robomatic wrote Did I understand the news today that Europe assented to the requested time extension? Who rules what the official Brexit departure date should be anyway?

Not quite, robo. The EU agreed to an extension but not the one requested. As to who rules the date, because it is a joint treaty, it is quite complicated. The EU has offered a date, but it is not legally binding on the UK because they have not formally accepted it. Last night Teresa May agreed to it, which in effect makes it government policy, but in law nothing has changed, to use her favourite phrase. It is not until Parliament formally accepts the offer and amends the law that that happens. Parliament could in principle do that now, but in practise will almost certainly wait until after MV3 because that enables them to accept one of the two alternative dates rather than have to build the alternative dates with their conditionality into the law.