Brexit means the last, best chance for a united Ireland.

[AngryAmish]

So if one believes that colonialism is a bad thing, one must demand Brexit

[libdem4life]

1. Powerful song. Those were terrible years...just listening and

watching here in the US. And yes, that would certainly go a long way. I've read already that Scotland is moving forward. What a stunning historical event...just overnight practically.

[OnDoutside]

19. Dewy eyed claptrap. The Wolfe Tones traded on the misery of 30 years of death, stoking up

anger amongst people who really should have known better. And they did very nicely out it.

[libdem4life]

25. Ok, then.

[Recursion]

2. It also means an end to the Peace Process.

The CTA will (possibly) survive, but the peace process border negotiations just got thrown out with the bathwater because they were predicated on intra-EU borders.

[lapfog_1]

3. and EU membership was a needed respite

from war... one could cross from Ireland to N. Ireland with almost no difficulty...

Now with Brexit, everything could be walled off again and the old passions ignited.

[Scootaloo]

7. Yup.

The outcome here is either a drift towards unity, or a drift towards conflict. And since the old conflict never went away and was only quieted down, I think the latter is unfortunately more likely.

[MADem]

12. It is very easy to find yourself in Northern Ireland without even realizing you've crossed over.

There are signs but they're easy to miss. If the speed limit is in miles, you are in Northern Ireland (UK). If it's in Km per hour, you are back in the EU (Ireland).

You'll also see signs for money changers, if you want to get rid of your Euros/pounds.

Quite a contrast with how it used to be, with fences and checkpoints.

[OnDoutside]

20. It's going to a field day for smuggling.

[MADem]

26. All the old tunnels will be opened up again, I suppose!

That wasn't really a root cellar in Mrs. Murphy's back garden...!

[OnDoutside]

30. More a case of expansion !

[craigmatic]

4. Who could've predicted that the English would be responsible for the end of the UK?

[TheBlackAdder]

6. They will lose all of their colonial and territorial holdings and find themselves a single state.

.


Bit by bit, their empire is crumbling. The sun now sets on the British Empire.


.

[obamanut2012]

13. Yup -- Gibraltar voted REMAIN - and they want Independence

And, not to be absorbed back into Spain. Sounds like they want a micro-state deal like Monaco.

[enid602]

27. vultures

The Argentines now argue that because the Treaty of Lisbon of 2005 (which gives the UK official control of the Malvinas (Falklands)) was signed by an EU member, it is now no longer in effect. Bankers in NYC, Paris and Frankfurt are licking their chops to take over London's lucrative financial sector. The vultures are lining up to pick off the carcass.

[TheBlackAdder]

5. Without unification, a border wall might be required, with checkpoints.

.


http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/britains-only-land-border-with-the-eu-has-a-complicated-future


.

[roamer65]

8. I don't foresee a break up of the UK.

A more devolved UK with an associate membership in the EU I do see.

Scots won't want to trade the pound for the euro.

[MADem]

10. They're already looking into asking for another referendum on independence.

They're a bit annoyed I should think....

Nicola Sturgeon: second Scottish independence poll highly likely
First minister says it is a ‘democratic outrage’ that Scotland would be taken out of European Union against its will

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/24/alex-salmond-second-scottish-independence-referendum-is-certain

[roamer65]

14. I don't think it would pass.

Turnout was 85 pct on the first one and it didn't pass. Turnout for the EU referendum was MUCH lower.

I also highly doubt they will do the referendum while talks are underway with the EU on a redefined membership. The UK will not leave the EU. The Germans won't allow it.

[MADem]

16. I think it would--the last vote was close, and EU participation wasn't on the line in any event.

The noise they are making is that they value the EU more than Westminster. Even the Harry Potter author says she's ready to go.

The article at the link is pretty interesting.

[roamer65]

28. What currency will they use?

England will tell them they can't use the pound and gearing up to use the euro would take a least two to three years.

Personally, I think leaving the EU is not possible without the approval of Westminster, the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland legislatures.

[MADem]

29. It'll take two or three years to "de-couple," so no worries there.

There's been some talk of crafting a Scottish currency (like the old Irish punt) that keys off the British pound, but who knows what they'll do? Maybe they'll just continue to circulate the pound for the time being--it would be in (what's left of) UK's benefit to leave things as they are in that way, at least in the near term. It would certainly make the bookkeeping easier. I simply don't see them saying "You can't use our money." How can they even enforce that?

Look at Ecuador--guess what they use for currency? OFFICIALLY, mind you--not black market, like Venezuela.

The US dollar.

Really--not making it up. The official currency of Ecuador is that Mean Mean Green. It has been thus for sixteen years, now, and they like it--much better than their crappy and volatile sucre that they dumped. It's very convenient if you visit--no moneychanging required at all! And it's not like they're our best buds (remember Evo Morales and his plane games in Europe? And who is that fellow sitting in the Embassy of Ecuador across the street from Harrod's in London?) but hey, we've got the most stable currency in the hemisphere, and they know it.

