Five-and-twenty ponies, trotting through the dark—
With brandy for the Parson and 'baccy for the Clerk.
Laces for a lady and letters for a spy,
And watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!
With brandy for the Parson and 'baccy for the Clerk.
Laces for a lady and letters for a spy,
And watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!
I can remember my usual border crossing , back in the day when one crossed from the land of the Punt to that of the Pound, with ease. It was a small B country road that ran through a village; tractors and trailers chugged unhindered from nation to nation carrying sheep, cattle, fodder or other goods and only gradually did the mix of national number plates become polarised as distance from the border increased. Never once did I encounter a barrier or a check. The border was completely open and it served everyone well. The porosity meant a great deal of smuggling of course - but as this brought wealth and benefits to all (except the respective national tax authorities) no one minded very much.
The UK's offer to maintain the Irish border in this state is a sound one. You can be sure they are not creating an open door for Islamist terrorists. Anyone flying from Brussels to Galway who then travels to the mainland by ferry will be intercepted. Henna-bearded Islamists claiming to be there to visit the Catholic shrine at Knock will be so welcome at mass that the Garda will escort them there and back. Sudanese killers claiming to be there for the November brown trout season on Loch Corrib will be given frozen Mayflies. Islamism is as hateful to Catholic Ireland as to us - if not more so. You can be sure there is already a high degree of co-operation between us.
And if this route was a feasible entry point for economic migrants of the sort clustered around the Channel ports they would already be using it.
In the event of vileness, spite and viciousness from Brussels over Brexit, the natural anarchic independence of spirit of the Irish and stubborn bloody-mindedness of the Brits will ensure the EU is flouted, ignored and humiliated by an open border that neither the British or Irish governments have any interest in closing.
All of which is exactly why Herr Barnier, Herr Juncker and Herr Verhofstadt will now do everything they can to force a hard border on us both. Just as they fomented conflict in the Balkans that set the region ablaze, just as they provoked a bloody civil war in Ukraine and just as they have destabilised nations around them, the unelected clerks in Brussels will do their utmost to stoke UK-Irish conflict.
21 comments:
They have some willing helpers.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/16/uk-government-border-proposals-ireland-brexit-position-paper
Anon - spot on. This is the EU's real fear as described in the piece -
"With no Irish border controls, US beef, Australian lamb, Chinese steel and Indian cars can be imported into Belfast, sent an hour down the road to Dundalk and exported tariff-free to France, Germany or any other EU country."
Suits us. Suits the Irish. So the EU will lecture us whilst working furiously behind the scenes to erect a hard EU border ....
Meanwhile articles are appearing in the media fairly regularly now, questioning whether remaining a member of the EU is in Ireland's interest.
With the UK negotiating trade treaties with Commonwealth countries which have a large Irish diaspora; Ireland having to contribute significantly more to the Budget following British departure and the EU proposing to control tax rates including the Irish Corp Tax, the argument for an Irish exit is gathering pace.
R, I think you may be underestimating the (extensive) Irish criminal fraternity, whose willingness to run illegals need not be doubted.
I'd always though the Italian mafia (with its Catholicism and fierce affinity for "the traditional italian way of life") would be an effective block on Libyan migration. Not a bit of it: quite the reverse.
They all get forgiven at confession, you see.
"In the event of vileness, spite and viciousness from Brussels over Brexit, the natural anarchic independence of spirit of the Irish and stubborn bloody-mindedness of the Brits will ensure the EU is flouted, ignored and humiliated by an open border that neither the British or Irish governments have any interest in closing.2
Exactly. Hammer meets nail.
The thing is, that no matter how hard they try, there is no way of forcing either us or the Irish to impose a hard border. What are they going to do - send over Eurocorps ?
Raedwald, everything you say is correct, but all your examples are for non-EU nationals.
So how will we stop in future EU nationals travelling to Ireland, which they can do legally, and then into the UK via N.I. without a hard border between Ireland and N.I.?
Particularly important when the EU expands to Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine ?
Or EU nationals marrying non-EU nationals and then travelling across a soft border into N.I./UK ?
You are ascribing to malice that which can be explained by simple self-interest.
Ireland & Gibraltar ( & to a lesser extent Scotland ) is what persuaded me, very reluctantly & at the last moment to vote "remain" ....
In the intervening time the deliberate lies of Farage & other brexiteers have emerged - I don't lioke it, but I now think that remaining in the EU, bad as it is, is the least-worst option.
IN Germany last month, our friends there were saying: "BUt we wanted you IN, so we could reform the EU!" To which a partial repkly was; "Well, what are/were you doing about that, then?"
Meanwhile, Readwald, comfortably ensconced well-inside the EU is urging the rest of us to leave.
Um, err .....
