The now-enacted will of (some of) the people

[bickster]

Oh well, it's not like they weren't told, they just prefered to believe liars

Quote

The struggles of the fishing industry could pose problems for the Conservatives in Cornwall in crucial council elections next month – the first electoral test since the pandemic hit over a year ago. Although the Tories are the largest single group in the council chamber – Cornwall has a unitary authority for the whole county – the Liberal Democrats were able to regain control by forming a coalition with independent councillors in 2017.

Those hoping to deliver Boris Johnson’s goal of a Conservative-led council in time for the G7 summit in Cornwall in June will have to tread carefully in places like Newlyn, which is home to England’s biggest fishing fleet.

Bosustow, 48, a Brexit supporter, will not be supporting the Tories on 6 May. “We are not going to forget when it comes to voting time,” he says. “I don’t feel like they [the Conservatives] deserve my vote at the moment.”

Further down the quay, Brackan Pearce, 28, is restocking his trawler. He travelled up the Thames as part of a flotilla of fishing boats demanding control of British waters during the referendum campaign in 2016. Now he feels betrayed. “They lied to us. They’ve used us to get Brexit. Without the boats going up the Thames, Brexit would never have happened,” he says from the deck of his boat.

The deal, he says, is the worst of all worlds. “It’s a complete sellout. It’s a betrayal. The deal we have got is lose-lose. We have got friction at the borders and they [EU fishing boats] have still got access to our waters.” Johnson has lost his support: “I can’t vote Conservative.”

The Bob Server

One of the even thinks he won Brexit for them but sailing his boat up the Thames!

[Genie]

“We didn’t think there would be a downside”

[sidcow]

I don't understand. The deal was supposed to be easy.  They were desperate to do a deal with us. They needed us more than we needed them. 

The only reason the original deal was bad was because May's team had negotiated badly. Boris parachuted his own team in and personally involved himself to fix that badly negotiated deal. 

How is it possible that with 2 attempts to negotiate a deal which was supposed to be easy to negotiate, have we ended up with a deal people are complaining about? 

Still at least the NHS is awash with money and there are no more forriners arriving. Oh, and we're making our own laws to help the common man. 

[Enda]

The New IRA placed a bomb under a cop’s car last week.

http://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2021/04/22/news/new-ira-claim-responsibility-for-co-derry-bomb-2297002/

I don’t want to be macabre here, but how far are we from them moving from bombs under cars to bombs in pubs? Hopefully far, obviously, but Boris really must get a better handle of NI Brexit than he has so far.

[HanoiVillan]

Talking about Northern Ireland, my understanding of the Good Friday Agreement is that there needs to be a referendum on Irish unification at such time as there's a realistic possibility of victory, though it's possible I may have misunderstood this provision. But the reason for mentioning it is seeing this the other day . . .

. . . which, unless my arithmetic has deserted me, seems to suggest 51% support for unification. I'm guessing one poll showing 51% isn't really enough for anybody to be calling that a 'realistic chance of winning', but at what point does the case become unarguable?

[ml1dch]

20 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

Talking about Northern Ireland, my understanding of the Good Friday Agreement is that there needs to be a referendum on Irish unification at such time as there's a realistic possibility of victory, though it's possible I may have misunderstood this provision. But the reason for mentioning it is seeing this the other day . . .

. . . which, unless my arithmetic has deserted me, seems to suggest 51% support for unification. I'm guessing one poll showing 51% isn't really enough for anybody to be calling that a 'realistic chance of winning', but at what point does the case become unarguable?

The last-but-one New Statesman podcast went into that question in quite a bit of detail - the dynamics of what would need to happen and how it would then work politically, in London, Belfast and Dublin. I admit that I forget precisely what the main takeaways were, but I remember it being interesting at the time. 

[Enda]

A key aspect of the Good Friday Agreement is that London gave up any veto on reunification and accepted that the whole thing is a question for NI and not England or Wales or Scotland. The text says the NI Secretary “shall” organise a referendum “if at any time it appears likely to him” that a majority would ascent.

You could squabble that the Secretary could be a very stubborn man and refuse to hold a referendum because it seems unlikely to him.

But assuming polls like the above continue happening, London is out of the picture. It’s a vote in NI to rejoin Ireland, Yes or No. (There would also be a vote in Ireland, but that would be perfunctory.)

Arlene Foster has done more for a United Ireland than Gerry Adams ever did.

[Genie]

Would it still be called the United Kingdom if it was just England and Wales? 

[bickster]

7 minutes ago, Genie said:

Would it still be called the United Kingdom if it was just England and Wales? 

The divided Kingdom would be better

[Enda]

37 minutes ago, Genie said:

Would it still be called the United Kingdom if it was just England and Wales? 

It used to be “UK of GB and Ireland”! Then we left. 

“The Democratic Republic of England and Wales” has a nice ring to it, don’t yiz think?

[bickster]

Just now, Enda said:

It used to be “UK of GB and Ireland”! Then we left. 

“The Democratic Republic of England and Wales” has a nice ring to it, don’t yiz think?

England and the Occupied Territory of Wales

[ROTTERDAM1982]

The Republic would love to have NI

[Enda]

9 minutes ago, ROTTERDAM1982 said:

The Republic would love to have NI

Ireland would like an end to 800 years of British rule on our island, yes.

[ROTTERDAM1982]

You sure?

[ROTTERDAM1982]

I'm not sure The Republic would want the complex problems of NI, or that even the Tories would be disappointed if NI left GB

[Enda]

13 minutes ago, ROTTERDAM1982 said:

You sure?

It’s always been about self-determination. Henry II, Elizabeth I, Henry of the beheaded wives, and Oliver Cromwell all invaded Ireland, brutally, and planted British people on the land.

Why on earth should London have any power over any part of Ireland if they’re not wanted? If there were an all-Ireland vote tomorrow, you’d be asked to leave.

[ROTTERDAM1982]

Not that i am going to give you a lesson on the history of Ireland Enda, but there was a fair bit of persecution, indeed massacres of Protestants in Ireland, hence why William of Orange got involved, but that was 400 years ago, and as you insinuate, i think you are entitled to self-determination, as are the Scots, and the Welsh. Not sure the politicians would embrace it as much as you think though.

[Enda]

On 26/04/2021 at 12:46, ROTTERDAM1982 said:

Not that i am going to give you a lesson on the history of Ireland Enda, but there was a fair bit of persecution, indeed massacres of Protestants in Ireland, hence why William of Orange got involved, but that was 400 years ago, and as you insinuate, i think you are entitled to self-determination, as are the Scots, and the Welsh. Not sure the politicians would embrace it as much as you think though.

[Enda]

On 26/04/2021 at 08:49, Enda said:

Arlene Foster has done more for a United Ireland than Gerry Adams ever did.

Arlene has since left the building.

Mr Poots, who believes the world is only 6,000 years old, is the front runner to be the new leader of the Democratic Unionist Party.

[Rolta]

2 hours ago, Enda said:

Arlene has since left the building.

Mr Poots, who believes the world is only 6,000 years old, is the front runner to be the new leader of the Democratic Unionist Party.

I was just wondering about what crazy things he might believe in when I saw his name in a headline. You've answered for me! These guys are insane.