the handling of a large republican funeral last year. and that is connected to a broader perception that loyalists are not being treated fairly. anger at the form brexit�*s taken plays into that. for his part, borisjohnson expressed concern at the violence. and he's called the checks in the irish sea unnecessary — arguing that: we are getting the barnacles off the thing. and they have been, and sam papering it into shape. this is prime minister arguing to sandpaper away the checks that he agreed to. in fact, the uk has now delayed some of those checks — which the eu says breaks breaks international law. all of which highlights that how to be outside the eu and to avoid checks remains a problem that's hard to sandpaper away. and so, not for the first time, belfast s port is centre stage. this, after all, is the city that built the titanic. something its creators thought was unsinkable. and back in 2018, as borisjohnson warned of getting the wrong type of brexit, turned to that story. the titanic springs to mind. and now