if he tried. I participate on an over 50s forum that is based in the UK. To my surprise, the people on that forum are highly supportive of the Brexit; it is not just Johnson.

Right wingers are making progress all over the world. Putin is doing a hell of a job!

and "civil unrest" if Brexiters don't get their way.

It's never materialized, not even among the various delays the whole misbegotten project has been subject to since the referendum. It's a tired line, fit for parroting only by those who fervently wish it to be true.

The worst we've seen has been random acts of violence and discrimination against the Brexiters' chosen outgroups (many of whom the country has every reason to be very grateful for at the moment, from health and healthcare workers who've borne the worst of the brunt of covid-19 to fruitpickers being transported in on chartered flights to harvest fruit that would otherwise go unpicked) and a lot of mindless moaning on social media and the worst of the mainstream media.

I suggest you find a different forum to hang out on. I know nobody in my social circle who's an ardent Brexiter. Even those who once were have been pretty quiet in recent times.

(staying in the single market etc.), but that would get them chucked out by the Tory membership (it would mean following rules without being able to sit on the councils etc. that set the rules).

Folks,

Quite a few Brits have told me that they don't mind the single market, but without the rules.

That seems to me a curious position?

D.

That was put by Boris Johnson as "having your cake and eating it". Which, of course, the proverb says you can't do, but he wanted people to think was easy. Yes, some would like to have no tariff barriers to trading with the EU, but they don't want EU trade rules applied in the UK. The EU, of course, will point out that the rules are part of the single market.

If they mean "without us being able to take part in setting the rules", then yes, that could be achieved; it's sort of what Switzerland has - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland%E2%80%93European_Union_relations . It allows Switzerland to keep out of some aspects of the EU, while being part of the single market. It's been complicated to set up, and it means that for some aspects, Switzerland just has to do what the EU decides. For both of those reasons, there's no realistic chance the Tories could reach an agreement like that by the end of this year.

Hi muriel,

That was a really clear and helpful post.

D.