Gallows humour might seem ghoulish – but it doesn’t mean we don’t care

These are great times for journalists and gamblers, if not for anyone else

As a reformed and somewhat repentant Leaver, I can only take comfort in the fact that the most likely outcomes now are either a very soft Brexit or no Brexit at all (EPA)

Business, it is often said, hates uncertainty. This is true, apart from bookies (for obvious reasons), hedge funds (ditto) – and us lot in the media.

It’s probably in bad taste (OK, definitely is), but having no idea about the future of the UK after 11pm on 29 March is quite exciting, as well as terrifying, for a journalist. It is a long time indeed since a British government openly discussed the possibility of imposing martial law on the mainland, of the shops warning about a shortage of food, and Britain’s laws being rendered unworkable because they will still refer to European institutions that the UK may no longer belong to, and which, therefore, “do not exist” legally.

That’s all on top of the increasing likelihood of a second referendum, a possible general election, a new prime minster – or, very possibly, all three.

As a reformed and somewhat repentant Leaver, I can only take comfort in the fact that, through all things are possible, the most likely outcomes now are either a very soft Brexit or no Brexit at all. This is because the one thing that we can be (reasonably) sure of is that there is an overwhelming majority in the House of Commons, and the country for that matter, which rejects such a cataclysmic scenario. Sooner or later, that coalition, which comprises people from every party, will coalesce on some motion or amendment or bill in the commons, and they will outlaw it.

Rather laughably I heard on the radio the other evening that Theresa May’s advisers had “spun” that she has reassured cabinet colleagues such as Amber Rudd that there will be no no-deal crash-out, cliff-edge Brexit – but that she couldn’t admit as much in public. Self-parody at its best: the one thing that the May administration has been good at.

Like I say, from a very narrow, slightly ghoulish perspective, these are great times for journalists and gamblers, if not for anyone else. I know, too, that the dire consequences of any form of Brexit will hurt everyone’s standard of living (except maybe the mega rich), and the national interest. But just remember, those of us in the “mainstream media” who are not “BoB” (bored of Brexit) are just doing our job, and the fact we are given to gallows humour about it doesn’t mean we do not care about it.

We’re all in this together, as someone used to say.

Yours,

Sean O’Grady

Associate editor