Good-bye to all that: Brexit and the tragic end of the free movement of people
There is an old saying that there is never a right way to do a wrong thing. This certainly applies to the UK leaving the European Union. One of most dramatic and damaging elements of Brexit could be encapsulated in Prime Minister May's triumphant declaration that the free movement of people would be ended "once and for all". This was probably one of the most tragic, depressing and damaging statements made in a long while. It has now been backed up in the EU-UK Political Declaration.
The interchange of ideas, culture and peoples has been at the heart of forming the UK as well as being the lifeblood of dynamic, open and progressive societies. By cutting this off, the UK - and particularly cities like London - risk losing the essence of what makes them a vibrant, thriving and attractive metropolis today.
Cities - like companies and successful organisations - realise that diversity is at the heart of creativity, innovation and progress. They have worked on this for decades, rich in the knowledge that diversity makes a city an exciting and attractive place to live and work.
The European single market - a fantastic creation in the eye's of Free Trade Europa - was the brainchild of a French Socialist in European Commission President Jacques Delors and a British Conservative in Margaret Thatcher's chosen disciple Lord Cockfield. On the face of it an extremely odd couple, but diversity so often reaps impressive and unexpected results.
Similarly, the European Union we know today is built on the post-World War II vision of people like Robert Schuman: a politicians born to a Luxembourgish mother and German father in a region which became French after a war with Germany - and Jean Monnet: a French Brandy salesman turned internationalist and statesman. Opposites do attract and the synthesis of different people, from different backgrounds and with different ideas never ceases to amaze. The possibilities are endless.
We can but hope that the UK's leaders realise this sooner rather than later. Cutting off Brits from finding work and opportunities (both professional and personal) in other countries, as well as vice versa, would indeed be a tragedy.