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Now that after three long years key UK media and political milieus have finally come to terms with the UK's geopolitical predicament, perhaps it is time for Europeans to put away the rhetorical hammer and gently assist a reorientation of UK discourse towards European integration
Schadenfreude is tempting. But it may be more helpful to politely point out that the EU opened up a range of options that could help a paralysed UK regain agency. That UK voters could once again become central to the process if the extension opportunities are used imaginatively
The EU achieved all its key strategic goals during the Withdrawal Agreement negotiations. The steps model set out by Barnier shaped the negotiation process and always defined the UK's choices. The EU's hegemonic position in Europe has been reasserted successfully. 
For Europeans this is now a matter of limiting the damage of the UK's choices on Europe and the UK. Europeans are right to say that they cannot save the British from themselves. But they should signal that they are always willing to help if the British want to help themselves
There will be substantial parts of the UK elite that will continue to define the UK's self-induced predicament in terms of national humiliation. But there are also substantial milieus that could be brought back to a more nuanced discussion of key pillars of European integration
It is a trope to say that in every crisis there is opportunity. But if the collapse of basic assumptions in the UK about the EU helps lead to questioning of entrenched British narratives surrounding the Single Market, Schengen, Euro or European defence it may be a positive start
