Gerasa

My last day spent travelling to and from Jerash plus a five hour exploration of the site felt almost the best day of the week. We were just a relaxed two wandering under a peerless blue sky and very warm sun. The route was virtually on a level and I was able to resist the diversionary temptation of inviting steps promising ever more delectable views. We entered through the Triumphal Gate of Hadrian at the South end of the ancient site of Gerasa and began to discover the amazingly-preserved Roman city garlanded annually in Spring, by swathes of wild flowers..

The town was developed by the Romans in the first century B.C. though it had been colonised previously by Alexander the Great and archaeological remains from the period 2500-2,700 B.C. testify to the existence of settlements there in the Bronze and Iron ages. But, in spite of a mixture of stylistic periods for individual remains, the city conforms overall to a typical Roman urban plan, chiefly designed in the first century A.D. following its capture by Pompey’s army in about 63 B.C. That said, the Nabataeans,[major trading partners] and especially their capital, Petra, exerted a huge influence on both civil and religious architecture in Jerash. 

In the first century A.D. Gerasa enjoyed peace and prosperity. There was great building activity as trade with Syria and the Nabataeans flourished bur peak popularity for Jerash occurred in the third century A.D.  when it was granted the status of a colony by Emperor Caracalla in 217 A.D. Citizens were free, enjoying equal rights with Romans including a tax-free privileged civic life. But a series of wars, economic, religious and political disputes served to damage the city while, following the adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire in 324 A.D, some problems were resolved, the ancient pagan temples became neglected and many fine Roman buildings were pillaged for stone to build at least fourteen Byzantine churches. Nonetheless, fine mosaic pavements, marble architecture and classic decoration show the continuing wealth of Jerash until 636 A.D. when the rapid diffusion of Islam brought Mohammedanism to the city. At least one mosque was built in Gerasa and there are the remains of 8th century Islamic buildings with beautiful

Part of the Cardo, the 800 metre long Colonnaded

 Street, a main thoroughfare along which the most

important buildings were arranged.
The drains beneath the Cardo formed the central
canal of an elaborate sewage system and many
stone manhole covers are still in place.
Ruts caused by the metal wheels of chariots
are still visible on the Cardo.

geometric mosaic floors.

Ancient and profitable trade routes were broken amid increasingly widespread pillaging by Roman armies and gradually, inexorably, the city's prosperity was stifled and it shrank to a quarter of its size. A major earthquake in 747 A.D. reduced much of Gerasa to ruins and by the twelfth century the city was uninhabited. The Governor of Damascus took the opportunity to convert the abandoned Temple of Artemis into a Crusader castle though this was eventually lost to Baldwin 1, the Crusader King of Jerusalem. The site remained chiefly abandoned until 1806 when Ulrich Seezen re-discovered it. Later in the nineteenth century Jordanian families began to colonise Gerasa which could still boast the essentials for successful settlement: fertile land, a strategic position and the presence of water. Circa 1878 Circassians also took refuge there during a period of Ottoman suppression, planting gardens amidst the ruins and building new dwellings. The modern city of Jerash has flourished in the last one hundred and forty years and is now one of the marvels of Jordanian inheritance. Acknowledging this importance is the recent elevation of Jerash to the status of capital of the Jerash Department.

:

An intricately-sculpted Corinthian capital resting on other remains of

former glory

The exquisite Oval Forum set between the Temple of Zeus and the Cardo. It boasts an impressive array of

Ionic columns, measures about 90 metres in length and 80 in width. It is paved with heavy stones laid

to follow the elliptical curves of the colonnades and beneath the heavy paving stones still lie ceramic water pipes.

The Nymphaeum, the most richly decorated building in

Gerasa and a public fountain, arranged on two storeys,

with an elaborate decorative scheme.

It is, in effect, a semi-circular recess with 7 semi-circular

niches to contain statues of water nymphs and other divinities.

My visit to Jerash has elevated my existing admiration of Rome and its art and architecture to the level of hero worship! To behold the remains of Gerasa is to witness a stunning combination of art, architecture and landscape.

The South Theatre, an important centre for entertainments 

and festivals. Also used to receive visiting artists,

celebrities and popular heroes.

Petra Plus

View of the Monastery after a further 20 minute

scramble up a steep climb.

En route to the Monastery, Petra

View from the top of the 800+ steps

up to the Monastery plateau.

