Brexit 2019 and Poland

If the UK leaves, what will be the EU next lingua franca?

Fight between the French, Germans and Italians? I'm betting on the guys with the superior pasta sauce.

A very important nuance though and and an essential one if you want to understand Irish politics.


Which is nothing remarkable. It's a view shared by most sane Irish people north and south of the border.


Hardly surprising. Neither are most Irish people not for the reasons you say were his, but because it can only ever be successful through consent by a separate and significant majority of each political group, within each of the three relevant communities. Now your starter for ten, name the three relevant communities.

I do wonder what the end game is for the Unionists. It is well documented that the educated ones are leaving for GB and not returning, while Nationalists are so embedded in public life now that there's no going back to the pre-72 situation.

The principle of consent may well be the thing that stops them from being a minority in an United Ireland, after all.

IMO, I think we need to seriously think about the border and future of NI as a state. Putting Derry City, County Fermanagh, South Armagh and other areas to the South while establishing NI as an overseas territory with a very strong Unionist majority might be one option... It doesn't solve the issue of West Belfast and other Catholic enclaves, but at least it might give NI some political stability.

I don't think that's a solution. However I certainly agree that a simplistic idea of NI simply joining the Republic won't work either. NI has been a separate region now for a hundred years and has evolved differently. It has a unique culture even if you take the Unionists out of the picture. I think its uniqueness has to be recognized and respected in the event of reunification.

If the Northern Ireland Assembly could be got up and running again and NI could manage to govern themselves (and this, sadly, has always been the problem, they can't), I think they could join the Republic as a sort of affilliated region. It would take a lot of working out but some kind of union of the two parts of the island should be possible. Maybe the way to go is to work at restructuring the way the whole of the island is governed and make four separate regions with extended powers at regional level under the umbrella of central government, using the basic structures such as the regional health authorities, water boards etc already in place as the starting point.

The important thing is that all of that would have to be worked out before any border poll so that people know exactly what it is they're voting for. Do you want a united Ireland in this form? There would need to be an all-Ireland forum for a few years before any border poll and plenty of public debate. And any form of unification would have to be phased in gradually over many years.


Why wouldn't it continue to be English??

I am not very good at University Challenge and am very unsure of the answer to your question.
So please educate me and other readers.

Atch is saying that you are lying about being married to a colleen.
Isn't it obvious?:)

Yeah, I know, but I don't lie and she is narrow minded.

No, Atch is like an Einstein compared to you. :):)

An Irish Einstein.
Narrow minded and bigoted.

Brexit extension granted till 31 January so it looks like a general election on 9 December.

Why should an Irish Einstein be bigoted and narrow-minded? Is it because:
His mudder was Oyrish, his fadder was Oyrish
And he was Oyrish too.
And they kept the pigs in the parlour
Just like the Oyrish do!
?

Johnson making an extra kuntish fool of himself tonight - if it's possible - asking for a 12th December election date - when he knows full well he wont get it, because it's loading the ballot box in his favour.

It's my understanding that the extension was granted because elections were being scheduled.... if elections are off the table shouldn't the extension be withdrawn?

The EU does not, contrary to some opinion, have the power to set in stone, any conditions on what member states must do to alter lengths of governmental term in office. That would be interference in a sovereign state's rule and simply put, would not stand.

Like in America - the government agrees to govern for 4 years, unless there is a vote of no confidence. Her majesty's opposition have every confidence in Johnson making a complete dick of himself, so they are not going to let him off the hook now. The longer this government goes on for, the deeper the hole they dig for themselves. The EU simply gave the UK the time to work out for themselves that it is time to put the question of EU membership back to the people.

Johnson can have a December 9th election, but he doesn't want that, because:
1. Students will still be registered to vote at their colleges
2. Xmas postal ballots will be more likely to actually be counted
3 He knows he wont get a 12th date becasue of 1 and 2 and wants to blame his defeat on the "enemy of the poeple - that chicken..."

Exactly - he failed to negotiate a better deal, and he failed to get his worse bill through parliament.

Now like the Republicans of Georgia and other marginal US states his tactic is to have an election where a key strategy is to prevent some people voting.

