You may call it self-harm, but I think we need to consider Britain's relatively pragmatic / less than enthusiastic membership of the EU. For a start, Britain has a completely different legal system to the rest of Europe (common law vs. civil law). That was bound to create tensions.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Legal_systems_in_Eur...

I don't see how you can make such a binary claim - UK vs "the rest of Europe". Your map shows 6 broad categories of legal systems in use across Europe. Even if you put the 5 non-common law systems into one bucket, it still wouldn't make the UK unique as Ireland operates under common law.

You are right, it is not binary in the way I wrote. I guess one difference between UK and Ireland is absence of a written constitution?

That isn't true, and a ridiculous take. There are pros and cons to both being in and out of the EU.

Well here is how it looks from my perspective:

- At previous gig relocation of manufacturing to the UK stopped because it would be impossible to operate there due to severe delays in procurement and long delays in securing appropriate visas for employees. Manufacturing sent to different country. (for many projects I work on 1-2 days delivery is the expected norm. With 3-5 days for "slow" shipping)

- Stopped buying from UK companies due a) many UK companies no longer shipping to EU, b) long delays when ordering something from the UK.

Of course, this is what it looks like from my perspective. That doesn't represent the totality. But in my work (which spans a few different sectors), the UK sort of became a black hole that we avoid if we can. Find different locations and sources for products, move on.

Noone buys Korean phones or cars or whatever because they are not in the EU... of course not.

The issue, and lack of plan to cope with, is that the change requires a (long?) period of deep reconfiguration.

But still, places like London, Cambridge, etc are doing incredibly well and better than on the continent...

Brexit hasn't been a fairytale but it hasn't been a catastrophe, either.

Except for Germany, which of the major countries are you referring to? Show me numbers.

It has been 10 years. How long do you think this should take? 20 years? And how long before the lost decade (or perhaps decades) have been made up for and the UK goes net positive? 30 years? 50? (The area below the curve is important. You learned about integrals in school, right?).

Trust me: nobody I talk to is interested in doing business with UK companies or in the UK if they can avoid it. Which makes me curious: who are these companies that have seen a boost in foreign trade?

Oh what are the pros again, I seem to have forgotten what the sunlit uplands were supposed to be like...?

What are the pros? Like actual real world ones, not ones painted on buses by charlatans? The cons have become obvious.