Brexit will certainly happen on 31 October (2019) (64 days from now). If it does not, even bigger things will happen. While I decided that I would better remain publicly silent on the whole issue (being a guest in this country, and a scientist who should better mind other things, and somehow of a public figure in a UK University), since the event is getting to proportions that may well change the course of History, of Europe and of our own lives among other things, it would also be an intellectual flaw not to give it very much scrutiny. And when you look at something, inevitably, you express an opinion about it (even if you try to conceal or to suppress it, and I am for openness in all things anyway). I will still reserve personal opinions to a minimum as I record in this blog how the Brexit unravels, from the inside, in a Brexit pocket. At this stage, suffices to say that while I feel Brexit is bad for me and other European expats (in the near term), it is good for Britain in general and it is good insofar as the European Union is not sustainable in its present form and will collapse anyway.
Today the prime minister, Boris Johnson, announced his intention to shut down parliament. As if in a game of chess, he first enacted the law to enforce Brexit and is now in the process of prohibiting parliament to undo this law, making it the process automatic. In this grandmaster move, he plays the queen!
While it's normal for a new government to freeze the Parliament for the time of Her Majesty's Most Gracious Speech, in which case this is called "proroguing" (the term also used by Jonhson on this occasion), this is for short periods of time and has little or no incidence on the power of the parliament. Essentially, this is a formality to serve the decorum.
In this case, this is widely regarded as a strong political move, intended to impose a highly controversial decision against parliament (which is elected) by a tandem of unelected figures: the prime minister and the queen. The interesting bit is that the royalty could, in principle, refuse the prorogation on this occasion, meaning she would clearly take a stand in the battle (accepting would merely be doing what she's supposed to do). At the same time, the last time that Parliament was shut down in UK under similar (i.e., political vs decorum) circumstances, the royalty involved (Charles I) lost his head after triggering a civil war. Polarizations are also very high in UK at the moment. Most people we know would not let you know what they feel (it's generally impossible to know what a Brit really thinks) but those who do are either violently against or furiously in favour.
So moving the queen is a bold move. It is not one that comes with complete surprise, though, and it has already been contemplated, for instance by John Major (former prime minister) who then advised resorting to court (UK has a highly developed legal system):
Also the Speaker of the house previously said that it was blindingly obvious that no-deal Brexit cannot happen without vote [1]