I hear he is even thinking of abandoning his West London seat for somewhere safer - worried about the large student numbers there and the Brexit Party wiping out his 5000 majority

My favorite take ever on Brexit: "The year is 2192. The British Prime Minister visits Brussels to ask for an extension of the Brexit deadline. No one remembers where this tradition originated, but every year it attracts many tourists from all over the world" - Julian Popov

By that time it will have involved into an intricate multi-stage celebration as various key points are enacted... these include:

-The House of Commons going through several mock votes while the sitting PM must shout until they lose their voice

-The residents of Ireland chant 'backstop! backstop! backstop!' in a vain attempt to be part of the process....

-The Prime Minister arrives in Germany, is not met at the door, walks inside only to be hustled outside again so that the German PM can pretend to greet them there before proceeding inside together (this is my favorite part).

What is your favorite part?

I have to admit I lost meanwhile the overview about the happenings and also abit the interest. I fear the same counts for many mainland Europeans...

So that sounds even possible...

Well, at least the UK keeps on paying the bills. Every month the UK stays in the EU lessens the chance that the UK could try and use the Brexit bill to put pressure on the EU ( which would habe been an incredibly stupid move, but you never know).

Mmm...December election. I wonder what it will change? 6 weeks of tedious electioneering - when the one and only important thing is what Britons want the UK to be for the next 50 years.

Apparently.... he got it.

I have said it before and I'll say it again.
Do not underestimate Boris.
He is not the twerp the left make him out to be.

I think he really has to drop this 'bumbling fool' persona now. Corbyn already showed that he can motivate voters, and no matter what you think about his policies, he will go out there and fight for every vote. If Corbyn succeeds in portraying Boris as a fool, it might just end up empowering Farage and splittng the Tory vote as a result.

I've just read John Curtice's view that the Tories have to win this election as they've lost all their possible allies, whereas Labour only have to win around 250 to stop Boris from winning. I still think the Lib Dems and Labour should agree an electoral pact at this point - they would almost certainly win comfortably, but there's no chance of that with Corbyn running the show.

One big question - what if the Tories win England (and an overall majority) but lose badly elsewhere? Is it really possible to deliver Brexit despite not having any mandate whatsoever from the other home nations?

England and the other home nations.... which side needs the other more?

Woops!

He is a fool - it is not an act and if he was going to show his true leadership qualities then maybe an ideal time would have been just now in the face of a huge political crisis.

He is not respected at home - shows no leadership and cannot command parliament, or his own party. He was elected by promising different parts of the party different mutually exclusive things - he cant deliver on that.

He is not respected abroad - the EU and the Irish stared him down and he came back with a deal much worse than May's and then tried to force it through before anyone had a chance to read it. He failed in that.

I have just finished Ken Clarke's autobiography - written a few years ago. It talks of Boris turning up for meetings totally unprepared, palming difficult issues off on his advisors and clowning around to deflect from answering difficult questions - all of this in private, so it is obvious that this is the real Boris and we will be waiting for a long time if we expect him to turn into Lord Palmerston.

The best answer to this question is: dismember the United Kingdom! It must happen and it will happen s it is inevitable to happen!

Would the EU want an independent Scotland? Does it really want to take on that burden? Does Scotland really want the horrible debt trap disguised as a currency known as the Euro? Does it want a hard border with England?

A very strong commitment to the euro and Schengen are probably going to be pre-conditions for Scotland as a prospective EU member (a couple of years ago they tried to convince Ireland to join Schengen....

"Does it really want a hard border with England?"

At the risk of sounding facetious, Hadrian's Wall worked for a period, keeping out the Picts! :-)

On the other hand, Scotland is STILL PART OF BRITAIN. Her independence nonetheless doesn't mean she's exempt from the Crown, does it?

One of the main reasons Scotland might want to secede would be to (re)join the EU. There are lots of questions on how (or if) that would happen. The EU want to keep them out to keep Catalonia (and Flanders) from getting any smart ideas....

If it becomes independent then it either has a common travel area (and a hard border with the rest of the EU) or joins Schengen and gets a hard border with England

Good point, Maf!