He added that Mr Hammam had seen media reports of Northern Ireland's interest and "was keen to know whether this was serious, or speculation, leading nowhere".

The days of being told you just need a spot on “The Tonight Show” are gone, and with myriad platforms, there appear to be many roads, most leading nowhere.

As Hebrew University of Jerusalem religious philosopher Moshe Halbertal put it to me: “What happened here is that there is still enough civic responsibility — not everywhere, but enough — that the political class felt that the continued breakdown of the rule of law and more elections, which was leading nowhere, was an indulgence that Israel simply could not afford, given its highly diverse population and dangerous neighborhood.”

Lapid is reportedly briefing senior Biden administration officials on Israel’s idea for “an alternative plan,” given that the current U.S. efforts to restart talks with Tehran are leading nowhere.

The stitching isn’t seamless: There is mystery and madness in this tale, just as, in some of her paintings, there are traces of stairways ascending and stairways descending, brash lines leading nowhere, bold arrows striving toward patterns of motion but stricken by waves of disruption.