When I took my sixth month pause from writing this blog at the end of 2018, the UK was still in the throes of organising its leaving of the EU, Brexit as it is called.
Prime Minister May had put a proposed deal to parliament which was constantly rejected. Death threats had been made against politicians, as traitors. Some leavers simply wanted ‘leave’ whatever that meant, regardless of the consequences. “Brexit means Brexit”, whatever that means. As one friend said to me, we need to leave the EU to “get the blacks off our streets”.
Since no-one was agreeing and no compromises were to be had, progress was nonexistent.
So now here we are in August, and it’s all sorted, right?
Well, no. Deadlines have been extended to October, provided good use of the time was made. For MPs, that meant going on holiday.
Since we are still in the EU, we had to elect MEPs (Members of the European Parliament). Mr Farage and Anne Widdecombe did well. Miss W made a speech about how being gay could one day be cured, and the whole lot went to Brussels and behaved badly.
Mrs May had enough and has gone. Boris Johnson has employed Trump tactics and is now PM. He says the chances of leaving without a deal are “one in a million”, though billions of pounds are being allocated for just that eventuality.
Medicines and food are being stockpiled. Warehouses are already full.
Mr Johnson says he will go to Brussels, bang on the table and sulk a bit and get a new deal. That won’t happen. Why should it?
Current theory is that, when the MPs come back from their current holiday, there will be a vote of no confidence, an election and we will leave in the middle of that with no deal. It seems like it’s illegal, but it’s on the cards.
Meanwhile, Mr Gove, Johnson’s big pal, is saying that the EU is totally to blame and refusing to renegotiate. Like it’s a surprise. They have been saying that all the time.
It will all turn out very badly, believe me…