Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness

  In the latest PoliticalOD podcast, The Dissenter and I look back on a year that was completely different and yet, in some ways, not so much. Over at his blog , David breaks down some of the themes in detail  The year, started out with a deal to restore Stormont, but we pointed out at the time that it offered little hope that much needed reforms would be implemented. We were right, and, though the parties will point out that 2020 was dominated by the coronavirus crisis, there isn't much sign that we can expect better governance in 2021. We've spent a lot of time over the last year unpicking the Brexit negotiations. These are now at an end and, while the media has as yet to uncover any 'fatal flaw' in the new trade deal, as regards the whole country, in Northern Ireland, we have been edged away from the UK internal market, on which our economy is so dependent. As ever, the podcast is available at Podbean , and on most of the popular podcast and streaming sites. ITunes,