I increasingly believe that Irish sources are the only English language ones worth reading on this whole mess;
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
Do we need an EU referendum thread? (Brexit thread)
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Posted 7 years ago #
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Last chance saloon for the UK of GB&NI. The EU27 giving what may well be a final chance for them to express a wish to remain in the European Economic Area, failing which a chaotic exit in 502 days time.
Posted 7 years ago # -
The two acts I'll go out of my way to see are both in the English folk tradition in a way; the scurrilously cryptic Half Man Half Biscuit and the magnificently human Billy Bragg.
Posted 7 years ago # -
The warrant for the current First Minister received the Great Seal of Scotland this autumn.
It amuses me no end that the delicate task was entrusted to Spanish Scot Eva Martinez Moya.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I did wonder what if UK refused to manage a hard border and left uk side vacant. Let the EU border deal the republican and unions types who may take issue with the hard border, without British support a hard border would be a porous embarrassment.
If UK needed a hard border could effectively treat people coming from NI as abroad move the hard border back to the mainland ports and flights from NI could be go through controls , may cause less issues
However on a more important note Brexit seems to be effecting Chain Reactions stock it has no winter tyres, avid bb5 or the tubes I buy.
Posted 7 years ago # -
If UK needed a hard border could effectively treat people coming from NI as abroad move the hard border back to the mainland ports and flights from NI could be go through controls , may cause less issues
ALMOST be worth it just for the look on DUP faces when they need a passport to visit other parts of the UK.
Only, not likely to end well...
Posted 7 years ago # -
"...when they need a passport to visit other parts of the UK."
Friends who regularly travel between Britain and NI recently told me (to my surprise) that passports are already required. This is for domestic flights; I don't know if it also applies to ferry crossings.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Not the same as a hard border in the Irish Sea though - which would not be acceptable to Unionists for obvious reasons.
Posted 7 years ago # -
"passports are already required. This is for domestic flights"
Photo ID, surely? EU ID card, driving licence, etc. not just passport.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I admit it's secondary information but I was told by regular Britain/NI traveller (UK citizen) that he had to have a passport. I'm happy to be corrected.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Algeria was part of metropolitan France until 1962. When they withdrew a section of the European population on both sides of the Med felt sufficiently betrayed that they attempted to machine-gun their president.
I don't think withdrawal, de facto or de jure of UK governance in Northern Ireland would be a straightforward matter.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Given that people in Belfast will set hijacked buses on fire over rerouting of one Orange March... no. Not entirely straightforward...
Posted 7 years ago # -
"I'm happy to be corrected."
As a regular traveller, be corrected. In fact, I think you could legally fly to the RoI without a passport under the Common Travel Area arrangements but I have never tested this.
Posted 7 years ago # -
"
An exit from Brexit is no longer unthinkable.
"
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15670145.Iain_Macwhirter__Brexiteer__the_mad_uncle_in_the_attic/
Posted 7 years ago # -
"I think you could legally fly to the RoI without a passport under the Common Travel Area arrangements"
This used to be true, and may still be - legally.
But airlines won't let you on their planes.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Chdot, that Iain McWhirter article in the Herald is excellent reading.
The Tories won't do the sensible thing here, and would prefer the nightmare scenarios outlined as the climbdown would necessitate another General Election which they might lose.
It would take a politician of real stature to fall on the sword for the greater good of the UK.
Sadly, May is too scared of the rest of her cabinet to take that step.
Posted 7 years ago # -
As chdot says, it all depends on the airline. There is no legal requirement for identification for domestic travel, from: https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/passports-visas-and-api#
Identification on UK domestic flights:
If you are flying solely within the UK, including Northern Ireland, you do not need a passport but we advise that you carry photographic identification with you when travelling, such as your passport or driving licence. This may be requested at certain points in your journey. Children under the age of 16 years do not require identification to travel within the UK.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Posted 7 years ago # -
Definition of 'ironic'.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Posted 7 years ago # -
Posted 7 years ago #
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Things are so bad I found myself agreeing with Alistair Campbell this week. He was on ASS show laying into Con/Lab for passively accepting the idea of coming out of the customs union.
As the uncritical media try to 'big up' May's offer of 40 billion 'divorce bill' they managed to forget the Irish border (again).
Tusk must think the UK are being wilfully obtuse. May is like a child that's been asked to do something and comes back with something else.
Dublin has now come back and pointed out that unless we stay in the Customs Union they will veto the deal - no matter how many billions the Tories shovel at it. Over to you Mrs May!Posted 7 years ago # -
The good thing is that something substantive now has to happen. The desire in some quarters for the UK of GB&NI to be special is meeting the desire of the EU27 for its Irish part to be as ordinary as possible head-on.
The bad thing is of course that something substantive now has to happen and it will almost certainly start with a declaration by the EU27 that the UK of GB&NI is not acting in good faith in regards to its Irish part.
The whole thing is insoluble as any pseudo- or actual EU status accorded to NI would immediately be demanded by Scotland, Gibraltar and, eventually, London. England-outwith-London could be left as some kind of strange rudderless statelet.
The consequences of not proposing such a status for NI seem grotesque. The Belfast Agreement is predicated on just such a status and that is what seems to have limited the overt violence originating there for the last two decades
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Posted 7 years ago #
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Wow. And what IS the relevance of the para about Sinn Fein, Gerry Adams and "his vicious sectarian war"? Oh wait. Because those Irish politicians, they're really all the same... (I'm no fan of Varadkar but - NO.)
ETA Now I have read all of it and I wish I hadn't because it's making me want to break all of the swearing rules. Everywhere.
Posted 7 years ago # -
MLAs and the like standing around looking awkward
have cheered me up a wee bit.Posted 7 years ago # -
I'd missed this till now.
Labour's Hoey has no answers on NI than to quote Trump?
Not long ago 20,000 troops were stationed in Ulster.
Responsible politicians should be working with there counterparts in Dublin and Belfast to bridge division. No-one from the Con/Lab Brexit mutual support party has stirred. We all should be very worried.From press..
"The London MP intensified a major row over the border situation by saying Dublin would have to foot the bill for customs posts on the island if the UK crashes out of the European Union without a trade agreement.“If it ends up with a no deal we won’t be putting up the border. They will have to pay for it because it doesn’t need to happen,” she told Radio Four’s Today programme yesterday.
To protests from her fellow guest, Irish senator Neale Richmond, Hoey then went on to suggest one solution was for the Republic of Ireland to leave the EU.
“We joined the EU together, you joined when we joined and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if we leave and are very successful you don’t start look at leaving as well,” she said.
Richmond tried to make the point that a majority of citizens in the Irish Republic supported remaining in the EU, but the interview was brought to a close...
(Edit: Just found out Hoey was born in Belfast so she certainly has been to NI and would know the dynamic there - so I'm mystified why she thinks that these comments are helpful.)
Posted 7 years ago # -
According to her Wikipedia entry
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In October 2013, Hoey was fined £240 for driving through a red light having previously criticised cyclists as "Lycra louts that run red lights".[32] Hoey wants all cyclists to pay tax[33] and be registered so they have a registration number:
“ What I do genuinely think, and the cycling lobby should argue for it too, is that everyone who rides a bicycle, particularly as a form of transport to work, should be registered, so their bike has a registration number. At the moment if someone does knock down an old lady and ride off no one can trace that person."[33]
"
Nice.
Posted 7 years ago #
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