THEM - How Brexit Turned Friends into Foes
Saturday January 31st marks the sixth anniversary of the UK's formal departure from the European Union - a moment which the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed as 'the dawn of a new era.'
But unlike Bastille Day or July 4th, this particular 'independence day' is unlikely to be celebrated in any quarters any time soon.
For all the promised sunlit uplands it has failed to deliver anything beyond chaos, red tape and blue passports and while populist politicians have made hay out of the mayhem it has been a disaster for just about everyone else. Almost a decade since the country voted to leave the EU and six years after it happened, the nation remains mired in stagnation and - much like MAGA America - many Britons continue to eye each other warily. Far from bringing British people closer together, in leaving the trade bloc we have been pushed further apart.
So to mark this anniversary, my Letter from London tells a personal story of a 30 year friendship and how it was dashed on the rocks of this very British Civil War.
