OVERSHADOWING everything this month has been the dreadful and senseless attack on Parliament. There is a patch of cobbles on the main parliamentary square, notably scrubbed clean and marked with a simple wreath, which identifies the place where brave PC Keith Palmer fell just inside the Parliamentary gates, while on the railings and along Westminster Bridge hundreds of bunches of spring flowers have been placed to express our sorrow and anger at the loss of innocent lives. The events of last Wednesday were disruptive, surreal and awful but our amazing national resilience shone through and we have gone about our business and returned to normal remarkably quickly. It will take more than a few wannabe terrorists to cause the heart of British democracy to miss a beat.

But we are entering a momentous period for Britain with the triggering of Article 50 this week – it feels as if we are lining up alongside the Brexit pitch about to throw the first ball onto the field to start a period of frantic play. We know the length of the encounter – up to two years from this Wednesday unless both teams agree on extra time. We know that the home crowd wants a win. We also have lots of useful slogans to motivate the team– Take Back Control being the main one. But beyond that, it is all a bit vague. What does a goal look like? For example, if we take back control on immigration but the numbers of people coming to the UK don’t fall (because we need or want their skills to support us), does that count on the scoreboard, and what does the score have to be at the end of the match to convince everyone that enough has been achieved? One thing is sure, it is going to be a full speed, all consuming match that will tie up Parliament and all of Government for the years ahead.