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As far as bad analogies go this one is high up there with the worst. The UK isn’t asking to ship things to Poland or Slovakia or France. Northern Ireland and Re

As far as bad analogies go this one is high up there with the worst. The UK isn’t asking to ship things to Poland or Slovakia or France. Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland have a long and ingrained relationship that makes a separation between them near impossible, and the UK is feeling it. This has nothing to do with the main EU bloc. A lot of people in mainland Europe are pained that the UK left, and in my own opinion (as a non-European), it’s more of a show of pity on themselves than sympathetic with the British. And so, they rejoice at any news of problems and use it as an opportunity to remind the rest of the world that they're right, the EU is nirvana, and the UK is matching to hell. It’s tiring.

sofixa 6y ago
> The UK isn’t asking to ship things to Poland or Slovakia or France. Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland have a long and ingrained relationship that makes a separation between them near impossible, and the UK is feeling it. This has nothing to do with the main EU bloc It has everything to do with the EU, because Northern Ireland and Ireland don't have a land border because they both were are a part of the EU. The UK wants to leave the customs union allowing the lack of border, while keeping no border, which is practically impossible. It's entirely the UK's fault here - they want their cake and to eat it too. It cannot possibly work, and the only viable long term solution is for Ireland to unite.
- goatinaboat 6y ago
  It's entirely the UK's fault here Free movement between the UK and Eire long pre-dates the existence of the EU.
  - CogitoCogito 6y ago
    Ireland is free to leave the EU and negotiate with the UK if it would like to start back up such free movement. Somehow I doubt they want to.
  - querulous 6y ago
    the uk joining the eu common market in 1993 is what triggered the removal of immigration and customs checks on the ireland border. the gfa in 1998 led to the end of military checkpoints
simonboulton 6y ago
All analogies are imperfect, as is mine, though I would hesitate to say that it could be considered to be one of the worst. I would agree with other opinions which point out that it's more of a co-operative club run by and for the benefit of the members. I disagree with your point about the the UK not asking to ship things to Poland or Slovakia or France. This is just plain wrong. Of course we are asking to do these things. In fact I have personal experience of this, as we actually do ship things from the UK to Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the EU. I now have to fill out custom forms and get approval before I can do this. Most bizarrely, I have to do it if I want to ship from where we are in Liverpool (in the UK) to Belfast (also in the UK). I have to get a permit to go into the county of Kent if I want to send a vehicle through the Channel Tunnel to France (£300 fine if I don't). I sometimes think that I have fallen into a dystopian parallel universe. You are correct that NI and the Republic have a long and ingrained relationship, but the separation between them was largely removed only quite recently by the Good Friday Agreement which has brought relative peace to the region. It has everything to do with the EU because the EU were sensible enough to not countenance the re-imposition of a border between Northern and Southern Ireland and so an agreement (the Northern Ireland Protocol) was agreed between the EU and the UK which puts the border relatively speaking in the Irish Sea. So Northern Ireland is still effectively in the EU customs union and single market. If you think that's complicated, we haven't even started yet :) I'm not surprised you're tired. As far as the EU is concerned, I don't think that many people in mainland Europe really care that much. They have much more interesting things to do. Those that do care think we're a bit stupid. The EU project will carry on quite happily without the UK. I don't see much evidence of rejoicing on the part of Europeans. Also, quite a few Europeans don't have a terribly high opinion of the EU and certainly don't see it as a Nirvana; and the UK will not be marching to hell. Things are getting more expensive and some opportunities have diminished, but it's not an Armageddon as some would have you believe. Leaving the EU was rather pointless, that's all :|

sofixa 6y ago

> The UK isn’t asking to ship things to Poland or Slovakia or France. Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland have a long and ingrained relationship that makes a separation between them near impossible, and the UK is feeling it. This has nothing to do with the main EU bloc It has everything to do with the EU, because Northern Ireland and Ireland don't have a land border because they both were are a part of the EU. The UK wants to leave the customs union allowing the lack of border, while keeping no border, which is practically impossible. It's entirely the UK's fault here - they want their cake and to eat it too. It cannot possibly work, and the only viable long term solution is for Ireland to unite.

goatinaboat 6y ago
It's entirely the UK's fault here Free movement between the UK and Eire long pre-dates the existence of the EU.
- CogitoCogito 6y ago
  Ireland is free to leave the EU and negotiate with the UK if it would like to start back up such free movement. Somehow I doubt they want to.
- querulous 6y ago
  the uk joining the eu common market in 1993 is what triggered the removal of immigration and customs checks on the ireland border. the gfa in 1998 led to the end of military checkpoints

simonboulton 6y ago

All analogies are imperfect, as is mine, though I would hesitate to say that it could be considered to be one of the worst. I would agree with other opinions which point out that it's more of a co-operative club run by and for the benefit of the members. I disagree with your point about the the UK not asking to ship things to Poland or Slovakia or France. This is just plain wrong. Of course we are asking to do these things. In fact I have personal experience of this, as we actually do ship things from the UK to Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the EU. I now have to fill out custom forms and get approval before I can do this. Most bizarrely, I have to do it if I want to ship from where we are in Liverpool (in the UK) to Belfast (also in the UK). I have to get a permit to go into the county of Kent if I want to send a vehicle through the Channel Tunnel to France (£300 fine if I don't). I sometimes think that I have fallen into a dystopian parallel universe. You are correct that NI and the Republic have a long and ingrained relationship, but the separation between them was largely removed only quite recently by the Good Friday Agreement which has brought relative peace to the region. It has everything to do with the EU because the EU were sensible enough to not countenance the re-imposition of a border between Northern and Southern Ireland and so an agreement (the Northern Ireland Protocol) was agreed between the EU and the UK which puts the border relatively speaking in the Irish Sea. So Northern Ireland is still effectively in the EU customs union and single market. If you think that's complicated, we haven't even started yet :) I'm not surprised you're tired. As far as the EU is concerned, I don't think that many people in mainland Europe really care that much. They have much more interesting things to do. Those that do care think we're a bit stupid. The EU project will carry on quite happily without the UK. I don't see much evidence of rejoicing on the part of Europeans. Also, quite a few Europeans don't have a terribly high opinion of the EU and certainly don't see it as a Nirvana; and the UK will not be marching to hell. Things are getting more expensive and some opportunities have diminished, but it's not an Armageddon as some would have you believe. Leaving the EU was rather pointless, that's all :|