Brexit – Page 49 – Slugger O'Toole

Soapbox: Brexit isn’t about cutting ourselves off from the world….

Soapbox on May 27, 2016, 2:00 pm

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Sammy Morrison is a TUV Press Officer and an assistant to Jim Allister. Here he challenges Ferdinand Mount’s cautionary tale about the motivations of Brexiteers, and argues that Brexit could liberate the UK to fulfil its potential in the world in Europe – and beyond. Ferdinand Mount cannot hide his contempt for those campaigning for Brexit telling us that it is “tempting to regard ‘Brexosis’ as a mental disorder”. He repeats David Cameron’s warning that Brexit could lead to World …

How little thought have ‘the Brexotics’ given to any form of risk from a putative #Brexit?

Mick Fealty on May 23, 2016, 8:27 pm

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This morning’s #SluggerReport featured this great essay from Ferdinand Mount in the London Review of Books (h/t Ciaran!). Here’s some of the highlights in the argument… Splendid isolation’. ‘Very well, alone’. ‘Fog in Channel – Continent Cut Off’. That is the name of the game, the only game that appeases the dreams and resentments of the Brexiters. It isn’t about economics. Decca Aitkenhead traipsed all the way to Nigel Lawson’s gentilhommière in Gascony to seek enlightenment on the economics. But …

@davidmcw games one #Brexit outcome…

John Ó Néill on May 18, 2016, 11:49 am

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“Let’s go.” “We can’t.” “Why not?” “We’re waiting for Godot.” Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot Interesting piece from David McWilliams on an unintended consequence of the Brexit vote. The title – ‘A nation once again? Don’t write it off’ – neatly encapsulates his argument and commits the obvious sin of deviating from a pro-unionist consensus. The line of reasoning he follows is: The English lead the British out of Europe. The Scottish then go to the polls again, wanting to stay …

Brexit Essays #1: Time for Ireland to grow up and get beyond its devotion to the EU?

Soapbox on May 16, 2016, 2:47 pm

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James Darby writing in response to the Irish Ambassador to London Dan Mulhall’s opinion piece on the UK’s EU referendum and the implications for Irish-UK relations found here . Official Ireland is fully against the UK leaving the EU. Once again groupthink has dominated discourse in Ireland about this issue. As in 1999 when all of the political establishment supported Ireland adopting the EURO, no alternative view has been put forward. Ambassador Mulhall’s argument on how Breixt would affect Irish-UK relations …

EU kettle ban gives Brexit campaigners a PR coup…

Brian O'Neill on May 12, 2016, 10:08 am

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You can waffle on all you like about trade tariffs, migration controls, budget rebates, etc but to the general public this tedious stuff goes in one ear and out the other. But tell them you are going to monkey around with their tea and toast and you get their attention. From today’s Daily Express: The UK accounts for a third of all European kettle sales, with Britons drinking six times more tea per head than their continental cousins. The ban might also include …

Cameron gambled with national security?

Turgon on May 9, 2016, 7:46 am

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The BBC are announcing that today David Cameron is going to claim that the UK leaving the EU would increase risks to peace. The BBC suggested Elgar or Vaughan Williams should be playing. I suspect Holst’s Mars would be the most appropriate. Turning from the classic music back to the politics. One of the primary responsibilities: probably the prime responsibility of a Prime Minister or the like is maintaining the safety of the population that elected him and as such …

The Remain camp needs some new faces, and quickly

Soapbox on April 20, 2016, 1:20 pm

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Craig Harrison writes for us about the upcoming EU referendum on 23rd June If the latest polls on the EU referendum are anything to go by, then what seemed like a sure thing just a few months ago is now much less certain. Figures from an online survey by Opinium, published by The Guardian at the beginning of April, put the Leave side on 43% – four points ahead of Remain. While we are, rightly, much more sceptical about polls …

Brexit and foreign doctors (parking fines and other things)

Turgon on April 12, 2016, 4:44 pm

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David McNarry’s latest foray into controversy has been to float – and then retract the suggestion that foreign workers (specifically a hypothetical Polish surgeon) be deported for minor crimes such as parking tickets. Although this may play well with a few it seems something of a gaffe: maybe UKIP’s leadership will not be too sorry to lose their sole NI MLA when McNarry stands down at the Assembly elections (to be fair retiring at 67 seems pretty reasonable). It also …

Lee Reynolds appointed as Regional Co-ordinator for Vote Leave campaign

David McCann on April 5, 2016, 5:12 pm

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As we get closer to the referendum on June 23rd, the campaigns are now beginning to take shape. Today Lee Reynolds (formerly of this parish), who was the group leader of the DUP in Belfast City Council has been appointed as the Northern Ireland Regional Co-ordinator for the Vote Leave campaign. Lee has taken leave from his current job at DUP Headquarters to work on this campaign. David McCannDavid McCann holds a PhD in North-South relations from University …

#EUYourChoice – robust debate in Belfast across Tory and Labour lines

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 4, 2016, 9:45 pm

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Tonight’s EU Your Choice debate began with ten minute presentations from the four GB political panellists before moving into a Q&A. The full event was live-streamed and should soon be available to replay. Kate Hoey (Labour MP) – leave Vernon Coaker (Labour MP) – remain Owen Paterson (Conservative MP) – leave John Stevens (former Conservative MEP) – remain The panel was co-chaired by Quadriga Consulting’s Jeffrey Peel and Danske Bank Economist Angela McGowan, making it an interesting format given their …

