There can be no argument that the British Government has made a complete dog's breakfast of Britain's exit from the European Union - the move known as Brexit.
But now fears are rising that Britons may be barred from visiting EU countries from January 1, when existing Covid-19 safety rules will no longer apply to the UK.
Only a handful of non-EU countries with low coronavirus rates are exempt from rules that prohibit non-essential visitors from outside the EU and European Economic Area (EEA).
Countries on that non-EU safe list include Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.
The UK only has an exemption until the end of the Brexit transition period, with the European Commission indicating that it would not be extended beyond January 1.
That could mean most of the EU being out of bounds for UK travellers, throwing the travel plans for millions of Britons into chaos - probably not what they expected when they voted, dimly, for Brexit.
As Gilles Tremlett pointed out in The Guardian: "The idea that ending “freedom of movement” simply prevented a one-way traffic of Polish plumbers and Romanian fruit pickers into Britain was always absurd.
"The new reality is this: travel to France is not an absolute right. Nor are trips to Spain, Greece, most of Europe’s best resorts, or anywhere else British people love to go in the EU."
Norway has already said it will stop British citizens from entering the country from the new year.
A UK Government spokesperson said with typical stoicism: "We cannot comment on decisions that could be taken by other states on public health matters.
"We take a scientific, risk-based approach to health measures at the border, and it is of course in the interests of all countries to allow safe international travel as we emerge from the pandemic."
No word yet from Britain's buffoon leader "Bungling" Boris Johnson.
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