Know Your Enemy

"How foul this referendum is. The most depressing, divisive, duplicitous political event of my lifetime. May there never be another."

Novelist Robert Harris, writing earlier this week, before Jo Cox's murder.

I came across the comment in this Guardian article by the reliably spot-on Marina Hyde, which ends with the following paragraph: "There are many people I respect and admire voting Leave - there are people in my family voting Leave. I understand their reasons. But they must stomach the reality that a vote for Leave will be taken by Farage and countless others as a vote for him, a vote for his posters, a vote for his ideas, a vote for his quiet malice, a vote for his smallness in the face of vast horrors. Is it worth it?" This is indeed a critical issue. Motivations for voting one way or the other aren't recorded on the ballot paper and so are ultimately irrelevant. Irrespective of the fact that there are valid leftist arguments for Brexit, it's inextricably linked to right-wing xenophobia and hatred, and a victory for Leave will be seen as a victory for that mentality. I don't want to have that on my conscience - just one of the reasons I'll be voting Remain.