The EU has something Britain wants--a trade deal. Strike a deal with the UK to get their vaccines. Instead, we have a song and dance, empty threats and name cal

The EU has something Britain wants--a trade deal. Strike a deal with the UK to get their vaccines. Instead, we have a song and dance, empty threats and name calling. It's hard to imagine any such deal being countenanced by the UK government. It's clearly in the stronger position here, and after its response to the virus situation has had so many problems in most areas, the handling of the vaccine has so far been a rare but very welcome exception. It seems implausible the government would give up such a huge PR win and instead do something that would surely be represented as risking their citizens' lives or worse, even in the already extremely unlikely event that the EU offered a much better deal than the one just concluded after years of negotiations. As long as government ministers can confidently confirm that they believe the UK/AZ agreement is solid and enough doses will be available to meet the schedule the government has stated, they can try to maintain a dignified silence on the EU/AZ situation and let it be seen as a dispute over a contract to which the UK is not a party. They have little to gain by getting involved and much to lose.