On remaining European in your hesrt a year on.....

On remaining European in your hesrt a year on.....

As we swelter in the longest period of hot June weather for 20 years. I think back to this time last year and I feel the closing of our minds that began on June 23rd 2016. When the id of the Tory party spilled out and made the whole of the UK blind. It takes me back to the whine of Nuttal and of that narrowness that has flooded our screens ever since. And then I know that tolerance is not dead and that so many of us carry an open, tolerant attitude in in hearts and minds. Perhaps all that the blue kippers did was to remind us that it was there. And then I know come what may, despite Brexit, despite the horrors of the closed mind we remain committed to the European philosophy, outlook and attitudes that will be so essential on Brexit Island

In the end it comes down to who you are really deep inside. Its the emotion for me of seeing my son, seeing my lover. It comes down to reaching outwards, it's about knowing the history, literature and culture of Europe. It's about experiences of travelling, knowing the smell of the air in the countries of Europe, it's about smiling about our own odd little ways and theirs.

It's knowing that there is more than one book, that there is no us and them. It's about knowing that Tom Paine prior to his pamphlet “Common Sense” reminded the English that they were always part of Europe, its about knowing that Europeans want equal access to knowledge and education. It's about knowing that the French think one way, the Germans another, it's about knowing that the Magma Carla was imposed by French Knights, and the Glorious Revolution by a Dutch Army, that Christmas Trees were a Victorian tradition tradition that came from Germany.

It's about knowing that even if you have done wrong, your argument is still as important and emotional and uplifting. It's about knowing that we are all immigrants, that we all came out of Africa, that our ancestors were all economic migrants, that James Dyson that great saint of the Brexit refused to place his factory in Wales.

It's about knowing and feeling in your heart, tolerance, understanding for the refugee, the victim of domestic abuse, the broken and the outcast. It's about daring to think in new ways it's about crossing over to new solutions and new perspectives. It's about not liking self assurance, those who are blaming the other, the little Englander and the simplistic Kipper analysis or the Daily Mail.

It's about seeing how Shakespeare was influenced by those European ideas stretching back to the Greeks. It's about seeing how the latest Edition of Big Brother shows how important the works of Freud and Darwin were. It's about celebrating both popular and high culture and finally its about seeing how good it is to see Wales win the match and become top of Group B. It's about appreciating that Nietzsche was not a Nazi and that Margaret Thatcher was no friend of the Welsh. It's about seeing situations with new lenses and new filters. It's about understanding that we make new wines in both new and old vessels. It's about seeing the Mediterranean Sea and smelling the air. It's about that feeling as the bus takes me home. And finally its about possibilities, hope and respect. That is why I am voting remain.

Its about the symbolism both positive and negative of last year's vote of the vote, what it will lead to and what it has lead to, how it will be interpreted and has been.. Its about how by looking at the threat of Isis, we forget the evil and poison of the far right. Its about what will come next as we leave. Its about the fact that the majority of Brexiteers worship the “free market” and the privatisation of the NHS.I look at Farage, Johnson and Gove and I my head rather than my heart is convinced I will remain and resist.

When I see London Bridge, Manchester, Finsbury and more. I see the demons of hate walk across this land and I know that I and many others will choose the path of being in the European resistance and like the leavers who struggled for 40 years . So will I as long as I am here.And I will reamain a proud European. there will be those who willuse the accusation that I am un patriotic, un British, a traitor and yet i know and many others like me know the history of the British Isles so well, we know of Wales and we know the links streatching back and if there is a Europeasn citizenship the made available i will take it as will others. Each abuse, each swaer word each claim of being un patriotic convinces me more and more of the value of Europe and its influence over us. I will not be stuck on brexit island with xenophobic idiots who know nothing of their history, culture and origins.