So: the British proposal to renege on that part of the Withdrawal Agreement that applies to Northern Ireland has galvanised the complacent EU negotiators, not to mention the treacherous element among Tory grandees; rather like the gas that finally forced the Alien from his hiding-place in Sigourney Weaver's escape capsule.
There's spluttering about international law and the implications for the Good Friday Peace Agreement, and Nancy Pelosi is bloviating about endangering a future US-UK trade agreement. I wish that America had been similarly concerned about its threats to peace in the Middle East, its waging of aggressive wars that should have resulted in trials at The Hague, and the destabilising of the Arab Street that has pushed millions of refugees in Europe's direction. So much for international law. However, I note that President Trump has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize; this must bring him into additional conflict with the Bomb Party that thinks it has a divine right to rule America in its own interest.
I would also note that the proposed WA alteration is not to an existing state of affairs, but to one that was going to apply after the Withdrawal Agreement was finalised. As a groundling, it seems to me that the EU used Northern Ireland to create as much inconvenience as possible and that modern technology is perfectly capable of sorting out customs and excise issues without the need for Checkpoint Charlie.
Further, to the extent that the agreement hastily and foolishly entered into by our bluff, attention-limited PM qualifies our complete break with the power of the European Union, I would argue that it is ultra vires in the context of the people's decision - the binding plebiscite - of 2016. Parliament does not have the competence to surrender our country's sovereignty, as such eminent people as Lord Justice Laws and the late Tony Benn MP have observed.
M. Barnier has spent much of the last four years pushing at an open door, so it is no surprise that his negotiating muscles have atrophied; but he must now wake up to the reality of a Government that, if it does not mean what it says, may soon fall at the foot of the Northern Red Wall that to the surprise of the commentariat temporarily loaned the Conservatives a crucial margin of political legitimation.
Finally, for those who babble about Little England (not knowing the original meaning of that term), a medicinal spoonful of fact to break their delirium: I give below a list of sovereign countries that are not EU member states and have smaller populations than ours. Is it proposed that some competing empires should gobble up all of them?
Rank Country Population
United
Kingdom 66,796,807
1 Thailand 66,550,992
2 South
Africa 59,622,350
3 Tanzania 57,637,628
4 Myanmar 54,817,919
5 South
Korea 51,780,579
6 Colombia 50,372,424
7 Kenya 47,564,296
8 Argentina 45,376,763
9 Algeria 43,900,000
10 Sudan 42,817,375
11 Ukraine 41,762,138
12 Uganda 41,583,600
13 Iraq 40,150,200
14 Canada 38,167,415
15 Morocco 36,011,955
16 Uzbekistan 34,403,054
17 Saudi
Arabia 34,218,169
18 Afghanistan 32,890,171
19 Malaysia 32,683,570
20 Peru 32,625,948
21 Angola 31,127,674
22 Ghana 30,955,202
23 Mozambique 30,066,648
24 Nepal 29,996,478
25 Yemen 29,825,968
26 Venezuela 28,435,943
27 Ivory
Coast 26,453,542
28 Madagascar 26,251,309
29 Australia 25,661,448
30 North
Korea 25,550,000
31 Cameroon 24,348,251
32 Niger 23,196,002
33 Sri
Lanka 21,803,000
34 Burkina
Faso 21,510,181
35 Mali 20,250,833
36 Chile 19,458,310
37 Malawi 19,129,952
38 Kazakhstan 18,773,648
39 Zambia 17,885,422
40 Ecuador 17,565,560
41 Syria 17,500,657
42 Guatemala 16,858,333
43 Senegal 16,705,608
44 Chad 16,244,513
45 Somalia 15,893,219
46 Zimbabwe 15,473,818
47 Cambodia 15,288,489
48 South
Sudan 13,249,924
49 Rwanda 12,663,116
50 Guinea 12,559,623
51 Benin 12,114,193
52 Haiti 11,743,017
53 Tunisia 11,708,370
54 Bolivia 11,633,371
55 Burundi 11,215,578
56 Cuba 11,193,470
57 Jordan 10,765,960
58 Dominican
Republic 10,448,499
59 Azerbaijan 10,095,900
60 United
Arab Emirates 9,890,400
61 Belarus 9,408,400
62 Tajikistan 9,313,800
63 Honduras 9,304,380
64 Israel 9,249,225
65 Papua
New Guinea 8,935,000
66 Switzerland 8,619,259
67 Sierra
Leone 8,100,318
68 Togo 7,706,000
69 Paraguay 7,252,672
70 Laos 7,231,210
71 Serbia 6,926,705
72 Libya 6,871,287
73 Lebanon 6,825,442
74 El
Salvador 6,765,753
75 Kyrgyzstan 6,578,400
76 Nicaragua 6,527,691
77 Turkmenistan 6,031,187
78 Singapore 5,703,600
79 Central
African Republic 5,633,412
80 Congo 5,518,092
81 Norway 5,374,807
82 Costa
Rica 5,111,238
83 Palestine 5,101,152
84 New
Zealand 5,030,847
85 Liberia 4,568,298
86 Oman 4,527,934
87 Kuwait 4,464,521
88 Panama 4,278,500
89 Mauritania 4,173,077
90 Georgia 3,716,858
91 Eritrea 3,546,000
92 Uruguay 3,530,912
93 Mongolia 3,336,978
94 Bosnia
and Herzegovina 3,281,000
95 Armenia 2,963,000
96 Albania 2,845,955
97 Qatar 2,749,215
98 Jamaica 2,726,667
99 Moldova[s] 2,640,438
100 Namibia 2,504,498
101 Gambia 2,417,000
102 Botswana 2,374,698
103 Gabon 2,226,000
104 North
Macedonia 2,076,255
105 Lesotho 2,007,201
106 Guinea-Bissau 1,624,945
107 Bahrain 1,592,000
108 Equatorial
Guinea 1,454,789
109 Trinidad
and Tobago 1,363,985
110 East
Timor 1,299,412
111 Mauritius 1,265,475
112 Djibouti 1,108,567
113 Eswatini 1,093,238
114 Fiji 889,327
115 Guyana 787,000
116 Comoros 758,316
117 Bhutan 748,931
118 Solomon
Islands 694,619
119 Montenegro 621,873
120 Suriname 587,000
121 Cape
Verde 556,857
122 Brunei 459,500
123 Belize 419,199
124 Bahamas 389,410
125 Maldives 383,135
126 Iceland 366,700
127 Vanuatu 304,500
128 Barbados 287,025
129 São
Tomé and Príncipe 210,240
130 Samoa 202,506
131 Saint
Lucia 178,696
132 Kiribati 120,100
133 Grenada 112,003
134 Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines 110,696
135 F.S.
Micronesia 104,650
136 Tonga 100,651
137 Seychelles 98,055
138 Antigua
and Barbuda 97,895
139 Andorra 77,543
140 Dominica 71,808
141 Marshall
Islands 55,500
142 Saint
Kitts and Nevis 52,823
143 Liechtenstein 38,749
144 Monaco 38,100
145 San
Marino 33,607
146 Palau 17,900
147 Nauru 11,000
148 Tuvalu 10,200
149 Vatican
City 825
