After the ruling of the High Court yesterday stating that the Prime Minister does not have the right to trigger the Article 50 process without getting the backing of Parliament, the media and the public from both the Leave and the Remain campaigns have reignited the feud, with hateful and worrying comments being posted on both mainstream and social media.  Here is a short reactionary piece form Chris calling for a better kind of democracy…

“I have a radical opinion: hardly anyone has a political opinion because they’re evil.

People wonder why I don’t want to go into politics, and I don’t because it’s a very toxic, spiteful and hateful field. It’s full of lies and hate because people cannot understand that their opponents are not bad people – they want to make the world a better place, they just disagree on how to do it.  This applies to left and right, sometimes evil intentions do exist, but 90% of the time they don’t. You might not understand how someone can come to their conclusions, but that still doesn’t make them a bad person. That just means you lack empathy and understanding.

After two big referendums, division is rife, and neither side wants to understand the other. They’d rather spit vile hatred and abuse at each other. Who does this benefit?
It might sound cheesy and idealist, but I do wish we could all just assume that every wants what is best, and debate each other without malice, hate or abuse.”

If you have any questions about Brexit, here is an “all you need to know” article by the BBC

Interested in youth participation? Want to know more about our international work? Want to get involved?

Join us at a reception on Monday, 10th of July in the iconic Grand Saloon at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane to Celebrate Our European Youth Voice. 

Over the last year we have been working on research, consultations and meeting with decision makers over the theme of: “Enabling young people to engage in a diverse, connected and inclusive Europe”

This event will be a chance for you to learn about our achievements over the last 18 months and our youth representation in European structured dialogue. You will join us for a launch of our new video that shall be used to share the fantastic opportunities that we provide for young people in international particpation as well as the outcomes of the last cycle of structured dialogue. This will be accompanied by a free copy of a report that will give you an insight to the youth-led consultation that was carried out last summer that engaged with over 1,000 young people on their European engagement.

Register for this free event here. 

For young people who wish to attend there is a limited number of travel bursaries available on a first come first served basis – contact jessica.simonds@byc.org.uk for more information.

You will also get to meet our UK Young Ambassadors and learn from them what it takes to be a representative of young people in the UK. This will be a great opportunity if you are hoping to apply for a role over the next few weeks.