However one looks at it, the Leave campaign engaged in industrial scale lying. There were a lot of wealthy men talking about “the people” and their “will.” There were targeted advertising campaigns, stolen data and fake social media accounts. Not only that, but Arron Banks perpetrated fraud and turns out to have much deeper Russian business connections than previously suspected. He also tried to conceal them. Thanks to Banks' extensive use of tax havens and shell companies, it has never been entirely clear where all of that money came from — or even whether all of it was really his. There is enough suspicion, however, to warrant an investigation by the National Crime Agency.
London is the world capital of offshore banking, home to the most sophisticated accountants and lawyers; a third of British billionaires have availed themselves of those services and moved their money beyond the reach of the state. Many of them nevertheless continue to make donations to British political parties, and many continue to lobby to keep the rules that favour them exactly as they are and not as the EU would like them. The EU is probably the only power in Europe — maybe even the only one in the world — with the regulatory strength to change the culture of tax avoidance. Since 2016, it has been slowly enacting rules designed to do exactly that. Britain, once and if it leaves the EU, would be exempt.
Conversations with Brexiteers of late have been littered with comments such as; "Of course I didn't believe the words on the bus," and; "no - I didn't listen to the Leave campaign; I made up my own mind." This is rather strange, as in the last 2 plus years, all I've heard Brexiteers do is repeat verbatim the litany of misinformation and lies promulgated by Leave.EU and Get Britain Out - blaming the EU for the destruction of our fishing industry, Turkey sending its entire population to the UK, the EU enforcing the Euro on us, the EU treating us badly, the UK being mostly outvoted, our veto being rescinded, etc., etc. If anyone reading this wants to argue the toss on these issues, feel free.
Also, if they wouldn't believe experts, then who exactly did they believe? Amateurs, incompetents, gut feel, tax dodgers, the bloke from Wetherspoons? Would you allow an amateur to operate on you or represent you in court? Can one make an informed decision in an information vacuum?
To not support a 2nd referendum based on factual information is to condone and collude in wilful manipulation of the truth, which is morally, ethically and intellectually corrupt - there is no other way to look at it. People may argue that parties lie in general elections, but the impact of a GE is 4 or 5 years, not a generation, and the lies contained in party political manifestos are in no was as egregious as those promulgated by the various Leave campaigns, which were industrial in scale and given equal credence with the truth 'in the interests of balance'. How about the interests of truth?
London is the world capital of offshore banking, home to the most sophisticated accountants and lawyers; a third of British billionaires have availed themselves of those services and moved their money beyond the reach of the state. Many of them nevertheless continue to make donations to British political parties, and many continue to lobby to keep the rules that favour them exactly as they are and not as the EU would like them. The EU is probably the only power in Europe — maybe even the only one in the world — with the regulatory strength to change the culture of tax avoidance. Since 2016, it has been slowly enacting rules designed to do exactly that. Britain, once and if it leaves the EU, would be exempt.
Conversations with Brexiteers of late have been littered with comments such as; "Of course I didn't believe the words on the bus," and; "no - I didn't listen to the Leave campaign; I made up my own mind." This is rather strange, as in the last 2 plus years, all I've heard Brexiteers do is repeat verbatim the litany of misinformation and lies promulgated by Leave.EU and Get Britain Out - blaming the EU for the destruction of our fishing industry, Turkey sending its entire population to the UK, the EU enforcing the Euro on us, the EU treating us badly, the UK being mostly outvoted, our veto being rescinded, etc., etc. If anyone reading this wants to argue the toss on these issues, feel free.
Also, if they wouldn't believe experts, then who exactly did they believe? Amateurs, incompetents, gut feel, tax dodgers, the bloke from Wetherspoons? Would you allow an amateur to operate on you or represent you in court? Can one make an informed decision in an information vacuum?
To not support a 2nd referendum based on factual information is to condone and collude in wilful manipulation of the truth, which is morally, ethically and intellectually corrupt - there is no other way to look at it. People may argue that parties lie in general elections, but the impact of a GE is 4 or 5 years, not a generation, and the lies contained in party political manifestos are in no was as egregious as those promulgated by the various Leave campaigns, which were industrial in scale and given equal credence with the truth 'in the interests of balance'. How about the interests of truth?
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