As buoyant reports on Christmas Eve flooded local media to intimate that the UK and the European Union were close to clinching a post-Brexit trade deal, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson expected to deliver the news, sources later in the day poured cold water on the high hopes of an end to months of wrangling.
Despite the negotiations suggested as having "some hours to run", they became bogged down again on the key sticking point of fisheries, according to Government sources. Brits flocked to social media, their pent-up emotions erupting in Brexit-themes memes and jokes.
Some netizens wondered if Boris Johnson had deliberately timed the breakthrough in the talks to coincide with the holiday season, so that the deal would have a “cool name”.