What happened to those essential Four Freedoms?

Never mind all that stuff about freedom and European civilisation, what the birds tell us about our connections with others, or the risk of Teddy Boys abusing Wittgenstein (this blog  passim): realpolitik finally emerges clearly with the GHraun's 'news' of Brexit developments: 

Despite the dire Brexit warnings, a deal is still the likely outcome

The rational outcome, then, would be for the two sides to avoid adding no-deal salt to Covid-19 injury.

Who has been peddling all these dire warnings I wonder? Anyway, a bit of the usual linkages and condemnations:

Political accidents do happen. Johnson’s year in office has not been without slip-ups and errors of judgment, of which the relatives of the more than 45,000 people who have died with coronavirus in the UK so far will be painfully aware.

The Graun must be a bit depressed by this especially:

Sources on both sides agree that there isn’t much of a personal understanding between the two lead negotiators – David Frost in the UK camp and the EU’s Barnier. There have been some dinners but face-to-face time has been limited.

If cosmopolitan chaps can't get together agreeably over a KitKat, no wonder we are in such a mess. As usual, Barnier's press handout gets most space for the substance:

At the start of this month, Barnier sought to draw a Venn diagram of sorts. He carefully elucidated both sides’ red lines, or his interpretation of them. The two most contentious areas in the talks now are access to British waters for European fishing boats and the maintenance of similar regulatory frameworks in the UK and the EU to avoid either side gaining an unfair advantage...As he sought to sketch out the negotiating space, Barnier accepted that there would be no role for the European court of justice in the UK; no obligation for the country to be bound by EU law; and an agreement on fisheries that shows Brexit “makes a real difference”...In return, he stipulated what Brussels would need: robust guarantees for a “level playing field”, including on rules on subsidies known as state aid, and a solution on fishing access that avoids European coastal communities being ruined.

I hope Labour supporters note that bit about state aid. Meanwhile, there is a useful weekly addition to the Briefings for Brexit site:

This ‘Key points’ feature will highlight (and rebut) some of the most notable Brexit myths in the media this week.

Here is one example