I do dislike this aspect of modern Britishness. Yes, be modest, be understated, don't exaggerate or boast about the nation. Yes, some poor decisions have been made by the people and the politicians - where isn't this true?

But the flagellatory "everything is terrible and we are merely worms" attitude that prevails among the bien-pensant class right now is so saddening. The UK does have an influence on the world, a pretty outsized one at that, because it is one of the larger and more modern economies. Ahead of it are the US, the world's two most populous nations (China, India), and two comparative economic powerhouses, Germany and Japan. That's it. If you want to count the EU as one economy, great, it takes Germany's place.

Does this mean where Britain goes all must follow? No, of course not. But neither does it mean total insignificance.

UK is the same economic size (gdp) as california. The per-capita doesn't matter here

That just illustrates how important California is to the world economy.

UK is a G7 country. It's small compared to the US and China but nobody else.

Quite a lot smaller than the EU…