By Peter A Bell

I WRITE THIS as a citizen of Europe. By the time you read it I will have been reduced, by no choice of my own, to a disregarded, discounted, disrespected cipher inhabiting the northern outpost of a British state that is vastly more alien to me than any European country.

Not that I was particularly or overtly proud of the European citizenship that I must learn to write and speak of in the past tense - along with freedom of movement, consumer protections, employment rights and much else. I was never one for flaunting a European flag or badge. But I was content with being a citizen of Europe. I’m not at all proud of the television in the corner of the room or the toaster in the kitchen. But I’d be bloody annoyed if I was robbed of them in the same way as I’m being robbed of my European citizenship. TVs and toasters can be replaced. What can replace my status as a European citizen?

I’d be bloody annoyed if I was robbed of them in the same way as I’m being robbed of my European citizenship

This is not like losing some household appliance to housebreakers or having your phone nicked or your pockets picked. It’s not even akin to being bereft of some item with great sentimental value. There’s a world of difference between suffering the loss of possessions and being deprived of something that is part of your identity - like your name, or your memories. These too are things that we tend to take for granted. But the loss of which we find hard even to contemplate.