The title of an article by the economics editor of The Times caught my eye: “The poorest voted for Brexit, now they will bear the brunt of the cost“. How true, I thought and started reading.
The opening sentence brought me up short. “Britain has just committed an act of self-harm.” I remembered a girl I had admitted when I was a houseman. She had taken an overdose of Paracetamol after a row with her boyfriend. She did not intend to die. It was a protest.
Now you may know that Paracetamol is a particularly nasty drug with which to attempt, or threaten suicide. You do not go quietly to sleep either to wake later, or not wake. It is not particularly sedative, but it destroys your liver and you go jaundiced and die some days or even weeks later.
To my embarrassment I do not remember whether she did in fact die, but I shall never forget the look of terror in her eyes the next morning when she realised that death was the probable outcome.
Many of my fellow Britons have just made a protest vote. I have no doubt that the majority of them will come to regret it: but I know not how soon or how many. The drunken tweet sent in the early hours may have repercussions in hours. The unintended sexual encounter may show its effects in days or weeks. Trusting the Tories with the NHS may not prove fatal for ten or twenty years. I wonder how long it will take the poor downtrodden and exploited British voter to realise that they have simply been taken for a ride by different bunch of public school toffs.
The Poor will not gain from leaving the EU
Charles West 