内容摘要："People are grasping at shortcuts instead of doing the real work of acclimatisation and training."

"People are grasping at shortcuts instead of doing the real work of acclimatisation and training."

Last Saturday the leaders of the UK, France, Poland and Germany visited Kyiv to put on a show of support for Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. And in a group call with Trump on French President Emmanuel Macron's phone, they spelled out their strategy of demanding Russia agree an immediate 30-day ceasefire or face tougher sanctions.This was Trump's policy too. The day before he wrote on social media: "If the ceasefire is not respected, the US and its partners will impose further sanctions." But then on Sunday, President Vladimir Putin suggested instead there should be direct talks between Ukraine and Russia in Turkey on Thursday. Trump immediately went along with this, backtracking on the strategy he had agreed with European leaders a day earlier.

"Ukraine should agree to (these talks) immediately," he wrote on social media. "I am starting to doubt that Ukraine will make a deal with Putin."Then on Thursday, Trump changed his position again, saying a deal could be done only if he and Putin were to meet in person.This puzzles some diplomats. "Does he genuinely not know what he wants to do about the war in Ukraine?" one remarked to me. "Or does he just grasp at what might offer the quickest resolution possible?"

Into this puzzling mix fell two other decisions this week. First, Trump agreed a ceasefire after a campaign bombing Houthi fighters in Yemen for almost two months. There have been questions about the effectiveness of the hugely expensive air strikes, and the president's appetite for a long military operation. He repeatedly told his Arab hosts how much he disliked war.Second, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, held his fourth round of talks with Iran over efforts to curb their nuclear ambitions. Both sides are hinting that a deal is possible, although sceptics fear it could be quite modest. Talk of joint US-Israeli military action against Iran seems to have dissipated.

What unites both issues is that the United States was acting directly against the wishes of Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu may have been the first world leader invited to the Oval Office after Trump's inauguration, but in recent days, he seems to have been snubbed. Trump toured the Middle East without visiting Israel; he lifted sanctions on Syria without Israel's support. His Houthi ceasefire came only days after the group attacked Tel Aviv airport.

Diplomats fear Netanyahu's reaction. Could the spurned prime minister respond with a more aggressive military operation in Gaza?"The summit is a step forward, not a step change," he says, "A slight deepening of the trade ties, rather than something dramatically new."

A deal on food and drink checks would deliver very little, he believes, because food and drink is such a limited part of trade. "If you were, for example, aligning UK and EU rules on industrial products, you'd get a much bigger economic impact".Jill Rutter thinks that a veterinary deal would not prove "economically earth shattering" – but if it goes well, she argues that it could provide "early proof of concept" for further UK-EU cooperation.

After Brexit, many British fishermen were disappointed when Boris Johnson's government agreed to let EU boats continue much as before, taking significant catches from UK waters. Those arrangements expire next year. The EU wants them extended.David Davis who, as Brexit minister, led some of the original negotiations for the UK, told me fishing was "totemic" for Brussels. London conceded too easily, he thinks.