6 ms·

What they did in northern Ireland to make people more happy?

dalke 12y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland_peace_process http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland_peace_process . There's no easy answer. It was a lot of work. I don't know enough to summarize the process.
adventured 12y ago
It wasn't specific to just the north. Ireland slashed the corporate tax rate, set up a global tax evasion hub, and lured thousands of very large companies to their shores, drastically boosting employment and skill development, which took their per capita income from half of Britain's to greater than Britain's in ~20 years. That significantly reduced the number of disgruntled persons, reducing the supply of terrorist-willing types and reducing the native support for such behavior.
- gaius 12y ago
  Don't forget the buckets of money "from the EU" (i.e. The UK). And the British jobs lured there by the artificially low taxes. Like Scotland, Ireland plays the victim card very well to extort money from the English.
  - adventured 12y ago
    Definitely, it was an expensive peace. I suppose most are though.
  - GFK_of_xmaspast 12y ago
    Given the historical realities of the English-Irish relationship, good for them.
  - coldtea 12y ago
    >Like Scotland, Ireland plays the victim card very well to extort money from the English. Yeah, if only the British haven't raped their freedoms, they'd be playing the victim totally virtually.
    - gaius 12y ago
      Look up the Barnett Formula and the West Lothian Question. The history of the UK is the history of the exploitation of the English.
      - deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
      - mcguire 12y ago
        Absolutely. The English should have kicked the Scots and Northern Irish loose a long time ago. Hell, they missed their chance last year.
      - ambrood 12y ago
        Oh c'mon. The parliament in Westminster is effectively the English parliament, the MPs from outside England notwithstanding.
  - iopq 12y ago
    Oh what's that, some country has lower taxes and out-competes your country in the marketplace? How dare they lure businesses by making their country more business-friendly!
    - gaius 12y ago
      Except their rates were artificially low, propped by EU subsidies, and when the wheels came off, it was The English to the rescue, again http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/banking/article3787033.ece http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/banking/ar...
      - throwawayaway 12y ago
        > Britain has given a back-door bailout worth around £10 billion to the Republic of Ireland in an arrangement that was never explicitly approved by Parliament, it can be revealed. How alarming! Aaand in the very next sentence: > The money has been pumped into Ulster Bank, a subsidiary of the state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland which was rescued by a public cash injection of £45 billion five years ago. Somehow your glorious Times seems to have confused the Republic of Ireland with RBS's subsidiary Ulster Bank. An analogy should not be necessary. The difference between a country and a subsidiary of one our own country's banks should be quite obvious to you.
      - underdown 12y ago
        Or perhaps Ireland's spending was artifically high? Your bias for government intervention is showing.
        gaius 12y ago
        I've been accused of many thing in my time, but never of favouring government intervention... However you slice it, Ireland was enjoying a quality of life that could not be sustained, paying for it with EU subsidies, which enabled them to charge less tax than running their state really cost, which they used to lure jobs from the UK. Then when the money ran out, those jobs went to Poland or other lower-cost locations, and they went cap in hand begging to England for more money.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
pjc50 12y ago
Among many other things, reform of the police with firm commitment to even-handed policing. De-escalating the police and military response to fears of terrorism. Involving the Catholic/republican community in the political process.

dalke 12y ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland_peace_process http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland_peace_process . There's no easy answer. It was a lot of work. I don't know enough to summarize the process.

adventured 12y ago

It wasn't specific to just the north. Ireland slashed the corporate tax rate, set up a global tax evasion hub, and lured thousands of very large companies to their shores, drastically boosting employment and skill development, which took their per capita income from half of Britain's to greater than Britain's in ~20 years. That significantly reduced the number of disgruntled persons, reducing the supply of terrorist-willing types and reducing the native support for such behavior.

gaius 12y ago
Don't forget the buckets of money "from the EU" (i.e. The UK). And the British jobs lured there by the artificially low taxes. Like Scotland, Ireland plays the victim card very well to extort money from the English.
- adventured 12y ago
  Definitely, it was an expensive peace. I suppose most are though.
- GFK_of_xmaspast 12y ago
  Given the historical realities of the English-Irish relationship, good for them.
- coldtea 12y ago
  >Like Scotland, Ireland plays the victim card very well to extort money from the English. Yeah, if only the British haven't raped their freedoms, they'd be playing the victim totally virtually.
  - gaius 12y ago
    Look up the Barnett Formula and the West Lothian Question. The history of the UK is the history of the exploitation of the English.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
    - mcguire 12y ago
      Absolutely. The English should have kicked the Scots and Northern Irish loose a long time ago. Hell, they missed their chance last year.
    - ambrood 12y ago
      Oh c'mon. The parliament in Westminster is effectively the English parliament, the MPs from outside England notwithstanding.
- iopq 12y ago
  Oh what's that, some country has lower taxes and out-competes your country in the marketplace? How dare they lure businesses by making their country more business-friendly!
  - gaius 12y ago
    Except their rates were artificially low, propped by EU subsidies, and when the wheels came off, it was The English to the rescue, again http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/banking/article3787033.ece http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/banking/ar...
    - throwawayaway 12y ago
      > Britain has given a back-door bailout worth around £10 billion to the Republic of Ireland in an arrangement that was never explicitly approved by Parliament, it can be revealed. How alarming! Aaand in the very next sentence: > The money has been pumped into Ulster Bank, a subsidiary of the state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland which was rescued by a public cash injection of £45 billion five years ago. Somehow your glorious Times seems to have confused the Republic of Ireland with RBS's subsidiary Ulster Bank. An analogy should not be necessary. The difference between a country and a subsidiary of one our own country's banks should be quite obvious to you.
    - underdown 12y ago
      Or perhaps Ireland's spending was artifically high? Your bias for government intervention is showing.
      - gaius 12y ago
        I've been accused of many thing in my time, but never of favouring government intervention... However you slice it, Ireland was enjoying a quality of life that could not be sustained, paying for it with EU subsidies, which enabled them to charge less tax than running their state really cost, which they used to lure jobs from the UK. Then when the money ran out, those jobs went to Poland or other lower-cost locations, and they went cap in hand begging to England for more money.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]

pjc50 12y ago

Among many other things, reform of the police with firm commitment to even-handed policing. De-escalating the police and military response to fears of terrorism. Involving the Catholic/republican community in the political process.