(The Guardian) Four years, 27 weeks and two days after a referendum that split the country almost down the middle, the UK left the EU’s orbit on Thursday night in a departure that was notably low key, and marked by warnings of likely disruption to come.
In a sometimes sombre new year message, Boris Johnson largely ignored Brexit, an outcome he arguably shaped more than any other politician, to focus instead on the toll of Covid-19 and what he called “the grimness of 2020”.
With the majority of England subject to tough restrictions, and hospitals warning of a calamitous winter coronavirus crisis in the weeks ahead, the chimes of Big Ben, temporarily reconnected from ongoing restoration work, sounded across near empty streets at 11pm.
