Barnier Brexit Ultimatum. Boris Bull. Out and About

St Ives Winter Trees

Michel Barnier, chief EU Negotiator, has given the UK two weeks to make substantial progress if it wants the negotiations to go on to the next stage. There was also an EU paper leaked that suggested that the only way for there to be no physical border between Northern Ireland and Ireland is if Northern Ireland is within the customs union. Apparently the pressure comes from Ireland. The DUP is not happy at the thought of effectively proposing a border between Northern Ireland and its main business partner, the rest of the UK. David Davis still talks of good progress being made this week, but we still seem to be in the same spot of not having resolved the three key issues: the rights of EU citizens after Brexit, the outstanding financial commitments to be paid and the way to avoid a hard border in Ireland.

Boris Johnson's 'Gaff of the Day' was arguing pro bull-fighting in front of a Spanish audience that contained a significant opposition to the activity. Surely he must be doing this deliberately in an attempt to get fired from the Cabinet and become a free agent again.

I was wondering if it had been a bad idea to set out with the remnants of the cold this morning, but great conversation in the Taproom let me forget the symptoms. Afterwards, a fellow Norris Museum volunteer asked for some photography help in the Museum, which involved us adapting a pair of lights to illuminate a selection of pictures to photograph. This was followed by downloading and installing Gimp and providing some basic instruction in how to tidy up the images, remove perspective artefacts and save the edited image.

I caught a lift with Nick Smith to the HBN 'Out and About' visit to the company Webtec Products Ltd in St Ives. The name for this technology firm arose from the 'Webster' in its previous names, in a period where the internet was not yet in existence, hence the possible confusion about what it does. Webtec actually specialises in producing hydraulic components and, more importantly, measuring equipment for hydraulic systems. It was a great tour with eight other HBNers, given by Managing Director Martin Cuthbert and I'll report it in a separate blog elsewhere. Asked about their markets and Brexit, I learnt that just like the UK as a whole, 50 % of business is with the EU. The biggest concern with Brexit was the continued uncertainty about how it was going to unfold.