Having downgraded themselves & removed their own voice & vote, all the British can do is improve themselves, and make a more generous offer to the EU, if they're not currently getting what they want from the big organisation next door that they left. Anything else prolongs error and feeds grievance

Any criticism of the EU, aimed at an audience that has left the EU, does nothing but coddle the needless mistake. And if anyone has a criticism of something in Europe, the fundamental answer to that is to be a member of it, voting and working to improve it. Britain, uniquely, abolished its own voice

I know who he is. I'd like to refer back to the posts we're discussing but as he blocked me for no good reason I no longer can. I wrote my response to it sincerely. There is nothing good for Britain in seeking fault in the EU, it only helps Britain to ignore/entrench / fail to fix its own mistakes

"The EU are flawed and/or being mean to us" is a message that has never done the UK any good, has gotten it into its current mess, and will never help Britain to be a better country. Indeed, it serves to make Britain more comfortable with its own unnecessary mistakes, that it can&should fix

I agree with you that the EU is not always right

There's no point to a Brit observing this, however. Because we have no vote in Europe & because criticising a body we've made ourselves outsiders/supplicants to won't get UK anything. UK needs to focus on its own faults & make better offers

I'd like to reply more fully but Hennig has just blocked me for no good reason. You can read his thread, though, & I don't think it's unreasonable to call it an attack aimed at setting up resentment. The FT's audience is British and these posts are all in English. This only feeds British grievance

What use is this to a British audience? While Britain has so much to fix in its own mess of its own creation, what is the role of seeking fault elsewhere in an organisation it has chosen to have no voice or vote in any more? This will only set up grievance narratives in a UK that needs to fix itself

I have no idea what the purpose is of your attack on the EU for not giving Britain what it wants, the way it wants it. Britain has, at root, done this all to itself. And all the reflection and criticism and improvement is due there. If they want more from Europe, don't attack it - make better offers

And complaining about what little you get, from outside, while having freely decided to be outside, and, by being outside, having formally chosen not to have a voice and a vote, is weak and empty:

Britain can only make its own moves and offers to the EU and see what it gets. Focus there-

You say "this isn't Brexit any more", but it very much is. Everything about the relationship between the UK and the EU stems from Brexit and is at root entirely Britain's fault, of the UK's own making by its free and unnecessary choice-

To follow up, most foreign govts (even and perhaps especially US allies) have an interest in weakening Trump. Netanyahu has demonstrated it can be done wrt Dem presidents. And Trump (as well as Vance and Musk) have demonstrated their willingness to do it to them.

Time to put the screws on.