SteveS1
I heard that, pardon?
The irony of course being that the ardent remainer paints the UK as a rather poorly and hopeless little thing, the population (by majority vote in the largest ever turnout, remember) denying itself the opportunity of being a supplicant to the mutti EU and casting itself into a vast ocean inhabited only by far better, stronger and cleverer nations than our own, a victim, no less, of it's own rather stupid voters.
The UK isn't a 'victim'. It is one of the world's most powerful economies, even more so in relation to its size, and a substantial net contributor to the EU's cash bunkers. The only 'victims' in this game are the poor, hard done by residual remainers, who simply can't imagine a future separated from what they (counterintuitively, given that we are the cash-cow) perceive as the EU teat.
The UK is constantly being painted as a victim here even though this is totally an act of self harm. It's no good keep on about the size of the UK economy without context of who owns those businesses and corporations and why they are here. We went into the EEC because post colonial UK was very much on the slide both in economics and as a player on the world stage. Both of those aspects have been enhanced as members, to deny that is just plain stupidity.
Unfortunately the post colonial bit came with another downside which our media have fanned for decades. An innate feeling of both superiority and entitlement. You see it in your posts quite often that we are somehow special, well we're not. We are a desirable addition to the EU that's true, but we are by no means essential. Our arrogance over the years has indeed hampered EU reform and our influence has been diluted by the 'petulant child' act we bring out at the least provocation.
Tusk's observation that I quoted yesterday about our 'demanding opt-outs while members, now wanting opt-ins as non-members' was amusing but not without justification. You could argue that some of our belligerence has paid off in the past. We had a very good deal that contained enviable consessions compared to others. But this lunacy is the worst type of arrogance and the EU can hardly be blamed for tiring of it.