“The hues of youth upon a brow of woe,

which Man deemed old two thousand years ago,

Match me such marvel save in Eastern time,

a rose-red city half as old as time.”

Petra by John William Burgon

This poem won Oxford University’s prestigious Newdigate Prize for Poetry in 1845. The last couplet has become among the most famous in poetry. Interestingly, Burgon had never seen Petra.

 [Many thanks to Bernard Fuller for this reference]

Above is a simple map of the long walk through the Petra site showing various points of interest. Allegedly it takes about two hours to walk from the Visitors' Centre to the foot of the Monastery climb though this probably applies to the younger, fitter traveller. Then there is the estimated one hour climb to the top, or realistically, two hours for the elderly intrepid.

Water storage tank, one of many in

Petra and Little Petra.

Water channel carved in the rock face above,
and parallel with, the Siq walkway.

I haven't mentioned one incredibly impressive aspect of Petra; its highly sophisticated irrigation system which involved a widespread catchment, channelling and storage of any rainwater which fell. Overall this region has always been short of water; in addition to the near-drought conditions in much of the year, Petra is subject to flash floods during sudden, occasional high intensity rainfall. And the Nabataeans devised a wondrous system to harvest this occasional bounty. Innumerable water tanks/cisterns were cut out of the mountain sides with channels carved alongside pathways to carry the precious liquid to its designated storage areas. There is also an 88 metre tunnel cut through the rock leading to a dam as part of this sophisticated irrigation system.

The tomb facades draw upon a rich array of Hellenistic and Near Eastern architecture reflecting the diverse and different cultures with which the Nabataeans traded and interacted. Many of the tombs contain niches or small chambers for burials cut into the stone walls. No human remains have ever been found in any of the tombs and the exact funerary practices of the Nabataeans remain unknown. It is quite possible that not all of these structures were tombs; some may have been temples or banqueting palaces for celebration.

Obelisk Tomb with the Triclinium below.

A Triclinium was a banqueting hall.

Part of the Street of Facades

a row of monumental Nabatean tombs carved in the Southern

cliff face beyond the Treasury.

And finally, a tribute to the lovely, handsome Bedouin who have lived and worked in Petra since time immemorial. They are such an honourable people with a highly organised social structure centred on very strong family ties which demonstrate a huge respect for the elderly and a treasuring of children. Beyond the family comes the all-important tribe which commands total loyalty. Their constant open and generous welcome to all visitors accompanied by endless offers of glasses of sugary tea and seats in the shade for the weary, embellish the whole Petran experience enormously for the traveller.

Another distinctive aspect of Nabatean life was
the ceremonial way in which the dead were treated. Tombs were cut into the rock, often high above ground level and niches were cut presumably for statuary. There is a large number of these tombs but no artefacts or human remains have ever been found within them. The tombs' facades draw upon a rich heritage of Greek and Near Eastern architecture perhaps echoing the various diverse and distinctive cultures with which the Nabateans came into contact in their widespread trading activities.

Street of Facades:

a series of monumental Nabatean tombs

The Rose Red City

Part of the earliest known representation of Palestine with

Jerusalem at its centre. A floor mosaic in the 19th century St George's

Church built over a 6th century Byzantine church which originally

housed this precious relic.

From Mount Nebo: part of the vista comprising the 

Promised Land of the prophet Moses. [Deut.34]

Pre-Pottery Palaeolithic

The earliest known representation of the human body.

I have been back from a much-anticipated holiday in Jordan for ten days now and still am sitting around with excruciating backache and a flat battery, personally speaking. Eight days in Jordan to include two days plus in Petra and Little Petra and a final flourish in the wonderful Jerash, was splendid but in fact, physically too demanding for a person in the mid eighties. I decided that around half way through the holiday, reluctantly, because the huge array of sights and sites is dazzling, but the physical demands, especially the constant stamina needed, were beyond me. I had a great journey home via Rome but arrival in Zaventem to find, eventually, that all trains were cancelled, was less than welcome. However the taxi home was smooth and quiet and I was soon in bed. What I hadn’t reckoned with was the total lack of energy on Monday morning plus the painful back, acquired, I decided, during my double fall on the two escalators to the station part of the airport; a descent not needed, as it happened, as trains were not running due to the weather.

