Clusterfuck
I watched the shenanigans in the UK Parliament last night.
Talk about popcorn time!
I try to avoid Americanisms, but there is one that neatly encapsulates the whole affair – a clusterfuck. This is defined as “A chaotic situation where everything seems to go wrong. It is often caused by incompetence, communication failure, or a complex environment.” Indeed that is a neat description?
There is one thing that everyone seems to overlook. There is no solution to the problem. It is as simple as that.
It can be demonstrated with some simple algebra –
A = Ireland. B = Northern Ireland. C = Great Britain. D = the EU.
A = B, where A is tied to a borderless Northern Ireland under the Good Friday Agreement.
B = C, where Northern Ireland is tied to Great Britain as part of the UK.
A = D, where Ireland is tied to the EU by the Lisbon treaty.
Now solve the following equation –
A = B and B = C and A = D where C ≠ D
Can’t be done, unless A <> B [scrap the Good Friday Agreement and start a war in Northern Ireland], B<> C [make Northern Ireland part of the Republic and start another war in Northern Ireland] or A <> D [where Ireland leaves the EU].
I know which solution I would prefer.
In the meantime I shall just sit back and open another bag of popcorn.
But in A <> B, the unpublished section of the Good Friday Agreement already anticipates B<> C, that Northern Ireland will merge with the Republic at some unspecified future date, a date chosen with a view to avoiding the predicted warfare.
A <> D will not be necessary in practice – by that time the EU will have self-imploded, so the EU will have left Ireland, rather than the other way round.
At which point A <> C comes into play when Ireland, once again a lonely and exposed mini-state, realigns with its best friend across the Irish Sea – cue eternal happiness all round.
Just consider Brexit as the essential prologue to all this progress, then it all starts to make sense.
As I said – loads of popcorn. This is going to be as good as The Sopranos [only probably with more episodes].
So raise a glass to the elimination of D!
I think mudplugger is probably right. Eventually it’ll all come out in the wash of future history. The irony of course is that if all the politicians just shut up shop, stopped trying to levy taxes & duties on everything, and let people get on with it we could all get along and trade quite happily with all our neighbours. There is also the other alternative that Eire could decide to leave the EU and even rejoin the UK, but I suspect that’s somewhat unlikely.
I would have no problem with Ireland and the UK forming an alliance outside the EU. We did it before, and in fact I remember times when even our currencies were interlinked. It makes a lot of sense.
I’d go for A <> D. You joined us in, you can accompany us out.
The Lisbon and Maastricht Treaties were Ireland’s greatest downfall. Things were grand with the EEC when only trade and economics were involved.
Remarkably [and sadly], the majority still like being slaves to the Overlords.
I have watched from afar,(New Zealand) with increasing frustration. I still have my Postal vote and use it, working on the principle that the UK is still my country and I may be returning one day. Having voted leave, all I ask is for some grown ups to bang a few heads together and make all these stupid, juvenile,M Ps behave nicely and do what they should have done two years ago and GET US OUT
The anti-Brexit message is being pushed far and wide. I live 10,500 miles away and Brexit was the third story on the news last night and I’m not talking national news either but my local regional news which normally consists of car crashes, bush fires and shark attacks. And the story was all doom and gloom too. Apparently if Brexit goes ahead without a deal the earth is going to open up and swallow the UK.
Brexit is top slot here most of the time. We have been told such wondrous things such as to stop stockpiling medicines and that we’ll need all sorts of forms just to drive to Newry. If anything, the Irish are panicking more that the Brits.
The UK leaves the EUSSR with no deal and retains a soft border between Northern Ireland and Eire. If the EUSSR want a hard border, let them instigate it. The people of Eire will realise that this will damage their economy and begin to understand just how much they are held in contempt by being classified as acceptable casualties by the German/Franco led dictatorship.
Didn’ t Eire once have a referendum and voted to stay out of/leave the EUSSR until told to keep having them until they got it right?
We refused to accept their constitution. So they called it something else even though it was exactly the same, and
weThe Gullible accepted that.There may have been another alternative where B >= A+C+D, but it is far too late now. I think that our DUP masters have missed a trick in ruling out special status for Northern Ireland.
Many businesses are talking of fleeing the UK to preserve their links with the EU. Think what would have happened if the DUP had any imagination. An Irish Sea border could have been used to encourage UK businesses like banks to move to the North instead of places like Frankfurt, thus preserving both their UK and EU links, and creating a vibrant NI economy. The special status thus would have strengthened the Union with the rest of the UK, and our relationship with the Republic, while growing the whole Irish economy with some worthwhile and well paid jobs. Canary Wharf eat your heart out!
Since Project Kelvin brought high speed internet connections to Ireland, we already have the basis of the necessary infrastructure, all that was needed was a little lateral thinking…..something our politicians don’t seem to be very good at. As Connolly once said, ‘England’s difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity’, but then the DUP were never going to see the sense of a nationalist slogan, even if it showed the way to Northern Irelands gain.
Indeed that would be a solution. Northern Ireland apparently voted to stay with the EU [but of course it was a UK-wide vote so they lost to the majority] and it had been suggested that they do just that – no “hard border”, no problem. In effect the Irish Sea would become the customs border with Great Britain. However, NI won’t stand for that as it means a potential break in UK unity and possibly lead to a unification of Ireland. It would almost inevitably lead to another round of Troubles in the North as the Unionists would be furious.
Apparently the suggestion was made to Cameron that to ensure the UK’s continuity as a whole, that he should include a provision in the vote that all 4 parts of the UK must vote leave for anything to happen. He was so sure of a vote for no change, that it didn’t happen. Overconfident or what?