Kettle drums beat for last stand

That nice open-minded journalist M Kettle sums up his overall experience at this difficult time, with a mixture of resignation and defiant insistence he was right all along:

At first, I accepted Brexit [!] . Now it’s become clear that we must not leave the EU

Back in 2016 my response to the leave victory was to lament it bitterly but to say that Britain should continue to hug Europe as close as possible, even while leaving.This would help to protect jobs, secure the Irish peace process, and allow Scotland’s remain vote to be treated with enough respect to avoid Brexit becoming a threat to the union...it might then be possible to reopen the question of EU membership [very far-sighted these Remainers] 

Kettle now thinks the position is even more polarised and since Leavers have not flaked, that strategy is no longer sellable.

There is no perfect choice to be made on Brexit. The fault with that lies in the way the referendum process was devised – verdict first, terms later. All the options come with risks, often very big ones. But we don’t solve anything by wishing we could have made better choices at previous turnings along the way. The here and now choice takes two forms. The first is between Johnson’s deal, no deal and remaining in the EU. The other, which applies as much to hardline leavers as it does to remainers, is between folding and fighting on.

He tries for Guardiain-style independence and balance:

A deal could draw some of the worst poison from public attitudes to politics. It would satisfy the many (more than some of us want to think) who just want the whole thing over

But then the usual list of reasons to remain, with the usual implicit ifs and buts:

But it would still be a terrible deal and that can’t be ignored, however weary we are. It would mean buying a pig in a poke and hoping that what’s inside entails a good future for the British people. It would defer rather than solve the Irish border crisis. It would risk breaking up the union. It would instantly worsen the UK’s trading position, with severe short- and long-term impacts on the economy and jobs. It would weaken the UK in the negotiations during the transition period. And it would set Britain at odds with its only true geographic and regional allies.

Then it's a turn to good old common-sense, pragmatism, a rejection of anything as European as a political ideology, and more than a bit of self-justification and belief he was right all along, mixed with a demand to keep the old elite and select a new people:

The lesson is that Brexit won’t work.[You silly people have had your fun,now pack up your toys] ...Brexit won the vote. But it’s an ideology not a policy. When its supporters tried to turn it into policies, as they are still trying to do, it fell apart. It made things worse. These three years have been the leavers’ fault and no one else’s [they just won't listen to reason] That’s why obstructing no deal has been so important.

History will absolve him!