Putting aside whether or not being an "associate member" counts as being "half in" the EU, of which there were already examples during Brexit, it should not be

Putting aside whether or not being an "associate member" counts as being "half in" the EU, of which there were already examples during Brexit, it should not be forgotten that the UK did not want to be "half in" the EU. The people who wanted to remain in the EU probably did want to stay "half in", but they did not set the agenda, so what the UK got was a hard exit