The Brexit forces have won the day and that should probably have been expected. The EU is an awkward construct intended to homogenise regional groups which do not share a common language and a common or adopted heritage.

And of course Cameron has to resign. He mistook supposed EU willingness to talk about problems as preparedness to modify the functioning of its antidemocractic socialist bureaucracy. The consequent reaction of the UK population was another historic though narrow win for common sense and assessment over fervour and wishful thinking.

The posturing of German Chancellor Merkel has been counter productive in three major areas. One was the continuous scheming in conjunction with fellow socialist French President Hollande to downgrade the involvement of the UK within the EU. Another disastrous ploy was encouragement in western Ukraine of the uprising against an unpopular but elected government in order to facilitate an eastward expansion of EU and NATO influence. The most recent was Merkel’s pretentious welcoming of border crossers and people smugglers into Europe.

In combination those initiatives have done more damage to the European community than contrived by any politician for decades. Merkel should have resigned after the Ukraine, and should now be dumped as incompetent. Hopefully the dumping will occur before the end of July 2016, and well before Cameron makes an honourable departure.

But regardless of what happens to those two, the EU is likely to continue for some period as a peculiar amalgam of inequalities and inequities before eventually becoming a workable federation of regional states. And for much or all of the interim it seems preferable to let the Europeans learn by experience in the same way as the UK and its constituent parts and previous colonies have done.