Comments by "Taint ABird" (@taintabird23) on "Brexit Stalemate Has Caused Enormous Damage to U.K., Princeton's O'Toole Says" video.

  1. ;Brexit is about the democratic right of national self-determination by public ballot.' That's bollox. There is no constitutional account for the fact that the Scots and Northern Irish voted to remain, and so it is really the imposition of the will of the English on the rest of the UK in a state with a declining British Demos. 'If the UK wants to leave the EU it is no-one else's business but the UK electorate' Wow! Once again, its the English electorate that is taking the UK out of the EU. The GFA means that it is Ireland's business as a co-guarantor of the GFA...not that you will know anything about that. It is also the business of the rest of the member states who are effected by your chaotic unicorn laden folly. 'If you wish to continue with a decade of stagnant wages and austerity for the poor then the EU is the ideal place to be economically trapped. The argument is really about democracy and not economics.' I would take my chances with the EU. I you wish end stagnant wages in the UK and austerity for the poor, you certainly would not chose Brexit which will result in less bang for your buck. You trust the Tories with your workers rights? Health system? You must be out of your mind...
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  2. Yes, Brexit is about the English and their insecurities with their place in the world.
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  3. Its a failure of British politics.
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  4. The EU stands behind Ireland because it is a member of the EU and the UK is leaving it. The UK is very disappointed that the EU does not hold Ireland in the same contempt Brexit Britain holds Ireland...a UK miscalculation.
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  5. Disagreed with by some, but discredited by none.
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  6. Well, any residual psychological dependency on the UK will end after Brexit. Ireland is now a net-contributor to the EU. The principle of raising economies of EU members to match stronger members is a core one in the EU, and one of the reasons why countries join it. Only the UK has make a pigs ear of it. The Irish like the EU because it has provided an environment where the Irish can achieve their potential and where Irish cultural identity is distinct, strong an confident.
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  7. Nope, people were exploited and deliberately misinformed.
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  8. You can't even spell propaganda. And you don't know the difference between propaganda and critical analysis. You have no idea how ridiculous Brexit looks from outside the bubble you are in.
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  9. If you 'want your country back', you need to look closer to home, to your own elites, rather than to Brussells. You need to look at the toffs promoting Brexit...
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  10. Brexiters don't want to be governed by their own country - they want their own way. If Brexiters cared about being 'governed by their own people', or about laws being made by their own courts, why would they call politicians and judges TRAITORS when they didn't get decisions they wanted? Brexit has nothing to do with self-determination. Indeed, the Brexit Britain is currently incapable of self-rule at the present time. The Scots voted to remain. How does Brexit account that? Where is the acknowledgement that 'people think people being governed by their own' is better? Northern Ireland is governed in the context of the GFA, which states that there can be not changes in the NI situation without the CONSENT of the people of NI. 56% voted to remain - where is the account for 'people being governed by their own' in this situation? Consent is what the people of NI voted for in a BINDING referendum based on a PLAN which became an International Treaty bound by international law. Your problems are all closer to home than Brussels, and for that reason there is a real danger that the English are facing a self-inflicted humiliation on the international stage. Get back to me when you have something coherent to say.
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  11. There is a hard-line minority who absolutely determined to shoot themselves in the face. The UK will continue to blame the EU even after Brexit. The alternative is to face themselves and their shortcomings, and they are not ready to do that yet.
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  12. What 'crap'?
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  13. Democracy is dead because Leave won using misinformation and lies to hijack a democratic process...
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  14. On the contrary. The Irish position it to maintain the status quo, Brexit is changing that. If the UK continues on its course, Brexit will break up the UK which is not what Ireland wants.
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  15. You're not negotiating with the EU, you are negotiating with yourselves. You cannot agree what you want, and somehow its the EUs fault!
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  16. How has the EU obstructed the UK when the UK Parliament cannot agree what it wants? The UK agreed to May's deal and your Parliament rejected it. You had a vote and you have consistently obstructed yourselves from leaving. Just as well. Your behavior indicates the UK is not currently fit for self-rule. Its March 30th, 2019 and you are still in the EU. You have lost at every stage in this process of self-humiliation.
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  17. Oh please. Rupert Murdoch's papers have been peddling nonsense about the EU for decades, preparing your for your democratic exploitation. Facts are checkable, but voters are lazy. The cure for ignorance is knowledge.
