Brexit Enters the Realm of Science Fiction

On Wednesday morning, in Britain's House of Commons, Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party leader, rose to ask Prime Minister Theresa May a question. The night before, Parliament had passed an amendment expressing approval for the Brexit withdrawal agreement that May had painstakingly negotiated with the European Union, on one condition: that she renegotiate it. The amendment had been proposed by one of May's fellow Tories, Sir Graham Brady, and passed with her government's support. It demanded that she go straight to Brussels and tell the Europeans to ditch the part of the agreement dealing with the border between Northern Ireland, which is part of Britain, and the Republic of Ireland, which is a member of the E.U.--the most vexed aspect of Brexit. Those provisions would be replaced with what the Brady amendment, mysteriously and Britishly, refers to only as "alternative arrangements."