On behalf of the 52% of the UK population that appear to have no actual grasp of statistics, economics or politics, I'd like to apologise for the rash behaviour of the last couple of days.  They've behaved like a sulky teenager who says he hates his parents and then realizes that he depends on them for money and cleaning his room.

As Brits living in Switzerland I have to say that we are disappointed and to put it bluntly shocked at the decision to leave the EU after over 40 years.  It is like a bad dream.  The British politicians who have pushed this disaster should be strung up and David Cameron will go down in history as the Prime Minister who suggested the referendum that wrecked the country!!  

When Marine Le Penn and Donald Trump praise the decision you know something is very wrong.

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/eu-priorities_brexit-and-the-swiss-connection---a-guide/41942780

Click this link to sign the petition "EU Referendum Rules triggering a 2nd EU Referendum"

https://petition.parliament.uk/signatures/21367753/verify/Qn3T2u7DFu4ouqVPd6F

Interested to  know where you found that link, can you pass on the origin of it please?

I clicked on it , merely interested to see what this is all about  and read the petiton as I had read about this in the uk press.  I would like to warn others to take your wording precisely into account, because when  I opened the link I was surprised to find myself on a page which informed me that I had already voted and which then gave me a link to read the petition(!!) which I think is unfair.

It appears therefore that by clicking on the link you actually sign something automatically without being able to read what you are about to sign. Hardly seems democratic to me..

I have no desire to have my name on a document that I feel I was tricked into signing, that could possibly be examined by authorities connected wth the government to verify my details

My intention was to read the petition only. I wonder if this is why it has so many signatures.. some kind of Spam??

Apparently this petition  was set up as a joke research before the vote by a student.  I will try to find more details later in the press to post but havent the time now. On my way out somewhere right now

I also had a similar message, i.e., that I had already signed the petition, which is not the case.

Try this link - it is a genuine UK petition on parliament.  I think I may have inadvertantly copied the link for the one I signed - oops

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/131215

2,872,100 signatures and counting so it will have to be debated in Parliament

It's Banksy's latest street art effort

Ebbw Vale, the small Welsh town that received millions and millions in EU aid funding but still voted LEAVE in the Refurendum.

The small and narrow minded outlook of this young person who lives in this ex-steel making town is breathtaking in it's stupidity and shallowness.  They may have given Cameron a good kicking but they will all live with the consequences long after Farage, Gove and Johnson have forgotten about this little Welsh backwater now they have got what they want.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/25/view-wales-town-showered-eu-cash-votes-leave-ebbw-vale?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=179174&subid=12731708&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

I try to go to the BBC website for information. Here is a link from the BBC website about the petition. Hope it helps.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36634407

Using abusive or insulting terms for people who voted out is doing exactly what you're accusing them of. People had a multitude of reasons for voting out and it is wrong to assume that racism was the biggest driver. I think the issue of sovereignty and the inefficient and bureaucratic nature of the European Parliament and Commission are just as responsible. The EU is as bad as the UN.

The immigration issue has nothing to do with the EU. That catastrophe can be traced back to the illegal war in Iraq.

The referendum gave everyone a chance to vote and the majority won....that's called democracy. Asking for a second referendum is like asking for a do over in roulette if your number doesn't come up......we voted.....the majority of people expressed their wishes...that's it.

We're just opting out of an inefficient and bureaucratic organisation. We're not building a wall. We're still as much a part of Europe as Switzerland and Norway.

If my brother and sister were not in England I would say "Good Riddance to bad Rubbish". The British were indoctrinated into being anti European and their biggotry has cost the global economy 2 trillion dollars. 

UKIP were victorious but they vanished for the weekend. They never expected their bigotry would win over 52 percent of the British people. 

We heard of the US 99 percent. 

Now we have the british 48 percent

Not to be confused with the 49ers who were travelling by wagon train through Death Valley. 

You will find that some brits will say "That's why I moved to Switzerland". 

In my case "That's why I left after uni". 

I would love to see the Celtic Union of Scotland and Ireland. :-). That would be fun. 

I would also love to see the English forced to implement a real border and carry ID cards. ;-). That would be such a nice Duck you to brexiters. :-). 

I call them brexiters, not brexiteers. they're not bucanners... not unless bucking the EU is a requirement. ;-). 

Disclaimer: I am a British/Italian born in Switzerland. Brexit was a vote against my Identity so before you tell me not to be offensive just look at what 52 percent of Brits did. 

Many people had no clue about why they were voting. Most of them only voted "Out" to protest against the actual government

The more I look at documents and the more I see that people are doing everything they can to get Brexit overruled. There is talk of Scotland being able to veto, there is talk of the petition with more than three million signatures, there is another petition asking for it to be illegal for politicians to knowingly lie, there is a move to get British people to write to their MP and tell them how they feel. The majority of MPs at this moment in time are pro-remain. Add to this that Farage and others have already stepped back from certain campaign promises and that xenophobic attacks are increasing and the case to implement article 50 are less and less likely. 

