Geoff wrote: ↑Sat Feb 09, 2019 1:09 pm
I think the biggest mistake made by Remainers and Brexiteers alike was to listen to politicians and the media rather than decide based on personal experience over many years.
I agree. Apart from Boston and South Holland, all of those parts of the country that Voted Leave, supposedly because of immigration, are united by fact that they have below-average immigrant population shares in their areas. And those two only have immigrant populations at about the national average. The point there, however, is that they jumped from virtually nil to the national average immigration-share in a short period of time.
Research has consistently shown that when asked whether immigration is a problem in their area and in the country as a whole, roughly 4 out of 5 say it is NOT a problem in their area, whilst about 4 out of 5 say it IS a problem in the country as a whole. Why? Because some politicians and large parts of the media have been telling them this, so it must be true - despite the lack of people saying it is a problem IN THEIR EXPERIENCE.
BUT ALSO, to come back to it, those areas also suffer from economic precarity and social exclusion. That fear and anger found an outlet. So the government now wants to pump public money into leave-voting regions. Pity they hadn't done it decades ago, let alone since 2010 and the onset of austerity. Regardless of the impact it might or might not have had on the referendum vote, it would have meant that far fewer UK citizens would have felt let down - and by whom does not matter, they have simply been let down by successive UK governments. It is also ironic that it is this failure of domestic UK policy that led to these, the poorest of UK regions, to be eligible for the greatest support for regional projects via EU funding.
AC - an interesting point (in addition to tyre pressures). The evidence shows that there has been some movement, but not very much at all, regarding the views of those of voted Leave and Remain in the referendum. This nets out, overall, at a VERY slight shift towards Remain. That said, there are two huge movements that have taken place. First, of those who did not vote in the referendum but now express an opinion, the vast majority express support for Remain rather than Leave. Second, since June 23rd 2016, the older population (who voted in the majority to Leave) have been dying at very roughly the same rate that young people (a majority of whom voted Remain) have come of age.
I can argue with people over opinions, but they will always remain opinions. If anybody wants to argue over facts or get more information on facts, please PM me. As Professor of European Economics and Policy it is my job to know more about the EU than all bar a tiny minority of the UK population.
But to other matters - in 35 years of active support for OUFC, and even more years than that of watching football generally, I have never before seen a referee get a standing ovation for giving a decision for the previously disadvantaged side (in this case, a yellow card on about the hour mark). Even one or two Sunderland reports had to admit that we got the shitty end of the referee's stick (not their phrase, but the point remains). The extent to which everybody around us in the SSU, during the match and at half time (including the RadOx people across the aisle from me) were laying into the ref so much says it all. So, he was fast-tracked into the FL after only one year in the Conference. I think I can safely speak for everyone when I suggest that we know where he needs to be fast-tracked to now...
It was a frustrating match to watch and, given the season we have had, it is easy and all too tempting to say that we should have taken at least one or two first half chances. But I also think their keeper played a blinder. They also resorted, early on, to roughing up players like Whyte, without punishment, that repeatedly broke up our rhythm and attacking opportunities.
Was it a foul in the build-up to our goal? Obviously not, because neither the referee, nor the lino (who was right alongside the incident) gave it. But how deliciously ironic it was that our goal followed a disputed decision, after the best part of 90 minutes when Sunderland got all the breaks of (non)decision by one of the worst referees ever to have disgraced the Grenoble Road pitch.
The only question is whether we can maintain the recent levels of performance, when not playing one of the very top sides. The little bit I saw of Sinclair, especially his quality in creating space for himself then setting up the goal, looks really promising.