FWIW, I don't think Theresa May is lacking in courage or intelligence.
(snip)
In that respect, Theresa May is probably doing the most sensible thing in actually seeing what Brexit should look like, what we are going to negotiate for, and what we will accept or not accept.
I disagree, in that I think it is obvious she didn't want Brexit- indeed she campaigned against it- and is simply trying to kick it into the long grass. She has said movement won't happen until the end of the year and when the Sun's political editor reported this as "movement in early 2017" she was at great pains to see that isn't what she said.
Kicking things into the long grass works as a short-term measure. It doesn't work as a long-term measure. Already we have companies saying they cannot commit to the UK whilst there is this state of limbo- just in the north east Nissan are making noises at leaving, and United have cancelled their transatlantic flights from Newcastle- and this is one situation where there needs to be a speedy resolution.
The issue is that May clearly doesn't want Brexit but doesn't have the courage to say so.
BTW, I think it's too easy to characterize Leavers as some homogenous group (i.e. old, white, racist). My mum (white, 80 years of age) voted stay. My sister in law voted Leave (white, 34, not racist in the slightest).
I don't think they are racist, I rather unkindly said stupid or racist.
And I stand by that, harsh as it sounds.
I think a lot of people who voted Leave are guilty of what may be charitably described as naivete. Certainly up here there was lots of talk of "bringing back control" and "saving £350m/week for the NHS"; nurses at my wife's work said they voted Leave on that basis. The claims from Leave were clearly weapons-grade bollocks, yet people lapped them up.
The talk of the colour of passports is just another symptom of this. One of my passports is blue, one is red, and I couldn't give a rat's ass about either of their colours.
I believe we have to now respect the decision and hopefully make the best of things in future. However, you can't have a referendum and then ignore the will of the people (even if it was only 73% of the electorate).
As I've said above, I respect the decision of the referendum, even if I question the intelligence of many of the people who made it. I don't unconditionally accept that it is the "will of the people" though, given there was 1.5% in the vote and 27% didn't express an opinion either way.