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  18. Yes.
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  19. Yes, substitute EU for UK please. Surprised I had to spoon feed you that, but such are the times we live in. Do you need me to retype that sentence?
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  20. When it comes to Brexit, Ireland has 26 other countries behind it. The UK is divided and on its Jack Jones.
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  21. Its doomed to fail because it based on an invented oppression and bolstered by a misinformation about a better future for the UK outside of the EU.
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  22. Pity you can't say why.
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  23. As you know, what he is really saying is that for democracy to have any meaning, the electorate or the voters must be informed. That is why we need a free press in any healthy democracy. Voters in the UKs referenda were misinformed, through no fault of their own.
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  24. Jesus Christ, if that is the level of aspiration for democracy in the UK, it explains the current malaise in Westminster. They say we elected the politicians we deserve. Ireland had a referendum on abortion....five of them in 35 years in fact...people are allowed change their minds in Ireland. It is considered an important part of Irish democracy. In the end the right to life of the unborn was removed from the Irish constitution. The government was successful in having it removed from the constitution as it published the legislation that would replace it, so people could INFORM themselves and decide if they were in favour of it or not. 'The idea that we now know something that we didn't then, is a myth.' No, its a fact. The Leavers never published a plan and bullshitted their way through what passes for 'pre-referendum debate' in your country. Today we are told 'everybody voted for no deal'. This is fucking lie, as 'no deal' was not on offer and it was considered 'madness' to leave the single market. Fortunately the evidence exists to prove it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xGt3QmRSZY In a democracy everyone has a right to correct information allowing the even the stupid to come to a conclusion. But if you have a system whereby facts and truth are optional, all that matters is the manipulation of the ill-informed, say through a print media run by an oligarch, then you ain't living in a democracy pal. You live in a country with little experience of referenda. It shows.
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  25. Your post is an excellent example of a Brexiter who still thinks there is a Brexit out there that will work for them, if only those who voted remain didn't fuck it up. The EU needs no 'encouragement' to give the UK a bad deal. The EU is bound by its rules and there is no deal available that is better than membership - why would there be? Even if there was, why would they give it you when you when the UK cannot actually decide what it wants exactly? Wales voted to leave, but they number only 3 million, have a less well developed nationalism (when compared with the Scots for example) and much more strongly influenced by the English print media than those north of Hadrian's wall. Interestingly 87% of Welsh speakers voted to remain. It would seem the stronger your Welsh identity, the more pro-EU the Welsh people are. It was the same with Gaelic speakers in Scotland. A small majority of Welsh people voted for Brexit. I wonder how many would vote for it now...
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  26. We did - in an International Peace Treaty which is lodged with the UN. Brexit undermines it. That's the problem Brexit presents to Ireland!!
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  27. Politics has failed Britain.
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  28. Well its not working at the moment!
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  29. So why did the UK not implement its own immigration controls, like the Irish do?
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  30. How was the vote democratic when it was based on lies and misinformation?
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  31. The Backstop.
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  32. 'I have zero sympathy for Southern Ireland' You have zero sympathy for Northern Ireland too.
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  33. O'Toole is holding a mirror up to people like you and showing the world the image. He's winning awards for his work. You can't even coherently articulate how you disagree with him.
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  34. No you don't. O'Toole is a bleeding heart liberal, hardly a bigot, though I can see how there could be bigots in your family. The use of Marxism in this context only identifies you has a member of the hard right, for whom such labels are a simplistic identifier and a substitute for coherent argument.
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  35. Irish corporation tax is none of your business, and is the sovereign competence of every state.
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  36. Informed consent is not a condition on your right to vote, but an essential ingredient of democracy. Why do you think a democracy requires a free press? In Russia you have a right to a vote, but no right to you informed consent. Would you consider Russia a democracy like the UK?
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  37. I was the one talking about Russia. I was comparing the UK with Russia. I'm not sure you're keeping up here. You've mentioned the Rothschilds. Where are you on George Soros?
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  38. It is a requirement of democracy that you have to have an informed choice, otherwise it is not democratic. If your politicians manipulate you through lies - not to be confused with miscalculations, but barefaced lies - then you do not have an informed choice. If you do not have an informed choice, what is the point in voting other than enabling those in power to abuse you? You can have opposing information of course, and you then exercise your democratic choice. No need to answer - it is a rhetorical question and I know where you stand. It have to say, this has been a fascinating discussion and insight.
