Summer’s over, and the confusing cocktail of excitement and panic that is university boots into life for another year. Whether you’re stepping into the brave new world of student life for the first time this year or you’re settling back into the grind after a long summer break, you’ll be thinking about what delightful (or terrifying) new experiences await you in the weeks and months ahead. That’s okay. Even I was grappling with the uncertainty of the new year until I checked my phone (typical millennial) and discovered something that will give us all a bit of security and comfort. Brexit continues to be a train-wreck, even after all this time.
You have to appreciate Brexit, however you feel about the politics surrounding it. Incessant infighting, shambolic overseas negotiations and an ever-growing sinkhole of posturing and soundbites have occupied the Brexit discussions almost from the beginning of the campaigning over two years ago (I know, it also amazed me that we’ve been doing this for over two years). Just a short while before writing this piece, I saw that the whole Brexit process continued to be a figurative dumpster fire in Salzburg, and I’m fairly certain that the papers of the Chequers Brexit plan will form an actual fire soon, if for no other reason than for the arch-Brexiters in Westminster to dance around. If Brexit were a friend, they’d be the perpetual butt of the group’s jokes, always there to be beaten and trodden on until everybody felt better.
Depressingly, those of you who chose to tune out the tirade of noise about Brexit (and Trump whilst you were at it) may be switching back on now to find that nothing has truly changed. Some of the faces are different – David Davis has made way for Dominic Raab in the now-toothless Brexit Department, and Boris managed to Boris so hard that giving Jeremy Hunt a promotion to the Foreign Office seemed sensible – yet what’s being said is exactly the same. The Irish border and backstop. The Chequers plan. A People’s Vote, or second referendum in plain terms.
Turning to the rest of the political news offers little relief. Labour has stayed true to its name and laboured over the anti-Semitism row for far longer than anybody with a modicum of common sense would deem acceptable, and the Lib Dems are still somehow sliding into irrelevance despite being the apparent voice of Remain. The biggest change of fortune has fallen on UKIP, surprisingly, in that they’ve managed to hold onto a leader that isn’t Nigel Farage for longer than a few weeks. It’s the little things that matter in our age, I suppose.
Politics has become stagnant. The main issues of our time have devolved into ideologically-driven shouting matches and personality contests. This may unsettle you, terrify you even, as you picture the endpoint of all this hot air and wasted time. But take comfort as you enter the new year – you can devote all your energy to establishing a good work ethic, fostering healthy relationships and having fun doing what you love to do safe in the knowledge that you will always be less under pressure than Theresa May.