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Good morning. Theresa’s May’s speech setting out the path to Brexit contained the words: ‘No deal for Britain is better than a bad deal for Britain’. In other words if a deal can’t be reached, Britain will walk away. Deal-making is more generally in the news this week with the annual Davos conference on world trade, and Donald Trump, who sees himself as first and last a deal maker on the eve of his inauguration. Making deals is both a skill and an art. With these stories around today I’m reminded - I hope not too ludicrously – of the intricate negotiations involved in buying a Turkish carpet in a traditional market; something I have done on three separate occasions and I have the carpets to prove it. It is an extraordinary process. You walk past the shop or stall casting furtive glances inside. The owner who has been equally furtively sizing you up comes out and warmly invites you in. You are offered a glass of sugary mint tea and sat down while the owner and his assistants haul carpet after carpet in front of you, rolling them out with a flourish. All kinds of things are going on at this stage. You are working out whether you really want to buy a carpet, how much you are prepared to pay for it, and how on earth you are going to get it home on your budget airline. The carpet dealer is trying to work out whether you can afford it at a price which gives him a reasonable profit, how much you would be prepared to pay for it, and whether or not you understand the etiquette of bargaining. No one, of course, mentions the price, that comes at the end of the conversation, and is the beginning of a new phase in the negotiation. Both sides know that the potential buyer can just walk away, and then it is up to the seller to decide whether to run after them with a new price, or to let them go. The whole ritual is a reality test and an attempt to find common ground, to get the best deal possible for both sides. And I believe that’s what Theresa May was attempting to do. I am always struck by how Jesus took for granted the world of buying and selling and deal-making, how he commended those who were shrewd as well as generous. His parables are full of stewards and householders, merchants and managers. The point of negotiations is not to get what you want at expense of the other party, but to find a mid-point where both gain more than they would have done if they had walked away. Deals are the currency that builds trust. There is something to me that is spiritual about this, even holy. It spreads peace. But it can only do so if both sides are prepared to give a little. Our self interest always needs tempering – or else the deal’s off.