Poor leaders put planet on brink

PROPOSALS for a customs union to replace a customs union – in which the Tory Government are virtually begging the EU and Ireland to save them from themselves – is proof of the shambles Brexit will be.

Yet the economic self-harm of leaving the European Union is still only obvious to sceptics of the project. The true believers will carry on to the end regardless of the cost.

That cost could involve the break-up of the UK, a thought barely possible in the wake of June’s general election.

The Pandora’s box being reopened on the Northern Irish border could also herald the beginning of a united Ireland, an idea thought barely credible for almost a century.

Neither of these possibilities would give more security to voters craving some stability in their lives.

But the successive mismanagement of Britain by wave after wave of politicians has taken the country to this pass.

Over the Atlantic, mismanagement puts the US, and the world, on a dangerous tilt.

The howl of rage from voters who want to escape to the past, who want to exclude others from their lives, is a symptom of the times, not the cause.

The rage comes from inequality, from rapid technological advances and an unwillingness of populations, as well as politicians, to adjust expectations as circumstances change.

Having the worst politicians available in charge at a time when Britain and the US need leadership and certainty is what has led to a summer of shambles.