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“History is now and England.” T.S. Eliot’s words — from “Little Gidding”, the last of his Four Quartets — come to mind as we approach the moment when a decision on Brexit has finally to be

made. These words were published in 1941, at a time when this country faced an even graver national crisis than we do now. Then, however, we were united. Today, the nations of the United

Kingdom are bitterly divided, as is England itself. Hence our perplexity and our anguish. There seems to be no plan on which we can agree. Perhaps history can offer guidance for the

perplexed and comfort for the anguished. As a people we have often faced trials and tribulations before. Often these have involved war, so they do not seem relevant to the present. We are

not at war with the Continent, as so often before. On the contrary: we have never been closer to Europe, in politics, economics and culture. Not only that: we are and we feel more European

than ever before. And yet that is not the whole story. We voted to leave. Not Europe, but the European Union. That vote is a fact that cannot be wished away. It is history. We must live with

the referendum and its consequences. We read today that many flights may be cancelled if the EU refuses to cooperate in the event of a no-deal Brexit. If so, so be it. In some of today’s

newspapers HSBC is running whole page advertisements with a wordy text that begins “We are not an island” and ends “We are part of something far, far bigger”. The bank is not wrong: for many

purposes, the UK is more integrated into the global economy than almost any other nation, including those of the EU. And yet there is something smug about a global company presuming to tell

us who we are and what we are not. For in one fundamental sense, we are an island. Geography is a fact outside our control; and it matters. HSBC concedes this by noting that “we are a

wonderful little lump of land in the middle of the sea”. Well, yes: that is the definition of an island, wonderful or not. (We aren’t so very little, either: Great Britain is the eighth

largest and the third most populous island in the world.) That single fact of geography corresponds to the countless facts of history that have combined to make the British a uniquely

influential people. Our ideas, our politics, our laws and our language have ubiquitous. No nation on earth has left a greater legacy. History can sometimes be a burden, it is true. In his

BBC Radio 4 series “As Others See Us”, the former director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor and some of his interlocutors criticised us for failing to put the past behind us in our

relations with Europe. He may have a point, though the institution he used to lead (and which is now run by a German) is a perfect example of how the British use the past in a creative way

to enhance the present. He, for example, was responsible for a widely praised exhibition, accompanied by a book, called “Germany: Memories of a Nation”. Was it right to remind the British

that there is far more to German history than Hitler, but somehow wrong for the British to recall their own vital part in that past — and in the past of almost every country in Europe and

the world? “Brexit” is already part of our history, even before we leave the EU, because it has overshadowed our lives for more than two years. For some, it has been a traumatic experience;

for others, a liberation. We have been changed by Brexit and we will continue to be changed by it, whatever our ultimate destination. It is our intention at TheArticle to capture this

national mood and articulate it for our readers. We need you to help us in this endeavour. Give us your thoughts and let us know what you think about ours. TheArticle is Britain’s first

post-Brexit publishing platform. Help us to make it a forum for the whole nation. History is now and this is TheArticle’s moment.