Dealing in Wonderland

How can you go the extra mile if you’re not prepared to give an inch? The talks go on, but every time the EU signals progress the UK insists that no, they haven’t changed a thing. They’re talking to the tabloids, and this is sovereignty: you get to be alone and free, and all the others give you what you want. It’s a fantasy, as it always was, and although the long-term aim is that we should be free to make our deals, you have to ask: why should anyone make any deals with a country that breaks its promises and slanders those with whom it wants to make a deal?