NIPped in the bud

The DUP has shut down the NI Assembly, and it is unlikely to operate again before the NI local elections in May.

Edwin Poots says the NIP must be scrapped.

As before there are just four options:

1. A land border across Ireland. This is certainly against the GFA, is unworkable and is what Johnson scrapped when he planned his "oven ready" deal that somehow is still somewhat undercooked.

2. All of the UK and Ireland out of the EU SM and CU. Why would Ireland have to do this?

3. All of the UK in the EU SM and CU.

4. Agree mechanisms that mean there is reduced checks on either side of the border. This relies on trust, somewhat in short supply in the EU, and would make divergance in many areas almost impossible.

Now, Mr Poots, choose one. Any one, but choose one.

Expecting the EU to have to accomodate your half baked demands isn't a goer. And as the DUP backed Brexit when the rest of the NI parties and the country didn't, the onus should be on the DUp to show an alternative on how Brexit could be made to work in NI.

I learned early on that if you could agree, either with yourself, the rest of UK politics and the EU, how NI could be accommodated in Brexit, the rest is easy.

It wasn't and isn't easy, but the DUp like the ERG must at some point have to accept the consequences of their dogmatic folly of Brexit.

Until then, NI staggers towards more hostility.