Acknowledgements
It is the irony of a book called Brexit Time that its writing, production and publication have all been achieved in a startlingly small amount of time. I am enormously grateful to Cambridge University Press and to Finola O’Sullivan for taking on this project. I am also thankful to Chris Burrows, Morten Jensen, Jeremy Langworthy, Andrew Sykes and Lorenza Toffolon for all their support throughout the process.
There is a risk of being thought of, or holding oneself out as, a Brexit ‘expert’. The subject matter of this book, and indeed any analysis of Brexit is, in reality, extremely exposing of the gaps in our knowledge. As someone who thought he knew a reasonable amount about the EU and how it works, the period since the referendum has been humbling and I am all too happy to acknowledge that in the process of writing this book I have learned a great deal. That said, it is only right to acknowledge and thank all my friends and colleagues who read drafts, answered queries and generally helped me to make sense of what I thought I was doing. In particular I want to thank: Simon Bulmer, Iain Begg, Lorand Bartels, Gráinne de Búrca, Marise Cremona, Mark Elliott, Tamara Hervey, Christophe Hillion, Mario Mendez, Jo Murkens, Andrew Scott, Joanne Scott and Jo Shaw. As ever, any errors are mine alone.
The book was begun during a period of sabbatical leave from the Faculty of Law and I am grateful to colleagues for giving me the time to get the project up and running. I am particularly indebted to Albertina Albors-Llorens who not only took on the role of acting Director of the Centre for European Legal Studies but also supervised some of my students while I was on leave. Thanks are due to Alicia Hinarejos and Felicity Eves-Rey for all their assistance in running the Centre while I was on leave. I am also extremely thankful to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge not just for allowing me to be on leave, but also for providing me with a congenial working environment from which to embark on this book. The stimulating and difficult questions posed by my Sidney colleagues played no small part in helping me understand what people might want to know about Brexit.
As ever, family and friends have been hugely supportive. Above and beyond all, my husband Ian has lived with this book since I first, tentatively, suggested I might write it. I cannot begin to thank him for all the support during the writing process and for his unfailing belief that I would get it done. This book is dedicated to him, with all my love.
