I cannot believe they did it

Thirty nine years ago I left the UK and permanently emigrated to Australia with my family and three years later we all became Australian citizens. I broke the umbilical cord to the "mother" country but the events of the past 24 hours sadden me greatly. The Leave vote is going to inflict real financial and social pain on the UK people and do massive damage to the world economy. For what? For some nebulous concept of "independence" and a bizarre belief that somehow they will be better off by cutting themselves off from free access to the world's biggest market.
The Leave voters in the UK align themselves alongside the Trump for President, the US gun lobby and the Climate Change deniers in Australia for living in a post factual world. Facts don't count anymore.
My heart goes out to the enlightened millions in the UK who voted to stay in the EU. These are the ones who will be in the deepest despair. They realise what the alternative meant. The Leave voters will be waving their union jacks and singing Rule Britannia and Jerusalem and feeling euphoric but the reality will bite soon enough and they will surely rue the day they marked that ballot paper leave.You cannot eat union jacks.
Words totally fail me so perhaps I should just leave it to a more erudite writer to express my and I am sure many others feelings.
From today's editorial in the UK Financial Times.