Oh no -- not Danish sperm!

The beloved Polly Toynbee has a piece today on the announcement of Government measures in the event of a no-deal.  The proposals were  'greeted with a renewed chorus of panic from the CBI, the TUC, farmers, NHS, financiers – all but those blinded by Brexitmania.' All the right-thinking people then. No-one of any consequence voted for Brexit.

In more detail:

the UK faces a mountain of crisis, wrapped in burgeoning blankets of new bureaucracy. Look what businesses need to do: as well as customs declarations for goods from the EU, they must employ customs brokers, freight forwarders and logistics providers with all necessary software and authorisations. Each must register for a UK Economic Operator Registration and Identification number, with higher costs and slower processing times for euro transactions. And yes, there will be new tariffs....lorries... backed halfway up Britain....Supermarket CEOs say shelves will be emptied...

and, getting into her stride a bit:

The City is rumbling with Brexit warnings amid movements to other EU capitals. The 300,000 expat pensioners living in Europe are warned that no deal may threaten their pensions and healthcare [I think this means they may no longer be able to access British providers -- they won'tlose any actual money] . Even small parcels from the EU will incur VAT, and credit card charges will rise for visitors to the EU [because the EU ban on surcharges may not apply to the UK]. Police warn of the risk of losing data exchanges on EU crime. Who knew until these notices that no deal means a stoppage of Danish sperm bank donations? [Who knew that membership in 1975 would mean a tide of Danish sperm donations?]

There is real hope for a People's Vote:

By more than three to one, people now think Brexit talks will not end well. The Guardian/ICM poll finds a great shift among leave and Tory voters [the link points to one in January 2018. The results are, as always, ambiguous] . Meanwhile, a YouGov poll of the north-east found a startling change in attitudes among Labour voters, shifting from 59% for Brexit to 68% for remain [no link in the article but maybe she means this one] . This region voted leave by a 16-point margin, but is now 50:50, favouring a new vote on the deal [and on a no-deal, as remainers call it, a WTO deal for the Brexiteers]. [The swing is greatest among Labour voters it seems. As always,though, there are lots of don't-knows].

In the meantime, we can stoke the panic:

As a tactic, Brexiters have reprised the cold war dilemma. When nuclear policy depends on the principle of mutually assured destruction, it has to be unthinkable to both sides that anyone would ever press the button. Yet at the same time, the other side must believe you just might. In 1980, as Russia was invading Afghanistan, the government sabre-rattled by publishing civil defence leaflets telling citizens how to prepare for a nuclear war: what to do when the warnings sound, how to construct a fallout shelter or a fallout room, what food and water you need for 14 days and what makeshift toilet arrangements.[Sounds like a Guardian advice column]  It didn’t frighten the Russians but it terrified enough citizens here into a great CND revival [Did it? Must have passed me by]
No one suggests the cataclysm of Brexit compares to nuclear annihilation [i.e. she just has]  – but the tactical thinking is the same. In trying to frighten the enemy, all the Brexiters have done is terrify their own side. People are at last hearing the news of what no deal – and indeed almost any kind of Brexit – will really mean for everyday life, rather than the sunlit promised land of Brexlandia. Even Rees-Mogg has admitted we may not reach that place for half a century.