But, post hoc moans aside, we did see some wonderful sights. Between Amman and Petra on Day Two, we visited Madaba, the site of the 6^th century Byzantine Greek Orthodox St George’s Church in fact to see the stunning 6^th century floor Mosaic map, the oldest map of the Middle East, with Jerusalem at its centre. Much of it is beautifully, and miraculously-preserved and is the oldest surviving cartographic depiction of the Holy Land. The Church itself dates only from 1896 but was built over the remains of a 6^th century Byzantine church which originally housed the historic mosaic. Immediately after that we visited Mount Nebo, where Moses was led to view the Promised Land and where he died. The extraordinary panorama from Nebo, towards Israel, was impressive and we felt the immense weight of history on the shoulder.

 First sight of Al Khazna, the Treasury,

as one leaves the comparative gloom of the Siq

and the pink and majestic façade appears through the

 narrow cleft in the mountainous rock sides.

The major focus of the trip was, however, the caravan city of Petra which served as capital of the Arab tribe known as the Nabataeans from its founding in the mid-second century B.C. The city grew rich through trade in frankincense, myrrh and spices until the huge earthquake in 363 A.D. destroyed much of this beautiful place. The site was effectively abandoned by the end of the Byzantine period in the 7^th century A.D. and only re-discovered by the explorer Johann Burckhardt in 1812. In fact, human settlement and land use can be traced back in Petra over 10,000 years. The entire Petra Archaeological Park covers about 264 square kilometres with the city’s centre encompassing an area of only 6 square kilometres and containing many buildings and sites which have become world-famous. The most iconic building is the Treasury, a magisterial rose-red building standing, magical and theatrical, half-revealed in the sunlight as the visitor approaches along the shadowy Siq, the long and beautiful walk from the entrance, between towering columns of rock cleft in two, thousands of years ago. So begins an experience of Biblical and timeless views; camels, donkeys, dirt and rubble beneath the weary feet, and everywhere the exquisite striations of the red rock rising in strange and convoluted shapes to form cliffs and towers and mountains of bewildering intensity and majesty. There are ancient staircases hewn from the rising rock, leading skyward to silent summits which overlook yet more vistas of jagged mountains. All, breath-taking, and the pink-hued vibrantly-coloured, swirling rock faces pirouette like extravagant dancers, defying belief.

Five non-mountaineers in front of the Monastery.

Breath-taking panoramas and very cold air.

Close-up of the range of rose reds 

and swirling patterns in the natural sandstone.

Nothing was easily accessed but the ascent to [and worse, the descent from] the Monastery up 800 rock-carved steps, was the biggest challenge for me. The steps were often not there, just smooth curves of stone, slippery and enormous, presenting a daunting challenge often while the amateur climber was being overtaken by ascending or descending donkeys with terrified passengers on board, clinging on for dear life. Without a little help from my friends, the ascent would have taken even longer [one hour suggested; two hours in actuality!] and the descent would have been almost impossible! But the views in the cold mountain air at the summit were spectacular and the fear, tangible, as the more aged contemplated their vertiginous return. The Monastery itself, despite standing at a great height, is superbly preserved; it was probably unfinished with its empty niches and little evidence of use, inside. Built in the second century A.D. perhaps not too long before the Nabatean civilisation began to crumble.

Wearily trudging the long, long way home to the hotel, uphill in the narrow gorge that is the Siq, my companions kindly flagged down the last jeep in a column of five returning, like us, towards the Visitors’ Centre and persuaded them to give me a lift. Wondrous humanitarian aid!! The party comprised UNESCO personnel from Amman and a number from the Italian Embassy there, preparing for a visit by an important group. I was charmed by their sheer exuberance and energy.

Part of the range of Royal Tombs. The Nabataeans placed their

dead in special tombs hollowed out from the 

sandstone cliffs.

Part of a climb; NOT to the Monastery

but frighteningly reminiscent of the same.

The Roman Theatre, just beyond the Treasury.

Built for a few hundred spectators by the Nabataeans

enlarged to seat 7000 by the Romans.

Now a shadow, ravaged by earthquakes and vandals.

The Treasury in the early morning sun with

comparatively few tourists

February Frolics

I am back in Brugge and delighted to be home where I need to be to recover from the family weekend recently ended. Our time together, 13 of us, from Friday to Sunday doesn’t sound so long but we managed to do lots of things and have such fun. My present fatigue means that an Ancient Person in the mid-eighties simply can’t keep up with a small pack of twenty somethings. Not that I tried to ‘keep up’ but just being together, talking, for the most part of two days plus, saw my energy exit on a tidal wave!

