<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">I find it amazing that, with all the discussion of the Irish border and the "backstop", the Northern Irish vote was overwhelmingly for Remain, not Exit!</div></div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Results_of_the_2016_United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum#Northern_Ireland">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Results_of_the_2016_United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum#Northern_Ireland</a><div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">And the backstop thus far has resulted in either:</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">- NI staying in the EU trade area, thus leaving the Irish border open, but creating a NI-UK border in the Irish sea </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">- NI being exactly like the rest of UI, resulting in a hard Irish border.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">The link above was also surprising in the huge diversity of votes in *all* the various regions. And NI *and* Scotland voted Remain!</div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#000000" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Results_of_the_2016_United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum#Results_by_United_Kingdom_constituent_countries">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Results_of_the_2016_United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum#Results_by_United_Kingdom_constituent_countries</a></font><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">This is nuts!</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">   -- Owen</div><br></div></div></div>