Sir, – Amid the acres of print on this subject, can I ask the following simple question – how does Britain hope to get a better deal than Norway? – Yours, etc,
PJ MALONEY,
Clonyhague,
Co Westmeath.
A chara, – Customs controls on goods moving between Britain and Northern Ireland are proposed to avoid a hard Border on the island of Ireland.
This is unacceptable to the UK.
The alternative – to have controls on goods moving between Ireland and the EU – would be equally unacceptable to the EU.
Since Britain takes half our meat exports, Ireland is piggy-in-the-middle in this game of controls.
The only escape from being the metaphorical meat in the sandwich is to find an Irish solution to this Irish problem.
I propose a Schrödinger prize (in honour of the eponymous cat which can be dead and alive at the same time) for making Ireland appear both inside and outside the customs union simultaneously.
Given the magnitude of the stakes, a prize of a million euro would be modest. – Is mise,
BLAIR NOONAN,
Dublin 6.
A chara, – How the pendulum swings: roughly 100 years after the British, from a position of power, meddled in the composition of Ireland and enforced partition. Ireland, now with the backing of Europe, repays the favour and tells the UK that it has to leave Northern Ireland behind if it leaves the common market. Without European backing, this demand would be impossible and risible and would be laughed off in seconds. Now the British, in the absence of any alternative from their side, are on the back foot. It nicely illustrates the advantages of being part of the EU, and the folly of leaving it. – Is mise,
JONATHAN BLAKE,
Frankfurt,
Germany.