The Windsor Protocol

Sir, – Characterising economics as a dismal science can often seem to overstate its credibility. The rigorous methodology of laboratory science is rarely evident at all, so that it is common for very major changes to be hard to explain even in hindsight. Stock-market crashes, trends in property prices or the valuation of crypto currencies are among the better known modern examples.

Perhaps Brexit now offers an opportunity for proper scientific analysis of a major economic intervention.

As the rest of the UK excludes itself from the EU market, if Northern Ireland retains access to it via the Windsor Framework, then the latter can act as a control group. By finding themselves essentially where they were pre-Brexit, they will allow reasonable estimation of the proposed “dividend” that Brexiteers envisaged would result from erecting trade barriers between themselves and world’s biggest market nearby. – Yours, etc,

BRIAN O’BRIEN,

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Kinsale,

Co Cork.

A chara, – It is good to see the humble turnip back in the news following the remark of UK environment secretary Therese Coffey that “A lot of people would be eating turnips right now rather than thinking necessarily about aspects of lettuce and tomatoes” if they cherished the delights available in their own country (“Lidl becomes fifth UK supermarket to ration salad vegetables”, Business, February 27th).

This is a far cry from the dismissive remark of the then UK foreign secretary Liz Truss a few years ago when she told a US audience that the impact of a no-deal Brexit on Ireland would only affect “a few farmers with turnips in the back of their trucks” (“Truss made ‘turnips in truck’ Brexit remark about Ireland”, Politics, May 18th, 2022).

From being dismissed to being cherished, Brexit has proved to be a turning point for the turnip at least. – Is mise,

JOHN GLENNON,

Hollywood,

Co Wicklow.

Sir, – Whenever I heard the expression “dreadfully funny”, I generally assumed that the speaker meant something like “hilarious”. But I could never really reconcile the words “dreadful” and “funny”.

Until now, when I read that the Brexiteer British prime minister, speaking to the people of Northern Ireland, extolled their “unbelievably special position . . . unique in the entire world” of having privileged access to both the UK and EU markets. Precisely the position which applied to the whole of the United Kingdom prior to Brexit. Dreadfully funny. – Yours, etc,

EAMON SHEPPARD,

Shankill,

Dublin 18.

Sir, – Should we be surprised that after Boris Johnson’s and Liz Truss’s shambolic terms in office, we now have the so-called Windsor Framework agreement? This is simply the result of adults being allowed back into the room to negotiate with the EU. Will anyone across the Irish Sea learn from this? – Yours, etc,

BRIAN CULLEN,

Rathfarnham,

Dublin 16.