letters@prospect-magazine.co.uk

The Northern Irish question

David Hannay (“Bordering on contempt,” June) brought up the elephant in the room. It never seems to be mentioned that Northern Ireland’s electorate voted with a sizeable majority to remain in the European Union. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), an oxymoron if there ever was one, has swept its voters’ intentions under the carpet. But Theresa May, following her opportunist, landslide-seeking mandate that didn’t happen, relies on just 10 DUP MPs to prop up her government through a crucial time in our history.

I agree with Hannay that the government’s approach to Brexit and Ireland has “insoluble internal contradictions.” I hope he is right that “some of that pragmatism for which pre-Brexit Britain used to be known” may somehow emerge. Jim Bostwick, Brighouse, West Yorkshire

The battle of Brexit

David Hannay is remarkably restrained in his analysis of the government’s plans to create a borderthat- is-not-a-border in Ireland. He makes it sound as if the only way to deal with people who don’t believe they have to stick to the rules of logic or reality is to express frustration and wait for them to fail.