Concrete Achievements

Author: Anthony Zacharzewski

  • This is a very good and fair-minded explainer on the Irish border from @pmdfoster but I’d…

    This is a very good and fair-minded explainer on the Irish border from @pmdfoster telegraph.co.uk/politics/0/bre… but I’d quibble with one point.

    This paragraph is not quite right. Rules are not handed to Dublin (or London) by the EU. The Irish and UK governments and the MEPs their voters elect are the ones who pass the rules. The problem with Northern Ireland is the UK is giving up its say.

    That means that voters in Northern Ireland will have no say in the rules governing them, unlike voters in the rest of Ireland. Realistically, the UK will probably have to stay close to EU rules if it wants a decent trade deal of any sort, but at least in return for giving up its

    voice in Europe, the Westminster parliament will have sovereignty to the very limited extent of choosing to be a US rule taker or an EU rule taker. Brexit means – against its democratic will – Northern Ireland doesn’t even get the comfort blanket of fake sovereignty.

  • Links from the week of 14 January 2019

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 7 January 2019

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Reading Rupa Huq (in today’s Observer) saying “there’s no appetite for a second…

    Reading Rupa Huq (in today’s Observer) saying “there’s no appetite for a second referendum, we just have to make a good fist of Brexit” reminds me of the history of 1914 where war had to start because the troops were already mobilised.

    There’s a possibility that with a deal like the PM’s, Brexit will only be a slow suffocation of Britain’s economic and social potential over maybe twenty years until the UK gets comes down from its nationalism high. However if no deal happens, or if a deal happens and

    the social and political consequences crystallise quickly (lots of labour shortages and investment redirection, the settled status scheme cocking up), then public opinion will snap away from apathy very quickly.

    And when that happens “I don’t agree but we should get on with it anyway” will be absolutely the worst opinion to have held.

  • Links from the week of 31 December 2018

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.