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The funniest/most interesting part wasn't the call for a second referendum, but the second petition described at the end of the article: A map of the petitio
by curun1r 10y ago
The funniest/most interesting part wasn't the call for a second referendum, but the second petition described at the end of the article:
A map of the petition signatures showed that most came from England’s major
cities, topped by London where there is a separate petition calling on
Mayor Sadiq Khan to declare the capital independent from the United Kingdom,
and apply to join the EU.
I'm not even sure how that could work, but it would certainly take a lot of the impact out of the Brexit and prevent much of the chaos that's caused the markets to react so strongly to the vote.
- tim333 10y agoThere's no way the independent London thing could happen in practice but a 2nd EU referendum is possible. The Irish repeated their one, the Scottish one looks like repeating. Go 2nd referendum!
- gens 10y agoThere is already an independent London inside London. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London
- HoopleHead 10y agoAn Irish one ain't gonna happen. The majority Unionists' anti-anything-Irish hatred and desire to remain British is far stronger than their wanting to stay in the EU. As an Irish Nationalist myself, the only outside chance for Irish unification that I can see would be if Scotland voted to leave the UK first. The Unionists in N. Ireland tend to identify themselves as "Ulster Scots"[1], so the advent of a Britain without Scotland in it might just be enough to loosen their attachment a bit. There is no great affinity for Wales and their attitude towards England is not much warmer than the Scots have for the 'Auld Enemy' [1](http://www.ulsterscotsagency.com/what-is-ulster-scots http://www.ulsterscotsagency.com/what-is-ulster-scots)
- ProxCoques 10y agoI guess you've not been following Ian Paisley Jr on Twitter then... Things are going completely through the looking glass right now...
- HoopleHead 10y agoInteresting, I'll grant you. But it still smacks more of opportunism [pragmatism, it you want to be charitable] than a Road to Damascus conversion, On Paisley Jr's part. Still. If a few loyalists find they can carry an Irish passport, without it burning their skin, maybe that's something.
- HoopleHead 10y agoUPDATE: Having suffered for my art by actually reading through some of Paisley Jr's Twitter stream [which was as unreconstructedly "orange" as I expected], it seems what he actually said was that people should avail of a SECOND passport, if they're entitled to one. He never used the word IRISH. Another case of Chinese Internet Whispers
- newjersey 10y agoIt is not that absurd when you think about it for a moment. It is not the time yet but major cities probably do better with less friction on movement of goods and people with other major cities. If that's true any hindrance is suboptimal. I'm hopeful that England will join the EU as a full member (including common currency) within our lifetimes. It would preempt any credible calls for an independent London.
- prodmerc 10y agoThat would require them to go through some extreme hardships? And they'll probably be made to pinky promise not to leave again. Otherwise why leave in the first place...
- pYQAJ6Zm 10y agoI’m fantasizing this scenario: successful independence referenda in Scotland and Northern Ireland, followed by negotiations for their reentry into the EU (and maybe, regarding Ireland, also a call for reunification?); and London’s self-proclamation as a free city-state, establishing free trade and qualified migration agreements with the EU. But as a naïve foreigner, I can’t judge how plausible this is.