Slow Motion Explosion
There is something oddly fascinating watching a political system self destruct.
Right from the very start it was obvious that Brexit wasn’t going to work. Norn Iron is part of the UK. That isn’t going to change. There can be no customs barrier between Norn Iron and the Republic. That cannot change with all the agreements that have been signed.
The options therefore are that Britain leaves the EU but breaks with Norn Iron. The Unionists will promptly rise up and probably start another war up there. Or the UK leaves in its entirety in which case customs posts will reappear and the IRA will have something to say about that.
To do anything other than those two options will mean only a partial break with the EU which will probably lead to an uprising in Britain. So Tessie May is running around like a headless chicken desperately trying to satisfy everyone which is impossible. She is stuck between democracy on one side and a morass of treaties, laws and obligations on the other.
In the meantime the entire political system in the UK has torn itself apart and is going to have one hell of a job reassembling itself before the next election, if it ever does.
Down here [in the real Ireland] we will be affected by the eventual outcome. There is little doubt that the UK will in all likelihood crash out spectacularly. Customs posts aside, that means that prices here will go up. There may not be a reason for those price hikes, but the opportunity for business to shriek that price rises are necessary just because of Brexit will be too good to miss. It’s a bit like all the prices going up when we decimalised and again when we joined the Euro.
The whole process is the true definition of a Right Royal Fuckup.
Fun, isn’t it.
Although I live in North Britain, I feel like an observer of this farago. Mainly because I feel I have no influence, and being retired and poor I know that I will be screwed whatever happens.
So I just enjoy the discomfiture of my “betters”.
A reasonably concise summary of a situation where the tail is wagging the dog. Northern Ireland is an economic irrelevance, far more of a burden than a benefit, always has been. The sooner Irish Unity occurs the better – it’s in the small print of the Good Friday Agreement, so just bring it forward. Problem solved.
However, the mythical ‘Irish Border Issue’ has proved to be a useful tool for the Continuity Remainers as part of their Project Fear, so has been escalated by both the EU and the UK establishment in their coordinated campaign to reverse Brexit.
A majority of Northern Ireland voters voted to Remain – if they want to remain so much, then the simplest way is to unify with the Republic. Then the rest of the UK can fly free.
I am genuinely sorry if our good friends in the Republic suffer as a result of Brexit – maybe they’d like to rejoin the United Kingdom and share in its freedom, that’s a win-win.
On the matter of the border between the Republic and N.I., how do the Swiss manage without custom’s posts? Trust. And declarations of lorry contents with any duty sorted out at their destinations.
I hear tell that it would be illegal to buy a ham sandwich in Derry and eat it in Donegal. The farce keeps getting better!
BARF again -nearly.
Biggest of All Royal Fuckups.
I really cannot understand this business about a hard border between Ireland and N Ireland. There has never been a hard border since Ireland became Eire in 1920 whenever it was. Irish citizens have always been free to come and go as they please, enough of them have joined the UK Forces and have happily sworn to uphold whatever Monarch has been reigning at the time. Why should any of that change simply because the UK leaves the “Evil Empire”?It seems that the border question is purely a political tool to make leaving the EU as difficult as possible.Ordinary people will continue to come and go as usual. From what I remember of the border area there are plenty of crossing places tucked away to make a nonsense of a hard border anyway.
Prices… remember the “oil on the beaches” excuse post-Torrey Canyon, 1967? And the sugar shortage of 1974 (https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/jul/09/archive-rationing-sugar-shortage-looms) that was followed, hysterically, by panic-buying of salt. Personally I like pubs lit by candles, beer manually pulled and only having to work 3 days a week.
Well the latest is fish and chips will no longer be available after next Friday and real Ireland’s defence force becomes part of the EU army and the nations letterboxes will be altered to the EU standard letterbox size.
Fuck! I think I’m a bit too old for conscription anyway and I always drop my letters straight into the Post Office, not that I post many….
@ John Duckett
Yes, there was a “hard border”, complete with customs posts. At the same time, there has been freedom of movement of people under the common travel area (think that’s what it’s called). The two are not the same thing.
Problem is, our UK politicos have even less understanding than your good self, and this largely explains the present complete “Brexit” that they are making 🙁
I’d recommend anyone who wants actual fact and detail to hop over to Richard North’s EUReferendum site and read some of the resources there. If you do a search you will find pictures of that Irish hard border.
Indeed there is still Customs activity on the border – because many regulations and duty-rates are different between North & South, there have always been control issues, particularly with vehicles and fuel. This even features in TV programmes, showing the way these ‘offences’ are policed at the alleged ‘non-border’ with heavy fines and confiscations applied, just like a real border.
As ever, our masters speak with forked-tongue.
O/t I have stopped getting your posts, I have registered again so hope it works!
O/t This is the first time I have used the new phone to work on the site. Hope it works out for both of us!
Yes, as mudplugger suggested, I had hoped that our triggering Art 50 giving notice to EU that we were leaving might inspire Eire to join us. That would solve the so-called backstop problem. Didn’t you once have a referendum re leaving and weren’t you made to repeat it until you got the right answer ie to remain. Or does my aging memory cause me to remember something that didn’t happen ?
Welcome B! Your memory is indeed correct. I think we had to vote twice on two separate occasions.
And it would solve all problems if we left too. Unfortunately our masters are staunch Europhiles.
Our masters in the UK are all committed Europhiles too, hence the current Brexit cock-up, as they’re determined not to do what they don’t want to do, even though most of their citizens want them to do it. Democracy eh?