So, as many predicted, at time zero a trade deal was agreed.  But, – read these words carefully, they are the words of the prime minister – “the deal  ‘does not go as far as we would like’ over access to EU markets for financial services.”  If ever there was a statement that portended disaster,  this is it.  Financial services provide the life blood to the British economy:  they  drive innovation, employment and the economy.  If the financial services move their business to Europe, and they already are,  rather than a rousing chorus of Rule Britannia the British economy will sink to the sound of I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles (and, by the way, any reader miserable enough not to have clicked on those links deserves to spend an hour or two sitting in a cold dark coal cellar, his only companions,  the prime minister and other rats).

Brexit is not – will not be -a cliff edge, but a process of attrition.   The prime minister and his team of incompetents, liars and bullies, will have negotiated away our critical position as a leading member and key influence within and with of Europe for a delusion.   But one thing is certain, by the time realisation dawns he will be long gone: rats do not stay aboard a sinking ship.