Buggeroff Tingey--details of your treasonous thought processes are as dull as the rest of your drivel.
Forgotten Project Fear have you? Lies of Farage indeed. The gang of scum you stand with rolled out every lying sack of shite on the planet to attack British freedom--and are still trying to do so as witness your bullshit on here.
Remaining in the EU--I knew you were stupid but now you surpass yourself. Remaining under the ever growing and ever less accountable control of tinpot arrogant thieves and scum?
Try not to be a bigger fool than you can help.
John Brown - Ah, all those spud pickers, sprout cutters, leek pullers and fruit pluckers working for cash but with no right to UK benefits, no right of residence, no access to NHS services other than emergencies, no right to bring spouse or kids over, no rights to public housing. What a tragedy.
Seriously, keeping cheap casual, seasonal labour for farms and smallholdings will be a challenge if the £ is weak and Poles, Hungarians, Bulgarians etc can no longer claim the benefits that made it worthwhile. We'll need those illegal Balks who will work for peanuts to keep cheap food on the shelves.
The "C" word is just not strong enough to describe my feelings about these vile, meddling, small-minded eurocrats. Barn, Junk & Hof care for no-one & nothing except their EU pensions. Arrgh!
Raedwald said:
'All of which is exactly why Herr Barnier, Herr Juncker and Herr Verhofstadt will now do everything they can to force a hard border on us both. Just as they fomented conflict in the Balkans that set the region ablaze, just as they provoked a bloody civil war in Ukraine and just as they have destabilised nations around them, the unelected clerks in Brussels will do their utmost to stoke UK-Irish conflict.'
You've come a long way Raedwald, wish more people would realise how evil this hybrid of communism and corporatism has become. What you describe is the power play of the New (World) Order - the one George H W Bush spoke about all those years ago. He meant it. It's real.
The EU is a prototype, the first block to be built by globalists. Brexit broke the spell and now they're panicking. Things will get ugly, the riots in America is them lashing out. Left and Right have dissolved so watch your back: from now on you're either inside or outside.
Steve
I think the low wage spud diggers and leak pullers will be replaced by robots.
Don Cox
Don, I have no doubt that provided the NWO can keep the world from Armageddon they will eventually develop usefully sentient robots (actually androids). After all who (what?) will do the elite's menial jobs when they have got rid of all us plebs and proles?
But not just yet. Robots are extensively used in production currently, from cars to food. They are useful for repetitive semi-precision work in a fixed mass/JIT industry. But these robots are little more than programmable machines. They are not the fanciful robots beloved of the BBC.
Human beings are incredibly versatile and adaptable, even those usually dismissed as thick. It will be a long time before robots are as sentient and adaptable as people.
Shock! horror! Armageddon! G Tingey voted Remain!!?!!! Well, who'd a thunk it?
Having voted Remain perhaps G Tingey can justify the Remain argument that for "Every £1 we put into the EU, we get back nearly £10", which was the Remain's main claim other than project fear.
As for reforming the EU, we've been hearing about that since 1975 (I bet G Tingey just loved Heath and Wislon on the same side, eh?). 42 years and it hasn't happened yet. When do you suppose it will?
Radders the Republican filth will make it as difficult as possible for the UK government but as you say Irish pragmatism is a strange and wonderful beast and great post btw.
If the govt want to keep an open border between Ulster and the Irish Republic surely the passport and customs controls at the airports and ferry terminals will prevent any chicanery? EU citizens can freely enter the Irish Republic and cross into Ulster but will be stopped from crossing the Irish Sea without the requisite documents ditto stuff going the other way,any vessels from Irish Republic ports suspected of carrying cargo that has been snuck in via Ulster can easily be checked.
'Foment' is certainly the word.
Pick them up and deport them
Budgie
LEARN TO READ
What did I say about "reluctantly" ??
The EU desperately (still) needs reform - as my/or German friends keep telling us [ A little village not too far from Rheine or Osnabrück, actually ] & they aren't happy, but still think reform would have been possible with Britain in.
andy MAY have a point, but a lot of peole will need convincing.
Meanwhile we contine to fuck-up by NOT simply guaranteeing the rights of those EU nationals already here - this is spiteful, petty, mean & a complete waste of valuable time!
G Tingey, You're kidding, right? From your previous comments on here it was perfectly obvious you would vote Remain, reluctantly or otherwise. What was funny was your implication that it was touch and go which way you voted.
The EU does desperately need reform. That has been obvious since 1975. It hasn't happened in 40 years. Why not? Your German friends have no means of making it happen either. There is simply no discernible intent to "reform" the EU. What makes it different this time? Perhaps you should have thought about that before you voted for "more Europe".
But that would mean northern irish people requiring a passport to get a ferry to liverpool or wales
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