Beyond Brexit

Brexit: A path to yes through a forest of no

The Brexit process is marooned in uncertainty as no democratic method seems able to select a route that is favoured by a parliamentary majority. The problem is not new, however, and game…

Leadership, or the sad lack of it

Brexit has cruelly exposed the western world’s lack of leadership, nowhere more than in the United Kingdom. Murray Ritchie poses the question: How did it come to this? In the good old…


Complex language of trade falls on deaf ears

The empty space that sits where detailed, comprehensive and forward-looking planning for British post-Brexit trade should be set out is arguably the most perplexing example of why the Brexit debate has been…


Brexit is now all about the art of the possible

Theresa May’s current political strategy seriously risks running into a dead-end from which it will only be possible for a new prime minister, taking a completely different course, to extract the nation,…



Brexit reality: the UK is part of Europe

A shallow stretch of water between mainland Europe and mainland UK does not separate the United Kingdom from the consequences of what happens in Europe. Whether it is a member of the…


Political peace in the UK is unlikely

Can the United Kingdom as currently constituted survive Brexit? Probably not, suggests Murray Ritchie. Later this month Britain’s House of Lords will debate the future constitutional stability, or lack of it, of…


A mess from which there is no apparent escape

The Brexit proposal – that Britain should simply walk away, sticking a finger up to the EU as it leaves and embracing the glorious opportunities that will emerge once free of the…


Is the fog of Brexit beginning to clear?

Just possibly, concludes Murray Ritchie. Just when Theresa May escapes one Brexit trap two more are laid. Having probably avoided a leadership challenge because the extreme Brexiteers have seemingly lost their courage,…


Ideologues gamble with a nation’s future

The idea of ‘pure sovereignty’ which Brexiters argue would be possible for Britain outside the European Union is an unattainable dream, writes Geoff Kitney. Who can say how ultimately post-Brexit Britain will…