Mark Carney's Trump card

Sharks famously circle their prey, waiting for the right moment to move in for the kill. Landsharks do the same, circling the piece of real estate they covet, until it is ripe to fall into their itching hands. Meantime, they manoeuvre and manipulate, threaten and tempt.

- NAVTEJ SARNA

The GOAT of this ilk, having drawn a bead on the Canadian landmass, is mentally circling it from his eyrie in the White House. And the more he circles it, the more he likes it: vast and fertile, well-forested, well-watered and sea-facing on three sides. He loves the shape of a conjoined US and Canada without the irritating straight-line border and, as he himself claims, he is a "very artistic person". He is convinced that the true love between the two nations will result in "a wonderful marriage".

Months of such statements have left little doubt: Donald Trump's intention to make Canada the 51st state of the US is no flippant fantasy. He wants Canada.