I ought to start today’s piece with an invitation – a Returning Officer’s privilege, I guess…

Are you a member of @LGBTLD? Interested in being part of its Executive Committee? You should have received an e-mail yesterday morning inviting nominations, but if not, get in touch with #yourfriendlyneighbourhoodreturningofficer

— Mark Valladares (@honladymark) June 17, 2020

But seriously, if you are a member of LGBT+ Liberal Democrats and you want to know more, drop me a line. My contact details are in the e-mail that you should have received…

Elsewhere, a military rock fight in the Himalayas has killed dozens of Chinese and Indian soldiers, leading to fears of war in territory not at all suited to fighting. Whilst the Indian Army has recent experience of high-altitude action – the Kashmir border with Pakistan sees the occasional clash – Ladakh remains contested and a source of friction between the two most populated nuclear states.

At home, I’m really beginning to wonder whether the Johnson administration is actually in control of very much. Being driven into a major concession by Marcus Rashford was bad enough, but the prospects of a US/UK trade deal which lives up to Government promises were dealt a heavy blow as US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer gave evidence to the Ways and Means Committee of the US Congress. Faisal Islam summarises his evidence…

US Trade Representative Lighthizer tells Ways and Means Committee @replloyddoggett its “almost impossible” any UK-US trade deal could be brought for Congressional approval before the US election in Nov… and possible though unlikely that there would be any agreement in that time pic.twitter.com/gsPPxsPfgB

— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) June 17, 2020

Meanwhile, the Government took another beating in the Lords over the Henry VIII powers in the Private International Law (Implementation of Agreements) Bill, with the combined Opposition making the not unreasonable point that, if the point of Brexit was to repatriate powers to Westminster, then giving the Government carte blanche to do as it pleases without Parliamentary scrutiny merely replaces a supposed unelected bureaucracy with an elected dictatorship. But then, I’ve never suspected that Dominic Cummings had much time for democracy. Here, the noble Lord Thomas of Gresford, an occasional contributor here, summed up why the Government really need to be stopped.

Anything else you want to discuss? Why not submit an article for publication?