BRITAIN remains roiled by a struggle, both political and cultural, to leave the European Union. Hundreds of thousands demonstrated in London this weekend for a second referendum; more than 5 million signed a petition demanding that Brexit be scrapped entirely. Prime Minister Theresa May, face more deeply etched with exhaustion every day, stands firm on her plan to exit.

The country is an object of amazement and pity on the part of foreigners. Amazement, that a country often seen at home and abroad as hosting a political system of bureaucratic sophistication and political moderation should be in apparent crisis. Pity, that it should apparently have taken leave of its senses by voting, in June 2016, to leave the EU - and is making such a mess of the process.

That process was initiated by a pro-Brexit majority, in a referendum in 2016, of only 52 per cent. The country was split almost equally, and though Brexiteers came from all classes and areas, the "remainers" were disproportionately drawn from the ranks of politicians, senior civil servants, business executives, academics, media people, Londoners - "the establishment".