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Welcome to HMS Global Britain. It’s your captain – Ian “Beefy” Botham – speaking. We’re embarking on a journey to the sunlit uplands of the post-Brexit world. Throw away your red tape, it’s not needed here. And there is nothing to lose but the chains of the bloated European Union bureaucracy. All aboard!
Whatever misgivings the Conservative administration may have, we must offer credit where credit’s due. Boris Johnson and his compatriots have left a lot to be desired when it comes to managing a pandemic, adequately preparing supply chains for the entirely predictable disruption of a hard(ish) Brexit, and dutifully respecting a treaty they signed up to. But they are experts at selling a vision of heady triumphalism that has little basis in reality.