It looks like the EU will deliver their verdict on the UK today. It is that we are unable to decide. And because we can’t they’ll give us the time we need to go away and make up our minds.

It’s damning. What they can see is what we know: that we have a political class bereft of ability that is unable to think logically about an issue. Worse, tribalism matters so much that it’s not just compromise that is impossible for them; they are also beyond considering the national interest.

And deep down there is something else. It has to be said there is a total lack of competence on display. There are, of course, exceptions to that generality. But overall, the leaderships of both the various Tory factions and of Labour show little of the nous required to deliver the policies this country requires.

The Tories have abandoned intellect for pettiness: they deserve a generation in the wilderness and with luck will get it.

But whilst Labour is not much to blame for Brexit, its failure to oppose it appropriately - based on a clear vision of the national need - has been a massive failure on its part. Even now, as we stare into a Brexit abyss, it cannot say we need to stay and devote all our effort into transforming the prospects of most people in this country, which is entirely possible within the constraints of the EU, and much more likely to succeed with those constraints than it is with the consequences of being out.

What happens to the Tories matters to me: I wish them torn asunder (to reflect what they already are), but I fear the far-right claiming the name.

What happens to Labour also matters. I pray for the wisdom, and most of all courage, if some past generations of its leadership.

But most of all I wish for the essential reform that will permit real change in our society, which is electoral reform. We cannot suffer the incapacity that these parties have created for much longer. And that requires fundamental change.

But I am not hopeful.

The impasse will survive, I fear, with all that has gone with it.