We need to know and we need to know now

Who was it that decided that hatred and bitterness and back-stabbing and nastiness were ever OK?

Well, as far as I am concerned, they aren't and I've had enough.

Since Friday last week both Social and mainstream media has been full of nothing but hatred and doom and gloom and narrow-mindedness and I can't stand it any longer. I know that there are people who are really happy about the Referendum result, I know that there are people who are really unhappy about it but all this gloating and loathing and racism and bigotry is all wrong and very unhelpful. Just today I have seen videos of a racist rant from a young person being made towards an older black guy on a tram in Manchester and reports of a firebombing attack on an Asian wholesalers which destroyed a family's livelihood in Walsall. Thankfully, in neither incident was anyone killed or seriously injured but this is not something that should ever be considered to be acceptable. And then there are all the men and women who are being told to pack up and go home. Forgive me but these people are home. They were born here, in many cases, their parents were born here, their children were born here, their jobs are here, their lives have been spent almost in their entirety in this country. What are they supposed to do, where are they supposed to go? This is their home, this is where they belong and they should not be harassed or hounded or intimidated. They should be able to continue with their lives in peace and security. Then there are the other people, the people that voted on Friday, one way or the other. All I am reading and hearing about at the moment are families that are fighting amongst themselves over the dinner table, loving relationships that are falling apart, life-long friendships that are coming to a bitter end. I, myself, have had to 'unfriend' two people on Facebook that I thought were people that I liked and agree with but whose views have turned out to be at polar opposites from my own views. We might not live in a lovey-dovey, fluffy pink world but violence and intolerance and inhumanity has never been the the answer to anything.

I'm not going to say how I actually voted myself, those people who know me personally will be able to have a very good guess, but it doesn't matter and it's not important. Personal viewpoints are just that, personal, that's all. What is important is what we, as a country, as a nation are going to do next. People and politicians are bickering, political parties on both sides of the political equation are imploding, votes of no-confidence in our leaders are being proposed, voted on and passed, resignations and sackings appear to be two a-penny. Everyone is trying to second-guess everyone else but no-one is coming up with a decent plan of action and it's not helpful. It needs to stop and it needs to stop now. Hand-wringing and recriminations will get us absolutely no-where. All it will do will be to make us seem to be weak and indecisive and that will be of no help whatsoever.

We, the electorate, need to know what happens next. I, for one, have a whole load of questions and I need answers. Will the prices in the shops go up? Will my rent increase? Will my daughter and her partner be able to find and afford a home of their own? Will my son be able to get a job and follow his chosen career path? Will there still be doctors and nurses available to treat me next time I have to go to a health centre or a hospital? Will I still be able to find personal assistants willing to come and attend to my home-care needs? Will my rights be protected? Then, as a nation we need to know, will our children's and young people's education be compromised? Will our jobs, and the jobs of our friend's and relative's, be secure. We need to stop and take stock. We need our leaders to talk to us and tell us. This is not a time for discord and disharmony, this is a time for us all to stand together, as one, and say "This is what we are going to do" and then, actually, do it. The hatred and bitterness and antagonism towards our neighbours needs to stop and it needs to stop now before it gets out of hand. What will it take before we realise that things have already gone too far and pull back from the abyss before we fall? We need to look at what we want for our future and decide how we're going to get there. We need leaders who can actually lead, not men and women who seem to be more concerned about themselves and their own careers than the people who voted for them. We need to know what is going to happen next and we need to know it now.