UK Prime Minister's creepy top advisor suddenly quits

The UK is enjoying the second extension of the transition period which will end on the 31st of December

No, this is the minimum transition period. The Withdrawal Agreement included an option to extend by 1 or 2 years, but that option expired at the end of June. An extension now would likely require a new treaty agreed by all EU members.

(The trade agreement currently being negotiated will likely include another short “implementation period” where nothing much changes, but the agreement still needs to be signed off by the end of this year to avoid a cliff-edge.)