Chastening reality dawning on Brexit

IN a saner world it might be possible to say that this was the week that some Brexit chickens came home to roost but we do not know if we are dealing with chickens, cockatoos, parakeets or even a rejuvenated púca resplendent in Halloween battledress. 

Confusion, claim and counter-claim, deepening apprehension, fantasy, dishonesty, division and a darkening polarisation have come to define the saga — so far. An air of sinister threat was introduced when The Daily Mail asked its readers to identify, via a designated email address, university academics who argue against Brexit. That may not be quite the same as painting Achtung Juden! on the lecture-hall door but the move is straight out of the same intimidate-and-silence playbook.

The week’s first salvo was fired by London’s mayor Sadiq Khan who suggested that if the House of Commons rejected a finalised deal between the UK and the EU a second referendum might be necessary. London voted 60% to 40% to remain in the EU but Mr Khan’s suggestion was dismissed out of hand by the usual suspects. Adding more fuel to the blazing fire, former mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire media mogul speaking in London, said Brexit is the “single stupidest thing any country has ever done,” — apart from the election of Donald Trump as America’s president.