I started a school exchange in the mid 1950's, and the German lad and I became good friends and kept in touch. By and large, at least until reunification, similar jobs paid much better over there, than here. No one claimed the EU was perfect, but to " exit the large integrated market of the EU to protect the (UK) workforce" was not something I recall seeing on the Brexit Bus (which Private Eye has waiting in a long fuel queue...) Indeed, a global UK that they keep banging on about is a much more fragile vessel than a global EU, which has a bigger internal market than the USA. It's also capable of raising investment on a US scale, which the UK cannot, alone.
Brexiteers are fond of complaining about "remoaners". They should remember that the vote was quite close; it was in no way an overwhelming victory for the brexit brigade. For any chance of pulling together, hard brexiteers will need to relax their stance. Having shot ouselves in the foot once, at present we seem intent on disabling the other.
A covid enquiry will probably be a whitewash, if it ever happens. However it is already clear that those in charge were aware, some years before the outbreak, that we were ill prepared for a pandemic - and did nothing about it. Just compare UK covid death rates with South Korea, for example. 1,000's killed by government ineptitude.
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In the UK heyday, late and post industrial revolution, the UK got rich at the expense of the Empire. We bought their raw stuff cheap and sold them back finished goods dear. It paid for the biggest navy in the world, there to keep johnny foreigner in his rightful place. Somone said we had lost an Empire, and were still looking for a role in the world. We don't seem to have found it. It probably lies beyond the next election, so I am not sure anyone is looking for it either,