Sunday 5th March

For most people in the UK this is the ultimate turn-off; we are either uninterested or cannot be bothered to even begin to understand the tribal hatreds in this small corner of the island of Ireland.  But we are, I believe, entering the final chapter of the break-up of the British Empire; or to be more correct – the English Empire.  England has always dominated the political entity known as the United Kingdom.  Formed in 1706 as a political necessity at the time, the amalgamation of Scotland shortly followed by Ireland into England was mostly achieved by armed conquest.  But just as in the Twentieth Century when almost all those huge pink blotches on the World map were given (or demanded or had to fight for) independence, so now we are seeing the breakup of the only remaining bits of the English Empire.

Maybe this was always an Historical Inevitability, but it has been exacerbated by Brexit, which in its turn was brought about by English Nationalism.   One of the greatest achievements of the Blair government was the Northern Ireland Agreement, where the armed conflict was ended and power sharing between the Protestant and Catholic communities achieved.  But it was always a rear-guard action; Sinn Fein’s long-term ambition was a United Ireland, and the latest election results are a major step to achieving that.  The Democratic Unionist Party (itself, a breakaway from the traditional Ulster Unionist Party) has lost seats and Sinn Fein is now only one seat short of them.  We will now have a period of negotiation and, in my view, unless and until Arlene Foster (the particularly belligerent leader of the DUP) steps down there will be no return to power sharing.

Throw Brexit into the mix, and the almost impossible idea that Eire can remain in the EU and the Single Market and the Eurozone while Northern Ireland is out – and still have no hard border, and it will only be a matter of time before Sinn Fein becomes the largest party in Ulster and demands a referendum to leave the UK and join Ireland and the EU.

Especially as Scotland too will at some point almost certainly vote to leave England and not only become independent but will also apply to rejoin Europe.  Another day, another border issue; which makes the promises of controlling our borders even more farcical.  Gibraltar is another irreconcilable issue and will inevitably return to Spain.  And there is no reason why people’s rights cannot be respected, religious and language freedoms can be protected.  This could leave England, with a maybe reluctant Wales on it’s own.  Mind you we will still have the Falklands….oh, they seem to have changed their name to Los Malvinas on my Atlas.