Re: dichotomy and delay
"Well it might have helped if those who campaigned so vigorously for Brexit had given the implications a bit of thought."
They have. Essentially it's "better to rule in hell than serve in heaven".
The oligarchs who put their money behind Leave did so knowing full well it'll cause a massive amount of grief, and that it'll tie up some of the sharper minds in the EU for a few years, and that (hopefully) the UK will be outside EU control before any of those awkward tax harmonization rules come into play. They also are quite clear that their right to live/work where the fuck they like will also not be impacted. Most (if not all) have dual nationalities with some small island nation, which in exchange for their generous donations and philanthropic gestures will give them not only a passport, but a diplomatic passport.
So it doesn't matter how much of a fuck up Brexit is. In fact, for many of those funding Leave, the bigger the mess, the better.
The problem was (IMHO) that the voting public wasn't paying attention. A referendum (binding or not) is not an effective tool of democracy. It is a tool of autocrats to get a justification to do what they want, while having it as a fig leaf to say "but you asked for it!". And yes, that applies to joining the EU as much as leaving it.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
