Why Should I Care About Brexit as a Student?
Last week, Britain said “See EU later!” to its 40-year alliance with the European bloc in a bitch-slap of a historical referendum, stunning the world and in all honesty, itself too. Almost immediately, the sterling pound that had been depreciating with early morning rumours of the country favouring an exit, took a nosedive. The Pound may have recovered slightly now but it may continue to remain weak against other currencies. The plunge it took was said to be the worst since 1985, nearly crashing the stock market and bond yields suffering huge hits.
Almost 11,000km away from that side of the chaos, you might be wondering how news of the UK shooting itself in the foot (close to 4 million citizens ARE trying to get the parliament to hold a second referendum after all!), affects us. Ultimately, we are mere university students who have more distressing things to worry about, like how much to bid for CAT or what to wear for internship tomorrow.
Unfortunately, living in a highly globalized world means despite how far away these countries making domestic decisions are, we’re bound to be affected in one way or another, like the ripple effect in a pond. Here is how BREXIT might impact us:
Image Credit: https://www.vigiglobe.com/barclays-premier-league-2014/
Soccer fans
BREXIT means that more than 100 players in the English Premier League could fail to meet the work permit criteria as non-EU players, losing the right to join and play for Premier League clubs. Although new rules will not be implemented immediately, players like Leicester’s Kante and Manchester United’s Anthony Martial might have to leave their teams for other clubs if they are not granted work permits. Other clubs that could be greatly impacted by the UK leaving the EU are Aston Villa, Newscastle United and Watford.
Furthermore, these clubs also risk missing out on talented young players. Article 19 of FIFA regulations allows “the transfers of minors between the age of 16 and 18 within the EU or EEA”, but outside of the EU, Britain could stand to miss out on players such as Hector Bellerin who joined Arsenal at the age of 16. Losing their foreign player studded team – the biggest appeal for the clubs of EPL, could mean a loss of sponsorship and investors as well. Transfer fees and players’ wages will also be sure to surge with the increased demand.
However, on the home front, many Britons argue that this could be a chance for home-grown talent to expand their horizons. They believe that British players such as Donald Love and Tyler Blackett, both from Manchester United, would benefit from BREXIT.
Image Credit: http://www.luxuryaccommodationsblog.com/post/89968797326/smart-tips-luxury-travelers
Travellers
Given the historic plunge of the Sterling Pound, those who were intending to travel to the UK for vacation or exchange have reason to cheer. The pound’s sudden depreciation means a slightly lower cost of living for Singaporeans on vacation or exchange there. Your Primark shopping and Broadway musical tickets are going to break your bank accounts a little lesser, plus, you get to treat yourself to several more plates of London’s best Bangers and Mash (we’ll even give you the address)! Is anyone else starting to give the UK a serious consideration for exchange? Because we sure are!
Image Credit: http://mypersonalassistant.tumblr.com/post/93863151345/some-good-online-shopping-tips
Online Shoppers
Falling Pound + ASOS 50% sale = WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
Although the ASOS website gave us quite a shock by suddenly going offline the moment BREXIT was announced (probably from everyone rushing to their site and crashing their servers), it has since been put back up with items that are begging to come to our sunny island and into our wardrobes.
And in case ASOS does a disappearing act again, there are other UK based websites which offer international delivery, such as everything5pounds.com, for us to take advantage of. With the falling pound and months of summer left, we do hope you find yourself a trusted buddy who will restrain you from selling your kidneys to fulfil your online shopping coveting!
Image Credit: http://lifeatucr.tumblr.com/post/86644396617/the-hunt-for-the-perfect-summer-job
Jobs
If you’re a university student about to graduate, you might not want to completely set your sights on positions offered by UK companies here. The EU is the most significant investor in Singapore, with almost 25% of foreign direct investment (FDI) coming from them. Of this 25%, a significant majority of the investment with the EU comes from Britain, meaning Brexit could spell a problem for us. A disruption in the flow of investments could occur due to the higher cost (weaker Pound, remember?) for British companies such as Shell, Barclays, and Standard Charted to expand their businesses here, leading to jobs being offered by them taking a beating. However, the good news is that this is not a guaranteed-to-happen issue given most UK companies’ long-time presence and relationship in Singapore, as well as currency uncertainty and fluctuations.