Brexit? I’d rather go to live on Mars

The Irish (and therefore by law the EU) have said emphatically they will veto any proposal that creates a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. This can only be avoided if we stay in the single market and the customs union, which Auntie May has at last flatly ruled out. A mountain of fudge cannot hide this impasse.

It is now impossible to devise a compromise that will satisfy all parties, so we remain fixed on course to crash out with no deal. In the mandated parliamentary vote on crashing out, a small majority of MPs from all parties will prevent it.

In the meantime, opinion polls over the next six months will reveal a steady drain in public support for Brexit, as Tory infighting continues to erode confidence, and the national impact of crashing out becomes clearer. This will eventually trigger a general election, which either Momentum (“Corbyn”), or the Tories under a new leader, will decide they can win with the help of the Lib Dems by switching to a Remain ticket.

So we stay in the EU which, exacerbated by the corrosive impact of a decade of austerity, will lead directly to a sustained period of rioting and anti-minority violence amounting to civil war, barely contained by our already severely depleted police and armed forces.

Shuttle tickets to Mars, anyone?

Andy Knott
Bath

How will we ever solve the Irish border question?

Resolving the Irish border question would be difficult enough without the DUP’s strong position at Westminster. As it is, whatever the party says about a frictionless and open border, it would surely not be too concerned to see the Irish economy suffer a little if the border became less open, as the DUP’s direction is always towards Great Britain and not Ireland.

David Wallis
Cirencester

Thanks for standing against lies, Boris the truth-teller

So Boris Johnson doesn’t like the “haystack of lies” Russia is putting forth over the poisoning in Salisbury.

Lies and poisoning and poisonous lies!!

I’m sure we will all take more notice of Boris when he retracts the claim he made repeatedly during the EU referendum campaign and which was painted on the side of his campaign bus. Just in case he’s forgotten, I’m referring to his assertion that our NHS will receive an extra £350m per week once we leave the EU.

Joe Hennessy
Faversham

We should all just come offline

Clearly, the recently reported behaviour of Facebook and Cambridge Analytica is despicable. But when will people realise that if they didn’t post every minute of the day, then Facebook and Cambridge Analytica wouldn’t have any data in the first place.

I don’t think you have the right to be offended by the behaviour of these companies if you contribute to the problem. Can’t we at least try to remember when privacy meant something.

Steve Mumby
Bournemouth

This Government is incompetent

The Tory Government is selling this country down the river. We are getting nothing out of these Brexit talks (I will not call them negotiations, because there are no negotiations going on – you cannot negotiate with someone who refuses to negotiate). The EU leaders just make demands and we give in to them.

After the referendum, we were led to believe it would take two years (24 months) to leave the EU. Twenty-one months have gone by and nothing has been settled.

Our Government is betraying the majority of people who voted in the referendum. It is a good job they were not in charge at the outbreak of either world war, or they would have thrown their hands in the air before a shot was fired. They are pathetic.

W Slater
Colne

Look to Russia’s history when considering its involvement in Salisbury

To those of your letters correspondents willing to accept the rebuttals of Russia as to their possession and use of chemical weapons, or the likelihood of the state being involved, either by act or omission, in the Salisbury incident, I ask them to look at the recent history of the Putin regime.

On the world stage he has annexed Crimea using subterfuge, despite all the evidence denied the downing of the Malaysian airliner, then latterly supported Assad in Syria in the commission of alleged war crimes. Internally his opponents coincidentally, are beaten, jailed or murdered. Then of course there was the murder of Litvinenko here in England.

Is this the track record of a regime we can trust, or one which on the balance of probabilities is capable of acting outside the law?

G Barlow
Wirral