It is strange being on the other side of the Atlantic and trying to explain what is happening to the British political system. Whatever happened to the British ability to compromise, to seek pragmatic and effective solutions to difficult situations ? We seem to have been driven up against a brick wall with a determination which sometimes seemed admirable, but now seems merely obstinate, unwilling and unable to back down, having lost the ability to listen to other people’s point of view and so without any obvious or possible way forward. Plan A in ruins and no Plan B.