Thread by @uk_domain_names

30+ Ways of Losing the Brexit Debate Before You Even Get Going, AKA "Rules of Brexit Debate Club"
You have already lost the Brexit debate if:
1. You mention "democracy"
2. You invoke the "will of the people"
3. You talk of being fine "before we joined the EU" or mention the 1970s

4. You mention a "WTO Brexit" or "WTO deal"
5. You think we could survive by trading on WTO terms alone
6. You mention "GATT Article 24" or claim we can automatically keep free trade
7. You attack your opponent, rather than the facts

8. You confect an imaginary slight based on something your opponent never actually said
9. You resort to whatiffery and whataboutery
10. You talk of "restoring sovereignty" but can't give practical examples of what doing so would mean in our daily life

11. You bemoan EU bureaucracy but can't name a single EU law or rule you disagree with
12. You invoke the spirit of WW2 – or indeed, resort to war metaphors in general
13. You see Brexit as something to be "survived", "endured" or "coped with"

14. You claim the public wants us to "get on with it"
15. You say "the EU needs us more than we need them"
16. You invoke German car manufacturers charging in like white knights to save us
17. You say "but they'll still have to trade with us anyway"

18. Your argument is partially or wholly delivered in Latin
19. You say it's impossible to know what will happen after Brexit because we haven't left yet.

20. You claim that things which have already happened (e.g. job losses, companies moving
production abroad) are "fake news" or "project fear"
21. You use the expressions "fake news" or "project fear" at all, in fact

22. You don't understand that incorrect predictions made in good faith aren't "lies"
23. You can't see that it's possible for good things and bad things to happen simultaneously, and that one doesn't negate the other (e.g. record employment AND Brexit job losses)

24. You claim to be speaking for everyone in the UK
25. You claim to know exactly what every single person who voted to Leave was voting for
26. You claim that everyone who voted to Leave was voting for exactly the same thing

27. You claim that people were voting for "no deal" during the referendum itself
28. You refer to the referendum as the "largest democratic exercise" or believe it delivers "the strongest ever mandate"

29. You think anecdotes and personal experience are the same as data
30. You believe professional polling organisations are rigging their polls
31. You think "you lost, get over it" or "suck it up" are winning arguments

32. You point out that the 2016 referendum was already the second referendum on Europe
33. You mention "unelected bureaucracy" or "EUSSR" when talking about the EU
34. You think that Labour under Jeremy Corbyn are the answer

35. You mock a politician's appearance rather than their Brexit stance
36. You think calling off Brexit will be an actual disaster, rather than merely a political one
37. Finally, the biggie: You take offense at this list, without understanding *why* it offends you.

If you can present a coherent and credible argument for Leave that doesn't fall foul of any of the 37 rules above, I'd love to read it.