Help those who would stop Brexit - Fragmenting, weakened Europe

IT has become part of the choreography of all European Union reviews of stop-start meetings over Brexit that an EU spokesperson underlines that Europe has far bigger fish to fry than the John-Bull-and-camp-followers divorce.

This is certainly true, but it might also be an expression of the brinkmanship central to any negotiation of once-in-a-lifetime importance. This slapping-down of Britain’s most strident nationalists might tickle a gene buried deeply in many Irish psyches and it might reflect reality, but in the grander scheme of things, it may be unwise. It might be unwise,

too, that we almost exclusively consider Brexit, especially a hard Brexit, as a threat to our economy and the capacity a growing economy offers to continue the social development this society still so badly needs.