Some thoughts after Brexit. We desperately need similar insightful articles about Cornwall and the Cornish leave vote, if anything to counter the Cornish-are-as-thick-as-pig-shit narratives circulating in Cornwall and wider UK. Pointing out that we've had lots of juicy EU funding and now it's going to stop is not enough. I had the opportunity to raise the EU funding point with a few leave voters when I was back in the Duchy. The general consensus opinion is as follows:

- It's part of our (the UK's) money that we've paid to the EU that they've decided to give back to us. The UK pays more into the EU than it gets back so Westminster, once out of the EU, will be able to fund Cornwall with the same, if not increased, levels of cash, and this will be decided by an elected government not unelected commissioners in Brussels -

So you see, simply stating the fact that Cornwall gets lots of funding from the EU isn't going to convince anyone. Arguments need to be developed and refined.

An intellectual battle is being waged, and at the moment the Cornish identity is a collateral victim. The Anglo-British nationalist / conservative right is overjoyed that Cornwall voted like England, displaying, for them, yet another sign of its undeniable Englishness. No surprises there then. Perhaps more worrying, and insidious, are the attack from the metropolitan intellectual left. So many shaming articles in the Guardian, Independent etc, all basically running with: The Cornish are stupid! They voted leave and now they're worried about their EU funding. 

Our youth, future of our nation, who are largely remain voters, are perhaps the target. A generation ashamed to be Cornish is a generation lost. We desperately need to counter these narratives and explain why Cornwall voted to leave with a detailed examination of the referendum results. The work has started, and ideas are circulating, but we need to step up the efforts all round.