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I feel like the "of Europe" part is maybe not so apt in this case, at least since the afternoon of January 31.

Europe is more than the EU, unless you're suggesting countries like Switzerland or Norway are also not "of Europe"

Never to have joined seems rather different from having joined and then, some decades later, drunkenly staggered out again, bouncing off both doorposts on the way.

Europe is more of a geographic term... There isn't much joining and leaving involved

"Sick man of Europe" was originally used for the Ottoman Empire, so it does seem suitable to use it for UK in this case.

I'm well aware. But considering that Turkey, the modern successor state of the Ottoman Empire, is negotiating its way into the EU, while the UK has just finished making a dog's breakfast of negotiating its way out of it...

Turkey is not currently negotiating its way into the EU, not using any credible definition of the word.

Technically, they are still negotiating, though negotiations stalled in 2016[1].

I can't ever see it happening; there is so much opposition. Human rights seems to be biggest sticking point, and is unlikely to be resolved any time soon.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_of_Turkey_to_the_Eur...

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