Our accommodation just outside Mayfield, a village near Tonbridge in the Kent Weald, was fabulous; several converted barns with luxurious accoutrements plus the Cock and Bull Pub, a games room and pub bar, which was a great hit with the youngsters. Almost the entire party watched two Rugby matches on Saturday afternoon in the Cock and Bull, with a great deal of emotion and distress expended at the results.

Professor Peacock, Misty Visions, 

,the clairvoyant, and Cinders, the maid and
illegitimate daughter of a Lord!

  Shady, leafy, muddy walks.
Photograph by the slowest walker of the group.

As details of other people’s family get-togethers are pretty boring I shall restrict myself to mentioning a super country walk ending at the village pub, on Saturday, to get everyone in shape for the afternoon Rugby-watching. And the marvellous evening meal, courtesy of Cook in Bury St Edmunds, interspersed with a Murder Mystery which was wittily scripted and required everyone to dress up as a character in the drama. The dressing- up provided welcome scope for imaginative, not to say, outrageous, costumes to which much thought had been given, while the script seemed to release each person’s Inner Drama Queen or King and there were some Amazing Sights. Great was the over-acting and the guffaws; it was indeed a melodrama fit for a Victorian audience and each scene was interspersed with more wonderful Cook food, processed and presented by the oldest grand-daughter and her partner. What amazed me was that these two girls could prepare and present a fabulous meal as well as dress and act their scripted parts AND orchestrate the narrative. Oh to be young! Indeed, they were both magnificent, red in smiling face and purposeful in eager gait, as the rest of us, in a selection of bizarre outfits, lazily ate and drank and chatted, occasionally leaping to our feet to declaim or defend. The little dog slept.

The wonderful organisers, the chef and the white-coated

doctor, to the right.

Others are some of the amateur drama group

who never let authenticity stand in the way 

of fun.

Damme's link with Nepal

Ensemble Isabella

Frank Deleu

On  Sunday last, to a morning concert in the Stadshuis in Damme, part of the Musica Flandrica Damme 2018-19 programme organised by Frank Deleu and his wife Judith. Frank, who was the Carillonneur of Brugge and retired two years ago, retains the Damme post still and with it, a strong association with this beautiful little town. The concert was charming, entitled Fantasticke Love and featuring the wonderful music of organist, William Byrd, and lutenist, John Dowland, total favourites of my late husband and me. The group, Ensemble Isabella comprised Lisa Dunk, voice, Claire Piganiol harp and Marie Verstraete, viola da gamba and blokfluit. Both instrumentalists were outstanding and the choice, for encore, of Scarborough Fair, a beloved English folk song, rounded off a musical English morning beautifully. My cup ranneth over when the two boys I was with, not only agreed to go but wanted to go into Indigo, a marvellous dress shop-cum-gallery opposite the Stadshuis, which I only occasionally visit, a trip to Damme, so close to Brugge, being hard work without a car!

Attending the concert gave me the opportunity to look more closely at the splendid Town Hall which was built in 1464-67 on the site of a larger 1241 ship house of wood and stone. Damme became the thriving port for Brugge and the ground floor of the new building served as a warehouse for goods with Justice and administration dispensed upstairs. The facade is magnificent with stone double staircases adorned with lions and six niches filled by Gustaaf Pickery as late as 1895/6. The 39 bell carillon installed in the 17^th century bell tower includes two bells reputedly from the 14^th century, though the main carillon was not put in place until 1961 while the city clock, installed in 1459, still sounds out the hours. I always love to see the two little high platforms on the two chimneys at either end of the roof, which have been introduced especially for storks to build their nests upon and, sure enough, one was in residence last week. Inside the concert room there are huge mediaeval beams, some with intricate carvings by Wouter van Inghen, 1464/5, from Sluis, disappearing through the ceiling towards the roof, hiding, no doubt, more majestic displays in the trusses above. Deservedly, the Stadshuis has been a designated protected monument since 1938. What a wealth of built treasures Flanders has!

