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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » A message to Moggsy on Northern Ireland from an ex-British Arm
politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » A message to Moggsy on Northern Ireland from an ex-British Army officer who served there during the troubles
There are several interesting elements of The Moggster’s latest contribution to the Brexit debate.
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But I have a simpler explanation.
He's an idiot.
1) JRM as per Topping
2) David Davis thought the Republic of Ireland was part of the UK.
3) Andrew Bridgen thought as an Englishman he was entitled to an Irish passport.
4) John Redwood deserves an honourable mention.
Both Redwood and JRM read history at Oxford, I'd be asking for a refund, that place is a dump.
Er no.. just a random name!!
In practice this is only likely to be an issue if Britain introduced a visa requirement for EU citizens wishing to visit us on holiday. That's very unlikely, since Brits would absolutely hate the inevitable retaliation (and the tourist industry would have a collective coronary). So JRM isn't factually entirely wrong, but he appears to lack common sense.
The PB editorial team are off to serve penance for this mistake.
Incidentally I found NI to be beautiful and the people I met to be genuinely hospitable in a way you don't find elsewhere in the UK.
The concerns about the border are about illegal immigration, smuggling and standards.
Illegal immigration we fix by adopting the Swiss system to reduce demand (thanks again to rcs1000 for his video).
Smuggling we fix by intelligence led raids back from the border.
Standards we fix by mutual recognition and prosecutions for breaches, with cooperation.
The goal must be that people living anywhere on that Island can feel unionist or republican in their own homes or workplaces without threat from others, with no pressure from the state or others to stare into their souls and demand loyalty.
We have to get this right because it could be Scotland one day.
I experienced this during the summer when our flight from Dublin to Gatwick was threated as an internal British flight and we did not go through the usual border controls. I thought this curious unless the documents processed at Dublin indicated all passengers were EU nationals or had UK passports so all were valid under CTA.
As Topping says, the CTA existed long before Ireland and the UK joined the then EEC in 1973 - it's an arrangement analogous, I believe, to the system which allows Australians and New Zealanders Freedom of Movement. Many kiwis used to go to work in Australia where there were more opportunities. I'm also tempted to argue the Irish built the London Underground.
It's a conundrum and I'm not an expert but it relates purely to the divergence between the UK and Ireland once we leave the EU (whether at the end of Transition or on 29/3/19). Until now, the UK and Ireland have been in the same place - we joined the EU together, we signed up to the SM together.
Can anything be determined from where a passport is issued? Mrs Stodge is a Kiwi and has dual nationality but her NZ passport, even though it is produced in London, still has a country of issue as New Zealand because the High Commission is NZ territory albeit in a very nice part of London with a fantastic view from the roof.
Why do we have to have the backstop again? What exactly is the problem that it is supposed to be a solution to? No doubt the fault is mine.
None of this stops JRM from being a prat of course.
The GFA is what keeps the peace in Ireland.
So a border threatens peace in Ireland.
To avoid a border NI must not diverge from ROI.
ROI is in the EU.
Thus NI must remain in the EU.
NI is part of the UK and must not diverge from England, Wales, Scotland.
Therefore the UK must remain in the EU.
In other words, anything but the softest of 'BINO' brexits is not possible without running a serious risk of a return to the Troubles.
If this is true (and is it true?) it should have played a far bigger part in the 2016 referendum debate than I remember it did.
The vanilla forums one is still displaying the incorrect article.
In any sense...
And worth pointing out again there is not a single word in the GFA about not having a hard border. This is simply the current interpretation the parties have chosen to put on the issue.
"Many people, Anna Soubry for example, have said that trading on WTO terms would, ipso facto, require a hard border in Northern Ireland. But this is not the case. The WTO does not require its Member States to secure their borders"
If Britain leaves the single market, though, the EU will not allow the Republic of Ireland to trade freely across the border.
At least, so Emma Hamilton claimed...
Maybe that's why the urgent need for an EU Army - to take on the Ra?
It is nothing to do with the legality of it; it is to do with the practical reality of the state of the border.
It was evident to everyone (except for a few PB.com pampered ones) that Jupiter was the President for the Rich.
Anyway, I understand that J R-M has never changed a nappy on any of his kids. Judging by his recent behavior I expect that's because he cannot.
We found Dublin civilised and Cork homily, to oversimplify.
Forever lumpen, the vignettes that stayed with me were the dislocated defensive look of a Garda cop on a bicycle, the deep thump from a terraced house when a worker blew the main fuse, and the staged beggar with a coarse woven rug over her carefully exposed toes just peeping out from under it.
And, of course, near Cork, the Blarney Stone that takes the piss out of tourists.
Trinity Bar was heaving but no worse than Soho or Leicester Square on a busy Friday night. Plenty of decent places to eat and not expensive by London standards.
The last decent Republican President he formed an international, UN backed coalition to win the Gulf War, oversaw the end of the Cold War, committed the USA to tackle climate change at the Rio Summit and even reversed his winning 1988 campaign pledge not to raise taxes to cut the deficit, contributing to his re election defeat in 1992 to Bill Clinton
The real genius in agreeing the whole of the UK being in a customs agreement before negotiating trade is that it removes the EU's main leverage (the threat of closing the border). And we can always opt out in 10 years.
How many times have you accidentally found yourself taking goods from a shop with broken windows, at night, and with no staff around? I'm entirely happy to use these people for target practice for the Army (Here or in France). In fact I'd suggest we bolster the Army budget so that they don't miss.
If we enter into a FTA with the EU then the problem disappears. The GATT rules do not prevent such arrangements where there is a FTA. If we leave with a deal then it could easily be a part of any FTA that there are special provisions agreed for the NI border.
So the purpose of the backstop agreement is to cover a situation where the EU refuses to agree a FTA. We really should have told them to go forth, we really should.
That's interesting info on why the amount was reduced to £75K. But why was it increased back to £85K again? Wasn't that to do with the fall in the exchange rate?
Perfectly sensible.
Yes, I was gobsmacked too.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/46342907
It saves awkward explanations to SLT after marking trawls.
On one occasion I did let myself go somewhat when a student claimed nurses in WW1 played an important role in bringing soldiers back from the dead. My comment was, 'Jesus, eat your heart out.'
Even if we widen the list to include Patel it isn't dazzling progres.
No more, no less. Exiting without a backstop would have left us in no different a position as we are now ... open border now but the future isn't set yet.
Threatening violence is par for the course amongst the Labour Left. We should expect nothing better from them.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/01/g20-leaders-donald-trump-rules-based-order-wto-reform