The first time I was on a plane out of Ireland was in 1984. Mam and dad took my brother Ken and I to London over the Halloween break. I was 11, Ken was nine.

Nana Crinnigan minded the younger pair. I remember the trip so well, being in total awe as we arrived.

The underground, the accents, black cabs, swanky cars, red buses and all the other landmarks we associate with London town. I felt like I was stepping onto a Hollywood set. I was within touching distance of everything I’d only seen before on television or in the cinema. Ireland felt so small, so boring and so behind in comparison.

Manchester United

A decade on, I was back in England, this time for my maiden visit to Old Trafford accompanied by a shy and retiring foolhardy gang of fellow Manchester United diehards from Shannonside/Northern Sound radio – Seamus Duke (a Roscommon journalistic legend), James Healy (current RTÉ newscaster) and a young chap called Ciaran Mullooly, who’d just left us to join the RTÉ newsroom. We had a ball. It was a different world. So sophisticated and cool.

Fast forward 25 years. I’m sitting here. Head in hands wondering what’s happening. Where did it all go so wrong? And I am not just talking about Manchester United. No. I’m talking about Brexit. I feel like shouting at my television every time I see a “no-deal leaver” trying to convince us that black is white and that all’s good. What is going on? The ignorance and inertia is mindboggling.

Referendum

What was promised before the 2016 referendum bears little resemblance to what is facing us now. If you buy a three-storey mansion from plans only to discover a wooden shack has been erected, you wouldn’t be pleased, would you? Yet there seems to be many British people quite pleased with their little wooden bungalow.

The next few weeks in British politics will be defining for Boris Johnson, but he’s the UK Prime Minister running on the emergency fuel of a pro-leave rump of euro-sceptics who primarily complain about unelected bureaucrats in Brussels. That’s fine. But can they explain the role of Dominic Cummings? Or the Queen’s speech?

They cite the democratic vote in 2016 but cheer Boris’s prorogue of parliament. They want to take back control of their borders, money and laws, yet they don’t see a need for border checks between themselves and the EU. They want to protect the union. But in the process, aren’t they just creating the most credible circumstance ever for its break-up? Such questions go on and on.

But Boris and his “jag and gin” cronies just sneer back with their fingers in their ears. It’s like observing a game of dare.

Northern Ireland has most to gain from a deal and most to lose from a no-deal

As the two racing cars speed closer and closer, it’s difficult to see how a collision can be avoided. What’s most unnerving is how those in the speeding UK car seem totally oblivious to the consequences.

Northern Ireland has most to gain from a deal and most to lose from a no-deal. As another Halloween approaches, it’ll be interesting to see how history records the role of the DUP and Sinn Féin in this greatest of catastrophes, one standing by their allegiance to the union, the other by their opposition.

When you think of the critical consequences of a no deal Brexit, their continuing tribal ideologies remain nothing short of an abomination. They’ll say that is the will of their voters. Fine, but one small question, what about the rest of us?

Where’s tradition?

We can sympathise until the cows come home with protesting beef farmers. But here’s a question which hasn’t been asked for a long time; how many of us (including farmers) cook a Sunday roast anymore?