I have had a great deal of adversity in my life, the list would be long and boring.

I just have (mostly) chosen not to bring that down upon myself.

I do not assume I shall live longer than you, I hope my children will.

But my blood pressure is good

I am a realist, realistically this was an incredibly foolish move. Maybe we shall recover from it but my opinion is that is more of a hope than a strong likelihood. So now we have to work very hard and also hope. It didn't have to be this way.

Clear heads need to be applied to this situation.

We are the largest single export market for Germany. I don't believe that the German government will allow the EU to slap punitive tariffs on goods and services from the UK, fully in the knowledge that the UK government will do likewise. There will be job losses in Gelsenkirchen and Wolfsburg.

I don't believe that the EU will want to alienate the City because it is the largest clearing house for the Euro.

I don't believe the EU will want to alienate Brits living in Europe because of the number of its citizens living in the UK.

I don't believe that the EU will want to cease close border security and intelligence cooperation.

I read that something like 70% of Ireland's GDP is related to the UK. The Irish are going to petition Brussels to do something to ensure heir interests are protected.

For all of these reasons, and there are plenty more if you dig into the internecine relationship between EU countries and the U.K., I firmly believe a deal will be hammered out. We, the voters, may not agree with it. Democracy and the result of the referendum needs to be respected. I doubt it will though.

For all of these reasons, and there are plenty more if you dig into the internecine relationship between EU countries and the U.K., I firmly believe a deal will be hammered out. We, the voters, may not agree with it. Democracy and the result of the referendum needs to be respected. I doubt it will though.

The EU thought we were bluffing.

They now know we weren't and just like the bully they sh1t themselves when someone hits back.

This could well play out as you described Matt.

If we had voted for Remain we would be up Sh1t Creek without a paddle now.

Because we voted leave we have "Bargaining Chips" and we won't be asking Whimpy Cameroon to play them.

These are my concerns.

The German economy would have much more to lose by the EU falling apart at the seams than it would be sending a message to other nations that life outside of the EU is fine and dandy. Power in numbers. They will perhaps all be wiling to take a medium sized hit in exchange for a dramtic effect on us.

If we lose access to the single market or have tarrifs coming out of our ears germany will become Europes trading centre, so it's win - win for them to give us a hard time.

Obama has reaffirmed his view that we are at the back of the queue. It's a view that makes sense surely since we stop being the convenient european single market access point we once were. It's in their interest to have a strong EU and so we can expect a transfer of empahsis to those nations.

Will it be the end of the world for us? No life goes on either way but i fear our economy will take a huge long term big hit and I also dont think its realistic to imagine that immigration will drops to tens of thousands either, so the entire reason for voting out for many could prove to be pointless.

Nothing would make be happier than to me wrong and for us long term to have control of numbers coming in and a strong economy so of course i just that i'm wrong and it works out for future generations. Like everyone really i dont know what will happen, these are just my concerns.

Edited by blackpalacefan (25 Jun 2016 1.58pm)

Not that close in England, 53.2% leave and 48.8% stay.