2. They might be right or they might be wrong. I try not to be unrealistic, but I am definitely someone who thinks you have to believe things in order for them to become possible. (Others prefer to see things in order to believe them.)

4. But I am interested in what happens next. Brexit happened. > OK. Now what? #BrexitHappenedNowWhat

3. I’m not especially interested in how Brexit happened. That’s in the past. Nor do I really care about debating what #rejoinEU might eventually look like especially if it turns out not to be achievable anyway

Or emigrants who think there’s a war to wage against expatriates!

‘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.

Let’s not forget, for the EU the shock (of Brexit) was short and sharp and over 8 years ago; for the UK it was long and drawn out and frankly still isn’t over. I have colleagues working in the Commission who were school kids in 2016. For them, it’s literally history.

And so as I keep trying to get across to British friends (and foes alike): this is an asymmetrical relationship. It’s not even ‘they need us more than we need them’ - it’s ‘they’re that country that had that weird episode, ok moving on to serious matters’

It’s quite striking, really, how little impact Brexit made (on the non-Brits of course - we Brits remain traumatised and obsessed). For pretty much everyone else, once it became clear that the UK’s internal disaster would not infect others (rather it inoculated them), it ceased to occupy head space.

My personal & subjective €0.02 as someone inside the Brussels machine is that non-Brit colleagues have v rapidly adjusted to the UK as a 3rd country in every respect, for good & ill. No special status as former member; no expectation or appetite for ‘re’join; but no bitterness or negativity either.