Brexit is now in full swing and the ups and downs of the negotiations seem likely to dominate thinking and media coverage for the next few years. Not an uplifting thought, unless you love mind-numbing detail combined with overweening rhetoric. 

But while the historic importance of Britain deciding to cut itself off from the EU feels profound, of most domestic interest is the fact that the vote for Brexit revealed a country very much not ‘at ease with itself' – prime minister John Major's key aim several decades ago.