Yes, it’s another week and, with just fifty-seven days until Christmas one hundred and fifty-one days until the cliff edge of Brexit, it’s beginning to get slightly scary, just in time for Halloween.

The Russians have formally objected to Government proposals to the World Trade Organisation, the Moldovans have objected to our participation in the global Government procurement grouping, so it’s all going swimmingly. That is, as swimmingly as it would be if your flotation device was leaking and the water was full of sharks. It’s all going terribly well, right, Dominic? Right?

Oh and yes, the EFTA option was, this week, shot down in flames by Jean-Claude Piris. Who’s he, I hear some of you wonder? According to his Twitter feed he is, merely, the former Director General of the European Union Council’s Legal Service… for twenty-two years. Here’s the beginning of his thread from Friday…

THREAD 1/ Some comments on Nick Boles’proposal « Norway For Now »#@NickBoles,#@Simon_Nixon, #StephenFidler1, #@pmdfoster

— Jean-Claude PIRIS (@piris_jc) October 26, 2018

And that’s what happens of, like Theresa May, you set out a whole bunch of red lines and then allow the extremists on your benches to drive the negotiation strategy. Don’t be like Theresa. Damn, I forget, she’s the Prime Minister…

Friday also saw the First Reading of the Healthcare (International Arrangements) Bill, which enables the Government to negotiate healthcare agreements with other countries. That will probably mean paying other countries so that British citizens abroad can be treated if they fall ill or get injured. It will also probably mean that British tourists in Europe will need travel insurance to cover things that the EHIC card previously covered. That’ll be a little less for the NHS then…

So, what have I got for you today, apart from the press releases at some point this evening?

We’ve got a spirited defence of Nick Clegg’s new job at Facebook, which puts things into slightly unexpected perspective, and there’s news of an Extraordinary meeting of the ALDE Party Council.

Our regular(ish) coverage of the Lords continues, and this includes news of a Draft Bill published during the week of interest to lovers of fine architecture everywhere.

Finally, probably, we have news of a report on land value taxation which, as we all know, is a good thing, I think.

And so, on with the drama…

* Mark Valladares is the Monday Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and lives quietly in the English countryside.