Brexit - celebrate or not?

I suppose by now most 'Remainers' are resigned to Brexit happening at 11.00pm on Friday 31st January - only days away now - but they won't be celebrating our formal departure from the EU. And if I shared their point of view, nor would I. Rationally, the whole thing is a risk, a gamble. It can't be justified on economic grounds, unless you have great faith in the new opportunities that will be created. But 'Leavers' like me have that faith. It's inspiriting to think of the dice being thrown and coming up on double-six. Personally, I think the result will be less exciting. But then I always reckoned that Brexit would mean higher costs and higher taxes, even if partly compensated for by lower EU contributions and commitments, and the chance for the country to make money elsewhere.

To be frank, the appeal of Brexit has nothing to do with money. It's about who is at the helm, who has oversight, and who controls the basic policies that will determine what we do in this country, and where the country ends up. We will once more be an independent offshore island with worldwide influence and responsibilities, and not just part of a European federal-state-in-formation.

The inescapable facts of geography insist that we cannot ignore Europe, even if we wanted to. It's obvious that we must continue to co-operate closely with Europe, and maintain easy access. How awful it would be if we became shut up inside a Fortress Britannia, with the Channel Tunnel closed off, the RAF patrolling our airspace, and the Royal Navy policing the Channel. I don't think that nightmare will come to be.

For me, Brexit was always much more to do with an emotional wish to have a recognisably 'British' version of the future, rather than a future full of EU standardisation. Emotions are important.

Also I wanted to embrace change. The country needed a shake-up. A really big event, such as a major war, has always led to new things, mostly better things, because of fresh visions and fresh thinking. Brexit is such an event. It's exciting to imagine the possibilities - and I can still live long enough to see them unfold over the next twenty or thirty years.

That gives me a proper stake in what happens. One of the things that greatly annoyed me in the Brexit debate was the accusation that older people like me voted to leave the EU because we could 'easily afford to' and particularly 'wouldn't be around to face the consequences'. Offensive tosh. It matters hugely to me how things will be in the 2040s and 2050s. I have no intention of popping off sooner. If there is a mess, I shall be around to share it with the Snowflakes. And with more true grit than they'll be able to muster.

So: back to the question. Should one celebrate?

The tone from Downing Street is not as triumphant as one might expect. And indeed, gloating and loud partying would be in bad taste, insensitive to a lot of disappointed and downhearted people, and would certainly not heal the differences that Brexit brought out into the open. I go along with that too. I have in mind merely going to bed quietly on Friday 31st January with a broad smile; and waking up on Saturday 1st February with a quiet but delicious sense of freedom.

Just as one might, once a contested and long-desired divorce comes through. Or on the day an irksome prison sentence finally ends.

Brexit proves that the future is never totally predetermined or fixed. Some are fearful of change and uncertainty, and cling to old ways and old ideas, which they claim were always 'right' and 'made sense', and that change will cast safety and comfort to the winds. But I say they are wrong. Change is natural and inevitable. And I am not afraid.