So near...and yet...

I flew to Brussels this afternoon as I am speaking at a seminar on human rights tomorrow morning, meeting MEPs tomorrow afternoon and hosting a third sector reception in Scotland House tomorrow evening.

The route the plane took was unusual and having flown down the middle of the UK we crossed the channel at its narrowest point.

On one side is England . On the other France. There is hardly anything between them though the scratched window and the clouds were making it all a bit hazy.

A suitable image , perhaps, for the first day of utterly unnecessary and utterly self destructive Brexit talks which presently exclude Scotland .