'Dear Rishi'. Code words and cliches of British politics

It’s astonishing how many cliches, code words, jargon and sporty phrases are being used for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s new trade deal with the European Union (EU) on Northern Ireland. The deal will allow Northern Ireland to keep its border with Ireland with some customs controls, as well as remain closer to Europe’s single market than the rest of mainland UK.

It’s a “complete and utter game-changer”, said former Brexit secretaries Dominic Raab, Steve Barclay and David Davis in a join op-ed for The Daily Mail. Mr Barclay, of course, is the self-declared hard man of Brexit. It’s quite something that his verbal effulgences extended to recommending we “turn the page” on the protocol and “move on to the next chapter”.

Meanwhile, Jacob Rees-Mogg spoke with some warmth about the Stormont brake, the rather oddly named legislative provision that allows 30 of the 90 members of the legislative assembly of Northern Ireland from two or more parties to raise a petition objecting to changes …