I hope that Brexit will turn out to be nothing more than a scare. If Brexit is implemented then it will take at least a decade for England to get back in to the EU, assuming that the countries currently in the EU decide that the UK or dismembered UK deserves to come back in. 

One joke I liked is "The celtic republic of Northern Ireland and Scotland. They also wrote: The United Kingdom of England and Wales... 

The latest regarding the petition

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3662545/How-hackers-hijacked-petition-demanding-second-EU-referendum-mocked-British-democracy-signing-42-000-signatories-Vatican-City-population-840.html

Brits still go to work, go home, watch telly, and sleep.  It will take years to renegotiate treaties and agreements with EU.  Can we conclude that nothing much has changed?   Not quite.

In the short run the British pound has fallen.   That means foreign made goods will be more expensive.  Plonk, Camembert, iPhones, Volvos, Holidays abroad, Shoes, New Zealand Lamb, Jewellery and Carlsberg are just a few of the things which will cost more.

The average Brit is going to start feeling the pinch within weeks if not days.  

In the longer term, Britain is likely to head into recession.  Inflation will rise.  House prices will fall.  Interest rates will stay low for longer.  Pension funds will struggle to make the returns required to meet their obligations. The UK government deficit will rise.  The pound will fall much further.

As for taxes, the falling tax revenues will force the government into looking for new ways to raise revenues and cut spending.  A "Wealth Grab" aimed at the rich, will become a real risk.  Landlords, Company Owners, Bankers, Hedge Funds will face "Super Tax" aimed at the privileged.   Property taxes will rise.  Britain will face a "Brain Drain".

If you are a BRIT living in Switzerland, you may want to think about what's going to be waiting for you five or ten years down the road if you go back.

So in less than a week England (UK) has decided to leave the EU and crashed out of the Euros after being defeated by a team of heroic part time players from a country whose population is a fraction of the size of a British city.  Congratulations to Iceland on a game well played.

https://www.facebook.com/www.JOE.co.uk/videos/695900340574035/?pnref=story

And then there are people who are perfectly clear in why they supported Brexit, of course. Just check the video.

Because, you know, life is not only black and white.

I find it quite interesting to read people living in a country OUTSIDE of the EU freaking out about a country who has democratically decided to leave the sinking EU ship...

also, the remain campain could only give doom and gloom reasons if they didn't  to stay in, nothing was mentioned of the positive points for remaining. wheras, rightly or wrongly, the brexiters gave positive reasons for leaving. for the little people here in switzerland, we will finally be able to buy welsh lamb, order from amazon.uk and many other everyday comforts. just saying.......

Max I see where your coming from however - Racism is becoming rife from the brexiters and on a massive increase no assumptions the multitudes of people now facing direct insults in uk is becoming majorly unbearable. several facebook posts of friends emerged only within an hour this morning of their personal experiences of infliced racial abuse.

The leave campaign was full of lies why would the whole of Gibralta and scotland  will to stay in and 800 000 + Expats around europe unable to cast their votes.  not to mention 16 and 17 year old s stll cant vote in england but scotland they can? The leave campaing does nothing great for anyone and this is more proved by the fact they had no plan their after a win????

How many MEPs are there, who do not believe in what they are doing? They should be named and fired. If this individual is so adamant about trading with India then why doesn't he go and negotiate with the people who oppose it rather than run off crying to mommy that the Big bad EU is not letting him play with his friends. 

This morning I watched the live stream from the European Parliament and each speaker said "We will not negotiate in side rooms. We will only negotiate when everyone else is present. The BREXIT camp openly lied to the British people and now that none of the promises can be kept what is left? 

How can this individual make a case for trade with India whilst burning the bridges from Europe. For the next two years the status quo might remain but after that there will be five years of hard negotiations. Certain articles speak about the lack of lawyers and policy makers to work through the 50+ trade deals that would need to be negotiated. 

For an anti-Bureaucracy movement they have definitely gone against their ambitions. 

Another good debate, with Eddie Izzard on the remain side and Daniel Hannan on the leave side is this.

Very good information and interesting questions indeed. Some of the points raised in some comments in this thread are addressed by the MEP. Longish, but worth watching.

@MAX... this is what is EMERGING....SICKENING!!!

Yes robi, we do live in very much a globalised economy, but it just so happens that Switzerland is NOT part of the EU, and that is not of small significance given what the vote of last week in the UK was about.

Surely most of us are interested in what happens around the world, because it does concerns us all.

But because we live in a country OUTSIDE of the EU, maybe the "be in the EU or else you die" kind of position should be put in a bit of different perspective, that's all I am saying.

In relation to Switzerland outisde the EU there are problems that result from this. When I was deciding whether or not to go to university in the United Kingdom around 2000 there was a chance that as a British citizen living in Switzerland I would have to pay full fees. 7000CHF per year I think for a bachelors compared to home fees or European fees. 