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  39. Oh please, claiming you voted remain is stretching it too far. You display none of the characteristics of a remainer, but all of the identifying features of a leaver. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...
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  40. I agree, the UK is in chaos: thick leavers, impotent remainers, a limited free press, a divided parliament still negotiating with itself, useless leaders, a hopeless opposition and an incoherent English nationalism that is not comfortable with its place in the world. As a result the UK is a laughing stock. 'Unlike you I accepted the decision and moved on, only to watch a disgusting and disgraceful attempt to make a mockery of people’s only way of changing the status quo.' The above statement betrays you as a Brexiter. For a those who voted leave, Brexit is more important than democracy and informed choice. If believing that democracy requires informed choice makes me arrogant, I can live with that. The UK is not my country - so in many ways your misinformed referendum is immaterial to me. However, from outside the Brexit Bubble, I can tell you that what is happening in your country is viewed as the greatest exercise in national self harm since the Easter Islanders cut down their last tree. We are witnessing the beginning of the end of the UK. If you are looking for an elite to blame you need to look closer to home, to your pantomime toffs in parliament and the oligarchs that own certain newspapers. I don't belong to that crowd.
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  41. I know.
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  42. I'm sorry but it is you that is full of shit. You are peddling the usual ignorance of people who were fed shite in their print media about the EU/EEC since the 1980s.
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  43. Everyone having a dig at the UK is indicative of the pantomime farce that is Brexit.
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  44. The British propensity to overestimate themselves is not only a significant element of your national story, but is lauded as part of your culture of 'heroic failure'. Brexit will be the latest chapter.
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  45. I fink I get paid on a fursday.
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  46. Why not? You have previously listened to a chartered accountant (Peter Bone), journalists (Bo Jo and Gove) and a hedge fund manager (Mogg) on the subject. Why not a Drama Critic and an award-winning journalist?
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  47. Susan Field, Ireland is not part of the United Kingdom, and therefore did not vote in your referendum. Why do you not know this?
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  48. Susan Field There is no such country as Southern Ireland. Why do you not know this! There is Ireland and there is Northern Ireland. Ireland did not vote in your referendum, Northern Ireland did.
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  49. Susan Field Yeah. Northern Ireland. Thank you.
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  50. Susan Field Yes, and that sovereign state is called Ireland.
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  51. Its a feeling he has nathan. Brexiters judge everything by their feelings and believing in things hard enough.
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  52. Good, you benefitting from the fluid and pluralistic concept of Irish nationalism enshrined in our written constitution: you can be Irish by birth or by heritage and still be part of the the Irish Nation.
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  53. The EU facilitates the concept of a multi-layered identity; you can Irish, British, German, Italian...with a shared EU citizenship and Identity.
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  54. He can't.
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  55. And all the promises that were made, about the EU needing the UK more than the UK needs the EU, the German car manufacturers coming to the the Uks rescue...you think your consent was informed??
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  56. Nope. He is a vocal critic of the EU in Ireland. Its just that Brexit is so demonstrably stupid being based on fiction and insecurity that he sounds like a Europhile. Its like Irish politicians: their British counterparts are so low grade and ignorant they make the Varadkar and Coveney look like International Statesmen. That is some achievement.
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  57. Yeah, but who wants to 'survive'? Before you joined the EEC, the UK was the economically the 'sick man of europe' and three years after you joined the IMF were called in to bail-out the UK. That's not fiction either. You were promised sunny uplands with Brexit, but now Mogg and Gove are talking about 'surviving' it, and that going to WTO is 'not the end of the world'. Brexit is product of, among other things, a sense of inequality in the UK. Brexit will not solve that - your poor will get poorer and your younger generation will blame you for it. The rich who proposed and promoted Brexit will be enriched, and will trouser the profits.
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  58. Listen Alan, we can deal with opinions if you wish, but I find it far more useful to deal in facts. It is a fact that in 1973 the UK joined the EEC with the label 'the sick man of Europe' The UK is the second highest contributor to the EU NOW - but was it always that way? For those of your barely surviving now, God help you after Brexit. Your vote, I should remind you, was advisory and not binding. Brexiter seem to forget this when they speak of Betrayal. In your mind you have have used the 'sovereignty' as your rallying call, but we all know that this is unlikely to have ever taken off had there being more equality in the UK. Many people voted against EU membership simply because the Westminster establishment was in favour of it. These days we are even told that Brexiters actually voted for NO DeAL when this promise was not even on offer before hand. I don't have any 'crystal balls', but I do have evidence and while some of it may prove to be wrong, most of it will not. You are screwed.
