I have no wish to be alarmist, and as I write it is certainly true that the Union (that sees Northern Ireland as a constituent part of the United Kingdom) remains in place.  But for how much longer?

Jonathan Powell recently explained that the Secretary of State for Ireland is required have a border poll when opinion polls indicate that there is a majority for a united Ireland.   And with Sinn Féin a significant player in the politics of the Republic that situation is fast approaching.  That is not an inevitability – as in all probability we will soon be told – it is a direct result of Brexit, which has pitched Northern Ireland into leaving the EU when a majority of its citizens wanted Remain.  And they wanted Remain for good reason: the economies of northern and southern Ireland are so intertwined as to make any formal separation either impossible, or dangerous, or both.  Imagine the nightmare of a farmer whose land straddles the border – can he really be expected to fill in paperwork every time he calls his cattle home to milk.

“There will be no forms,” said the Flatulent Leader.  That was a lie.  It is an inevitability, there will be forms and checks, it is simply a question of where the border will be set.  And if, as looks almost certain – it’s as certain as anything in the crazy world of Brexit – it’s an invisible line down the Irish Sea, then the forces calling for a united Ireland will be irresistible.

I’m not finished yet: it gets worse.  Because if Northern Ireland is to be allowed a vote on leaving the UK, then Scotland will demand the same.  And rightly.   Don’t get me wrong: I want Scotland to remain in the Union.  I think it is in English and Scottish interests that it should.  But the way to achieve that is hardly to drag the country out of the EU in which a large majority of its voters have clear their preference to remain.  The nightmare that will then ensue does not bear thinking of: smugglers operating over Hadrian’s Wall being the least of the problems.

And if Northern Ireland, if Scotland, then how about Wales, Cornwall, Little Gadstone?