[Denzil_DC]

31. The pound's not exactly attractive right now, in case you hadn't noticed.

We have a number of options. One thing about the SNP is that they plan ahead. Poor as it is, the euro might not be the worst option given what's likely to happen in the next couple of years.

All bets are off. You're relying on the result of a referendum where Scots were told very clearly and repeatedly that they had to vote No to independence or they'd be out of the EU.

There's already a sea change in opinion in Scotland. Media that strongly supported No have swung behind Sturgeon's right to have a second referendum on the table. People who voted No are saying they'd now vote Yes. The SNP's membership has started to grow yet again. Expect opinion polls in coming weeks to bear this out.

[MADem]

9. Brexit means that the big money in Northern Ireland will tolerate a fence between the north and

south again, quite possibly.

Here's the problem--for any entity of the UK to vote to leave the Kingdom in order to make arrangements to stay in the EU, they must GET THE PERMISSION of the PM.

Assuming the next PM is a LEAVE THE EU enthusiast, that won't happen.

About the only solution that might work is if there is a great hue and cry and re-evaluation, and the electorate DEMANDS a PM who will ask for a 2nd referendum on the issue.

No one thought this shit would pass--not even the LEAVE guys, I don't think. They also don't realize how they're not going to have all that good, cheap French and Italian wine in the supermarket anymore, and how shit is going to cost much, much more, and all those subsidies that are partially funded by the EU are going to go away.

It's going to be like Thatcher times, without Thatcher. And the rich will get richer--the people who are afraid of those "furriners" are the ones who will be getting poorer.

[TubbersUK]

11. It's not that simple I'm afraid

It was the unionist areas in NI that voted Brexit, the nationalists supported 'Remain'

Walking through West Belfast last week, I was struck by the roads hung with Union Jacks and 1916 flags (no, not that 1916 - these flags mark the sacrifice of soldiers from the 36th Ulster Division in the Somme), and how many also featured Leave posters in residents' windows. A few streets away, on the Falls Road, the Irish tricolour and Irish-language murals were joined by signs urging voters to back Remain.

Anyone who has spent much time in Belfast recently can't have missed the general geographical distribution of "Leave" and "Remain" posters. And within Stormont, the DUP have been campaigning for a Leave vote and Sinn Féin for Remain.

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2016/06/your-eu-referendum-vote-could-change-things-forever-northern-ireland

Plus, there are ties between UKIP and the unionists in Northern Ireland:

David McNarry (born 25 May 1948) is the leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in Northern Ireland. He stood for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in North Down in the 1982 Assembly elections but failed to be elected. He was first elected as an MLA for the UUP in 2003 and subsequently re-elected in 2007 and again in 2011, before parting company with the party in 2012 and then going on to join UKIP. He is a former UUP chief whip and education spokesman.

A Northern Ireland Office (NIO) memo released in 2012 described him as "a dangerous nuisance".[1] He is the current Assistant Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_McNarry

[alcibiades_mystery]

15. Hahahahahahahahahahahahah

The Protestants all voted Leave. The Catholics voted remain. Let's see how reunification works under those circumstances.

[OnDoutside]

21. Exactly, thank you. Plus there is no appetite in the Republic of Ireland to take them in, we

couldn't afford to take them, even if we wanted to. Just on one issue, their dole (unemployment benefit is £73 (about €90), the dole in the Republic is €188 a week. There are 40,000 unemployed in the North, in a country where 30% of the workforce work for the Public Service. Plus, the UK government gives them a subvention of £5bn a year (20% of the N.I. economic output).

Besides all that, the Unionist population don't want it, so it's a dead issue.

[Igel]

17. Colonialism is when another occupies and controls your country.

The Protestants have been there long enough that you can't really say they're colonialists and occupiers. It's their country, too.

It's like the Falklands. Take a vote. They stay in or stay out, but either way its not colonialism at this point.

Remember: The Sioux are in the Black Hills because they engaged in war and ethnic cleansing; their warfare and movement into this territory is documented. We think of them as having indigenous rights to the land because they've been there so long, but the Protestants in Ulster set up shop there a century before the Sioux moved into the area around the Black Hills. Same for the Anglo-Americans in New England. This isn't said to constraint the Sioux and make them vacate their land; it's said to point out that longevity in a territory matters, and we tend to be biased for or against certain races and religions and ethnicities in how we interpret that. Being "fair" sometimes requires being humble before our own principles and ideals instead of revising the principles based on the outcome our emotions want.

[Spider Jerusalem]

18. Bullshit

the Protestant majority in NI have been there since the 1600s, it's as much their country as the USA is Americans' (give it back to the Native Americans if you think this is a good idea).

[Unrepentant Fenian]

22. I agree...TAL!

[pampango]

23. Ireland's constitution guarantees freedom of religion and no state religion.

Times are changing.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland

[auntpurl]

24. Orrrr...

the last, best chance for vicious sectarian violence. What a fun tossup! I love playing guessing games with people's lives.