The problem is not that it's surprising that trade deals are hard, nor even that the ones got so far are either relatively low volume affairs or involve concessions that some (all?) experienced trade negotiators consider unwise.

It's that the political class that engineered Brexit claimed that trade deals would be easy, labelled anybody who pointed out that they were wrong "remoaners", harassed career civil servants for giving honest advice, and hamstrung efforts to prepare for this frequently predicted situation.

I expected Brexit to be bad, but I was perfectly capable of having civil conversations with people who supported it. I didn't expect Brexit to be this bad, because I did not expect the Tories to be this incompetent, or the Brexit-supporting media to be this dishonest.

Now I know better.