[0762]

One thing I'd add re the UK EU referendum is that the vote should've been made mandatory in this case to maximise the vote and ensure that brexit was never gonna happen. I opined that view well before June 2016 and still regard the omission of that pre-requisite as utter folly and 'leaving the door open' to a narrow brexit affirmative win. As you say, the supreme political optimism of the country voting to remain was utterly negligent and unforgiveable. Also the ROI had a similar exercise a good number of years ago and what did the govt do? They dismissed it because it was indeed an opinion poll and the threshold of yes or no should have been set at between 60-70% of the vote anyway. They had courageous politicians who were not gonna sway from making such a huge mistake economically and politically. Note that countries like Switzerland have lotsa annual referenda and they don't tackle all the relative issues unless unanimity prevails. IMO overdone but everyone to their own way of governance.