IN NORTHERN IRELAND Brexit has served mainly to harden already uncompromising attitudes. But in the election campaign there are surprising signs that it has inspired a new—though probably temporary—form of pragmatism. The most remarkable example came on November 4th when Sinn Fein, the largest and most hardline republican party, urged its supporters to vote for a unionist MP. "It sits very comfortably with me," said Sinn Fein's leader, Mary Lou McDonald, as she endorsed Lady Sylvia Hermon, the independent MP for North Down, whose late husband was head of Northern Ireland's police. The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), a more moderate nationalist party, also said it would stand aside.
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