This quotation from T.S. Eliot sums up as well as anything else I can think of, the situation of the United Kingdom at the present time. It does appear that over the coming year our principal political institutions might suffer every serious damage as a result of the deeply-felt controversies over our future relationship to the European Union. I am aware of cases in which members of a single family are barely on speaking terms with each other. An amusing side of this is that my regular climbing partner and I, realising that we are hotly opposed to each other on this issue, have agreed that our friendship is more important than that, and have decided that we will never mention it in each other’s company.
A hugely significant vote takes place in our parliament tonight that will almost certainly plunge the country into acrimonious wrangling, and possibly a general election in the very near future. Heaven only knows how it will all end.