June 23, 2016: Voters in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland vote to leave the European Union in a national referendum. It was called "Brexit," short for "British Exit," in the leadup to the vote.
This was the dumbest thing anybody in Britain had done since 1422, when King Henry V drank some unsanitary water in France, and died of dysentery at the age of 35, leaving his 9-month-old son as Henry VI, and causing England to lose the Hundred Years' War when they were so close to final victory.
Britain had been a member of the European Communities since 1973, and of its successor, the European Union, since 1993. But many of its citizens were angry about the E.U. dictating economic policy, especially trade policy. And many (with considerable overlap with the previous group) were angry about the E.U.'s immigration laws, making Europe as a whole, and Britain in particular, more black, brown, and Muslim -- and less white and Christian.
Some voters admitted that they didn't really want to separate from the European Union, they just wanted to "send a message" to them. The message they intended to send was, "Respect us more." The message the EU received was, "We don't want you, so we're fucking off." It was a bigoted message, spread by people like UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, London Mayor Boris Johnson, and the country's conservative national newspapers. The final vote was 17,410,742 for "Leave," and 16,141,241 for "Remain." Percentage-wise, that's 51.9 to 48.1.
As with American national elections, the city vote and the country vote were very different. In England, the vote was 53.4 Leave, 46.6 Remain. Most of the cities, including London, Liverpool and Manchester, voted to Remain. But the suburbs and the countryside vote to Leave. Wales was 52.5 Leave, 47.5 Remain. But Scotland was 62.0 to 38.0 Remain. Northern Ireland was 55.8 to 44.2 Remain, with the Catholic precincts being largely Remain, but its Protestant precincts were largely Leave. (The Republic of Ireland is an E.U. member, and has no desire to change that.)
The result? Within hours, Britain's financial markets crashed. In 48 hours, the pound lost 1/5th of its value, although, within the week, it recovered to the point where the loss was "only" 1/8th of its value. Prime Minister David Cameron, Leader of the Conservative Party, was forced to resign. His successor, Theresa May, didn't complete the Leave process fast enough for the "Brexit Means Brexit" crowd, and she was forced out of office in 2019, giving the job to Johnson, who became Britain's 1st openly bigoted Prime Minister since Margaret Thatcher was forced out in 1990.
Soon, the people behind a recent failed referendum on Scottish independence began talking about a new referendum, on whether Scotland should leave the U.K. and rejoin the E.U.
It may just be that, by the time the Duke of Cambridge becomes King William V, he will reign over "The United Kingdom of England-but-not-London-or-Merseyside and East Belfast," a stagnant country, while London, Liverpool, Wales, Scotland and a united Ireland are in a thriving European Union. And those left behind will have not buyer's remorse, but seller's remorse.
We may yet see Wales and Scotland -- "Cymru" and "Alba," in their respective native languages -- hold new referenda on independence, to be followed by "Cymreturn" and "Alba Be Back."
UPDATE: On June 3, 2026, nearly 10 years after the referendum, there had not yet been new independence referenda by Wales or Scotland. But a poll by Statista Research Department showed that 57 percent of British citizens thought Leave was a mistake, while only 30 percent thought it was right -- a net shift of 13 points. Statista called it "Bregret."
A YouGov poll showed that thinking Leave was a mistake was an opinion held by 56 percent of people in England, 61 percent in Wales, and 75 percent in Scotland.
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June 23, 2016 was a Thursday. Football was out of season. Basketball season haded ended 4 days earlier, when the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA Championship, defeating the Golden State Warriors in Game 7 of the Finals. Hockey season had ended 11 days earlier, when the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup, defeating the San Jose Sharks in Game 6 of the Finals.
These games were played in Major League Baseball:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Minnesota Twins, 7-1 at Yankee Stadium. The Twins hit 6 home runs, while the Yankees got 1 from Mark Teixeira.
* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 5-2 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 12-5 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore.
* The Miami Marlins beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-1 at Marlins Park (now LoanDepot Park) in Miami.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-3 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 3-0 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. Anthony DeSclafani pitched 8 innings of shutout ball, before Tony Cingrani finished the 5-hitter.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-3 at Comerica Park in Detroit.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-2 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.
* The Washington Nationals beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-2 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Houston Astros, 6-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-2 at Globe Life Park (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The Colorado Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 9-7 at Coors Field in Denver.
* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Oakland Athletics, 7-6 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-7 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco. Conor Gillaspie won it with a double in the bottom of the 9th.
* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Seattle Mariners, 11-6 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle.
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