A not-so-happy birthday for Brexit

As the United Kingdom marked the first anniversary of the electorate's decision to quit the European Union on Friday, voters on both sides of the debate are still none the wiser about the shape of their post-Brexit future.

Talks in Brussels, which opened on Monday, were aimed at producing an amicable divorce settlement between the UK and its 27 EU partners by March 2019. But with an almost total lack of clarity about the likely outcome, domestic opinion remains almost as divided as it was a year ago.

A bloc of ardent "remainers" believe their country has embarked on an exercise in collective suicide that even at this late stage can be reversed, while hardliners in the "leave" camp cannot wait to break the perceived shackles of an overweening "Euro-state". Between them is a bemused majority that just wants to get the whole thing resolved with as little pain as possible.