When Switzerland voted against the free movement of people two or three years ago research funding was reduced, job creation declined and certain companies chose to avoid Switzerland. 

Netflix and Amazon. If we were in the EU we would have had their services very soon after the United Kingdom. As we were in Switzerland we waited for several months to several years. The reason I have a German amazon account is that there were no bilateral agreements with Amazon France at the time. 

Mobile phone Roaming. As Switzerland is outside the EU we get to pay four to ten times more than Europeans do when we travel to Europe. According to Lebara we are in the same tariff range as Algeria. We can walk between France and Switzerland by accident. 

Most people say "But who cares that Switzerland is not in the EU" and as a European citizen living in a non EU country I find myself constantly frustrated with the limitations of being in Switzerland.

I can't leave Switzerland for more than two years at a time or I loose my residency permit. If Switzerland was part of the EU then I wouldn't need to get naturalised if I want to leave the country (interesting paradox ;-) ) and it would save me a certain amount of paperwork, as well as a two year wait. 

So you see, as a British national living in Switzerland I am theoretically allowed to everything that Europeans are allowed to but as a person living in Switzerland I am counted as non EU. 

In summary that's why I think that the British people are so idiotic to have voted for BREXIT. Brits in Switzerland should have been invited to the UK to speak of the pros and cons of being part of the EU. We have experienced the frustrations firsthand. 

If and when you have a child or children do you want to end up paying 7-10,000 GBP per child... imagine if you have several. 

I hope this doesn't count as spamming: 

The graduate institute is having a talk about the topic on Thursday. 

https://www.facebook.com/events/1800416790194707/

Does anyone have any ideas or opinions as to how Brexit will affect Ireland ? I'm living in Geneva now and loving it with no intentions of going back but I'm worried about leaving my private pension there.

Iceland definitely deserved to win in this David versus Goliath match. England never fails to disappoint. The team consists of many of the highest paid footballers in the world and frankly came across as a load of lethargic prima donnas. Iceland reminded us how real footballers play. Good on them!

Haha, TOTALLY AGREE Delseta9. :-) They've shown themselves to be a bunch of primadonnas. :-)

I know the situation is not funny but... - this is pretty funny. 

Found this cllp on facebok and sums up what many Brits think of Farage !!  Watch the guy in the background - classic !!

https://www.facebook.com/imossi.london/videos/629745873847353/

I'm not taking sides, but in the case for fairness,  regarding this gesture, it was reported in the newspaper aricle it appeared in (which I read), that this gesture was directed at another MEP . firm opponent of Farage's. The man doing it is an ally of Farage.. If you look carefully the guy points at someone before he makes this crude grsture.. for which he should be ashamed of course, no matter who it would be aimed at..

These men want ordinary people to be angry, because angry people make errors of judgment, blaming each other instead of the elites that plunder ideas about equality, fairness, freedom and democracy for their own ends. Britain. You voted for this. Now, once again, get ready to be told that There Is No Alternative.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/01/brexit-britain-elites-run-amok

Hey Joe,

Thanks for your points. I can't argue with that. Watching interviews on the street with people coming out with toe curling lines like "They're taking our jobs" "We have to wait weeks to get an appointment at the doctors". It's pretty disgusting and misses the point entirely.

I think this sheezy just cycles. My dad faced exactly the same lines when he came to Britian in the sixties and Enoch Powell was doing his thing.

I think there were deeper issues of disenfrachisement and economic powerlessness which were never properly addressed. Often people feel a sense of threat that they can't exactly articulate and then along comes someone like Nigel Garage.

That said, I think that feeling is everywhere and it is created and stoked by the media. My kids and I were on the bus the other day and a woman pushed my daughter to get at one of the limited mobility seats. I told her not to push my kid and she immediately started telling me I was an immigrant. The sad thing is, what I saw in her face was fear (and a bit of crazy).

My issue was always sovereignty and the high handed way the community could really punish weaker members like Greece. At the same time, Turkey, which is good enough to be in NATO and Britain and America were courting prior to the invasion of Iraq, (and which could be a Euopean bulwark against ISIL) is being kept at arm's length because it is a muslim state.

But Joe,

This is exactly the way the media manipulate people's limbic system. This show shows an extreme example of the ugliest type of behaviour. This will be shared by millions of people and it will come to be an image that get's debated.....that we're debating!!

If you break it down it shows two ignorant young men who, I think it's safe to say, are lagered up. Do you honestly think people that ignorant needed UKIP or anyone else to be assholes? I got in to a running punch up four years ago on a train to Zurich when a load of football fans got on. The train actually had four transport police who did nothing while the fists were flying.

There was a lot of this when I was a kid when Pakistani and Indian immigration were the issues of the day. Before that my dad faced the same thing when West Indian immigration had Britian reaching for the underwear drawer. I think stupidity is perennial.