It is commonplace for tv programmes on the BBC and even on some independent channels to interview far more Remain than Brexit sympathisers, and to give them more uninterrupted airtime. Doing some interviews again this week I was reminded how bizarre it sometimes is.

There is first the test they sometimes apply to you. They ask if you would be willing to come on. When you say you will they then interview you for the task to see if they think your views are the ones they wish you to have for the sake of their programme. Sometimes they drop you, presumably because your views are not stupid or extreme.

Then there is the barrage of interruptions when you are on, if you dare to say sensible and moderate things. They are constantly putting words in your mouth that you have never uttered or thought, and you have to spend the interview denying their words are or ever have been your views. They are particularly hostile to new points or points they have not heard before.

If you look as if you are going to answer a question they think should floor you, they interrupt with another one in the hope that you will not have an answer to that.

I cant remember on Brexit when I was last asked an original or different question. The whole debate is repetitious, going over the same old lines we rehearsed on both sides endlessly for the referendum campaign. Every day is Groundhog day. We have debated at length the issue of membership of the Customs Union and single market, and the Commons has twice decisively voted against remaining in either. Now Labour wants to do it all over again as some Labour MPs have apparently changed their mind and wish to ditch their Manifesto on this matter. So the media then goes through it all over again.There is little likelihood of another Commons vote beforre Easter on this.

It is easy for the media to know what I am likely to say, because my views are all set out on every issue they raise on this topic on this website. Most of them interviewing me seem to be briefed by researchers that have never read my actual views, yet nonetheless reckon they know them better than I do.

Some in the media still have not grasped that the Northern Ireland/Republic of Ireland border is already a complex border with a different currency, different Excise taxes, VAT and Income taxes either side which need sorting out as goods move across. This does not need a man or woman in a kiosk on the border doing the sums whilst vans and lorries wait. It is all done electronically. So why can’t the new arrangements be done similarly? Have these interviewers ever heard of TIR, Authorised Economic Operators, and electronic manifests? If not, it is difficult for them to ask sensible questions of those who think all this means watch towers and Customs officers holding everyone up which no-one wants and we do not need.

The whole point about having cake is to eat it. If we do a good deal with the EU both sides can have their cake and eat it. If a deal means too little cake for one side there’s no point in the deal. No Deal will let us eat more cake than a bad deal.

As we are constantly hearing cautionary remarks from trade bodies, from the motor industry and sometimes even from companies like Airbus about their future in the UK as manufacturers, it might be a good time to examine what they are actually doing rather than listening to remarks which become highly spun and negative.

Toyota has announced a £240 million investment at Burnaston and will make its new Auris model there.
Nissan is going ahead with a 20% increase in its production capacity in Sunderland. It is also planning to raise the proportion of UK manufactured components used from 40% to 80%. This is important for rules of origin under WTO rules and is in line with government policy to encourage a higher local sourced percentage.
Aston Martin announced its new factory in St Athan’s before the referendum but has since confirmed it and announced deals with Japan and China to underpin the expansion. That second factory will make a new model.
Airbus has carried on with its investment and said it is still “very highly committed to the UK” whilst also pressing for a close future relationship with the EU
Siemens has announced a £200 million new plant for Goole in Yorkshire to make trains. In December 2016 after the vote it also committed £310 m to a wind turbine blade plant in Hull.

Yesterday industry had to reduce its demand for gas to allow priority to households. Compensation will be paid to industry as a result which we will all have to pay.
I have long argued that we need to make more energy available, and that margins are now too tight. The loss of the Rough Storage capacity for gas has taken one more reserve and flexibility out of our system, leaving us short on a cold day. The gas forecasts were based on the assumption that less gas would be used for electricity generation, with more planned reliance on imported electricity. Yesterday we certainly imported plenty of power from France, the Netherlands and Ireland, but still we ran short of gas.
I will write again to Ministers urging them to adopt a policy of self sufficiency in UK energy. We do not wish to be dependent on the goodwill of others to keep the lights on, nor should we have to tell industry to make less because we are short of fuel.

A majority of the public just want the EU to get on with it, so we can complete Brexit.

We voted to take back control of our laws, our borders and our money, so we know our destination . Increasingly the travellers in the car are asking “Are we there yet?”. Instead they are told we are still stuck in a traffic jam in London, with arguments going on over which is the best route to our destination. Meanwhile the Opposition are rushing round trying to close the roads we need to take to get to Brexit.