@eskimo fyi - I have closed FB13474705 as the above has fixed my issue. As ramantop9999 points out there seems to be an issue with VPNs, but I am currently not using these. It would have been good to get more support from apple around this and even my logged issue, its been like hitting a wall and being blocked by this has created some serious stress. moving on.

no VPN was not on.

Thanks for this @philipyoungg, this worked for me and has been blocking me for weeks. Much appreciated.