The Brits blame Barnier for intransigence, and pin their hopes on the ‘Chiefs’ (the EU leaders) being more receptive to their ideas after the informal leaders’ summit in Salzburg next week.

They believe the coming “pressure cooker” summit already planned for the week of November 12, when both sides stare down the real chance of ‘no deal’, will make the EU more “realistic”. And yet by that the UK means the exact opposite of what Mr Barnier means by “realistic”.

The dialogue of the deaf

To Mr Barnier, realism is accepting that you cannot have an ‘invisible’ border in Ireland that protects the EU single market without checks somewhere - and those will need to be in Irish Sea. How could it be otherwise?

The British say it cannot be “realistic” to expect a sovereign country to leave a chunk of its territory in the customs territory of a foreign power. And they will never agree to that border in the Irish Sea. How, they ask, can it be otherwise?

The EU’s failure to absorb this point baffles the Brits. From Theresa May to Olly Robbins to Dominic Raab they have been, in public and in private, so explicit on this point: the UK cannot accept a customs border in the Irish Sea. “We keep saying it. Do they not have ears?”