Bring the boys - and girls - back home
"Bring the boys back home" is the cry of those who want war to end and troops to return to safety. In the context of Brexit, those forced to return to Britain is a group who will be repatriated against their will, but the larger group will be those who never get to leave in the first place because it is too difficult to get a visa.
The world of visa restrictions is one that British people only face now when they go outside Europe. I go to the US and Canada on the "visa waiver" programme. I still have to fill in a form, answer questions about what I am doing, and leave within three months. Pretty much like the Non EU channel at airports. That is where the Brits will be lining up soon.
The consequences are not just economic, as companies relocate out of Britain. It is much more serious. In the short term the pain of lost opportunity, the long run a much more insular and isolated island.
It is going to be much, much harder for British people to marry foreigners and vice versa when Britain leaves the European Union.
"My girl/boyfriend is a an EU national foreign" is certain not to generate a visa for a Brit to live in France, Italy, Poland or other EU countries for more than three months under the points based visa/immigration system advocated by the Brexit-ers.
As Dr. Helen Fisher - the author of bestselling "Anatomy of Love" - argued at the TED Summit in Banff Canada last week, young people are delaying their commitment to marry until they are absolutely sure about their partners. Extreme caution is shown. Living together before marriage is the norm in Europe. Brits will not be allowed to do this in EU countries, and EU citizens won't be allowed to do this in the UK.
The idea of a "Year Off/Gap Year/Sabbatical" drifting around Europe, with occasional jobs when the money runs out, is also going to be removed. We British will have to plan our visits to "the Continent " as carefully as the Americans or Australians do when they come to Britain/Europe. Spending un-structured time in Europe will no longer be an option.
Tech Entrepreneurs will also have tough choices to make. Most will re locate to more "foreigner friendly" places be it cool friendly and expensive Dublin or cheaper cool and friendly Kraków or Berlin. If Scotland manages not to be forced out, then Edinburgh and Glasgow have a chance to receive Tech Refugees from England.
The Brexit-ers are deliberately and intentionally proposing policies that will remove freedoms that British people of all ages have enjoyed in Europe for two generations. What a pathetic achievement. I feel miserable every time I think of all the young people whose life chances have been so much restricted