You may have missed it, but my fellow-countrymen are voting on Thursday in a Referendum on The Lisbon Treaty (aka Plan B), which of course is the already-rejected European ‘Constitution’ (aka Plan A) without the go-faster stripes. The opinion polls currently suggest that the Noes might win. There’s blind panic in Brussels at the prospect, because if Ireland votes No then the treaty’s dead. Apparently, there’s no Plan C.

For what it’s worth, my guess is that people will be so scared by the looming recession in Ireland that they will not want to rock the boat even further. They have more pressing worries on their minds — like the problem that is quaintly known as ‘negative equity’, viz having mortgages that are bigger than the resale price of their homes.