The owner of Indigo, the afore-mentioned dress shop-cum-gallery in Damme markt, is a prominent founder/supporter of Ketaketi, a Bruggean  charity started in 2001 to support the school, Melamchi
Ghyang in Nepal. It is a small aid project aimed at helping Nepalese development through education
and healthcare. After a devastating earthquake in 2015, the group sent direct emergency aid with

 .

 sleeping bags, mattresses for the boarding school, solar water heaters and so on. It continues to give broader support for the reconstruction of the school. Every two years the Ketaketi Charity  

 holds a major fund-raising event normally a luncheon where an art auction takes place with artists each donating a piece of work for sale and there are occasional concerts like the one planned for Friday 22nd February in Galerie Indigo at 20.00 when Emily Cassiman will be in concert.Tickets are 20.00 euros online and 25.00 at the door. This is an amazing project.

John Dowland 1563-1626

William Byrd 1540-1623

Blog Arnolfini

Jan Van Eyck 

I have always loved The Arnolfini Wedding Portrait by Jan Van Eyck but known little about it though I have admired it several times over the years in the National Gallery, London, its owner since 1842. By chance, I recently read a small entry in The 500 Hidden Secrets of Bruges by Derek Blyth published last October, which included 5 Famous Foreigners in Bruges. The first famous man was Giovanni Arnolfini and I immediately thought of the portrait and my interest was fired!

I had never connected the portrait with Brugge despite it being the city of Jan Van Eyck so I was delighted to discover that it was almost certainly painted here in 1434, probably in the Arnolfini house of that time. Effectively comprising two full-length portraits, the couple is shown in an upstairs room with a chest and a bed, during a day in early summer, indicated by the fruit on the cherry tree outside the window. The two figures are richly dressed; despite the season, both his tabard, probably of silk velvet, and her dress, are trimmed and lined with fur; his doublet partially hidden beneath the tabard is of silk damask. Her dress has elaborate dragging [cloth folded then sewn together then cut and frayed decoratively] on the sleeves while the green of her outer dress symbolises hope, possibly the hope of her becoming a mother. Her blue under-dress is trimmed with white fur. The whole painting radiates wealth, privilege and elegance. Although many viewers assume the wife to be pregnant, this was probably, simply a fashionable look for women’s dresses at the time. Fashion would have been important for Arnolfini as a cloth merchant as would the popular conceit that the more cloth the subject of a painting wore, the more wealthy she was assumed to be. Giovanna's dress uses copious amounts of cloth!

The unmistakeable wealth of the clothes is echoed in the room’s interior. Furnishings include a large and elaborate brass chandelier; a convex mirror framed in wood which is decorated with symbols behind glass; elaborate bed-hangings and carvings on chair and bench; a small Oriental carpet.
Though Arnolfini was a cloth merchant, the oranges in the side may have indicated that he also dealt in these expensive fruits. One purpose of this painting is to demonstrate the prosperity and wealth of the couple but there are several conjectures as to its main celebration.

1. It might record the wedding of the couple, Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his bride, Giovanna 

    Cenami.

2. Or it could be a pictorial record of the making of a contract between an already-married couple, giving the wife the authority to act on her husband’s behalf in business dealings. This view is supported by Arnolfini’s raised right hand and his taking of his wife’s hand as a gesture of consent.

3. Giovanni’s first wife, Costanza Trenta, had died, probably in childbirth, in February 1433. The painting could therefore represent an unusual memorial portrait showing one living and one dead, person. Details such as the snuffed candle in the scenes after Christ’s death on her side of the

background roundel and the black garb of the man, support this view. The single lit candle on Giovanni’s side contrasting with the wax stub on her side, evokes a common literary metaphor: he lives; she is dead. There is also a tiny carved figure on a finial on the bedpost, probably of Saint Margaret, patron saint of pregnancy and childbirth, who was invoked to assist women in labour and to cure infertility.

Details.

 Jan Van Eyck was here 1434

The Convex Mirror

The small medallions set in the frame of the mirror show tiny scenes from the Passion of Christ and may represent God’s promise of salvation for the figures reflected in the mirror. Indeed the mirror itself may represent the eye of God observing the oath-taking ceremony. There are two figures reflected in the mirror one of whom is almost certainly the artist, a friend of Arnolfini, and these two could readily be considered as witnesses to the oath-taking. Jan Van Eyck provides additional authentication with his signature writ large upon the wall.

