The predicted lurch to the right has come about. Cameron has gone. Not because he imposed austerity on the poor in a desperate attempt to deal with a crisis caused by crazy risk taking by under-regulated super rich financial traders. Not because he turned a blind eye to Saudi Arabia's finance of terrorism whilst bombing Syria with the same reckless lack of strategy that the UK displayed in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. Not because he has scrapped every environmental subsidy he can find since he saw off his Liberal Democrat allies whilst claiming to be the Greenest government ever. Not because he has dumped £40,000 of debt on the head of the average young graduate. And not because he has been leaving those same young people desperate for a decent home by encouraging uncontrolled executive housing development on the Green Belt but discouraging the building of affordable council housing or giving private tenants any security.
No Cameron hasn't gone because he was the most right wing Prime Minister we have ever had and his policies have wrecked public services, neglected the regions and left the vast majority of the working class and the middle class insecure and worried. He has gone because he was too left wing.
I find myself hoping that Theresa May will become our unelected Prime Minister because she is the least worst option. I find myself regarding Michael Gove as less scarily convinced of his complete ability to solve every problem via the free market that generated the total economic chaos of 2008 than his opponents to the even further right.
That is what the referendum has done for us politically. Economically it has produced a fascinating outcome. It triggered such risk of chaos that it has forced the government and the Bank of England to stop doing two really stupid things in order to cope with that chaos. It has forced Osborne to stop insisting on balancing the budget as quickly as possible. Not because he recognises that boosting the UK economy is the best way of doing that. But because he recognises the economy is now in such a dire state that he cannot possibly achieve that in the timescale he wanted. It has also forced the Bank of England to re-start the printing presses and to pump cheap money into the system. That should be enough to fend off the worst of the temporary crisis and indeed to create some economic improvements. But it isn't going to do anything to resolve the acute failure of the UK to sell enough abroad that comes about not as a result of our membership of the EU but as a result of years of under investment in modern technology and design.
Neither the Bank of England nor the Treasury have realised that there are better ways of using billions of pounds of freely printed money than to shore up the stock exchange and the top end property market. They still aren't investing in changing the nature of the UK economy so that it can compete on the world stage and get itself ready for modern low energy technology. Instead they are hoping that the decline of the pound the referendum is causing will make British workers such cheap labour that jobs will return. I never thought I would live to see the day when the UK economic strategy was to try to sell to China by having lower wages for UK citizens than for those on the East coast of China.
For those of us who see through all this nonsense and want a government that can actually start tackling our problems it has not been a good week. Much as I enjoy seeing Conservative in fighting I cannot pretend that it is good for the country, Europe or the world to have this much chaos and confusion amongst those who are trying to lead the UK. Nor am I enjoying seeing the Labour party fall apart.
Faced with these unhelpful events there has been an outpouring of emotion from those who voted to Remain and from not a few who didn't even bother to turn out to vote or to campaign to stay in the EU. We've seen social media campaigns for a re-run of the vote and we've seen demonstrations for a re-run of the vote. Some of this may be of some comfort to the minorities who now feel every bit of scared of racial attack as they did in the late 70s. But it is not going to cut the mustard. It is nowhere near enough. It may be helpful to demonstrate that we are not all rabid anti-Europeans and we don't all hate our neighbours but ultimately the authorities can shrug their shoulders and say "Very impressive - but in case you haven't noticed the other side won and so we are proceeding to implement their agenda".
It does not matter how many people demonstrate or how big the twitter storm is if you lose the vote and the other side are empowered to move ahead with a very dangerously deluded agenda. If you want to stop people implementing damaging policies there is only one way of doing it effectively. Win votes and capture political power. That isn't done overnight. It is done by people who are prepared to work selflessly and with determination in local communities and in tedious committee rooms with determination to make helpful changes and little interest in a career in politics. If you really want to change the country then the best way to do it is to join a political party and get your hands dirty standing for office or canvassing on behalf of people you trust.
Fortunately a lot of people are doing that. The Liberal Democrats are enjoying a surge in membership - despite having set us on the road to this whole mess by helping to put Cameron in power. Labour is gaining members. Some determined to vote for Corbyn and some determined to vote against him. The Greens are gaining members in shed loads because we are just about the only party that is undergoing a civilised friendly and planned leadership election and that ran a coherent, well organised and positive campaign to remain in a better EU.
Anyone who feels betrayed or powerless in the face of recent events needs to think about also getting serious in their determination to make a change. Obviously it matters where you decide to put your energies. And it matters how well those people involved in politics collaborate and co-operate across the borders of political party membership. But the reality of how important political campaigning can be is staring us in the face.
A few more votes for his opponents and Cameron would not have formed either of his governments. A few more votes and the referendum would not have been lost. On a much smaller personal scale a few more votes on a turnout of 40% and I could have won the seat I stood for on the local council and that would have been enough to capture overall control of it from the Conservatives. I would have got nothing out of that but a load of extra work and some very tedious meetings to attend but I think the small changes we could have made would have been worth the effort. Similar small changes can be made by each of us.
Politics matters. Demonstrating is fine. Social media is fine. Both make you feel better. But if you actually want to really make a difference get involved in the real hard battle for political power.