Brexit negotiations stumbling: A disheartening dose of reality

If the beef talks epitomised one-step-forward-two-steps-back negotiations, then those focussed on a sane Brexit seem, sadly, more like one-step-forward-three-steps-back.

When DUP leader Arlene Foster visited Dublin on Wednesday, she raised hopes of a Northern Ireland-only solution. This welcome mellowing suggested, even briefly, that the light at the end of the tunnel had not gone out. Ms Foster said the DUP could accept arrangements specific to NI if they were endorsed by the North’s politicians and did not change NI’s constitutional position. That sounds grand, but it is far easier said than achieved.