On Brexit Day

On Brexit Day I will have little more to add about the folly on which we Brits have embarked. I’ve said what I have to say on numerous occasions over the past three years.

I’m ashamed at the behaviour of the flag-waving Brexit Party MEPs at the European Parliament, who remind me of school leavers mooning at their teachers on the last day of term.

I’m moved by the genuine expressions of affection and regret by leading lights in the European Union.

And I’m repelled if not surprised by the feckless optimism of Boris Johnson’s government, whose sunlit uplands will quite possibly become barren wastelands the closer we move towards them.

But hey ho, we are where we are. Over the next few years we face the consequences of a national reset to the factory default. No trade deals worth the name, diminished influence abroad, a shaky union and five years of incompetent government led by an entitled shyster. Time to start again on a number of fronts.

At least that’s the gloomy prognosis. In reality, we will no doubt muddle through, but if anyone thinks that we are entering a period in which we will break free of the national introspection that has plagued us since 2016, they are surely naïve.

Looking on the bright side, we still have a few things going for us. Even though our entrepreneurs seem to think that the objective of bright young start-ups they create is to turn them into factories for self-enrichment by selling them off to foreign buyers at the earliest possible opportunity rather than building them into economic powerhouses that prosper for generations, we are still blessed with scientific and technical expertise, artistic creativity and a culture of invention.

We will find a way through the mess we have created, despite rather than because of our political leadership, which in recent years and across the party spectrum has set new standards for incompetence.

Although I’m past the age of economic usefulness, other than as a source of funding for the next generations whose horizons have been stunted, I still have one burning desire.

I want to live long enough to see the unveiling of the true story of Brexit. By that I mean the full revelation of the influences, the motivations and the actions of those who made it happen.

That story, as far as I can see, is only half-told thus far. A comprehensive understanding of the roles played by the prime movers and cheer-leaders – from Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, and Aron Banks to a host of other more shadowy figures – has surely yet to emerge.

I much prefer to look forward rather than than back, but a proper understanding of the Brexit story will help us learn from the experience. If it reveals things to be fixed and wrongs to be made right, we might avoid a similar debacle in the future.

My heart, my culture and my values are European. No political realignment will change that. And I’m confident that enough people in my country feel the same way that at some stage in the future what has been lost can be found again.