Brexit

If you google Southern Ireland the first result would be the wikipedia page of the Republic of Ireland.:rofl:

Yeah if you google Peter Pan you’ll find a listing for him too.

The name is Republic of Ireland or simply Ireland.

Totally, May is in the situation that arises when you agree to everything without checking if any of these things are consistent with each other. No EU, no border in the Irish sea, no land border in Ireland, a square circle with three corners on it… Its like when Bruce almighty granted all the wishes.

Don’t know why no one seems to be asking for the entire Island of Ireland as a special customs zone. It would sound more reasonable than the NI stay in the EU proposal that she initially agreed to before actually checking with NI politicians.

This old chestnut.
I didn’t see any option about EEA or soft brexit or hard brexit.

Why not have a vote on the actual options .

Yea, Ireland is actually incredibly thin and long - like spaghetti - so it stretches all the way down to Antartica, and then back up and around the other side. So the south is actually the north. That’s why there are two Northern Irelands and no Southern Ireland.

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Hopefully yes on the fundamental rethink and no on the troubles. If people could actually start thinking by using their brains, as opposed to their ‘life of brians’ it would help

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Yeah, I realise that. I would have normally just said ‘Ireland’ or ‘Eire’. I was trying to make a geographical distinction, not a political one, bearing in mind that some readers might be hazy on how or why Ireland has a line drawn across the top end.

Aaaanyways … after Gain’s explanation (which still seems to be the sort of bullshit only bureaucrats can concoct) it seems to me that reassessing Ireland’s partition is going to be a necessary part of Brexit. It baffles me that NI is even part of the UK anyway; yes, I understand that was mostly an Irish decision (give or take a lot of horsetrading) but I wonder if some people are now changing their minds about the relative benefits?

According to the video, the EU mandarins will not entertain any options other than the ones they’re placing on the table. Obviously, it would be sensible to think outside the box here.

I recon that if a hard land border is really materializing then the tune may change somewhat.

Playing around with the Irish border is a despicable game, wish Ireland was richer and could just buy Northern Ireland as the US did with Alaska. Most participants in this saga would be happy enough with that.

I agree. Ireland is potentially getting thrown under the bus, again.

It’s not so much Ireland as the people living in border areas and Northern Ireland. Ireland will definitely be impacted in some negative ways but also could benefit tremendously from EU bound investment moving to Ireland .
But the North is not looking good at all.

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Yea I forgot that southern Ireland doesn’t exist. I think that Northern Ireland (the one in the western Hemisphere) is potentially fucked. I recon that the other Northern Ireland (the one in the eastern hemisphere, aka Southern Ireland) should take some steps back in the direction of the UK whilst emitting soothing noises and propose a common customs area for the entire Island, with customs between Ireland-Britain and Ireland- EU. The idiots in the Tory party are temporarily aware that Ireland exists is part of their ‘country’ so now is the time. If the UK offer some supporting haberdashery and noises about not being foreigners in each other’s ‘countries’ the loony toons in the DUP might be able to swallow (probably not but you never know). Otherwise land border, inconvenience, undignified poses and agro. Holy cross national school part deux.

I think there is not much support for pure free movement in Europe anymore. It’s an ideological position and unworkable. Pretty clear it’s something the EU needs to change if it’s too survive long term

Yeah, I agree! The best example for that is the USA. Free movement from state to state , east coast to west coast was a very bad idea, unworkable.

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Ha ha yea, bring the Hukou system to Europe!

Well US isn’t Europe.

I don’t know if you have been watching the news the last few years, but Merkel’s decision to allow one million refugees to enter a free movement EU has threatened the whole union and driven the rise of growing far right across Europe.

Free movement is a neo liberal proposition. It benefits the rich and hurts the poor. Its not workable amongst such different countries and economies.

If the EU is to survive, it won’t be under this system. Only EU zealots and ideologues don’t believe there is need for major changes at this point. The EU is a great idea, but it is being run by power crazy mandarins with deep links in the banking sector. I don’t agree with their outlook on Europe and think that at this point neither do most Europeans

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You obviously haven’t looked the the american map for some decades.
The flyover states come to my mind.

Also, Europe has a language border for most countries, if you can’t speak French, it will be much harder for you to move there than from New York to La.

The only problem in Europe are the countries with an actually working social welfare system. These countries are very likely to be overrun by people from countries with less welfare benefits, especially when English is the only language obstacle.

Europe needs to change the regulations about this, and I always thought so, already 20 years ago. I never could understand why people from the south could just move to the UK, get somehow a contract, get registered and three month later apply for all the housing and living support available.

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Complete unfettered free movement is not workable between such different economies and cultures. Maybe a quota system or point system could replace it, but there needs to be real reform for the EU project to survive.

The migration crisis as it is referred to is mostly about migrants from outside the EU though. There is some friction about migration within the EU but not a lot.

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They are both related. Merkel invited refugees into a free movement system without properly consulting with other member states and triggered the rise of a new far right across Europe.

Free movement of labour was the only issue that really mattered in the Credit referendum. It obviously wasn’t working in the UK or perceived to not be working. Nobody really cared about other issues, apart from mentals like Farage.