According to the Guardian, the excerpts "will be sufficient information for any MP to make up their mind on the legal aspects of the deal before the upcoming five-day debate, and that it keeps to the protocol that full advice is seen as confidential between lawyer and client." Thus, Trump made an educated guess. And he guessed correctly.

The note – marked ‘not for general distribution’ and obtained by BrexitCentral – is dated 26th November and states that the UK-EU customs union which would come into effect if the backstop is triggered “would be a practical barrier to the UK entering separate trade agreements on goods with third countries”. This is in direct contradiction to the Prime Minister who has insisted that her deal will allow the UK to have an entirely independent trade policy.

The legal note also appears to suggest that the Prime Minister’s claim (also repeated last Monday) that her deal “takes back control of our laws” by ending “the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the UK” with “our laws being made in our Parliament, enforced by our courts” does not entirely stand up to scrutiny.

In other words, in those circumstances the UK would not be free to set levels of subsidy for UK agriculture, but the EU would remain free to adjust its Common Agricultural Policy however it liked. EU products would therefore have open access to the UK market via the customs union, while Brussels could stop us subsidising agriculture at all unless it was agreed in the Joint Committee.

It capped off a torrid day for the PM which began with an EU legal adviser saying Brexit can be stopped by the UK unilaterally revoking Article 50. In the PM's first defeat, MPs voted for the first time in its history to hold ministers in contempt of Parliament after they refused to publish the full legal advice on the deal. Minutes earlier, they had voted down a Government bid to kill off the motion and instead refer the issue to the Privileges Committee for consideration.

And in the third defeat of the night, 26 Tory rebels - including the PM's former deputy Damian Green - helped pass an amendment saying MPs can tell the Government what to do if the PM loses the crunch vote on her Brexit deal. Pushed by Tory Remainer Dominic Grieve, it allows MPs to table amendments rejecting the government's Brexit plans, and instructing it to do something different. After suffering the defeat on the contempt vote by 311 to 293 votes, Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom said they will publish the full legal Brexit advice tomorrow.

He has said that he was unfairly disciplined for making the disclosure and that the charity’s decision to dismiss him was because of his philosophical belief in ethical veganism. Unlike dietary vegans who just eat a plant-based diet, ethical vegans exclude all forms of animal exploitation by not wearing clothes made of wool or leather and not using products tested on animals.

Mr Casamitjana's lawyers said ethical veganism "comfortably" satisfies the series of tests required for it to be classed as a philosophical or religious belief, meaning it would be protected under the Equality Act 2010. Mr Casamitjana said the hearing was not primarily about his dismissal, but about establishing ethical veganism as a philosophical belief.

Perhaps the most extreme example of this phenomenon is what is going on in China.  The following comes from BuzzFeed…

Chinese journalist Liu Hu always knew he’d have trouble with the authorities; he had been exposing corruption and wrongdoing for years. He was used to being hassled with regular fines and forced apologies imposed by his authoritarian government. He nevertheless persisted in truth-telling.

One day in 2017, Hu logged onto a travel site, but couldn’t book a flight because the site said he was “not qualified.” Soon he discovered he was blocked from buying property, using the high-speed train network, or getting a loan. And there was nothing he could do about it. His rights to essential goods and services were now circumscribed through an algorithm designed to discriminate against the 7.5 million people on China’s “Dishonest Persons Subject to Enforcement” list.

In China they call it a “social credit score”, but in reality it is nightmarish authoritarianism at its worst. Put yourself in their shoes for a moment. Just imagine a world in which you will no longer be able to buy, sell, open a bank account, get a loan, use public transportation or get a job.

And restricting buying and selling is starting to happen too. In fact, we have seen numerous online payment platforms ban individuals and organizations that hold “extreme views” recently. Over time, the information that the elite have about all of us will continue to grow, as will their desire to punish those that think or act “offensively”. But in the process of creating a “utopia”, they will actually be creating an authoritarian nightmare.

We live at a time when political correctness has become institutionalized. One wrong opinion, and you can lose a social media account that you spent years building up. And one wrong statement can cost you a career that you spent years training for. Ultimately, we are heading down the exact same path that China has gone. Their “social credit score” system is being hailed as the next great thing all over the world, and those that hate freedom of speech can’t wait to fully implement such a system in the western world.

“Trump wakes up the country every day with his emotions,” Gabriel told the German business newspaper, in criticism of the President’s direct communication with the American electorate via social media. Adding that he believes President Trump “only knows confrontation,” especially with China, he alludes to the President in gladiatorial terms, saying: “For Trump, the world is an arena, a battleground.”

The German politician made similar comments in July during the President’s visit to the United Kingdom, when he urged EU nations to give a “unified” response to President Trump, saying: “Donald Trump only knows strength. So we have to show him that we are strong, too.” He also accused the President of wanting “regime change in Germany” and claimed that “America under Trump cannot be relied upon.”

“We live in a time of many crises, crises that are raging around the Middle East and around the world. It is a shame that rather than addressing these crises, the UN passes so many biased resolutions,” said Israeli Deputy Permanent Representative Noa Furman. She said she was particularly concerned by the two resolutions that ignored Jewish and Christian ties to the Temple Mount.

“This omission was deliberate. It shows yet another instance of the Palestinian refusal to recognize the proven historical connection between Judaism, Christianity, the Temple Mount and Jerusalem as a whole. The international community must stop participating in such a blatant denial of history. You must not permit these blatant attempts to delegitimize Israel,” Furman said.

“Advent begins today, the liturgical season that prepares us for Christmas, inviting us to look up and open our hearts to welcome Jesus,” Francis said. “In Advent, we do not only await the coming of Christmas; we are also invited to rouse our anticipation for the glorious return of Christ – when at the end of time he will return, preparing for the final meeting with him with coherent and courageous choices.”

“In these four weeks we are called to come out of a resigned and routine way of life, and to go out, fueling hopes, fueling dreams for a new future,” he said. The pontiff also warned once again of the dangers of consumerism, when Christmas is reduced to a matter of buying and selling. “If we think of Christmas in an atmosphere of consumerism, of seeing what I can buy to do this and that, of the worldly holiday, Jesus will pass by and we will not find him,” he said.

Creationists are often accused of believing that the whole Bible should be taken literally. The Old Testament opens with an account of creation, starting with what is arguably the most memorable line in the entire tome: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In Amazon Prime’s “Unlocking Ancient Secrets of the Bible”, the documentary explores a contentious question: Is the biblical book of Genesis literal, real-life history?

The show’s narrator, Roger Moore, claims: “The best scientific evidence suggest the universe began thereby confirming the words of Genesis.” Faze Rana, author and researcher reveals: “There was compelling scientific evidence that this biblical story of Adam and Eve actually is history.” Mr Moore asks: “Can every single human being, past, present, and future, trace their family tree back to an original man and woman?”

Hugh Ross, President and Director of Reasons to Believe explains: “The scientific community actually refers to this genetic Adam that they have found as Y chromosome Adam and they refer to the mitochondrial DNA woman as Eve. According to this account, God created man from clay, placed him in the Garden of Eden and only then created animals, plants and a spouse for his benefit. Archaeologists always hope that advances in technology will shed fresh light on at least part of this ancient mystery."