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The paradox of Brexit: we can only ever adopt one Brexit model, yet the more tightly you define Brexit, the more people you annoy. As Theresa May has found, when you go into meticulous detail you annoy absolutely everyone.
That also explains the rise in popularity of no deal.
That also explains the rise in popularity of no deal.
No deal is the only blank slate choice. It doesn't attempt to impose a different form of Brexit on you than the one you thought you were voting on. Instead, it is the literal real-world embodiment of the single word "Leave". You can't get less detailed than that.
So while it's the most damaging Brexit outcome possible, for many people it's also the least intellectually challenging. No deal doesn't say "your version of Brexit was wrong and we're going to prove it by doing something different."
Instead it says "underpinning everything is a desire to leave? We can accommodate that. Here you go. Enjoy!"
As the fights over Brexit get ever longer and fiercer, so the appeal of the pure simplicity of no deal rises.
And the real world doesn't get a look in!
As the fights over Brexit get ever longer and fiercer, so the appeal of the pure simplicity of no deal rises.
And the real world doesn't get a look in!
Another way of looking at it: no deal is Brexit in which nobody has to lose (from a certain point of view) or everyone loses equally (from a different point of view). It is a great levelling down.
And for those who don't engage with the bigger picture, that's all that matters.
And for those who don't engage with the bigger picture, that's all that matters.
But of course reality (if it is allowed to intrude) is that no deal will destroy many industries, such as the car industry, and leave us much poorer and more isolated. It is also the very beginning of the Brexit process, not the end. But Leavers will feel they "won": we're OUT!
And for many that's all that matters. It's all that ever mattered. They feel everything about their life is rubbish. Life's too hard. But for once they stuck a thumb in the eye of politicians and the elite. Hurrah!
Then about 24H later the reality will hit them as the news fills with chaos piled on chaos. But it will be too late.
That's the final twist in the no deal tail: it will turn us all into Remainers. But only after it's too late.
(If you're having trouble picturing the schisms within Leave, think of Catholics and Protestants for instance. Both Christian, yet don't see eye to eye, to put it mildly. Or Sunni and Shia. Some of the biggest disconnects are between people nominally on the same broad "team".)
