The days back in 2017when Britain sent out its then international trade secretary Liam Fox to declare that the process of reaching a post Brexit EU/UK deal should be `one of the easiest in human history' are long gone.
Instead, Boris Johnson's government has been reduced to ludicrously threatening the deployment of the full resources of the Royal Navy against foreign fishing vessels in what has already been labelled as an embarrassing attempt to revisit the gunboat diplomacy of the 19th century.
Mr Johnson also insisted it would be perfectly acceptable for the UK to trade with the EU on what he described as `Australian terms', only for that country's former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to immediately and comprehensively refute his claims.
Mr Turnbull directly advised Mr Johnson to `be careful what you wish for' over EU trade, which is as telling a comment on the present debacle as is likely to emerge.
Yesterday's decision to extend the negotiations in Brussels at least postponed the grim spectre of a final no deal outcome, but it was still difficult to detect credible signs that a breakthrough was possible.
It has always been clear that the main supporters of Brexit were essentially English nationalists who had little interest in the implications elsewhere, a point made firmly at the weekend by the senior Conservative and former European Commissioner Lord Patten.
They may have gained a narrow overall victory in the 2016 EU referendum, on the back of assertions which have subsequently been established to have little or no factual basis.
However, they have demonstrated beyond doubt that they have willingly embarked on a course which seems increasingly likely to result in the final break up of the UK in its present form.
Ireland, on both sides of the border, has always been strongly pro-EU, and a clear majority of northern citizens opposed the Brexit option when it was put to them four years ago.
Scottish voters agreed even more strongly and opinion polls indicate that they have never been more alienated from London and are finally determined to achieve their independence.
While Brexit has been a disaster for all sections of society in Ireland, every further development leaves the particular consequences for unionists looking more ominous.
