drive a wedge between us. It’s just a matter of agreeing to differ and acknowledging that only time will tell which side of the debate turns out to be more accurate than the other.
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Here in the US we have similar pronblems with regard to the President. It’s difficult
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A very balanced and constructive interpretation, I think.
Some families I know are dreading the holidays. It’s hard to remain calm when the WH is occupied by someone for whom civilized norms don’t exist and a family member thinks that’s not just fine but wonderful!! Shocking really.
Jennie it seems to that the opposite is true: the whole purpose of this site is for people to exchange views on matters that concern them. Many of us are still in the process of adapting to new circumstances, some of which could nor be addressed in rheory but had to be confronted in reality, in the ‘here-and-now’.
In my opinion the site offers an unrivalled source of high-quality thought on an unequalled range of topics, trivial and profound, from a community of contributors of all political complexions, and comprehensive experience of French life in all its expressions. It’s a life-saver indeed.
As for family divisions: those of us that have chosen to live here must live with the consequences of our decisions. As immigrants we must defer with good grace to the legitimate expectations and requirements of our host nation, and show appropriate gratitude through respect, willingness to contribute what we can, and to embrace wholeheartedy the principles of liberty, brotherhood, and equality on which this country is founded.
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My family consists of one brother and a first cousin.
Both live in the past and are narrow minded and both
have shown me that I will have to live the rest of my
life without them because they make me feel too sad…
There is no room in my life for really selfish people who
clutch at the " ideals" of uk as if it is a paradise…and then,
in turn deny entry to others as if they own the country.
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Hello Peter
Couldn’t have put it better myself.
This site has really made a big difference to me, in a positive way, and I am so very pleased it is here. 
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We both voted Leave and so did my elder son and his wife in the UK. The younger daughter-in-law is Spanish, living with younger son in Sussex, so this couple voted Remain. There was a brief risk of disagreements, so we asked why they felt so strongly, and explained why we did. By the end of the wine they saw our point of view and we theirs, and we all understood each other’s reasons for voting as we did. We have since discussed further with the Spanish in-laws, and now see that the benefits for individual members of the 27 can be enormous and very important. However we are UK citizens living in France and see from a different angle.
I was well educated by the UK, and we are both intelligent and well-informed. Our late parents tended to vote as habit dictated, but neither of us has supported the same party for more than two general elections at a time, and between us we have voted Tory, Labour, Liberal, Social Democrat, LibDem, UKIP, Green and Monster Raving Looney over the last 50 years. We download most manifestos, read and discuss them, and researched thoroughly before voting in the Referendum (each time). Originally in favour of the Common Market, EEC, and political union leading to a United States of Europe, even the Euro, our enthusiasm has palled over the years, and the European mode of government is now one we find unacceptable. I will not apologise for the way I voted, my opinions will not be changed by mindless insults. I am not suffering from dementia. I am not complacent. I honestly believe the UK needs to leave the European government but continue to trade with the EU and the rest of the world, freely and without bias.
I spend enough time in the UK to know things are falling apart. I write this from my home town of Croydon, where we watch all the News and political programmes and look around us with eyes wide open. We don’t like what we see, we fear for South London and the SE of England. We fully understand why immigration influenced the referendum vote (although it was a minor reason for ours). I fear that whether Brexit happens or not the UK faces frightening change and upheaval. Many people in the SE will tell you that it is hardly England any more. This was not entirely the fault of the EU, although I feel strongly that Cameron’s pleas to the EU for freedom to limit immigration etc. should have received a more sympathetic response, and if they had, the referendum would never have taken place. Racism is bubbling under the surface here, partly against muslims from anywhere in the world, partly in the form of “Culturalism” against foreigners who don’t speak English fluently (however unreasonable that may seem when compared with ignorant UK pensioners on the Costa del Sol eating a full english breakfast in the Irish pub without a word of Spanish in their vocabulary). While in France I know full well I am a foreigner and am immensely grateful for my friends and neighbours who accept me fully and make allowances for my language lapses. In Croydon, I am more foreign, and less welcome, and many of my UK friends feel the same. These things are more important than the EU, and the referendum and subsequent turmoil has served to divert the blame from where it really belongs.
Of course we can’t stem the tide or change the world. We both lost multiple jobs when IT work was outsourced to India, we have no illusions about how business works today. Sadly, however clearly we state our concerns, the politicians pick up a thread here and there to suit their case, and the message gets very garbled by over-simplification and political correctness. I would strongly advise anyone of UK origins living in the EU to take a step back, to look not at their local community in France and the problems they face within it post or even during Brexit, but at the UK, and the problems faced by ordinary people here and now. These explain why the UK voted as it did, ignoring most European issues in the hope that someone would listen. Nobody did. The situation is getting worse and the politicians are fiddling away in Brussels while London smoulders.
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Diana, you seem to think that the UK is the South East.
If you lived in the North, especially the North East, or the other regions, you would realise that the South East is well off.
You fear for it, but I am more worried for older industrial areas or rural villages which really feel cut off.
Croydon has UK Visas which, whilst giving local employment also attracts people from other nationalities.
Jane, I can’t speak for the other areas of the UK, and appreciate the SE is “well-off” but as life in the SE is governed by house prices which are incredible compared with those further north, the pressures caused by immigration are much more intense in the area I know best (£300k for a two-up, two-down Victorian terrace house on a bus route). Unfortunately the queues of would-be immigrants outside the Home Office caused immense ill-feeling (I worked in the next road) and provided a focus for local anger. The employment question is one which would make many locals laugh: native Croydonians found it very hard to get jobs at the Home Office as positive discrimination made most of them ineligible. Over the years several no-go areas have formed, we have gang warfare between Sri-Lankan groups, weekly stabbings, and many working class whites deeply resent one parade of shops where nobody feels the need to display any signs in English. There are so many who feel so unwelcome in the town where they grew up. I fear that the UK’s problems are focused in Croydon where we were always making newcomers so welcome. As with the Brits in France and Spain, put too many in one place and the locals will not like it - nowhere more so than in Croydon. I share your concern for rural areas, but have less personal experience of their circumstances. You must forgive me for concentrating on an area I used to love.
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I know about the Home Office because my husband was a consultant there. He travelled from Stroud every day.
He paid a huge amount for his rail season ticket and had a very long day, but that was where the work was.
We had decided to close down our IT/Management consultancy just before the crash and move to France.
There was a lot of noise about consultants, but they were really the large firms and those who were really just self employed and calling themselves consultants and giving the job a bad name.
Jim is now busier than ever, but does not get up at the crack of dawn any more.
We are really country people and are very happy here in the Clunysois.
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