Say not the struggle naught availeth. Thinking the worst

One could have hoped for a revolution like 1945 ;a people's revolt against the establishment  which had let them down so badly in the past and the start of an effort to build a new Britain.Necessary,exiting But too much to hope for .

Defeat for Brexit means that things will go on as they are,not well not badly but run by the people responsible for the long term failure of a country sliding down into debt,lower standards and irrelevance That may, after all,be what a people who've lost ambition want .

It's certainly what the vested interests and Britain's complacent business elite prefer. They want to be wrapped in the comfort of the single market without facing the trouble and difficulties of going out and fighting in world markets. It's easier exporting more to Luxembourg than to China and far less difficult and more profitable to fiddle their taxes there too.

Easier too for our European partners (we don't have to call them masters). Britain is sorted, confined to the periphery of Euroland and delivered, bound and gagged, to whatever the EU wants to do. Now it can get on with its real job of making the unworkable Euro work by punishing those lazy Mediterranean types and squeezing the skirts off those lying Greeks.

Easier  for Labour which seems to have recognised that it ain't going to hold power again unless it regains Scotland. So it's  accepted that  the EU alone can give it a bit of what it wants and get on with the job it's best at: opposition.

Bit better for the Tories who can play happy families. Osborne can  pile on the cuts he's held back for the referendum.Austerity can resume and be blamed on the disturbance of the referendum. All those who've helped can be given suitable honours,  perks or privileges.Bonanza. And the PR machine can go overboard concealing the bad news about debt,decline and difficulties arising from Europe to pretend we're doing well even if we ain't.

And best for the Brits. Slow decline is more comfortable than striving As long as their leaders keep reassuring them that they're the best it hardly matters that they're becoming a low wage cheap Jack second rate country declining to third. Complacency will keep us happy ever after.

Not a great outcome. But then as my mother used to say "beggars can't be choosers"