Post Brexit - Why are we still permitting CENELEC etc to influence how we govern our own engineering affairs?

we were but one of 27 in the eu

That's democracy I'm afraid (or at least one version of it). The days of sending a gun boat in to impose one particular will are long gone (well, hopefully). It's similarly difficult with any committee - often it's those with the best technical grasp of the issues are the ones least blessed with the 'gift of the gab' to be able to persude others of their viewpoint, but that's just life. I suspect it's the same wherever you go - whether it's a UK committee or an EU one, there will be as many different opinions as there are individuals. I've never come across a single coherent "UK mindset" - a UK committee will likely to have just as many diverse opinions as an EU, CENELEC or IEC one. For things electrical where the basics are driven by the laws of physics and general scientific understanding, all the problems and potential solutions on offer are likely to be very similar. In terms of social acceptability (e.g. cost vs safety attitudes) there's probably less difference between London and Berlin than there is say between Chelsea and Tower Hamlets. I can certanly understand a feeling of lack of control of one's own destiny, but that's just as apparent at any level outside of your own four walls - whether it be at UN, EU, UK, national, or county level (and plenty of people asking for indendence/devolution/freedom/union at every one of those levels). No man is an island they say, we probably need to learn to live with that, the size of the island as it were is only a matter of scale not of principle.

   - Andy.

we were but one of 27 in the eu

That's democracy I'm afraid (or at least one version of it). The days of sending a gun boat in to impose one particular will are long gone (well, hopefully). It's similarly difficult with any committee - often it's those with the best technical grasp of the issues are the ones least blessed with the 'gift of the gab' to be able to persude others of their viewpoint, but that's just life. I suspect it's the same wherever you go - whether it's a UK committee or an EU one, there will be as many different opinions as there are individuals. I've never come across a single coherent "UK mindset" - a UK committee will likely to have just as many diverse opinions as an EU, CENELEC or IEC one. For things electrical where the basics are driven by the laws of physics and general scientific understanding, all the problems and potential solutions on offer are likely to be very similar. In terms of social acceptability (e.g. cost vs safety attitudes) there's probably less difference between London and Berlin than there is say between Chelsea and Tower Hamlets. I can certanly understand a feeling of lack of control of one's own destiny, but that's just as apparent at any level outside of your own four walls - whether it be at UN, EU, UK, national, or county level (and plenty of people asking for indendence/devolution/freedom/union at every one of those levels). No man is an island they say, we probably need to learn to live with that, the size of the island as it were is only a matter of scale not of principle.

   - Andy.