'I didn’t want a no-deal Brexit, but now I see it as the only way to move the UK forward'

Pete North's article makes interesting and very alarming reading. Pete North and his father Richard, collaborating with the late Christopher Booker, argued for leaving the EU before anyone else and were convinced that only doing so by joining the European Economic Area, with a status like Norway's, would not harm Britain. They always despised Boris going back to the early 1990s. Finally and despairingly they accepted Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement as better than staying in or leaving with no deal.

He still thinks leaving with no deal will be disastrous - not immediately and not because of tailbacks at Dover but over weeks and months. Nevertheless, he now thinks we have to leave with no deal if the alternatives are staying in or delaying further.

I quote him.

'There are many fine arguments as to why we do need a withdrawal agreement, and nobody has done more to set out the risks of leaving without a deal than me, but in the end those warnings were not taken seriously by either side.

'Or rather, not seriously enough.

'The remainers very much appreciated the risks, but decided to gamble anyway by voting down a withdrawal agreement. They never had any intention of respecting the 2016 referendum. 

'Being that we have an obstructionist Parliament doing all it can to frustrate the delivery of Brexit, this ceases to be a matter of trade and becomes a constitutional crisis over who gets the final word – the people or Parliament.
And by definition, if the people don’t have the final say in constitutional matters, then we are not a democracy.'

My money is on our leaving with a deal, and probably not a very good one, though without the benighted Backstop somehow, but who knows? 

Rod Liddle, who is right about most things except blood sports, despite being Labour, said something similar on Facebook.

'It's a close call, and Boris has done well to narrow those odds, but I still don't think we'll get a proper Brexit. Just for now though let's enjoy the remoaner paroxysms.'

I am sure the EU is about to prolong our EU membership unilaterally until next year, if we care to remain after Hallowe'en. That will shoot Boris's fox, but this is not a hunt and he is still pledged to leave the EU on Hallowe'en, which British law requires (thanks to Gina Miller).