The Little Dog

The little dog symbolises fidelity but may also be a lap-dog. Lap-dogs were fashionable accoutrements and companions for ladies at Court but this little chap, cheerfully meeting the gaze of the viewer, also reflects the wealth of the couple and their position at court.

The Status of The Painting

The Arnolfini Portrait is considered one the most original and complex paintings in Western art because of its beauty, its complex iconography, its geometric perspective and the skill demonstrated in the expansion of the painted space with the use of one convex mirror. Van Eyck’s use of direct and diffuse light also help to evoke space in this domestic interior. Whatever meanings are attributed to the scene and its details, the painting “is the only fifteenth century Northern panel to survive in which the artist’s contemporaries are shown in some sort of action in a contemporary interior. It is indeed tempting to call this the first genre painting – a painting of everyday life – of modern times.” [Craig Harbison]

The figures in the mirror are

astonishingly visible.

Aperitif Concert following the Wintervonken light-fest

More splendid free outdoor entertainment on Friday and Saturday evenings on the Burg with the annual fire-fest, Wintervonken. Last year’s I saw quite by chance and was bowled over with what was effectively an airborne, tree-top level outdoor cycling circus! I loved it and hastened along last Saturday evening to sample the latest show. It was indeed special though without the heart-stopping extravagance of last year’s show.. It involved a spectacular cavalcade of lights across the facade of the 14^th century Stadhuis. But that doesn’t begin to describe the sinuous shapes and patterns which chased each other across the mediaeval brick-scape provided. Many swirling, curving serpentine lines of light involved in a continuous interplay with following lights which swept and

swooped. It was a fascinating, monumental kaleidoscope which eventually gave way to an impressive procession of moving light-shapes which became, momentarily, fantastic monsters, fluid animals, goblins, warriors. Astonishing that somehow, the large, blue-lit box high in the sky on top of a giant cherry picker could somehow be programmed or controlled to produce the phantasmagoria on the face of the stately Town Hall. Astonishing. The large standing audience seemed enchanted particularly the family groups with children transfixed by the intriguing spectacle. Great applause at the end for Vincent Glowinski and his assistants who had staged the ‘Human Brush’ display so brilliantly.

Brilliant fire-cauldrons, Art Nouveau in

design, clustered under the trees on the Burg.

On the area of the Burg below the trees, near the statue, Les Amoureux, was a splendid winter terrace courtesy of the Fire Masters. Lots of benches grouped around points of fire; some like bonfires on the ground; others contained in large almost stained glass dishes suspended in the air. Despite the winter cold, the terrace was warm and inviting with convivial groups, including lots of families, drinking and chatting and fire-gazing. A group nearby was tuning up in preparation for a concert later.

A youthful Sam de Troyer

And to make a Burg-centred perfect weekend, the next morning came the third Negen Muzen Aperitiefconcerts in the current season, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, and one celebrating the 40th anniversary of the foundation of the Negen Muzen. There are four annual concerts between October and February with a wide variety of musical talent and content, but the 'En Route' offering on Sunday was particularly  special. Jacques Vandervelde, not only a well-known harpist par excellence but a composer and harp-maker too, performed with Sam De Troyer, a fluid guitar player. Sam is fascinated by the tango, Flamenco and South American music while Jacques is in love with the music of Paraguay and Venezuela where the harp is the national instrument. Through the harp music, he has become engrossed with the national cultures of which the harp is such an important element. So the Sunday programme went with a swing and a pronounced Latin American accent. The final Instant Improvisations by the two musicians was especially enchanting.

Jacques Vandevelde

POST SCRIPT

Memo to self: Stop banging on about Brexit!!

Last night, much self-important activity in the Houses of Parliament with seven Brexit amendments to be voted on and the only one which managed a clear majority [though several came near] was the one about the Irish back stop. The P..M. was instructed to go back to dear Michel Barnier to ask for a different solution to the impasse with the Irish Border. In fact, it is the one thing which the E.U. has reiterated many times that the present arrangement will not change. In other words, in spite of a majority of the House being unwilling to countenance a 'No Deal' Brexit, the only majority was for a course of action designed to bring a no deal nearer. The Theresa-in-Wonderland scenario defies belief and is unbelievably embarrassing for/to Brits living in Europe. Let alone those living in Britain. Memo to Theresa: stop putting all your energy into trying to achieve the impossible; uniting the Conservative Party on Europe. It is irredeemiably split.