This week was punctuated by a series of speeches by the UK government on Brexit, by foreign secretary Boris Johnson, prime minister Theresa May, trade secretary Liam Fox and as well as a speech by the opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn. What have we learned? That the UK and the EU are still very far apart, that the UK is still aiming for a deal that simply doesn't exist, that any attempts to soften the Brexit stance get accusations of betraying the will of the people, and somehow weakening Britain's hand in the negotiations. Nobody mentioned the Irish border, apart from Boris Johnson who describes it as a non-issue and would happily throw the Good Friday Agreement under the proverbial red Brexit bus. The speeches themselves were largely content-free, with the leading Brexiteers (Corbyn included) attempting some kind of fudge and avoiding the difficult issues. Meanwhile, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has noted that there are very many outstanding issues relating to