DUP turn the screw

[medsec222]

The insults were very ageist right from the beginning. As in - it was the old and uneducated who voted to Leave. And later it became, don't worry about it, they will all be dying off shortly.

[AliasAggers]

The answer to the Irish Border problem might be to say goodbye to Northern Ireland, giving them the option of becoming a separate entity
or, if they so wish, of joining up with Southern Ireland.
Would we really miss them if they left the U.K.?
They have certainly given us a few problems in the past.

[Workingman]

It is all going south - full sail without a rudder.

Today Tusk says that there is no optimism for a deal this week and no appetite among the 27 for an extraordinary summit for mid November. Yet May keeps banging the same old drum.

We also learn that the government is ditching contentious legislation for fear of rebellions among Tory MPs. The first such is the Offensive Weapons Bill where about 30 shire Tories, the farmer's friends, were going to rebel. It looks as though using the whip can only be effective so many times before MPs say "enough is enough".

Parliament is being hamstrung and normal business is not getting done.

[cromwell]

Perhaps if they been more honest the Offensive Weapons Bill would have passed?
Tucked away at the bottom is a measure to ban "high energy and rapid firing" rifles.
Thus using a measure alledgedly to ban the sales of zombie knives, flick knives and acid sales to youngsters to further restrict the type of firearms available to the law abiding.
They just can't help themselves can they?

[Workingman]

Maybe if they had realised that licenced firearms are restricted to those with relevant licences; and knives and corrosives available to anyone from hardware stores and supermarkets are two different things, there would be no mess.

One bill for firearms: One bill for offensive weapons inc knives and corrosives. Simple

[Suff]

But is the DUP's preferred option realistic Suff?
In the EU, no border. Out of the EU, surely there has to be a border?

There is a simple point here. The UK does not _want_ to apply tariffs to the EU. It is the EU who want to apply tariffs to the UK if we leave. Should the UK leave without a deal, then it is incumbent on the EU to put a border on place between Eire and NI, not on the UK to do so.

This is a point that the whole world is missing and the government, apart from one minister, consistently fails to address. The only people who actually insist on a border for NI is the EU and the EU is trying to use it to keep the UK in the single market.

There is only one answer and the DUP just applied it.

"F. Off. and if you want to put up a border you'd better get onto the Eire parliament and get it done, because we're not putting one up!"

Until the EU realise that this is the realistic backstop, they are not going to stop trying to take advantage.

Arlene foster, Go For It and if it means Hard Brexit, all the better. Because I can guarantee you one thing for absolute certain. In a Hard Brexit scenario the EU will agree a solid trade and cross border access deal within a year.

THAT is reality. All the rest of it is a pipe dream.

[Suff]

The answer to the Irish Border problem might be to say goodbye to Northern Ireland, giving them the option of becoming a separate entity
or, if they so wish, of joining up with Southern Ireland.
Would we really miss them if they left the U.K.?
They have certainly given us a few problems in the past.

I have always felt that Ireland belongs to the Irish and that England should never have taken it over in the first place. I can assure you that this opinion was _extremely_ unpopular when I was in the Army but it never stopped me from holding it.

That being said, they are British citizens and entitled to the protection and succour of the British crown. This means that until they decide to leave they are entitled to stay.

I wouldn't evict them just because it is a hard situation any more than I would have voted to let the Falklands be taken over by a military Junta.

[Suff]

Well the whole thing is a mess now. May massively overstepped her remit and is now going to pay the price. The EU thought they had us over a barrel and are now finding that trying to be "tough" with the UK can have rather negative consequences.

It is all getting rather interesting as people realise that regardless of what May wanted the EU were always trying to force us into Soft Brexit from which they could take major advantage. At the same time the EU and Italy are at each others throats over a budget which will break EU rules and in the UK wages are surging well over inflation, decoupling the value of the £ from the political shenanigans of Brexit.

All in all, rather amusing in the short term. The way the EU are going, May will be gone, a Brexiteer will replace her and they'll be standing there asking for "terms" whilst being told to go raffle themselves. First Trump, who they knuckled under to in a few weeks. Next the UK and Brexit, followed sharply by Italy in the guise of Matteo Salvini…

Sadly the Commission is about to change in May, because Junker and his bunch of cronies are not going to shoulder the cost of the havoc they are wreaking.

[Workingman]

Where to begin........

The EU has to have a border between itself and a third country not in the EEA. There has to be a border with the UK, but where that border is is the problem.

There cannot be 'no border' as that leaves the EU open to unchecked goods from Great Britain (and the world) via NI and Eire.

The UK wants a border somewhere for the reverse reason.

If we leave with 'no deal' and go to WTO rules then the WTO also wants a border.

If we go WTO we cannot, under MFN rules, go tariff free with the EU unless we go tariff free with other countries for those same goods and services.

That works in reverse. The EU cannot slap punitive tariffs on the UK without levying the same tariffs on other third countries for the same goods and services.

All of these things should have been looked at long and hard before A50 was triggered. The EU is not, and never has been, punishing the UK, it has simply stuck to the rules.

The Pipe Dream? Yes, there was one, the easiest deal in history one from Fox and the other Leave leaders. Now that really was a PIPE DREAM!

The Irish thing is just more distraction and deflection. We are where we are and nothing is going to change in the immediate future.

[Suff]

The Irish thing is just more distraction and deflection. We are where we are and nothing is going to change in the immediate future.

Yes and NO.

As for the whole "the EU is blameless and you can't just not have a border" bit. That it patently bollocks. As the Nordic Passport Union shows.

There is absolutely no reason why Ireland can't continue with the same provision for travel between Ireland and the UK, including NI, with some additional checks for commercial vehicles.

It is not just a case of a "special" arrangement. It is a "normal" arrangement for many places in the world.

The EU has accepted this ever since Sweden and Denmark joined the EU. So let's not have the FUD please. It doesn't sit well. The EU is lying it's ass off and everyone should be aware of that.