I literally cheered when this was announced on BBC TV this morning!
I personally don't think he is always on the right side. he and I apparently disagree over the monarchy.
But politically we seem fairly in tune.

Well according to me and Benedict, yes.

Excuse me?  
I do defend to the death the right of others to their opinions.
My right to free speech allows me to say when I think others are wrong.
Plus, in a vote, you'd be a bit stupid to vote for what you thought was wrong.

Ivy wrote:

nakahara wrote:

Remeber that sentence ascribed to Voltaire?
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it," 

Great quote but not by Voltaire. It's from Evelyn Beatrice Hall who wrote books about Voltaire. In "Friends of Voltaire" she wrote that sentence to point out his beliefs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Friends_of_Voltaire
The phrase "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it", which was originally intended as a summary (by Hall) of Voltaire's attitude, was widely misread as a literal quotation from Voltaire.

Yes, that´s why I wrote "ascribed to Voltaire". 
 

besleybean wrote:

Excuse me?  
I do defend to the death the right of others to their opinions.
My right to free speech allows me to say when I think others are wrong.
Plus, in a vote, you'd be a bit stupid to vote for what you thought was wrong.

And that´s absolutely all right.

Personally, I think that the general idea of EU is very good and it had a good potential to make the continent stronger and to make it rid of wars between single states.
Still, I believe, it´s ripe for a major reform in its current, overly byrocratic form, because it no longer represent the wishes and interests of ordinary citisens, IMHO.
That´s why I would hesitate to describe myself as a "good side" even if I believe in the general idea of EU. I envy you how sure you are about your cause.
I also don´t quite believe in eternal state forms or federations. That´s why I find it a bit exaggerated to speak of a suicide if a state falls out of EU. There´s nothing eternal in politics, I´m afraid.
"Places change... and hearts grow old."

I'm not a 100% a fan of the EU, there are things that are good or rather some ideas are good. I personally wouldn't have needed the Euro among other things. In general I get the feeling people here in Germany (that I know of) couldn't care less about the Brexit, the thing is GB gets a special treatment, they get a lot concessions, so people are a bit pissed off by that anyway. Equality would be nice, since we're in this together.
The "suicide" thing was a comparison. Saying you mainly harm yourself with it or to use the wonderful idiom you're shooting yourself in the foot. I once saw a documentation about it, that made clear the whole thing is a bit naive (one politician even compared GB to Norway, I had to laugh out loud) and you can't turn back time.

I read some of the article at the start of the topic earlier today, but I held back from making any comments. I don't know enough about how this works to say much. All I can say is that these artists' points of view sound like what I would support, but I know the EU has other problems that may or may not be compensated for by what it does to help the arts. However things turn out, I hope people can be at least somewhat happy with what it will mean for the UK. But then again, you pretty much can never please everybody.

Ironically of course many Britons think that the UK doesn't have preferential treatment (I agree it does). Being in a democracy does not inhibit one from expressing the opinion that another person's views are wrong. That is what debate is all about. (And I won't even enter the debate about what really constitutes a democracy and whether we are actually in one.)

This is a sad day. And I fear inner turmoil for Britain since Scotland and Northern Ireland voted Remain. Seeing political campaigns exploiting people's justified and often unjustified fears is always a terrible thing. Which does not just go for the UK but also for the US, Germany, Austria, and many other countries.