The new money

I was out with my old friend, Ian, last night - a couple of beers in the Royal Barn followed by a curry - and in my change I was given some of the new pound coins. I like them. They remind me of the money in France when we used to go to Les Sables-d'Olonne for our summer holidays in my teens. 

I know this doesn't count as a new currency but I'd always hoped that our next big change would be moving to the Euro. (I know, I know: arguments for, arguments against.) But that won't be happening now.

It's been an unsurprisingly disappointing couple of days. May's Article 50 letter, with its shoddily veiled threat to withhold intelligence services if the UK doesn't get the deal it wants, only served to demonstrate what a poor chess player she must be, as well causing our security services forty-eight hours of hastily delivered assurances that security exchanges would carry on as usual post-Brexit. And just as well; it's not a one way street.

And then there has been the publication of the EU's guidelines. May had told us we could have sector by sector negotiations. Davis has spoken of bilateral talks with individual countries. The government has said that trade talks can take place while exit terms are being negotiated. The EU has simply said that none of those things will happen. They are the ones holding the strings here and that should come as no surprise to anyone. 

And on top that, there's the twist of the knife regarding Gibraltar. Now that we're leaving the EU, the union is siding with its member state, Spain, in matters concerning the rock as we move forward. Did no one in the government see that coming? 

So, here we are then: the political, economic, and strategic might of 27 member states negotiating with us. And who do we have going out to bat? Theresa May, David Davis, Liam Fox, and Boris Johnson. Seriously, how much worse could it be? Any successful outcomes of these talks - looking at it from the UK perspective - will be those that we are given.

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-3.8kg