Comments by "Taint ABird" (@taintabird23) on "BBC News" channel.

  1. The EU cannot support Irish interests and ignore Northern Ireland. Their member state places the border issue above the economic consequences of Brexit. Furthermore, there is a pride in the EU at how the bloc and its values informed the peace process, they see themselves as stakeholders in its maintenance. However, we do know that the Tory party places Brexit above the maintenance of the precious union, so it will be interesting to see how what the UK government do next. We know too, that Brexiters care little about peace in Northern Ireland and are deeply ignorant and casual about the impact of their decision to the leave the EU has on the island of Ireland.
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  2. That was only VW.
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  3. 'European countries dont have that luxury' What??
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  4.  @spillarge  It is a rhetorical question based on an ridiculous statement. The UK is one of the least democratic states in Europe, as you well know.
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  5. The Northern Ireland Protocol was a UK Tory idea to prevent a hard border in Ireland, and, you must remember there was majority support to remain in Northern Ireland. The DUP backed the wrong horse by support Brexit and supporting the border in the Irish Sea (however reluctantly). Brexit is a bad idea and unsuited to the NI situation.
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  6.  @asanulsterman1025  It is not nonsense, and you have no response.
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  7. In the history of national humiliation, can anyone else think of a western nation so committed to to this end as the UK?
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  8. Its become a prosperous and progressive outward looking state filled with Irish people confident in their identity.
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  9. Its a foreign policy issue.
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  10. If the wanted English money they would hardly be looking for independence from Westminster.
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  11. 'Its clear now that the Republic of Ireland are not happy having a deal with the U.K. outside the E.U' It's only clear NOW!
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  12. Nobody is seeking a United Ireland, but it may come about eventually due to Brexit. Even as it is, the majority in NI wished to remain in the EU but must now leave because the majority of English want out. Who knows how people in NI will feel about a United Ireland in the future?
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  13. What back door?
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  14. Gibraltar is not part of the UK, its a British Overseas Territory.
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  15.  @alexwars8327  touche!
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  16. There are Christians in Lebanon also, some of the oldest Christian sects in fact; what Irish people have been killed by muslims in Ireland?
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  17. Yes, indeed - 3.25 Billion.
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  18. The murder of the Irish soldier last year is a matter for the Lebanese authorities to prosecute. I know the Israeli's under the current regime have little time for international law, but the Irish still respect it. Does this bother you? Have the Irish behaved differently from when Israeli's murdered Irish troops?
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  19. The UK is about to ask for an extension. It is not certain the EU will grant one.
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  20. Well, it would be a lot worse if they weren't there....
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  21.  @dochollywood6749  Who wants a UN with teeth? Its membership doesnt. How much worse are the attacks on northern Israel now when compared to 1978?
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  22. Its like the EU never said that the withdrawal agreement was not up for negotiation.
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  23. Rubbish. The Irish sympathize with the Palestinians, but that does not mean we hate Israel.
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  24. Only a tiny minority of UK public opinion wants a hard Brexit - 11% on the latest Kantar poll. 55% think the UK Government is making a hash of Brexit; 21% think it is doing a good job. 64% don’t think the UK Government has a coherent position - and they are right. (November, 24th, 2017)
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  25. It doesn't have an open border like there is in Ireland.
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  26. 'Little England' stood alone, did it? No Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland? And what of the Poles and Czech in Fighter Command in the Battle of Britain...or the pilots from all across the Commonwealth who served in bomber command? What load of crap. Brexit will be remembered for the farce that it is...and you haven't even left yet.
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  27.  @Dan-iq9td  No, I meant what I said.
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  28. Getting rid of British rule so that we would not have English nationalists tell us what is best for us, getting it wrong, and blame the Irish for it.
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  29. Irish Republicans considered the Germans to be allies in during the 1916 Easter Rising.
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  30. ​ @Halotest100  The Irish are the UKs masters now, certainly in relation to the EU. The Irish have shaped your Brexit to a point where you are all now pretending you never wanted a deal in the first place. Too funny. When the UK comes looking for a trade deal it will be the Irish you will have to suck up to, in order to ensure you get a good deal. Ireland will be in your corner, but will not tolerate any perfidy. Once there is a deal the Irish can live with, Dublin will give the nod to the US Congress not to block any trade deal between the US and the UK. The US will be your other master, dictating the terms of any trade agreement as the UK will be a rule take, a vassal used to Make America Great Again. Your foreign policy will continue to be determined by the US State Department, and it appears you have already surrendered selection of your Ambassador to the US to President himself. This will give you all more time to pick your own fruit and other hard work. It will be hard, as the English are the least productive workforce in the entire OECD. By the way, Ireland joined the Euro freely, and the Germans ceased approving the Irish budget in 2012. Ireland has its own Refugee Policy which it implements and it takes in relatively few refugees.
