I am aware, of course, that for some in the UK school holidays ended some time ago. But where I am today feels like the last day of the summer holiday. One weekend to go and next week will very definitely be in return to school / college mode.

I can't say that I am sorry. I like summer, and I like holidays. I also like 'normal time'. That's when change happens, and change for the better is what interests me.

That is also why I have a greater than normal sense of foreboding as this summer ends. When my best hope for the UK at present is that overall things may get no worse there is little cause for optimism.

Brexit is, of course, the cause for this. Even the most hardened enthusiast must now be wondering what all this is about when it is now so obvious that the only way to make Brexit work is to replicate EU membership outside the EU. So much human endeavour will be expended for so little advance in human well-being. One has to ask why.

And it is then beholden upon us to wonder at what opprtunity to really make this country a better place to live has been lost in the process.