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Where do the terrorists return to for sanctuary to the Irish Republic.

And yet Mrs Thatcher tells us that that republic must have some say in our province.

We say never, never, never, never.

That voice, Ian Paisley, that no, that never from the 1980s still ricochets down the history of modern Northern Ireland, still refracts back to us even now. For in unionism,

no is often the most powerful word of all. But of course, in the end, occasionally unionism says yes.

Sometimes it has to say yes. In the end, even Ian Paisley said yes and entered power sharing. The question which could

dominate politics next week is whether his party, the DUP, the Democratic Unionist Party, once

kingmakers in Westminster, now not even the biggest party in Northern Ireland, might say yes

to a deal on the Northern Ireland

protocol and finally complete the Brexit process. It's Lewis here. Welcome to the newsagents.

The newsagents. Now before we start, we should just make clear that John and Emily are not here, alas, no.

John, we've still lost to Australia.

Last we heard, he was busy filming a barbecue-themed reality TV programme in New South Wales,

and Emily is guest-judged, so it falls to me to bring you the two stories for today's episode.

And in one sense, the same, or at least linked.

Scotland and Northern Ireland. A theme

of this last decade has been the fraying of the bonds between the nations which make up the UK.

Brexit accelerated this process, throwing so many of the pieces up into the air, no more so

anywhere than in Northern Ireland, where it's been a big part of the breakdown

of power sharing. And that's where we'll start, because there are rumours going into the

...