Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve put finger to keyboard, on here at least. Twitter has has plenty of action and I’ve certainly not been quiet about things, I just haven’t found time or perhaps the inclination to start writing. I suppose it’s also, until recently, not been the done thing to voice certain political opinions. I did write about this nearly a year ago and then stuck my own head in the sand as I inadvertently succumbed to the same concerns about ‘offending’ people!

Anyway, we are where we are, and where we are is rapidly heading up a cul-de-sac without a reverse gear. Two-and-a-half years ago, no one actually thought we’d have voted to leave the EU, somehow, now, it appears that we’re not leaving even though we thought we were. Why is that, we keep asking? Yes, it was a close vote, but it was a mandate to set the UK’s stall out, tell the world what we were going to do as a nation and sail the good ship Blighty off into a blue and prosperous sea.

Fast forward 29 months since June 23rd 2016. It’s a subjective comment, but I’d reckon we’ve probably got the worst set of politicians since the Rotten Boroughs were abolished in 1832. I also don’t think it’s just the ones we’ve voted for either. The civil service is, if anything, worse, by a large margin as well. Cameron didn’t think we’d vote to go, and ran off as soon as the ten o’clock news came on. The whole thing fell apart at that moment. An opposition that thinks it’s 1977, a government that appears not to be able to think at all and a conniving, super-annuated, Whitehall bureaucracy that is actually running the show. None of them actually had a plan in truth. Well, the Mandarins probably did, and that was to make sure they kept us in the EU.

In their defence, when Teresa the Appeaser (echoing Chamberlain’s antics the last time the Germans were flexing their teutonic muscles) somehow managed to turn a working majority into a tail-wagging dog coalition with the one issue party from over the Straits of Moyle, the vast majority of MPs, very few of whom really wanted to Leave, saw a chance to scupper the exercise. The civil service, who’s jobs depend on their political masters, knew which side their organic Waitrose loaf was buttered and they quietly drew up a surrender document. They couldn’t actually say that of course could they? Well, actually, many of them did. Project Fear continued apace and we all waited for the sky to fall in. It hasn’t of course and the economy, if not booming, has certainly got some vigour about it. In the 882 days since Up Yours Delors became a reality though, the two factions have entrenched their views more than a Trump supporter dating Chelsea Clinton. Those in the middle, and there are plenty, have just been saying “get on with it” whilst the EUphiles have danced around in yellow starred dresses and the leavers amongst us have actually come out from the bunkers and started to hoist the Union Flag.

The Phoney War has continued, with one side focusing on the #PeoplesVote whilst those of us on the other quietly mutter amongst ourselves and pray that the rumours coming out of Whitehall are just that. Surely even Teresa May wouldn’t dare defy her own backbenchers and Arlene Foster’s loyal band. She couldn’t possibly come up with a deal worse than actually being in the EU in the first place, could she?

Poor leaders surround themselves either with sycophants or egotists. May did try, earlier in her premiership, to strike a balance. After all, UK politics has always been about the middle ground, so she chose a cabinet of many colours. Card carrying Eurosceptics such as Boris sat alongside those probably hoping against hope for a nice job at the Commission in Brussels when all this didn’t happen. However, as time went on, due in no small part to the complete shambles masquerading as Her Majesty’s ‘loyal’ opposition, May became braver and seemingly took greater control of the negotiations. I should perhaps add here, just for reference, the dictionary definition of the word ‘negotiation’.

Bargaining (give and take) process between two or more parties (each with its own aims, needs, and viewpoints) seeking to discover a common ground and reach an agreement to settle a matter of mutual concern or resolve a conflict.

You might have sensed a slightly tongue-in-cheek, mildly cynical tone in my piece by the way. It’s not entirely unintended, I feel incredibly strongly about both democracy and integrity. I know that most politicians rarely display the latter trait for very long, but I did, until now, believe that they would respect the democratic process, even if they didn’t like the outcome. It’s highly unusual for challenges to be made to electoral results in the UK, defeat is generally accepted gracefully and, until the last general election and the rantings of some on the left, there aren’t normally huge protests like we see in other parts of the world. After all, no matter who you vote for, a politician wins. If I didn’t approach this with a sense of humour, I’d probably lose the plot because, yes, I’m incredibly annoyed at the sheer arrogance with which a British Prime Minister has behaved in the last week or so.

So, back to the word negotiation. A Bargaining Process, striking a deal, and so on. Depending upon what you’ve read or heard, and where you’ve sourced that, you’ll have differing takes on it. The best synopsis I’ve read was in the Spectator May’s Brexit Deal: The Legal Verdict. It would be remiss of me not to give you the chance to have a look, particularly given it’s been composed by a much better writer than yours truly.

Effectively, unless the 1922 Committee decides enough is enough, or a highly unlikely coalition of Corbynista pseudo-communists, Scottish (Inter)Nationalists and Tory Right-Wingers votes down the ‘deal’, come Christmas, we’ll be flying the EU flag from every public building in the UK, until Brussels tells us we can take it down. I just hope that my kids are too old when conscription forces our youngsters to go and fight on the Russian front under command of a German captain.

When is a Deal, not, actually, a Deal?