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  59. Soros is a bogey man of the right. Bob Geldof is an Irishman with Irish values who lives in the UK. He is not an elected member of Parliament and you have nothing to lose listening to him. No so with Mogg, Johnson et al.
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  60. How democratic of you. How long have you opposed free speech?
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  61. O'Toole is despised by Sinn Féin supporters because he calls them out on their narrow nationalism - he is no Irish 'bitter Irish nationalist' with a 'chip on his shoulder against the British'. There is no evidence that the British desire to leave the EU has only strengthened. If there was, Brexiters would welcome a second referendum with the confidence that they would strengthen their mandate. Indeed, there was no 'British desire to leave the EU' as both the Scots and the Northern Irish voted to remain. This is an English decision. There is no constitutional account for the fact that the Scots and Northern Irish voted to remain and for this there will be constitutional consequences down the line.
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  62. The Lisbon treat was before Brexit. Ireland is not more powerful than the UK, the UK has made itself weaker through Brexit.
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  63. It is the beginning of the end of the United Kingdom, not Britain - that will always be there.
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  64. He's Irish, he is not a traitor to Ireland.
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  65. If that is true, then your problem is in London not Brussels.
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  66. Bollox. The Irish can do it without transgressing any EU rules, why can the UK not?
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  67. Deport people who are abusing the welfare system. East Europeans who were living in Ireland and claiming for children in their home countries have been deported.
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  68. Not necessarily. In an election parties publish their manifesto, and then chose to ignore it or discover their assumptions are wrong when they get elected. The Leave campaign published nothing, other than vague aspirations. It was difficult to pin Leave down on their magical thinking. Compare that to the Scottish Indy Ref where the SNP published a tome detailing what independence would look like, allowing people to decide if they agreed with it or not. In the Irish marriage equality referendum, the government were informed by a Citizens assembly as to what they wanted and the government published their legislation before the referendum - people knew what they were voting for. This is the type of informed decision of which O'Toole speaks.
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  69. @ Brex6645 Why does the referendum have to account for it? 1) The vote was advisory, your parliament is sovereign, your people are not. 2) The vote was not informed, a cornerstone of democracy: you were lied to - but Brexiters don't mind. It is quite simple, really.
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  70. What? Twice?
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  71. @ Ricardo Thomas '...it will never happen in this life or The next, the unionist are the majority in that part of the world, and they are British...' The nationalist population is set to become the majority, possibly by the time of the 2021 census. Middle class liberal unionists are open to the idea of a future withing a united Ireland, as they are facing economic ruin with Brexit and political insecurity due to an English nationalism that would throw them under a bus at the first opportunity. 'In fact the referendum was a UK vote, not a Scottish or Irish English or welch vote...' This is true, but of course against a backdrop of a diminishing British Demos, it is also the case that Brexit does not account for the the fact that Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain. In the last 20 years since the GFA and devolution, we can see what way the wind is blowing...the UK is slowly breaking up. Brexit will speed it up, as the current constitutional arrangement is no longer fit for purpose. '...how can you ignore the 17.4 million...' The vast majority of your 17.4 million are English. If you are Scottish or Irish, the English are irrelevant in terms of your own aspirations. For them, if the English want to leave the EU, then they should - but why should the Scots or the Irish leave also? Their nationalism share none of the English insecurities.
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  72. Really? You think having no plan, poor leadership and a misplaced sense of exceptionalism is not the cause of the debacle for the UK?
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  73. Umm...did he even mention Doctors?
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  74. Thanks. I'm no wiser as to what Michael Olson is on about though.
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  75. Why do you think his explanation is arbitrary? Why do you think people understood the entire situation when it is clear that not even those who promoted Brexit are clueless about the EU, the Good Friday Agreement and fundamentals of International Trade? O'Toole is and Irish and lives in Ireland. He must be a guest Prof at Princeton or something.
