Brexit is a failure: but, to remainers’ frustration, it’s not a spectacular one | Rafael Behr

The shelves are empty. Yet leavers, though no longer triumphant, can usually blame the problems on the EU

Britain was not expelled from the European Union, although some of the dismay at the consequences of Brexit would make more sense in that scenario. Customs checks at the border are likened to a blockade. Rules that apply to all non-EU countries are described as punishment beatings. The expectation that Boris Johnson uphold the treaty he signed is cast as unreasonable spite.

This is all consistent with the sacred rule of English Euroscepticism, according to which Europe" must always be understood in terms of things done to us by them; never things we do to ourselves.