A year after Brexit, Britain is isolated, vulnerable and hurting in Covid

A confluence of crises has forced govt to deploy soldiers to drive fuel trucks, energy suppliers to go out of business and panicked households to try and fill cupboards-all while Covid is still rife

Lines of cars snake from gasoline stations. Fights break out among angry motorists trying to get fuel. Grocery staples are out of stock on store shelves. A charity warns that doubling heating bills will force a million households to rely on extra blankets to stay warm.
 

This was supposed to be the year the UK broke free of the European Union and forged ahead as a buccaneering free trader, delivering the benefits of a new, confident "Global Britain" to workers and companies at home. Instead, that picture of Brexit utopia is looking more like a dystopia.

As Prime Minister Boris