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  31. China is the biggest dictatorship on the planet.
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  32.  @olcapone3039  No, it is China.
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  33. de Valera was not an Irish name either. What's your point?
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  34. Because it means the English will have to stand on their own two feet, and they don't have the confidence to do that yet.
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  35. Scotland would have vastly more 'autonomy' as you call it, as an independent member state of the European Union than it ever could as part of the UK.
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  36. That sounds like a different report. This report was on the Irish troops serving with UNIFIL. The report you want would be called 'the effectiveness of UNIFIL in completing its mandate.
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  37.  @dansiegel333  See my previous post.
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  38. 'The Irish are themselves IRA terrorists' This is so stupid, only an American could write it
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  39. That would have made the BBC the propaganda tool of Israel, right? Is that the purpose of the BBC? To represent Israel?
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  40. Who?
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  41. Really? You didn't believe the UK held all the cards?
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  42.  @superdan8286  You must have been furious with Brexiters when they were telling voters in 2016 that leaving without a deal with the EU, not staying in the single market was madness. Did you vote for Brexit on those terms?
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  43.  @superdan8286  Some observations: There are about 200 nations in the world as I understand it, and you correctly point out that many of those countries are poor, indicating that they are unlikely to be customers for the UKs high-end products - which limits the UKs opportunities with them. But most other countries are, including these poor ones, creating trade blocs or are strengthening existing ones with their neighbours. Countries trade more with their neighbours because it adds value to our exports - the further you have to send your stuff, the more expensive it is to send it, the lower your profits. In that light, pure economics, Brexit makes no sense. You say that a country should sink or swim by its own merits; I would say countries, especially small ones, live or die by the quality of their strategic thinking, especially in relation to the tyranny of geography. In that respect, the UK is a small country now, off the coast of the EU, and against a much larger bloc that will continue to be an influence on British decision making without the UK having a chance to shape that influence; China, the emerging superpower, and the USA, the existing superpower, are both rich and have much larger economies. Both of these will expect the UK to be rule takers in any formal economic relationship and you will have to sacrifice some sovereignty in order increase British prosperity in the future. In that light too, the obsession with sovereignty makes no sense. The remainers are defeated, they were routed in the 2019 General Election. They are an irrelevance now. Still, there seems to be a tendency among Brexiters to hold them accountable for the EU not begging for a deal or whatever. I'm not sure what they really expected. In any case, I would be concerned as to where the blame for the unrealised expectations of Brexit is being placed, because unlike you, they really believed that the EU would fall at the UKs every demand in order to get any kind of a deal, because they liked the idea of the UK being that important. I'm not British, but I have been really struck by how Brexit has exposed pre-existing fault-lines in UK society. One example is that it seems to have energised Scottish nationalists once again and I think there are English people too that want England to leave the UK. Do you think the break up of the UK is now inevitable? Will we see an independent England in the coming years?
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  44. How do you know how many attacks they are preventing?
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  45. Yes, many people in the Irish area of operations in South Lebanon speak English with Irish accents.
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  46. But you are NOT ruled by a foreign power. You are equal member of a political and economic union called the EU. When you feel superior to other countries, such equality can be seen as oppression. This is quite different from the political union called the UK and its much more considerable democratic deficits and dominance by the English.
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  47. They're not worried. Brexit is the UK shooting the EU in the foot, and itself in the face. You are only the 5th largest economy in the world because of your EU membership.
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  48. Ah! A pedant! You are only the 5th largest economy in the because of your membership of the EEC/EU. That better?
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  49. @ Stupops76 Good point! In 1950 the UK still had most of its empire, having just lost India and was still the third largest economy in the world. By 1955 the UK economy had been surpassed by Japan, Germany, France and Italy in terms of size. That must have been galling: winning the war and 'losing the peace'. By the early 1970s, power cuts, strikes and low productivity, saw the UK economy earn the nickname 'the sick man of Europe'. The UK then reluctantly joined the EEC and was bailed out by the IMF in 1976. Margaret Thatcher modernised the economy but left vast swathes of people behind, particularly in the north. They were ignored by Labour. While the UK prospered, becoming the 5th largest economy in the world, economic inequality grew. The left behinds then voted to leave the EU because their Westminster elite which had ignored them told them it would be best to remain. Every economic indicator predicts economic decline for the UK as a result... So now you will all go down together....while euroscepticism across Europe has declined thanks to you guys! Go UK! You're screwed though.
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  50.  @nnagildan8455  Hoardes? Stop using words you don't understand. Using a tri-colour as an avatar is embarrassing your nation.
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