The extent to which many English people are ignorant about Ireland has become clear. An interview Tánaiste Simon Coveney gave to the BBC’s John Humphrys was a case in point. 

The irony of a border in the Irish sea carving the North from the rest of Britain for customs purposes as the main outcome of a process to take back control of borders is lost on no one.

Brexit puts Ireland, as part of the EU27, opposite Britain. Our interests are different. What we each want from the negotiations is different. Sadly, the path towards an agreement on the precise form Brexit will take seems harder to discover than ever after the latest summit in Brussels last week.

We are still in the first phase: withdrawal talks. These tedious talks lead up to the end of March, when Britain formally leaves ...