In praise of referendums – this one in particular

Commentators have complained about this referendum — its ‘lies’, bad manners, bitterness. Without exactly disagreeing, I would nevertheless argue that it has performed at least one of the roles intended, which is to encourage people to consider the issue. If you are actively engaged in political debate, as candidate, activist, journalist etc, you believe (often erroneously) that you have thought through the big questions. If you are an unpolitical voter, you often haven’t. This is particularly true of the European question because, for 40 years, enormous efforts have been made by all the political parties to discourage you. David Cameron only finally conceded to us the right to have our say because, for internal party reasons, he was desperate. So, in the last few months, millions have been focusing seriously on something on which, since 1975, their opinion had not been sought. My impression is that most of them have caught up fast and have held better debates about it than those on television.