So here it is as reported by the Guardian today (14th June)
A source within the remain camp said Downing Street had shifted from being “utterly convinced” of victory in the referendum battle, to a “blind panic”. The source claimed that strategists had convened an emergency meeting on Friday, but a spokesman for Britain Stronger in Europe denied the suggestion.
The panic if panic there is, is totally Cameron's own fault. Of course there was going to be a campaign of the long knives leading up to this. Of course there would be issues tugging us in every direction. Admittedly the refugee issue was not as pressing when the maifesto for the last election was drawn up, but as has been noted, a week in politics is a long time, and to think that the country would sail smoothly through a referendum on remaining in the Europian Union to the status quo was wildly optimistic.
Not a single one of us more ordinary mortals will find this vote easy. For those of us who cleave to higher values like compassion, generosity, hospitality, justice, service, despite the fact that much of the leave campaign appeals to our sense of selfishness and might on that basis be repudiated, who's to say that we might not be enabled to be a more compassionate, outward looking country if we left? Who knows the twists and turns of the political landscape in the future?
Personally, despite trying not to expose myself to overmuch of the rhetoric, it has of course reached me in various forms. I've heard decent sounding owners of small businesses, decent sounding economists, broadcasters, even a few politicians, on both sides of the debate. So on Thursday 23rd it's going to be up to a gut decision on whose leading figures in the campaigns I trust more, (there's a clue to my vote right there), and what will be more settling for our future and what will help us on balance to be a fair, open country.
A source within the remain camp said Downing Street had shifted from being “utterly convinced” of victory in the referendum battle, to a “blind panic”. The source claimed that strategists had convened an emergency meeting on Friday, but a spokesman for Britain Stronger in Europe denied the suggestion.
The panic if panic there is, is totally Cameron's own fault. Of course there was going to be a campaign of the long knives leading up to this. Of course there would be issues tugging us in every direction. Admittedly the refugee issue was not as pressing when the maifesto for the last election was drawn up, but as has been noted, a week in politics is a long time, and to think that the country would sail smoothly through a referendum on remaining in the Europian Union to the status quo was wildly optimistic.
Not a single one of us more ordinary mortals will find this vote easy. For those of us who cleave to higher values like compassion, generosity, hospitality, justice, service, despite the fact that much of the leave campaign appeals to our sense of selfishness and might on that basis be repudiated, who's to say that we might not be enabled to be a more compassionate, outward looking country if we left? Who knows the twists and turns of the political landscape in the future?
Personally, despite trying not to expose myself to overmuch of the rhetoric, it has of course reached me in various forms. I've heard decent sounding owners of small businesses, decent sounding economists, broadcasters, even a few politicians, on both sides of the debate. So on Thursday 23rd it's going to be up to a gut decision on whose leading figures in the campaigns I trust more, (there's a clue to my vote right there), and what will be more settling for our future and what will help us on balance to be a fair, open country.
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