Saturday 25 June 2016

Zoe Continues The Search For A New Electorate...

...because the current one disappoints her so:
The capital was diverse, and united: “I think it’s going to be a catastrophe for the UK, but also for the whole of Europe,” said Constanza, 28, who came here from Venice six years ago to study, and is now an interior designer. “If you ask me today, I probably will leave tomorrow, because I am really upset.
 'You heartless monsters', thinks Zoe. 'How could you upset Constanza?'
Anders Carlsson, 25 and from Sweden, understands it better, seeing it as part of a pattern. “We have put up borders, you have to show a passport when you travel from Copenhagen to Malmö now. I think the past year, the refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, I think people in Britain feel the same, that it’s too much.”
 Anders gets it. I wonder if Sweden might be the next to demand a referendum?
Marie, 26, who comes from France and does artwork for Playstation, was utterly dejected. “Maybe I need a plan B for my life. As hard as it seems, I’m a Londoner. I have no idea what’s happening in France. This is home. When you’re not allowed to vote, you already feel like you’re an under-citizen. I really see it as a beautiful wedding, and one day, instead of fixing the problem, the husband just leaves.”
Yes, Marie. After his needs and concerns have been blithely ignored for so long, he's got no other choice, has he? Now you have to pay your own way - hubby ain't buying your shoes any more.
In front of a hairdresser, Colin Smith, 46, originally from the outskirts of Glasgow, was also on the point of tears. “I’m gutted. I’ve got plans for my future and I feel like they’ve been ripped out of my hands. Not that I want Scotland to be independent, but if they go, I’ll be applying for a Scottish passport. I can’t believe this decision was ever allowed to happen.
 You might think that's pretty rich coming from a Scot, but I couldn't possibly comment..
Linda, 36, came here from the Czech Republic 16 years ago and works in children’s services. “I don’t know what it will do to me as an individual. The contact and energy you get from people you meet, that won’t change. But on a legal level, of course [my status] will change. That’s what people were voting for, to make that difference. I want to see everybody’s vote on them …” “Like a tattoo, in or out?” I queried. “Yes.”
 A tattoo, to mark out 'the other'? Hmmm. That's a very European solution, if I may say so, Linda...
Grace, 24, was having the time-honoured breakfast of a Diet Coke and a fag. She’s from Derby and didn’t vote. “Because you didn’t care?” “No, I cared. I just couldn’t get hold of my polling card. I would have voted in.” Maybe next time we do this, we should try Scottish rules, and give a vote to everyone who lives here. Except, right. There won’t be a next time.
Oh, I don't know, Zoe. Never say never, right?

10 comments:

Tim Almond said...

What a bunch of crybabies. Seriously, it's going to be like Thatcher all over again for decades. The left complaining that "IT'S NOT FAIR". None of them doing any sort of reflecting on whether they are right, whether they did a good job, just calling everyone else racists or cheaters. "The marvellous people of Britain were brainwashed by the evil Murdoch" will be the mantra.

I mean, look at them, calling for a new referendum because they lost the last one. Jesus Christ, these people are supposed to be adults.

stengle said...

The airlines and ferries will be celebrating as tens of thousands of non-Brits sell up and return home. Removal companies will be sending vans packed with personal possessions to cities across the EU, and estate agents will be flooded with properties for sale in and around London. Banks however will do a roaring trade in converting displaced Europeans' savings from sterling to Euros and such diverse businesses as interior designers and flamenco guitarists will be short of staff. The Guardian meanwhile will be in despair as their readership falls, and the BBC will have to ask ordinary dull English people their views in vox pop interviews.

Or these people will probably, as always, stay and carry on just as they are.

Woman on a Raft said...

Whereas I'm thinking: why would an interior designer who is Italian and is from Venice live in London? I love the Isle of Dogs but even I'd have to concede that La Serenissima edges it on watery beauty.

Antisthenes said...

Foreigners already here are quite safe they are covered by international law. The whinging and feeling of entitlement though is obnoxious to behold and that is just the Brits. London has more foreigners than indigenous so it is not surprising they voted to stay in. They are also very left wing and heavily populated by Muslims. When the new mayor has finished with London it will not be London that will be demanding to leave the union we will be begging them to.

