This is the connection between the fallout from the Sue Gray report and Brexit One of the things Brexiters like to harp on about is how we Remainer types can make absolutely anything about Britain’s departure from the European Union. Every time any little thing goes wrong, the B-word has to be involved in some say, doesn’t it Remoaners? Truth is, I sort of see what they are saying a little - sometimes the need to link everything back to Brexit can be a little overcooked by those of us who would like to see Britain back in the clubhouse. However, there are some wider implications of Brexit that I do think need to be talked about from time to time - in particular those that seem less than obvious until you really stop and think about it.
think you are missing a key thing about Unionism - a thing that most (GB) Brits miss, and that I only worked out this year. Unionism isn't about the union.
It's about a culture, which they believe should be the dominant culture in NI. Orange marches, and giant bonfires, and Union Jacks and evangelical presbyterianism and all the rest.
They identify that Unionist culture with the union. Attacks on that culture are (to them) attacks on the union, which is why Alliance were attacked for taking down the Union Jack at Belfast Town Hall.
The idea of giving up cultural ground - like Irish language road signs - to save the union doesn't compute. It's not simply that they don't think it would work; it's that the culture (to them) *is* the union. So, when it comes to Brexit, the question is not "will this help support the union?", but "which side of the culture war is Brexit on?" And that is obvious, of course.
Alliance are the only party outside the culture war, the only people that think like liberal/middle-class Brits. They are both the most British and the most Irish party in NI - because, like people in London and Dublin, the constitutional culture war in NI isn't the most important thing to them. Which is why they understood from the beginning that Brexit was a threat to the union - that Brexit would push them closer to the SDLP and Sinn Féin and away from the unionists.
My only worry is that this Tory leadership is so slippery and devious that stealing popular Labour policy distributing money to the poor and general population shows they won't go without a fight.
They will keep bribing right up to 2024 to say the cost of living is their war now.
This is their only route to try to erase the corruption of partygate.
This is a real danger to Labour as the tories are looking like a big spending high tax party which will appeal to the red wall.
What this does to inflation is another matter.
A manufactured spat with Europe before the election to reheat Brexit through client media is certain along with the regurgitation of the hard left bull of coalition Labour SNP Lib dems.
Labour and the Liberals need to keep banging away at the Character of Johnson the Charlatan liar who used Brexit for personal gain and partied his way through Covid.
It seems clear that the reason NI is moving toward Ireland is because trade in that direction is more favourable now. Hence the unionist trend for weakening or ending the protocol. They would welcome a border to the south as it would reverse the move in that direction. Protest against a new border could be branded as a resurgence of nationalist activism leading to a need for unionist action to protect. That's all they have left.
think you are missing a key thing about Unionism - a thing that most (GB) Brits miss, and that I only worked out this year. Unionism isn't about the union.
It's about a culture, which they believe should be the dominant culture in NI. Orange marches, and giant bonfires, and Union Jacks and evangelical presbyterianism and all the rest.
They identify that Unionist culture with the union. Attacks on that culture are (to them) attacks on the union, which is why Alliance were attacked for taking down the Union Jack at Belfast Town Hall.
The idea of giving up cultural ground - like Irish language road signs - to save the union doesn't compute. It's not simply that they don't think it would work; it's that the culture (to them) *is* the union. So, when it comes to Brexit, the question is not "will this help support the union?", but "which side of the culture war is Brexit on?" And that is obvious, of course.
Alliance are the only party outside the culture war, the only people that think like liberal/middle-class Brits. They are both the most British and the most Irish party in NI - because, like people in London and Dublin, the constitutional culture war in NI isn't the most important thing to them. Which is why they understood from the beginning that Brexit was a threat to the union - that Brexit would push them closer to the SDLP and Sinn Féin and away from the unionists.
Nick
My only worry is that this Tory leadership is so slippery and devious that stealing popular Labour policy distributing money to the poor and general population shows they won't go without a fight.
They will keep bribing right up to 2024 to say the cost of living is their war now.
This is their only route to try to erase the corruption of partygate.
This is a real danger to Labour as the tories are looking like a big spending high tax party which will appeal to the red wall.
What this does to inflation is another matter.
A manufactured spat with Europe before the election to reheat Brexit through client media is certain along with the regurgitation of the hard left bull of coalition Labour SNP Lib dems.
Labour and the Liberals need to keep banging away at the Character of Johnson the Charlatan liar who used Brexit for personal gain and partied his way through Covid.
It seems clear that the reason NI is moving toward Ireland is because trade in that direction is more favourable now. Hence the unionist trend for weakening or ending the protocol. They would welcome a border to the south as it would reverse the move in that direction. Protest against a new border could be branded as a resurgence of nationalist activism leading to a need for unionist action to protect. That's all they have left.