Like a football manager, remainers can only see the other team's fouls

Both sides in the Brexit debate did some embellishing, so those who wanted to stay in the EU should stop calling for a replay

The post-match interview is a familiar part of TV's coverage of football. Win or lose, managers are put in front of a camera to give their assessment of the match.

Football fans know the drill: when a team has lost, the manager can reel off a list of blatantly bad refereeing calls that have cost his side the game, but he is always unsighted when it comes to offences committed by his own side. As a long-time Spurs season ticket holder, I have observed that Arsine Wenger, the Arsenal manager, is the master of this technique for explaining away defeat.

The Europe that exists in the imagination of many on the remain side is not the one that exists in reality