To a more or less complete whimper, what I have been calling the Great Repeal Bill (technically the EU (Withdrawal) Bill) passed into law with the royal assent yesterday (26th June 2018). I assume this is the starting gun for serious negotiations at last, after all the 'show' (see blog below) from the EU with its finger-wagging press releases and sad metaphors about gentlemen's clubs and divorce bills. I would welcome some of the EU's famed 'pragmatism', probably from national governments, instead of the overblown sense of hurt from Barnier and Juncker.
I have no doubt that the usual horse-trading beloved of 'business' has gone on behind the scenes already, but the show must go on, and the Cabinet are to discuss a plan for some sort of customs agreement soon. The press, already anticipating the silly season, are avid for anything to report, like minor politicians quitting minor posts (leader of Welsh conservatives) so they can speak out fearlessly for a soft Brexit, businesses possibly threatening to revise investment decisions,some trades unionists joining in softbrexitery. Soon the usual summer moral panics will take over -- baby battering, mourning rituals for victims of terrorism or other anniversaries, Grenfell, maybe plastic in the oceans if it still has legs. Shorter term, the Guardian has discovered that football can be quite interesting, especially if it can be rendered as multicultural.
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