Paul Bew: Merkel has let alternatives to the backstop out of a bottle. So there’s no putting them back in.

It really is something when a significant part of the EU leadership joins the list of agnostics. No wonder there is nervousness in Dublin.

WATCH: Varadkar – “Today is not a day for negotiations”

The Taoiseach was speaking ahead of today’s talks with Theresa May and Northern Irish political leaders.

Paul Bew: The Backstop would undermine the Good Friday Agreement – but there is a way out of this paralysis

Under international law, it can only be a temporary arrangement – and this must be put in explicit, legally binding, terms.

Henry Hill: The courts have called time on Bradley’s passive policy towards Ulster

Also: Welsh Tory leadership hopefuls would put pacts with other parties to the membership; unionists turn on Robinson over united Ireland comments; and more.

Lord Ashcroft: My Republic of Ireland focus groups on Brexit. They both agree that the UK is making a terrible mistake.

“Two years later no-one knows what they want, even the Tory party. Theresa May says one thing and Boris Johnson says another.”

Henry Hill: Welsh Labour prepare for leadership race as Jones announces departure

Also: DUP maintain a tough line on Brexit as Sinn Fein try to woo unionists with Senate appointment; and SNP have to delay devolution again.

Brexit. How Britain’s lack of interest in Ireland, and Ireland’s lack of imagination about Britain, join to threaten disaster

Dublin likes to cite the Belfast Agreement, and we certainly all need what it exemplified – that’s to say, a good old-fashioned face-saving fudge.

Henry Hill: DUP accuse Irish Taoiseach of ‘going backwards’ on Brexit

Also: Veteran Welsh Labour nationalist floats party split over Brexit; rival parties joined DUP to push for no back-dating of donor transparency in Ulster; and more.

The DUP are right to reject the Irish Government’s border demands

Calls to move customs and immigration checks to the Irish Sea prioritise nationalist sentiment over Ulster’s real economic and constitutional position.

Henry Hill: Labour MPs demand that Birmingham bomber faces justice

Also: SNP split on path forward as Salmond plots return; Welsh Assembly to exclude monoglot English-speakers from posts; Irish leader opposed Ulster poll.

Garvan Walshe: Voting is not, and can never be, a matter of consumer choice

If people vote for the pork, that’s what we’re all getting, even those of us who preferred beef or vegetables.

Ireland’s traditional party system could be making its last stand

The 32nd Dáil is an object warning against PR, with a huge increase in minor parties making stable government very difficult.

Daniel Hannan MEP: Why proportional representation is now right for the Commons

A Royal Commission should put the options before Parliament in time for a referendum in, say, 2018.