So this is pretty much what happened and in my rough and ready conversations out and about, it was difficult to find remain voices amongst the highest leaver groups.
The graphic posted by c_v neatly summarises voting behaviour. As a consequence, the post mortem debate has focused on why the young voted remain and the old voted leave. Listening to
Any Answers with Anita Anand on Radio 4 yesterday I was surprised by the anger expressed by a young remain voter at his elders who voted leave. He accused them of acting out of short term self interest and not giving a second thought about people of his generation and their future. This accusation - which I've heard and read a lot in the aftermath since Thursday - makes no sense to me at all.
Had I voted out of self interest, I'd have voted remain,
not leave! As Jon has commented already, as a consequence of the leave vote, there is now a hole in his pension pot, along with everyone else's. Hopefully, it's just a temporary blip and the market will recover. But, it might not, and the people most affected by that are those who don't have the time left to do anything about it. The pound has plummeted, prices are set to rise, starting with an increase in the cost of fuel as early as tomorrow. My wife and I go to Spain at least once a year: ditto with a booze cruise to France. These holidays are likely to get more expensive and, in due course, it's possible/likely that duties on imported wine will be re-instated, putting an end to quality wine at affordable prices. The list goes on.
In spite of the many downsides to voting leave, I did just that by ignoring self-interest and doing what I genuinely believe is in the best long term interests of the country. So, the idea that those of us who are approaching retirement age - or are already retired - voted leave out of short term self interest is one I can't get my head around. It's not older voters like me who will reap the benefits of the country ploughing its own furrow - it's the youngsters.
Tim.
To add a little topical brevity to this heavy discussion - here's a joke heard regularly in the restaurants and cafes of Brussels - right up to 23/06/2016 . . .
Q. How do they know a plane has just landed from London?
A. The whining continues long after the engines are turned off.
