Morrissey - Irish Blood, English Heart

I've felt more European than anything else in recent years, and thanks to Irish citizenship I've had since 2002, despite only having Irish great grandparents, I won't have that identity taken away from me by 4% of the population of the country I live in. It's not even just the ideology of "being European" but the structures I enjoy being part of, despite the often opaque nature of its often confusing bureaucracy. You can't agree with everything your government does, it would be weird if you did, or incredibly insincere/idiotic. Sometimes you have to go with the majority, give it your trust when it is earned, and reform the system when required. I'm far less trusting of a parliament that is seeking to make its own ill-advised Bill of Rights whereby the government would not be accountable for its actions regarding human frickin' rights. I miss the days when that was the only topic upon which the UK Government sought to isolate itself from the rest of Europe. That's not even taking into account that there has been little real reform for nearly one hundred years, or that its upper chamber is un-elected. Anyway, the years of scapegoating the EU, punishing and disenfranchising the poor, has brought us to a point where we'd rather set ourselves on fire and call it sovereignty than work with other people on things we overwhelmingly agree with.

I was born in New Zealand, grew up also in Ireland, and now live in England. I have Irish, Scottish, Cornish, Maori, and English ancestry. Please, tell me where I should "go home" to? Please, tell me when exactly did the UK completely control its borders? Please, tell me when the world was divided up neatly and didn't rely on or influence each other? How about when exactly was the time when these islands - whatever their political form - didn't have immigrants? Inward and outward migration is the story of these islands, there can't have been an Empire without the movement of money, ideas, and people back and forth over successive centuries. We helped to create your wealth and power, and defended it when we had to (as much as I *eyeroll* when people play the World War card) and look at what you're doing with it, embarrassing yourselves. 

The reason that I'm feeling more like a disappointed parent than an angry citizen is that as an immigrant and a European citizen I can choose where I live out of the dozens of countries I am entitled to reside in. I can take everything I've learnt, subsidised by the EU in conjunction with UK universities, and go somewhere where it will still be valued. I understand that right wing groups are everywhere and 48% of the UK is still rad, but at least the structural restrictions haven't shifted to ensure I am arbitrarily not as welcome. I also get that as an Irish person here for over five years I probably won't have to leave but, actually, I haven't wanted to be here for a while now and this only confirms it. Why would I live in and contribute to a country with which I don't share the same values (tolerance, internationalism, etc). The only chance that this could be for the good is if Scotland gets its independence since England via its Brexit vote has finally shown what many "loony Nationalists" claimed - the disconnect isn't ideological, it is in fact structural.