After 388 posts… it seems clear to me that no-one will ever be swayed by the words/opinions of others.
Some folk feel that questions have still not been answered… while some folk seem to feel that the answers are not what they want to hear…
(without wishing to cause a furore) Why are you all still going to and fro? This is a rhetorical question, of course…byee 
Hi Martin , yes I agree, I do not blame or have gripes against the EU, but in fact the “local” Gov and the way it “uses” the EU.
Are you really unaware that this was OUR money in the first place?
I do wish people would quote the context, or at least give a clue, when they pick up on specific comments made way back in the thread.
What money are we referring to here?
(And probably my next question will be, what exactly is “OUR money” - what group of people does “OUR” refer to? bearing in mind that we are not all in the same boat regarding where our money comes from and which government it goes to.)
I would guess it’s a comment about your post on EU money being spent on regeneration of deprived areas in the U.K. If so somnus has very clearly highlighted one of the positive aspects of EU membership which previously had remained hidden to them. The Cornish voted strongly for Brexit and they have already been informed that they will lose the funding provided after 2019. Cornwall is an area that many people think of as being affluent as housing in the country is very expensive but much of its resident population is very poor, in line with Europe’s poorest areas. The EU funding has been a godsend and has made a real difference throughout the county. What happens in the near future waits to be seen.
Responding to an earlier comment you made David, I was wrong to say you were nerdy, you are just particular about the proper use of language, me too.
Slightly off-topic, I am slightly irritated to have the French characterise me as ‘anglais’, because I speak English. I can understand why, but I do sometimes feel the need to say, in a light-hearted way, that I am “citoyen du Royaume-Uni, Brittanique”. It’s a bit long-winded, and I wouldn’t want to be understood as putting down a French interlocutor, but it is a point worth making, especially to administrative types? I don’t ever describe myself as English, always British, although I was born in Birmingham and thought of myself as English as a child. I wonder what is the experience of other ‘survivors’?
My wife is a naturalised British citizen (since 1977), her heritage is Zambian, and she doesn’t feel English. People still ask her where she comes from, in England at least. Curiously, or perhaps not, people here in France seem to assume she’s French, she is always addressed in French outside the home. She has that sophistication, style and self-assurance required to ‘fit in’ here, and lacks that gaucherie and awkwardness of some Brits in French company.
[quote=“peter_g, post:397, topic:16491”]
I am slightly irritated to have the French characterise me as ‘anglais’, because I speak English. I can understand why, but I do sometimes feel the need to say, in a light-hearted way, that I am “citoyen du Royaume-Uni, Brittanique”. It’s a bit long-winded, and I wouldn’t want to be understood as putting down a French interlocutor, but it is a point worth making, especially to administrative types? I don’t ever describe myself as English, always British, although I was born in Birmingham and thought of myself as English as a child.[/quote]
If they call you English and you are English, frankly I don’t think you have much of a case 
If you were Scottish, Irish or Welsh, you would have more of a point.
I was born in Barnsley (well someone has to be!). I’m Yorkshire, English, British and European (at the moment). Also White Caucasian. People can call me whichever of those they like and whichever is most appropriate to context. It doesn’t change who I am.
I understand all that, Anna 
At heart, I’ll always be a Brummie 
Back to Brexit - I just happened across this and it had me in stitches so I thought I’d share. Apologies if someone’s linked to it previously and I missed it, I’ve been following this thread a bit on and off.
well said Lee,
Well said Lee, there is something hugely fake about these "people"
Hi Chris,
Looks like we have ‘fake news’ written for ‘fake people’ who support remain in EU.
We have someone in the US who also likes to use the word ‘fake’.
Dangerous grounds when we disagree with views and class them as ‘fake’. Rather think it’s better to just say, i disagree with your views than class it as ‘fake’.
Cheers
Martin
There’s nothing fake about Birmingham. It’s a real place. It’s in England but there are several in the USA and probably some in New Zealand and Australia there too. They used to make BSA motorcycles there, that’s what the B means. I guess they once made guns too. There was a big patchwork/needlework show there this week. I don’t know why you think it and the people who come from there are fake, it’s real and so are they.
Sandy, where did you get the notion that the EU is crumbling? Currently the EU has surpassed Britain in economic growth. Brexit negotiations are in chaos and Britain’s position, especially after the General Election, is that it is being led by clowns; Boris, Davis, Gove, under the hapless leadership of May. And now most learned oppinion is that Brexit won’t happen.
“Sovereignty back”, do me a favour. When have the likes of you and I had any influence on what happens?
Sovereignty is in the hands of the Opportunist Elite, like Boris and Co. And what do they do with it? They spend most of their time fixing deals abroad for themselves and their mates.
As for pioneering, many pioneers perished, the Pilgrim Fathers almost starved to death were it not for the Native Americans and Waggon Train Pioneers met similar fate.
Hi Adrian,
Totally agree in what you said. EU is doing much better than the UK and will probably be in a better position, without us, dragging our heals, like a spoilt child.
However, kudos for Sandy for giving in her own views, a principle reason why she voted out to leave the EU.
It’s good to hear a principle view to leave (again I totally disagree with it) on someone who is prepared to take a ‘hit’ for herself and the rest of us, over here and especially those peeps in the UK, to leave the EU.
In someways, shows her strength and resolve, to go through this, for her belief that the future generations might benefit from this, from the pain we will all go through. (I just wish I/we could be separate from this future) 
Cheers
Martin
Absolutely well said. I agree with you wholeheartedly.
In this discussion, although I haven’t read every single post, the same thing emerges as in any other discussion I’ve read on the matter of Brexit. The Leave vote in most cases was an emotional choice, not a rational one. When Leave voters try and rationalise their choice, it is usually with incorrect ‘facts’ or reference to some undefined nebulous concept of sovereignty. The reason that these discussions end up going nowhere is that it is impossible to counter irrational behaviour with rational argument.
I suspect very few Leavers will ever admit that they chose wrongly, but I do suspect, to paraphrase Ken Clarke, that in a few years time a lot of people will deny that they voted Leave.
I was under the impression that Great Britain derived from the french…“Grand Bretagne”. Bretagne itself is Brittany and under the Celts the island of Britain was considered “big brittany”. Those immigrant Romans drove the celts to the fringes of the British Isles and Brittany. Then left and those other immigrants…the saxons moved in…ad infinitum.
That’s a nice story but…