I’ve lost my integrity. It’s been a gradual process, a slow chipping away over the last few years, but today I’m feeling the damage. I’m functioning as well as can be expected, but I’m not sure how much longer I can carry on. My moral compass is as strong as ever, reinforced by my determination…
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I won’t waste time telling you that the deal the UK has negotiated with the EU is awful. There are plenty of experts about to do that, and if there is one thing I’ve learned in the 4.5 years since the referendum, it’s that no one cares what I think. My fifteen years experience as…
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As an exporter, the dangers of Brexit were glaringly obvious to me well before the referendum. And for years after that awful result, I did all I could to warn of the coming disaster – blogging, TV and radio appearances, newspaper interviews. Whenever I tried to warn others of the impending shitstorm, I was often…
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Personal growth is hard work. Admitting mistakes is painful. Dealing with the shame of realising you’ve not done your best is embarrassing and exhausting. Yet if we don’t do these things, we don’t learn or grow or become better people. And it should always be our goal to do better, even just a little bit.…
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A few weeks ago, my husband told me that he’d nearly freaked himself out by over-thinking the origin of eggs. A few days later, I did exactly the same and haven’t had one since. In fact, I don’t think I’ll be having any ever again. It isn’t something I’d ever have imagined, but I’m happy…
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Despair might seem like the most natural – possibly only – response to the conveyer belt of crises coming at us all. So much so that it’s easy to forget one simple fact: Collectively, we have a lot more power than those in Westminster understand. There are steps we can take right now to –…
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I find it hard to believe I used to write in a journal nearly every day. Where did I find the time? What did I write about? What happened to my mental capacity to produce subject matter and text? My guess is that it all resided in my addiction to nicotine. Nothing made me type…
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Feeling tired and run down at the moment. Our falling EU sales at work have not improved, and despondency is setting in. My husband and I gave an interview to a local paper about the difficulties the business is facing, and of course, as with everything these says, there was online abuse from people with…
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Well, it’s happened. Despite a campaign of emails, newsletters, social media, and site notices letting our EU customers know they could continue to buy from us without hassle through 2020, their orders have all but stopped. As of this morning, I’ve received about 1/5 of the orders I’d usually get from the EU by the…
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Well, Leavers, it’s here: the day you’ve been waiting for. Exit Day! From 11pm tonight the UK will no longer be a member of the European Union. Celebrate and enjoy. Have some cake. Ring a bell. You’ve won. But remember this – today is the easy bit. And perhaps some of you still believe, despite…
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For as long as I live, I will never understand how it was possible that half a population were allowed and encouraged to vote to strip everyone of the rights and privileges they’ve enjoyed for over forty years. I’ve only enjoyed mine since becoming a UK citizen in 2012, but that doesn’t take away the…
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A few things I miss, in no particular order: Being able to trust the media. Not liking the current administration, but not feeling their tenure is the end of the world. A functioning opposition.A willingness to cooperate with international neighbours. Living in a normal country, happy with its place in the world. Not having to…
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One oft-quoted definition of insanity is ‘repeating the same action again and again while expecting a different outcome’. For over three years, I have spent every day trawling news sites and scrolling through Twitter in search of that one magical fact, that single bit of enlightenment, that would convince a small majority of voters in…
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No one speaks about the benefits any more, which makes sense. There weren’t any. Brexit is the project of the morally-corrupt 1% who managed to trick a small part of the population into thinking they were all on the same page, yet those on the bottom tier either don’t know or don’t care that every…
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I try my best to live as a person liberated from fear. I view fear as a method of control, and try hard not to be affected by it, but the last couple of weeks have been brutal. Lots of big-talk about a no deal Brexit, leaked government documents in The Times predicting a dire…
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Fig and Pen 