by saying: "Put two and two together, you probably know what's going to happen."
It was an apt setting: everywhere you look in Lancaster House, there is evidence of the long, entangled histories of the UK and Europe. The double sweep of its grand staircase deliberately echoes the Palace of Versailles. Queen Victoria sat in these rooms listening to Frederic Chopin play the piano in 1848. Tony Blair hosted Russian President Putin here for an energy summit in 2003.The important issues on the agenda at the Lancaster House meeting, which was hosted by the Foreign Secretary David Lammy, included the latest developments in the war in Ukraine, Europe's response to ensure the continent's security, and – for the first time since Brexit – a summit between the UK and the European Union, which will take place on 19 May.
The British government believes it's a significant moment.Before Brexit, British prime ministers would travel to Brussels four times a year or more for summits with the heads of the EU's institutions and its 27 member states. The haggling would go on late into the night. After Brexit those large summits stopped.Now, the Labour government, elected last year on a manifesto that promised "an improved and ambitious relationship with our European partners", envisages new and regular interactions with the EU. Monday's marks the first.
Sir Keir Starmer will host the most senior EU leaders to launch a new "partnership".Pedro Serrano, the EU ambassador to London, has described it as the "culmination of enhanced contacts at the highest levels since the July 2024 [UK] elections". But what will it amount to?
Is what's coming a "surrender summit" as the Conservatives warn; "the great British sellout" undoing bits of Brexit that Reform UK fear; or "a huge opportunity" the UK may be about to squander, as Liberal Democrats say? Or could it be an example of how, in Sir Keir Starmer's words, "serious pragmatism defeats performative politics" by delivering practical things that will improve people's lives?
In those long, drama-filled nights of 2020, when the then-prime minister Boris Johnson was negotiating Brexit, the possibility of a Security and Defence Partnership was discussed. But the UK's main priority was diverging from Brussels. So nothing was agreed – a notable omission, some think.This allows internal mechanisms to compensate for that movement and achieve smooth, stable footage.
The result is "phenomenal", says seasoned filmmaker and Boston University professor Tim Palmer.He initially doubted that episodes of Adolescence really were shot in a single take. "As soon as I saw it I knew, no, that was absolutely done in one take."
Camera technology has developed significantly lately, he adds.In 2014, Prof Palmer worked on a hospital drama called Critical, which required lengthy shots in busy hospital corridors. "It was just little joystick video game controllers to make the camera pan and tilt, and that was just not precise enough," he recalls.