I feel like one of those retired generals who has been recalled to the colours after years in retirement.

It turns out that Mr Fukuyama was wrong. History has not ended. The whole world is in a state of chassis (chaos) and it would be wrong of me to stand idly by.

Besides there are no good Blogs that are about Norn Iron. I am not saying that “Keeping an Eye on the Czar of Russia” will be a good blog. My humble ambition is to be just as awful as Slugger O’Toole, which is now as a parody of itself.

In some ways, I started this blog in 2011 as a parody…the clue is in the title …reflecting the fact that bloggers over-estimate their importance. To my immense shock this “parody” became serious. The trajectory is the opposite of Slugger……originally taken seriously, it has become a parody.

Where do I stand on things? Well I voted for Brexit because I thought there was a reasonable chance that Britain would vote to leave the European Union and with Norn Iron safely in the “Remain” camp, then my vote was to tip the balance into Chaos.

Why? “England’s problem is Ireland’s opportunity”. It is as true then as it was when I first heard it in 1963.

The Brexiteers did not want to win. They own the Chaos.

Another thing I learned……..Perfidious Albion. So anyone negotiating with the British…whether it is the Good Friday Agreement, the Withdrawal Agreement, or the so called Protocol…is acutely aware of the nature of British diplomacy. Indeed many British politicians seem to revel in their nations reputation for Treachery.

We are now in uncharted waters. Indeed we might well be up a well known creek without a paddle. But it is all to play for.

Colin Harvey and others head up “Ireland’s Future” and I certainly support that initiative. It seems to have a lot of support in a pan-nationalist cultural (Arts, Academia, Sport) but can it translate into political support from SDLP and Sinn Féin?

But it is at heart a “pressure group” and the whole point of a pressure group is to apply “pressure” and to get the LetsGetAlongerists off their comfortable fences. The same can be said for the “Border Poll” …the importance is that it is a possibility rather than something that is actually going to happen in the near future.

The ground has shifted. Does anyone actually remember “Platform for Change”, effectively a LetsGetAlongerist pressure group, with aspirations to make Norn Iron work. It flourished for a few years, supported by the usual suspects but sank without trace.

Cos Norn Iron doesnt work.

We are now in the bizarre situation where pan-unionists from the Alliance Party (they haven’t gone away you know), UUP, DUP, TUV and even worse invite nationalists to “celebrate” Norn Iron’s centenary and have a shared future in a purely Norn Iron and British context.

It is Pie in the Sky….with a metaphor of a Tunnel Under the Sea.