We are now entering ‘last minute’ territory, at least judging by the headlines in this morning’s papers. The Times speaks for them all: Prepare for no deal, PM tells Britain. When you read this blog you may well know the outcome but here and now, on a dark, dismal Friday morning, it seems that the Brexit negotiations will finally hit the buffer on Sunday without any agreement. But you never know – is this a negotiating tactic as each party waits for the other to blink

We need hope, particularly as the lock down continues into an uncertain future. So at yesterday’s press conference foreign secretary Dominic Raab seeks to reassure: "There is light at the end of the tunnel" Some years back my good friend Jeff, a New Yorker, was experiencing major problems with his businesses. I recall him emailing me to say that the only light he could see at the end of the tunnel was the front-end lamp of the approaching locomotive. It was a grim time f