NOBODY does pomp and pageantry as well as the British, whether it’s a funeral, a wedding or a state visit. So it was hardly a surprise when Prince Harry’s and Meghan Markle’s wedding went off like clockwork.

The male guests wore their long, dark morning suits (and looked a bit like penguins), while the women were dressed in frothy outfits topped with extravagant hats.

The build-up to the wedding had taken weeks until Saturday’s climax (no pun intended), with TV channels and newspapers giving us breathless accounts of the latest developments.

The final bit of excitement was provided by the bride’s father who decided he was too ill to attend.

Many snobbish Brits heaved a sigh of relief as he had earlier seemed to be embroiled in a minor scam relating to being photographed by American paparazzi for cash.

Clearly, Thomas Markle was unaccustomed to media attention, and succumbed to temptation. Not quite the capital crime British tabloids made it out to be.

As coverage of the royal wedding sucked the oxygen out of far more important events, and took over the headlines, I became increasingly bored of the whole thing, and am very glad it’s now behind us.

But I suppose the Brits needed a diversion from all the grim news that will no doubt demand their attention next week.

For starters, the Brexit fiasco is causing huge strains and stresses within the cabinet, with Leave members taking an increasingly hard line, while pragmatists would far prefer a soft exit that minimises the pain of quitting the world’s biggest trading bloc.

But while the differences and nuances of the various options being fought over might excite editorial writers, columnists and TV pundits, they leave most people in the UK cold.

As many who voted to leave the EU say, they had no idea it would all be so complicated.

And there’s going to be an expensive divorce bill to pay: Theresa May has agreed to transfer 39 billion euros to Brussels to cover the UK’s contribution to pensions as well as for projects it had agreed to.

Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, and the man who probably did more than anybody else to shift public opinion on Brexit, is adamant in his refusal to accept a soft exit that would leave Britain in the single market.

In an apparent bid to get sacked from the cabinet, he recently termed May’s preferred solution “crazy”.

But the prime minister cannot afford to have Johnson outside the government, criticising it over Brexit negotiations at a sensitive moment: next month, there is an EU summit to discuss progress. By then, the government hopes to have a draft agreement ready.

But as observers point out, if May can’t convince her cabinet colleague to go along with her, how will she win the EU’s approval of her plan?

Another source of opposition to the Conservative government comes from an unexpected quarter: the House of Lords has defeated 15 attempts to push through legislation relating to Brexit.

The upper house is determined to soften the impact of leaving the EU, and is making life hard for those in the government seeking to balance the demands of the two major Tory wings.

All these pressing questions elicit one big yawn from the general public.

Even many of those who had voted to remain in the EU now say they wish the government would just get on and negotiate a quick exit.

Instead, ministers are stuck in an unending debate over things like how to overcome the difficulties of inspecting goods coming from, and entering, the Republic of Ireland — a member of the EU — via Northern Ireland, a component of the UK.

A hard border would contravene the agreement that ended the IRA rebellion. One idea being floated by the pragmatists in the cabinet is something called maximum facilitation, or “max fac”.

This involves using computer technology that has yet to be developed, and would see the UK assuming the role of customs inspector and duties collector on behalf of the EU.

Other sources of the deepening sense of foreboding include the gradual but steady decline of the economy.

Although employment figures signal an improvement, shoppers are staying out of high street shops in growing numbers.

This has forced the closure of many outlets across the country, leading to job losses. Car sales have declined as well, as have house prices in London.

Then there is the recent collapse of the construction giant Carillion. This firm was used by the government for outsourcing a range of activities, and when it filed for bankruptcy, it left hundreds of millions of pounds in unpaid bills due to suppliers, as well as several major projects left unfinished.

The government will have to reimburse many of those waiting to be paid, otherwise they, too, will be driven into bankruptcy. It goes without saying that Carillion’s senior management paid themselves obscene salaries and bonuses before the firm’s collapse.

This corporate greed has taken root across much of the world, but in the UK, the average company director takes home 120 times the salary of the lowest paid employee.

How long this inequitable distribution of wealth will be accepted remains to be seen, but is one of the major factors fuelling Jeremy Corbyn’s popularity as he lashes out at repeated instances of the private sector leaching off the public exchequer. The current corporate credo seems to be: “Everybody on his own, and the devil take the hindmost.”

Given all the dismal economic news, the Brits should enjoy the feel-good sentiment generated by the royal wedding while it lasts. The bad news is that for the foreseeable future, there are no such extravaganzas on the horizon.

irfan.husain@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2018