The recent Brexit upheavals have meant that any sign of optimism is received with a heavy dose of scepticism and the images of bonhomie between UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Ireland's Leo Varadkar fall into that bracket. The buzz is certainly positive around a possible

between the two key players in the Brexit jigsaw over the sticky issue of an open border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. It opens up the prospect of Johnson being able to meet his do or die pledge to leave the EU by the 31 October deadline with a deal in place. The hundreds of Indian companies who have traditionally seen the UK as their gateway to Europe would understandably have preferred a no-Brexit scenario. However, given the political realities in the UK, that soon moved to averting a no-deal crash-out scenario. Some, perhaps limited, form of a free trade agreement (FTA) between the UK and EU may well just be the chink of light at the end of the very long Brexit tunnel that business and industry have been hoping for. An outcome probably also viewed by New Delhi as a good case scenario. But then we may also just end up wondering what all the fuss was about after all, because even an hour in Brexit politics is a long time.