Woman on a Raft said...

“They’ll want to keep me because I’m a doctor, but why would I stay when I have no rights?”

It is worrying that a high-ranking professional would not be able to see the bundle of rights which he already has in law. For example, all the ordinary rights to hold property, to go about his business unmolested, to form relationships and to enjoy freedom of expression and association (up to the limit of certain images or conspiracies), access to the courts, all the rights he has if he is either a victim or accused of a crime, to travel, to apply for British nationality so that he can vote here.

What he cannot do is vote in a referendum which is for the people of Britain (plus some others) to decide. Should such an issue arise in his own county, then he can vote there.

This is a doctor who should have had a competent and wide education, understanding basic civics. But so wedded is he to the narrative of victimhood that he is claiming to be one, when that demonstrably is not the case.

Just Trevor said...

There was another character in the article who irked me: a 39 year-old Portuguese father-of-two, said to have lived in London since the age of 18, who works in Patisserie Valerie. So we have a middle-aged man doing an entry-level job that should be occupied by a native youngster, surely not earning enough to support a family and therefore presumably being subsidised by the taxpayer. And moaning about it. Why do we need people like this? Where are these 'net contributors' we keep hearing about?

And if Zoe Williams doesn't recognise the story of being unable to vote without a polling card as nonsense, she's no place writing articles anywhere, let alone the national press.

JuliaM said...

"What a bunch of crybabies. Seriously, it's going to be like Thatcher all over again for decades."

Yup! It show just how debased progressive culture really is, at heart. How infantile.

Someone said on Twitter that had 'Leave' lost, there'd be some grumbling in the pub, but that'd be it. How true.

"Or these people will probably, as always, stay and carry on just as they are."

I think the US is still waiting for all those celebs to leave after Bush's second term, aren't they?

"Foreigners already here are quite safe they are covered by international law."

The ones the 'Guardian' & BBC interviewed seemed not to know that! And I thought we took the highly educated ones?

"It is worrying that a high-ranking professional would not be able to see the bundle of rights which he already has in law. "

Exactly! And welcome back to blogging :)

"So we have a middle-aged man doing an entry-level job that should be occupied by a native youngster, surely not earning enough to support a family and therefore presumably being subsidised by the taxpayer. And moaning about it. Why do we need people like this? "

Because they are cheaper to employ? And might actually turn up on time?

"And if Zoe Williams doesn't recognise the story of being unable to vote without a polling card as nonsense..."

When the storm knocked out London trains on Thursday night, a senior newswoman for Sky took to Twitter to bewail the fact that her polling card was on the kitchen table and she might not get home in time to retrieve it to vote. She was promptly reminded by lots of Tweeters that she, of all people, should know it's not necessary.

Our 'betters', everyone. /golfclap

Tim Almond said...

Just Trevor,

"Where are these 'net contributors' we keep hearing about?"

They definitely exist. I work with lots of people from abroad who are making a big contribution. You work in drug testing or software or engineering, there's lots of them. And we need those people here.

But I'm highly skeptical about why my coffee gets made by a Spanish girl at the local cafe. And personally, nothing against her. Heck, she's really pretty. But these aren't advanced skills. Back in the 90s, there wasn't a desperate shortage of cafe staff and there's plenty of unemployed people out there.

Nice Mr Pierrepoint said...

I voted Leave foremost as an anti-mass immigration gesture. People who feel the way I do simply had no other choice.

I don't mind Frenchmen, Swedes or Spaniards living here - they're not the problem. What bugs are those things that would have been completely unimaginable a few decades ago - schoolchildren from Bethnal Green running away to join ISIS, female genital mutilation being practised here, the slow emergence of clannish voting blocs. Our culture - English culture - cannot absorb, cannot metabolise, cannot accept such beliefs and habits.

In many ways the Leave vote was a blunt instrument. But it is all we have been allowed to have.

JuliaM said...

"But I'm highly skeptical about why my coffee gets made by a Spanish girl at the local cafe."

Because unlike British yoof she turns up on time?