Well, I think the sad and appalling truth is that the brexiters were willing to throw the Good Friday Agreement and the NI economy under the brexit bus.
Though goodness knows what the UDP were thinking (unless the truth of that was really dark - and they wanted a return to ‘the troubles’).
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They want NI in the UK, the GFA along with EU membership has allowed them to feel that it is fully part of the Union while allowing the Republicans to think that it is fully part of Ireland (well, except for £ north of the border and € south).
Obviously Brexit loosens the link with the mainland and strengthens the link with the south.
Yes, I think the DUP are stupid enough to risk resumption of the troubles and they’ve never liked the Belfast agreement.
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No, he wasn’t the Tory Party.
He had no real representation in Parliament.
Farage was as bad as Trump in promising the working class that things would change for the better.
If the latest shenanigans with grace periods really blows up then the EP might not ratify the TCA
Which would give us full-on no-deal Brexit, just like the loonies want, and they’d get to blame the EU for it.
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Just re- reading john scull4ycpost of
just re- read this, so true like many (ex) uk mainlanders just getting fed of the ulster unionists tail wanting to wag the dog. Ireland is one Isle so should be one country
According to the BBC News at One, this problem is not worth mentioning, but the Duke of Edinburgh’s health is top news.
According to the BBC or 10 Downing Street?
or more likely Carrie Symonds 
Sorry John, I should have explained the basis for my views.
I’ve spent more time living in Dublin than London (or anywhere else). I didn’t write this post from a British perspective, but from an Irish one. I’m not really sure how British people feel about the “troubles” but it’s been part of my life since it kicked off. I lived in Dublin during the first part, I remember the burning of the British embassy (which was only around the corner from my old school) after Bloody Sunday. I remember living in London during the time of the Guilford and Birmingham bombings and my parents were in Dublin at the time of the bombings there and in Monaghan.
Even at the height of the “troubles” I visited Belfast quite often. I remember the watchtowers on the border and just missed getting clobbered by a bomb myself on one occasion. We drove around a corner and the rubble was still settling. Being young and fearless (read stupid), we just reversed and drove around it.
In reality, just because they share an island doesn’t mean the South and the North are “the same country”. The South has moved on. From being an agrarian, poverty and religion ridden backwater to being a forward thinking, secular and successful State.
Northern Ireland has not moved on. At the time of partition the North was the richest part of Ireland. Now it is one of the most disadvantaged regions in Europe. The core industries such as shipbuilding and linen, which used to pretty well exclusively employ Protestants, are dead.
Unlike in the South prejudices and bigotry have been handed on from generation to generation. The ex leader of the Red Hand Commandos (a very rough crowd indeed) stated in the paper today that he was afraid that people like himself, past militants who now embrace peace, would be pushed aside by younger, hotter heads.
NI is inward looking, the Republic is outward looking. Most of my generation and the vast, vast majority of the even better informed, educated and even more mobile generation behind us are totally outward looking. They see themselves as European if not World citizens. They have little time for the rivalries or grudges of 1920’s Ireland. They have even less interest in paying post unification the current subvention of nearly £5B NI get from Westminster. That’s a lot of avocado toasts and lattes.
So having watched NI cause trouble for fifty years of my life and now seeing it all brew up again, I’ve had enough. I think they are incorrigible and Westminster untrustworthy and one has only to open the papers today to see I’m being proved right in real time.
So that is why I would like a hard border, much as it will regretfully impact people living in the border counties. The bullet should be bitten, Ireland/EU should compensate those south of the border and the NI secretary can sort out the North. Then, when and if ever the people of Ireland and NI are actually willing to have a positive and respectful discussion on unification they can. In the meantime lets halt the current Groundhog day.
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Interesting perspective thanks John. Worth more than one 
Were you born in Ireland?
No, I was born in London Paul. I’d consider myself an Irish Londoner 
What don’t the UK politicians understand about the fact that the UK and the EU now live in totally different trade regimes. As a result there has to be a border for custom and trade …either on Ireland or as now between the UK mainland and Ulster. This is standard between two countries in differing trade regimes. It is a circle that cannot be squared.
Catch Jonathan Powell who was deeply involved in negotiating the GFA speaking on Newsnight BBC2 last evening 4/03. He says exactly that.
Also interestingly Democratic Congressman close to Biden says the same, and UK should implement and stick to what it negotiated only a few months ago…sounded like a warning shot re American/UK trade deal.
The big question is whether this bad blood between UK and EU will spill over into the negotiations on matters that affect us Brits here. Driving licences and financial arrangements, and what regulations might have been eased are just a few things. Not comfortable place for us to be in.
I’m trying very hard not to anticipate or worry about the direction this might take us all until it happens. Life at the moment is difficult enough for many of us…
(MUCH easier said than done, I know)
UK refers to British mainland + the six (of 9) counties of Ulster
Great Britain refers to Scotland, Wales and England…so should we not use, GB when talking of the things on the mainland…ie returning? That would also get people into the habit for the future when, as is likely, the UK breaks up driven by British gov’s continuing policy of turning the trade agreement into tool to bash and antagonise many Irish and EU people.
Or perhaps the future vocabulary will be
- Ireland
- Scotland
- England & Wales
Mind you, I also follow the Yes Breizh (Brittany Independence) campaign - which recently pointed out that support for independence from France at 18% is similar to what it was in Scotland in 2012!
One of the problems is that the British tend to think common sense will be used.
When you say British and common sense in the same sentence I assume you weren’t thinking of the clown who spoke about how he purposely shook everyone’s hand as he wasn’t worried about covid and ended up in intensive care a few weeks later and could have died? ‘Cause that’s the sort of common sense that has inflicted the U.K. for a good decade now that we desperately need to rid it of…
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That’s unlikely alright, because these issues run deep. But that’s the way it is and that’s the situation that needs to be managed. But you know Anne, I think one of the biggest problems was highlighted by Raab’s comments yesterday. I think many British politicians mistakenly think they understand Ireland, be it north or south, when in fact they don’t. Understandably, because it is all very complex, but then they make statements and assumptions that are damagingly counterproductive. That doesn’t even touch on the effect of Johnson just saying whatever comes into his head to please his audience. I think GBS’s comment about the UK and America is equally relevant for England and Northern Ireland, two countries separated by a common language.
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No, one of the problems is that the British tend to think that they will get special treatment because they are British.
It turns out the world does not, in fact, owe us a living.
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