Things are not going well for us but do you remember the success of Adele's second album?

Hi. Britain here. Look, we know that from the outside things looks like they're not going well for us but do you remember the success of Adele's second album? Yes, we held a referendum on a binary question without sufficiently considering the consequences but that album was just phenomenal wasn't it?  And when our country voted to leave the European Union without defining exactly what that meant we put ourselves into a state of inevitable, permanent chaos but that voice, eh? Yes, we were told that the German car industry would guarantee a free trade deal upon our departure and that didn't come to pass but seven Grammys and twelve Billboard Music Awards! So the promises of the leave campaign turn out to be contradictory and undeliverable and the song 'Rolling In The Deep' was just everywhere wasn't it? And now our leaders are insisting that the result of the referendum must be respected but they don't have the political capitol to admit that respecting the result will come at a high economic and cultural price with no discernible upside and according to Wikipedia 31 million copies sold worldwide! So now we have half a country embarrassed at where we find ourselves and in the digital age it's hard to see an album ever selling anything like as many copies ever again. And the other half of the country is angry that the establishment is denying them the sunlit uplands of freedom and to think that she achieved all this at such a young age! Of course, we are a country comprised of four nations, two of which voted to remain so our departure from the EU could trigger the eventual collapse of the United Kingdom and 'Someone Like You' was the biggest selling digital single of all time. Have we thrown away an international status far greater than an island of our size should expect in just a couple of short years and was there ever a more charming giver of an acceptance speech in music? And as we wrestle with our identity and fear for our futures we turn to nationalists and populists with easy answers to difficult questions and it's easy to forget how rare it is to see a woman with her body shape get such positive affirmation. Every day brings more humiliation and every track is a hit. In turning our back on Europe will we turn to the wider world or in on ourselves and was the success of that album our last great moment?