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  76. 'Well arbitrary is just negotiation format but he certainly seems to be explaining how we are not going to get Brexit any time soon if at all according to how things are at the moment...' Correct. He is unburdened by an notions of the UKs exceptionalism and has drilled down through the BS ('sovereignty'. 'taking back control', 'immigration' ' they need us more than we need them') and identifies Brexit as a distinctly English crisis of identity. '...but I am concerned that the entire situation will be so that we can expect that Brexit will not take place due to no commitment to it by our MP's' An accidental Brexit is on the cards, but in reality Brexit died at birth once it came into contact with reality in June 2016. If you leave with no deal you will be in an even weaker position when you come back to negotiate a deal with the EU, and in any negotiations you have with the rest of the world. Brexit is simply incompatible with the GFA. Everybody in Ireland was aware of this in May 2016, but nobody could say anything for fear of charges of interference in the internal politics of the UK. Leaving without a deal will need for it to happen before you will be able to see it. Your MPs are useless, deeply ignorant of the world, Ireland and the EU. Their posh accents seem to have seduced the many of their acolytes who seem assume these wasters deserve their adoration. The English love their elites, but not foreign ones it appears.
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  77. Thank you. I agree, Brexit is mistake and nobody will get anything good from it.
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  78. He keeps winning international awards for his journalism. Maybe you just don't like him because he holding up a mirror to your country?
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  79. He's highly critical of the Irish establishment - Ship of Fools is a fine example, but he is also a liberal on social issues, nationalism etc, which is in keeping with most people in Ireland. He holds a mirror up to right-wingers and traditional blood sacrifice republicans and they hate him for it. All of the awards he has won were awarded outside of Ireland - certainly the ones I'm aware of.
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  80. Speak for yourself. I'm Irish and while I don't always agree with his views, I think he has hit the nail on the head here.
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  81. I know. They spout the most stupid emotional garbage, but when you confront them with obvious facts and reasoned argument, they either double down or fold. I am bewildered by what is going on in the UK. Is it possible for whole sections of a nation to have a collective nervous breakdown?
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  82. Why not, did you think the people were sovereign?
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  83. If it is war, it is your Dunkirk not your D-day. You arrived at the beach will no plan - now you are in full retreat.
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  84. Then why did you vote in favour when those promoting Brexit told you it would be easy? That the EU would cave in because the UK was so important? They lied, and you voted for them. Now you lie to yourself.
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  85. There is rapidly diminishing British Demos, this is an English 'rebellion'; the Scots and the Northern Irish voted to remain. The welsh are much more heavily influenced by the English and voted to leave against their own best interests. Whatever it is, it is not truly British as you claim.
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  86. They all said it would be easy!! What fucking planet are you living on!
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  87. 'The British people have spoken via a lawful referendum and they clearly want No Deal Brexit' The only problem with this opening line is all of it. There is not 'British people', no coherent British Demos anymore; 64% of Scots voted to Leave and most of them consider themselves Scottish first and British Second. Brexit is happening because the English are insecure with their identity. The referendum would have been considered lawful if it was been a binding referendum, because of how the leave vote was funded. One thing is clear. Nobody voted for NO DEAL because it was not on offer.
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  88. Who?
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  89. I thought it was obvious he meant stronger in terms of Brexit.
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  90. If it is the vote of the English people that counts, why do the Scots have to Leave too?
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  91. Scotland is indeed still part of the United Kingdom, and thank you for actually checking. So, now that you are claiming Brexit for 'the English', why should the Scots leave the EU? Should the English not grow a pair and leave the Union? Are we pretending there is still a British Demos?
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  92. I'm not Scottish.
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  93. How long? How long before the English grow a pair and become a nation of their own?
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  94. He is a drama critic and a journalist. For comparison, Bo Jo and Gove are both journalists while Mogg is a hedge fund manager, Owen Patterson is a salesman for a tannery, while Peter Bone is a qualified accountant. Where is the evidence that TM was given orders by anyone?
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  95. @Scruffy Sandra Oh the irony. If the British had kept out of Irish affairs over the centuries, you would have been free and clear of the EU long ago. Ireland is part of the EU and it is with the EU you are pretending to negotiate your future; it is the same EU that will continue to influence the UK in the years to come as you grapple with your place in the world. Therefore, it is Ireland's interests to pay attention to British affairs because Brexit pokes its nose into ours. Enjoy Brexit, and just remember, it is what you voted for.
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  96. @Scruffy Sandra Yes, I know what year it is. So what?
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  97. They didn't vote for what the government was saying, they voted for what the leavers were saying... a pack of lies!
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