Unarguably, Fintan O’Toole is among the most insightful commentators on these Islands. For decades in The Irish Times, he has chronicled and challenged the jagged social and economic transformation of Ireland. More recently in The Guardian and elsewhere, he has forensically exposed the empty bombast of the Brexit fiasco. Watching him patiently explain the Irish position to fellow panellists Alistair Campbell and Robert Shrimsley at the Financial Times Weekend Festival in September was a highlight of my year. The sense of a collective penny dropping around the festival tent in Highgate was palpable. Hearing his carefully crafted words, the nonchalant…

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