‘Fun fact: the UK used to be a member of the European Union’ is a piece of historical trivia to school kids and students across Europe now, and I guarantee that fewer people than you might think are even aware of it.

I bet 'What year did the UK leave the EU' will be an EU pub quiz question for many years. And most will say 2016...

And this is why, sadly, we won’t be able simply to “rejoin”. We’ll have to start at the beginning and it will be a long haul. The most stupid act of self-sabotage ever.

I know where you are coming from here but it doesn't change the fact that we are an important economy on their doorstep just as they are to us. I'm not for exceptionalism but pure facts say the UK's role isn't like that of, say, Turkey.

Really fascinating - thanks for the thread!

We would be an exception to that otherwise true generality because of partition, the border, and our large population on the other side of it.We would be an exception to that otherwise true generality because of partition, the border, and our large population on the other side of it.

It has left UK in a very strange twilight zone. It can’t move on as there is no alternative to EU membership and to be out is so unsatisfying. Like divorce but with no chance of a new partner… ever

I can't tell you how many friends I have made here in the Netherlands but I can tell you how many mention Brexit. None. Nobody cares. The English seem to think Brexit is important in European countries. Again, nobody cares, talks about and you're right, it's not even in reference books.

I picked up a children’s guide to the EU in a French service station and the UK leaving was simply a bullet point on the chronology section.