If the surprise outcome of the recent UK referendum - on whether to leave or remain in the European Union - teaches us anything, it is that supposedly worthy displays of democracy in action can actually do more harm than good. Witness a nation now more divided; an intergenerational schism in the making; both a governing and opposition party torn to shreds from the inside; infinitely more complex issues raised than satisfactory solutions provided. It begs the question 'Was it really all worth it' ?

antagonism antagonistic austerity better-in better-off blame blame-game boris-johnson break-up breaking-free breaking-rules breaking-up breakup breakups brexit britain british british-history british-people brussels budget-cuts campaign-contributions campaign-promises campaigning campaigns capitalism choices choices-and-consequences choices-based-on-faith choices choices-you-make clash-of-civilizations clashes co-operate-leaders co-operation collaboration collaborative complexity complexity-and-information confrontation confrontational control controlling conviction conviction cooperation crossroads cultural-diversity cultural-identity currency currency-trading danger dangerous-liaisons dangerous-minds dangerous-world david-cameron debate debate debates deceit deceit decision-making decision decisions decisions-in-life democracy democracy-criticism democracy-gone-wrong democracy-voting deprivation devolution devolve disaster disaster discord disenchantment disenfranchised disengagement division divisions divisions-in-society divisiveness divorce economic-collapse economic-crisis economics-society economy education educational election-promises election-results elections employment employment-laws empowering empowerment enemy-of-the-state enemy england english enmity enmity error errors eu euro euro-eurosceptic european european-civilization european-economic-area european-history european-imperialism european-union europeans euroscepticism fascism fascism-in-europe fear fear friendship generation-gap generations going-it-alone growth growth-ideology harmful historians history-repeating-itself hospitals identity identity-confusion identity-crisis identity-politics immigration inclusion inclusive inspirational integration introspection introspective introspective irish issues jobs jobseeking judgement-day judgement leadership leadership-contest leadership leadership-styles left-behind left-wing lessons lessons-for-man lessons-learned lessons-learned-in-life lessons-learnt lessons-of-life lies lies-politics lies-we-tell-ourselves life-challenges life-changing life-changing-events life-changing little-england little-englander mistakes mistakes national-identity national-security nationalism neighbors neighbours new-dawn new-day northern-ireland outcome peace-making peace-movement peace-of-mind peace persuasion persuasiveness philosophy political political-commentary political-parties political-philosophy political-quandary political politicians politicians politicians politicians-tradegy politics-observation politics poor-choices poverty poverty-alleviation poverty-and-politics poverty-inequality poverty power power-of-thoughts power-of-words powerful prosperity prosperity protect protection quotability quotable quotable of-the-day about-life race racism racism-and-culture racism referendum referendums reform reformers regression regret regret regrets-in-life remain remain result results results right-path right-wing right-wing-politics rights safeguard safety sceptical scepticism schools schools-of-thought scotland scottish security self-harm self-harmer self-inflicted self-inflicted-misery self-inflicted-pain separation separation-and-union separation-anxiety separation-of-powers separations sovreign sovreignty squabble squabbling status-quo stronger stronger surprise surprises take-back take-back-control tariffs teacher teaching teachings team-building team-spirit teamwork terrorism torn-apart torn-from-the-inside-out tory tory-party trying-times uk united-kingdom unity unity-of-all-people unity vote vote-for-the-truth vote-leave vote-remain voters votes wales war-on-terror warning warning warnings wealth-creation welsh worth worth-it worthwhile youthful-optimism