Dya ever get the feeling that the more they delve into this now that the discussions are now on that they may balk at the whole thing and go "Soz bbz... can I haz EU back thx!"
"Vote Leave Campaign Chief Dominic Cummings Admits Leaving The EU Could ‘Be An Error’": http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entr...b02734df33fbc0
Originally Posted by Owen Bennett
Dya ever get the feeling that the more they delve into this now that the discussions are now on that they may balk at the whole thing and go "Soz bbz... can I haz EU back thx!"
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
I missed this the last day:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...histle-remarksOriginally Posted by The Grauniad
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
In what way would Verhofstad's proposal to allow northern EU citizens to vote for representative MEPs contravene the GFA (as claimed by Jeffrey Donaldson)? Permitting northern EU citizens a vote wouldn't have to necessitate constitutional change, would it? If anything, it might somewhat ameliorate nationalist fears and disgruntlement. It's also exceptionally rich to hear a Brexit supporter warning of endangerment to the peace process. Irony is dead.
I doubt parties that operate only south of the border would be too keen on Verhofstad's idea either as Sinn Féin would most likely stand to take all northern seats on offer if there was to be a unionist boycott.
I think it'd be a positive move. If unionists want to be intransigent and opt out of things like that, let them. Their loss. As progressive unionist Sophie Long warned, they're only going to get left behind by developments and will look like fools stuck on the outside when it eventually comes to negotiating a new, agreed Ireland and they've marginalised themselves from the re-unification process so much that they won't have any influence over its direction.
Meanwhile, Lisa O'Carroll writes in the Guardian that Dublin is streets ahead of other EU rivals as London firms plan for post-Brexit relocation: https://www.theguardian.com/business...location-plans
Originally Posted by Lisa O'Carroll
It isn't. 'Threat to Peace Process' is just a cliche/ euphemism for 'Anything in NI politics I disagree with'. Extending the Augnacloy Autobahn or York Street flyover with Tory handouts doesn't threaten anyone; nor does electing another gombeen Shinner who makes Martina Anderson sound like a World stateswoman by comparison. In other words- Jeff's talking cojones, but no more than anyone else
It'd be slightly more positive with more support (ie if the Unionists, the Fianna Failers, the Blueshirts, the Labour weren't likely to blank it). It's an empty stunt.I doubt parties that operate only south of the border would be too keen on Verhofstad's idea either as Sinn Féin would most likely stand to take all northern seats on offer if there was to be a unionist boycott...I think it'd be a positive move
Long has now left the UVF's political wing which I suppose makes her slightly more progressive than before. But let's see some electoral support before we give her full credit...As progressive unionist Sophie Long
Last edited by Gather round; 17/07/2017 at 10:11 AM.
Can anyone decipher what exactly Leo said wrong here?
https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0731/89...brexit-border/
Cos what i read is a unionist being against a relatively partitioist viewpoint of our Taoiseach.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
He's a bit more forthright on the issue than may be expected I suppose, but that's about it. His general message of "This is your mess, if you want to deal with a hard border you're handling all the particulars, not us" is just very unwelcome for a DUP that presumably doesn't want more unhappiness from the border areas and would rather believe in a "Let's all make Brexit a success together!" fairy tale.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
How would this work? Into which constituency would NI-resident voters be added? I guess they'd have to be split between the existing four constituencies, but that in itself would be very odd - people living in NI voting in the Dublin or 'South' constituencies.
I suppose they could just use one big constituency for the whole country like most of the other EU members.
Last edited by BelfastCrusader; 07/08/2017 at 7:28 PM.
I'd assume NI would simply carry on electing 3 MEPs in a single constituency as we do now. Why reinvent the wheel?
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
Bloomberg columnist says Brexit is essentially meaningless.
http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articl...like-no-brexit
Nigel says Bloomberg columnist is talking out of his arse.
Brexit is far from meaningless. Not even once did they mention the border in Ireland, which is arguably the one of the biggest things they have to consider as part of Brexit. To reiterate, it's far from meaningless.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
It would be allowed as long as the EU agreed to it, and i can see no reason why they wouldnt agree. French citizens living in non-EU Overseas Territories of France currently elect MEPs and they EU are already considering the population of northern Cypriots when allocating seats to Cyprus, so precidents have already been set that make this fairly straightforward and which would mean no other areas would have to loose seats.
If Ireland was considered as a single unit as Cyprus currently is the population used for apportionment would be increased from 4.2M (currently 11 MEPs) to 6.4M. Ireland would then have a population between Denmark (who get 13 for their 5.4M people) and Bulgaria (who get 17 for their 7.7M people). 14 seems about right for 6.4M based on those figures. Even if we only got 13 it would hardly be noticed if it happened alongside a boundary review and election.
It could be done either entirely by postal vote, polling stations could be set up in local halls, council buildings etc (in areas where councils are agreeable to the idea), or there could be some combination of the 2 systems. At a push a transit van could serve as a mobile polling station. The infrastructure is about to be put in place for presidential elections no matter what happens with Brexit so the work will have to be done in any case.
Last edited by backstothewall; 29/08/2017 at 3:35 PM.
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
The reflections of Dutch writer Joris Luyendijk, who has lived in London for the last six years, on English society and Brexit make for interesting reading: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/m...loathe-england
Originally Posted by Joris Luyendijk
'The hard-won kinship between Britain and Ireland is threatened by Brexit idiocy': https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...-brexit-idiocy
Another impressive piece by Fintan O'Toole on Brexit, there.
Originally Posted by Fintan O'Toole
To put Brexit in football terms; you've scored an own-goal, the manager takes you out of the game, you're not happy about it, you want to save face but your teammates ultimately don't care if you throw a tandrum, they care for the best interests of the team and not the want-away player. You become bitter of your teammates; you believe you made them the players they are today, eventhough they were in the club before you, why aren't they grateful? Your increasing flippancy and disregard is the slow realisation you are being kicked from the club and there's no come back. Sure, you said you wanted to leave, but you really didn't think it through. Your next team is undecided, but no doubt somewhere down the divisions, reminiscing of times gone by.
Last edited by ifk101; 28/11/2017 at 9:02 AM.
Things could get dicey for you lads insists one writer.
https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...eement-ireland
The British education system is trundling along nicely.
I for one can't wait to lump it!
border1.png
https://twitter.com/Channel4News/sta...99685611515904
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
Haughty woman in red hat: "I do think that the Irish are just making trouble because they lost. It's a bit petty, isn't it really? Yeah, the southern Irish have to lump it basically. You can't always have what you want in life."
Irony is dead. What on earth is she on about? What does she even think she's referring to when she says we "lost"? What did we "lose"?
I was initially worried about having Fine Gael negotiating on our behalf, but the Irish government have the British government by the balls. Is it historically unprecedented? I hope they stand firm.
The other people's offerings in that Channel 4 news clip are mostly comical and reminded me of this:
There was a bit of sense spoken at the end of the clip, in fairness, but that woman in the red hat was just offensively ignorant on so many levels.
Sinn Féin's Chris Hazzard has warned similarly given the level of discontent at the prospect of a hardening of the border: https://www.theguardian.com/politics...sinn-fein-says
Originally Posted by Chris Hazzard
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