In my lifetime I have experienced global transitions that as a child seemed set in stone.

I learned about the inequality and injustice of apartheid in South Africa, I knew the song "Free Nelson Mandela" without knowing his story and I thought all I could do was not eat South African apples to express my opinion.

I learned about the World Wars, the Berlin wall, the cold war, the communist system meant to make everyone equal but needing so much oppression and restriction to do it.  I know Sting's song "Russians", I bought the 45".

I learned about homosexuality and about AIDS.  I heard about people dying, horribly, from a sexually transmitted disease which threatened everyone and which blew away the sniggers, the jokes about 'puffs', the teenage confusion of innuendo and got us talking openly, respectfully.   I cried and worked and cried again at my drawing board as they played every Queen song on the radio the day Freddie Mercury died.


I know none of these things are 'resolved'.  I know they give way to new issues but why did these changes touch me?  Me, a straight, white, British girl.

A straight, white, British girl spending 7 years of her childhood in North African and Middle Eastern Countries: learning about, experiencing and trying to understand people's differences. Seeing black flags over buildings for murdered Palestinians, hearing one thing and then another about Israel, about Iran, Iraq. We called ourselves ex-pats, my Dad (or the company he worked for) sold his engineering skills to build roads and sewage treatment plants.  I was taught in an 'English' school.  In my senior 2 class I was one of 2 white kids.  When we came back to England the girls in my new school said I could be their friend but I wasn't to talk about my time abroad.

I am a citizen of the world.  Those global transitions touch me because great groups of people, different people, have come together as one to make them happen.

There is such power in unity.

I am a citizen of the world and I am European.  There are, and have always been, forces tearing us apart - religion, prejudice, inequality.  The rallies and marches can be beginnings and then the nitty gritty of getting on goes on. It's not straight forward, it isn't perfect and not everyone will be happy all the time but it is about getting in a room together, talking, listening and having a go.

So I was crying over my laptop this morning, not my drawing board, with the pictures of the vigil in Soho for the Orlando shootings.

Look how a community which crosses borders, religions, races, genders can stand together.

And I cried again when I saw the latest EU referendum polls and read Polly Toynbee's article on what renewed suspicion, prejudice and segregation we could face whatever the result next Thursday.

I vote for the UK to remain in Europe with all my heart.