2 ms·

If a hard border returns to Northern Ireland, as it might, all it could take is one border incident to kick things off again. This contract matters, as does ke

If a hard border returns to Northern Ireland, as it might, all it could take is one border incident to kick things off again. This contract matters, as does keeping free movement on the island. For everyone in Ireland, north and south, and many in Britain too.

noir_lord 8y ago
I'm just old enough to remember the IRA blowing thing up in the late 80's and nineties on the mainland. I don't think any sane person wants to go back to mortar attacks on Westminster. It seems strange how we dealt with the ever present threat of the IRA differently to the threat of Islamist terrorism. Yet in terms of casualties the IRA killed more people more regularly.
- NeedMoreTea 8y ago
  Me too, I was working in Docklands when there was the bombing [1]. First time I ever saw an armed policeman in a mainland UK street. Forget pistol, they were wielding MP5s. > threat of the IRA differently to the threat of Islamist terrorism Fully agree. The overreaction has been extreme. I don't understand why the political reaction hasn't been more like it was. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Docklands_bombing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Docklands_bombing
  - noir_lord 8y ago
    I have a theory that during the cold warn western democracies behaved better towards their own people because they had a 'bad guy's to compare against. A sort of 'would they do this in East Germany? Then maybe we shouldnt' yardstick. Also I think a lot of the over reaction to terrorism is just a power/land grab by the intelligence services, I mean they do valuable work but we don't really know how much and what the net benefit of any is. The leaks have been egregious fairly consistently though. Snowden has my respect for confirming what a lot of us techies suspected but couldn't prove.
    - NeedMoreTea 8y ago
      > 'would they do this in East Germany? Then maybe we shouldnt' yardstick. I think there might be some mileage in your theory. :) The UK has an odd relationship with intelligence thanks to the Bletchley Park story being part of our WW2 myths. I've always thought it goes some way to explaining our politicians being so keen on the UK being so excessive and early with things like CCTV everywhere. Which brings us to now when even with all that tech, terrorists seem able to do what terrorists do just as well. At which point it's hard not to become cynical.

noir_lord 8y ago

I'm just old enough to remember the IRA blowing thing up in the late 80's and nineties on the mainland. I don't think any sane person wants to go back to mortar attacks on Westminster. It seems strange how we dealt with the ever present threat of the IRA differently to the threat of Islamist terrorism. Yet in terms of casualties the IRA killed more people more regularly.

NeedMoreTea 8y ago
Me too, I was working in Docklands when there was the bombing [1]. First time I ever saw an armed policeman in a mainland UK street. Forget pistol, they were wielding MP5s. > threat of the IRA differently to the threat of Islamist terrorism Fully agree. The overreaction has been extreme. I don't understand why the political reaction hasn't been more like it was. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Docklands_bombing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Docklands_bombing
- noir_lord 8y ago
  I have a theory that during the cold warn western democracies behaved better towards their own people because they had a 'bad guy's to compare against. A sort of 'would they do this in East Germany? Then maybe we shouldnt' yardstick. Also I think a lot of the over reaction to terrorism is just a power/land grab by the intelligence services, I mean they do valuable work but we don't really know how much and what the net benefit of any is. The leaks have been egregious fairly consistently though. Snowden has my respect for confirming what a lot of us techies suspected but couldn't prove.
  - NeedMoreTea 8y ago
    > 'would they do this in East Germany? Then maybe we shouldnt' yardstick. I think there might be some mileage in your theory. :) The UK has an odd relationship with intelligence thanks to the Bletchley Park story being part of our WW2 myths. I've always thought it goes some way to explaining our politicians being so keen on the UK being so excessive and early with things like CCTV everywhere. Which brings us to now when even with all that tech, terrorists seem able to do what terrorists do just as well. At which point it's hard not to become cynical.