Mary Dejevsky has written a piece for the Belfast Telegraph that will go down well in some quarters and not so well in others. She is suggesting that it is time that the British government off-load Northern Ireland by one of several routes: including independence, secession or to offer to sell it to the Republic of Ireland.
Her objection handling is quite interesting, for what it ignores as much as what she deals with, like religion. There is no mention of ‘Britishness’ as an issue at all. In contrast (and perhaps scarily for those who will challenge her logic) she goes even further and suggests Irish unity:
“…would make cultural, demographic, and geographic sense. At once, the security of Britain and Ireland would be enhanced. The biggest bonus of all, though, would be that relations between Britain and Ireland, as sovereign states, would become normal in a way they have never been in recent times.”
This is unlikely to prompt a reasoned debate in Belfast. But the reference to the savings to the British exchequer suggest that it is an argument that isn’t aimed at audiences here at all, anyway. Or if it is, maybe it is as much a warning about the reality of cuts as anything else.
But politically, if they are being asked to take the lead, that is what should scare unionists…
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