Yeah I was against Brexit as it was a huge upheaval that made trade with our main trading partners harder but small independent countries can do very well if they are open to trade and are run sensibly. Look at Singapore for example.
The problem with that line of thinking is that Singapore benefitted immensely from its geographical locations and from being an excellent port in a complicated region.
There are other smaller countries that do well. Norway, Australia, Japan, Switzerland etc. The UK has the #2 (or sometimes #1) financial center, ~4 out of the world's top 10 universities, #2 in Nobel prizes after the US, the most books published per capita etc. There's potential there if they sort the bad bits.
Norway and Switzerland - one has huge amounts of oil, the other stores crooked money...and both are far more connected into the EU than the UK is.
Australia....a great country but not a world power. 40 million people on a continent where the UK is 70 million people on an area 31 times smaller. Even if you ignore the desert it's such a different story.
The whole thing is just ridiculous - the UK needs to be teamed up somehow. The Empire made people think this was unnecessary but that never was true and it's now a hopeless sentiment.
We accept that NATO is critical....but teaming up is critical for every other aspect of life - especially if we are to preserve our values in the face of other big groupings that are far far less nice.
What Britain doesn't have geographically is more than compensated with what they do have politically. Again: The familial ties and friends.
The era we live in right now is Pax Americana, the United States is top dog. But so long as the United Kingdom remains aligned (those familial ties!) that means both and all of us are top dog. Same story with solid friends like Japan who also enjoys top dog status.
It is a cold hard fact that Britain is no longer a superpower, it's also a cold hard fact that Britain wouldn't be a power period were they by themselves. Fortunately for them though, we are family.
Countries like France and Germany only kind of sort of enjoy the benefits of Pax Americana because they are two-faced and greedy or worse. France suddenly getting kicked out of that nuclear sub deal with Australia and replaced by America and Britain was a brutal demonstration of an unseverable family blood and bond.
As an aside, the British Isles are an "excellent port" in a "complicated region". America does appreciate having two giant and unsinkable carriers (USS Britain and USS Japan) next to potential hotspots in the world.
