By Bagehot
IN A year of grim beats for internationalists in Britain and abroad, a morsel of relief. The Liberal Democrats pitched the other day’s by-election in Richmond Park as a possibility for citizens to voice scepticism about Brexit. The gambit worked: Sarah Olney took the south-west London seat with an increased vote-share of 30.4 points. Zac Goldsmith, the languidly stylish Brexiteer who combated a dog-whistle project for the London mayoralty in May, had actually activated the vote in October by resigning from the Conservatives in demonstration at strategies to construct a 3rd runway at close-by Heathrow Airport. By covering off this problem (the greenish Lib Dems are likewise opposed) and making the option about Europe, his challengers pulled the carpet from under him.
