Britain is still stuck on its ex – but after 10 long, lonely years, does the EU feel the same way? | Katy Lee

L et’s imagine you’ve been dumped by someone you were expecting to stay with for the rest of your life. The breakup is bitter. The logistics, exhausting. The two of you spend an eternity negotiating who gets to keep the dog, the flat, the friends; it’s hard to imagine that things will ever feel normal again. But the years have a way of softening these things. Some years later, a photo of your ex flashes up on your social media feed. And suddenly, you realise you feel no grudge. In fact, you barely feel anything at all. This is how it feels to be an EU citizen a decade after Brexit. As the host of a podcast called The Europeans, I talk to people across Europe on a daily basis. Nobody I speak to bears the United Kingdom – the country I called home until my late 20s – any ill will. They enjoy our films and our pop music (even though it’s harder to actually see British artists live ); sometimes they go on weekend trips to London and come back complaining about how expensive it was. But they rarely talk about going to work or study in Britain. Why would they, when so many obstacles stand in the way, and when there are 26 other countries they could move to at the drop of a hat? The numbers speak for themselves: EU nationals make up just 5% of those who obtain a UK visa after battling through the post-Brexit immigration system; in 2023-24, the number of EU students enrolling in UK courses was down 58% compared to the last year under free movement. …