Gerry Adams at Easter. In full

Brian Walker on April 3, 2016, 10:42 am

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I though it worthwhile to put on the record Gerry Adams’ Easter Centenary address, part unreconstructed old republicanism, part election address, a classic of its kind in style and content, without further comment. On Sunday 27th March, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD addressed the Easter Rising commemoration in Belfast’s Milltown Cemetery. Mr Adams stated that hurts and divisions must be healed if we are to realise the vision of the 1916 Proclamation. HIs speech in full: Address by …

This time next year we could have Trump in the White House, Boris in Downing Street and be on our way out of the EU…

Samuel Thompson on March 17, 2016, 9:56 am

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Closer to home, the border could be reinvigorated providing a bonanza for ‘good’ Republicans to make fortunes out of fuel-smuggling and dumping toxic waste, while not-so good Republicans will celebrate the centenary of the Easter Rising by blowing up as many people as possible. Some of these nightmare scenarios may be the result of self-inflicted wounds. In America, Trump has made racism respectable again. He gets an endorsement from a Kl Klux Klan leader and goes UP (yes, up) in …

#Brexit from the business view of a border city – #EUDebateNI in Derry

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 9, 2016, 3:52 pm

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Introducing the fourth in a short series of EUDebateNI events this morning in Derry~Londonderry, Conor Houston explained that while the Centre for Democracy and Peace Building takes a neutral on the decision of whether the UK remains or leaves EU, it does want to encourage debate. Business journalist Naomi McMullan hosted the debate said there was a lot of information about the EU referendum but very little clarity. She characterised the debate as “a clash of visions”. Danske Bank’s economist …

UUP support remaining in the European Union

David McCann on March 6, 2016, 11:07 am

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The UUP will join Sinn Fein, SDLP, Alliance and the Greens to argue for Northern Ireland staying within the European Union. Here is a statement from the party; The Ulster Unionist Party believes that on balance Northern Ireland is better remaining in the European Union, with the U.K. Government pressing for further reform and a return to the founding principle of free trade, not greater political union. The Party respects that individual members may vote for withdrawal on the 23rd …

The Legal Implications of Brexit: mechanics, criminal repercussions, and perhaps enhanced protection of rights #EUDebateNI

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on February 26, 2016, 5:06 pm

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Lawyers from across Ireland gathered in Belfast for a conference examining the Legal Implications of Brexit. The complexities of unpicking the UK from the EU were unearthed and discussed, including smuggling, extradition, and the impact on human rights protects. (The Attorney General reckons that Brexit would enhance the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms.)

…but they’ll never take our EU membership?

Lee Reynolds on February 26, 2016, 3:49 pm

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The debate on the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union has properly begun. In these early days of the debate David Cameron and Nicola Sturgeon have made an unusual partnership to try and add a Scottish question to the European one. The UUP is playing a game of public angst with the Scottish claims one of the issues they list for their dither as they frantically try to assess the direction of the wind. The ability of Northern Ireland …

8 pitches for #EUref: 3 academic, 5 political; 2 to leave, 6 to remain #EUDebateNI

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on February 24, 2016, 10:48 pm

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Eight speakers deliver their pitch for the leaving or remaining in the European Union in QUB Student’s Union – Leslie Budd (OU), Hugo MacNeill (British/Irish Assoc), David Phinnemore (QUB), David McNarry (UKIP), Duncan Morrow (APNI), Declan Kearney (SF), Christopher Stalford (DUP) & Claire Hanna (SDLP)

Continued membership of the EU is the only way that Unionism can survive

Soapbox on February 24, 2016, 4:53 pm

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Dr. David Shiels is College Research Associate in History at Wolfson College, Cambridge and author of a forthcoming biography of Enoch Powell. He argues that if Unionists insist on peeling away the post war constitutional frame by leaving the EU, you risk the unraveling of the British Union too. The Democratic Unionist Party has, at last, come out in favour of Brexit. The party which proudly wears the badge of Euroscepticism in Northern Ireland has until now refused to take …

On #Brexit nothing is certain, even the assumption it would be followed by a Scottish exit

Mick Fealty on February 24, 2016, 4:38 pm

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Much of what happens in the Brexit debate we should probably take with a large pinch of salt, whether or not it comes from a camp you favour or not. It’s a bit of a leap into the dark, so not all of the consequences, either way, can be reliably foreseen. It’s likely to be a class of Project Fear Mk II. One line to be particularly sceptical of is the idea that if the UK comes out of the …

“The politico’s error is to see voters as particles that are acted upon by political forces…”

Mick Fealty on February 23, 2016, 12:38 pm

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My only problem with Janan Ganesh’s piece in the FT today (and the Irish Times) is that’s not possible to quote all of it. I recommend reading it in conjunction with Martyn Turner’s Politics of Fear cartoon as the Irish commentariat works itself up about a whole lot of things that are unlikely to happen. He starts with an invitation to look back a year to look at the news stories from February 23rd, 2015, to see just how utterly beside …