‘There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind.” As explained in Joseph Heller’s great novel, one had to be crazy to want to do combat duty, but “anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn’t really crazy”.

Lots of people are talking about George Clooney’s new television series of the book, but I also recommend to the many people who fear they are being driven crazy by this Brexit nonsense that, at least to my mind, there is no substitute for a return to the original novel.

I am reminded of the time when John Major became chancellor of the exchequer after Nigel Lawson’s resignation in October 1989 and I wrote a column based on the character Major Major in Catch-22. Heller was the writer in residence at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, and I sent him a copy out of courtesy.

What I did not expect was the sequel. When the New York Times asked Heller to write a satirical piece about the first Gulf war (August 1990 to February 1991) he rather flatteringly delegated the task to me. However nemesis struck when they turned down my effort. I apologised to the great man for letting him down, but he was most generous and we agreed that “war is not funny at the time”. After all, Catch-22 was published 16 years after the end of the second world war.

Nor is this Brexit nonsense funny. Let’s face it: it is crazy. I am reminded of another passage in Catch-22 where Colonel Cargill says: “Men. You’re American officers. The officers of no other army in the world can make that statement. Think about it.”

Hunt and Johnson are vying with each other in an absurd battle of increasingly unrealistic promises

Well, Alexander “Boris” Johnson and Jeremy Hunt: you are the only candidates left to run for the premiership of the United Kingdom. No other politicians can make that statement. What is more, you are competing to take over the reins of government of a once great country on the votes of a mere 160,000 Conservative party members – in a process neatly described by the aforementioned New York Times as “unrepresentative democracy”.

You are vying with each other in an absurd battle of increasingly unrealistic and unrealisable promises. You are evidently prepared – one of you more than the other – to take this country out of the European Union on 31 October without even achieving any kind of deal about future arrangements.

It is worth repeating the results of a recent YouGov poll which found that the majority of those Conservative party members eligible to vote are so hell-bent on the pursuit of Brexit that they are prepared to contemplate the break-up of the United Kingdom, “significant damage to the UK economy” and even the collapse of their own party.

It is of course worth asking whether some of the puppet-masters of the no-deal brigade are really indulging in self-harm by willing “significant economic damage”. There could well be economic damage for the many, but there could also be significant offshore tax advantages for rich Brexiters escaping from EU regulatory constraints, as the New European newspaper pointed out just under a year ago.

Despite the fact that parliament has voted against no deal, the terrible prospect of overriding the majority of MPs via the device of prorogation has reared its ugly head, and has not been ruled out by Johnson at the time of writing. It is therefore reassuring that Lord Pannick QC – who was counsel to the campaigner Gina Miller when they successfully challenged Theresa May’s attempt to override parliament in January 2017 – is firmly of the view that Johnson (for it would probably be he) would be acting unlawfully in urging prorogation upon the Queen.

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To go back to the wonders of Catch-22: it is my firm belief – and, I think, that of a growing majority of the electorate if the YouGov research is to be believed – that we are being rational in regarding Brexit as “a real and immediate” danger to this country.

Oh, and by the way: Heller was once asked by a disrespectful interviewer why he had not subsequently written anything as good as Catch-22. To which he replied: “Who has?”

Let me finish by quoting a politician who is not to be underrated – John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor of the exchequer, on the possibility of there being another referendum. “I’d vote for Remain,” he said. “I can’t see anything better than what we’ve got at the moment.”

I agree.