Note: this article is a co-publication with the award winning Slugger O’Toole portal as the first in the Future Ireland series. ____________ Apparently you follow the rabbit down a hole and you emerge in a wonderland …. Ken Clarke – House of Commons “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful… Read more
Category:
European Union
BBC Brexit Coverage: Objective Truth, Relativism and Gaslighting
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” – Daniel Patrick Moynihan BBC’s public news purpose: To provide impartial news and information to help people understand and engage with the world around them: The BBC will provide accurate and impartial news, current affairs and factual programming of the highest editorial… Read more
The UK: A divided country
Something that I knew, but it still shocks me, is illustrated in this data from The Economist. Exhibit 1 In terms of regional inequality, the UK is more divided than the US. The situation in the UK is extreme. It is as if a great crime has been committed on large parts of the UK… Read more
Further Analysis of the Our Future Our Choice NI Poll
The Recent Our Future Our Choice (OFOC) poll in Northern Ireland has generated a lot of interest especially given the result of voting intentions regarding a United Ireland if Brexit goes ahead. This has shown a lead of 13-16% for a United Ireland. Should the UK remain in the EU there is an even greater… Read more
Brexit End Points
Introduction One interesting aspect of the unfolding of Brexit has been the emergence of strong voices with a depth of analysis and understanding of the process. There are too many to mention, but these include Prof Chris Grey (Brexit Blog), David Alan Green (FT and Jack of Kent), Prof Richard Murphy (TRUK), Ian Dunt… Read more
The Important Wrecking Amendment
Introduction I’ve been worried about the Irish border for some time – my wife thinks excessively – but growing up on the island of Ireland it tends to loom large. Last night was difficult as the chances of a cliff edge Brexit in March and the return of a hard border have increased dramatically. I… Read more
Retail own label plus
Following rather downbeat suggestions (including mine) on retail performance in the UK I fear that when the investigation by the French Autorité de la Concurrence, the equivalent of the UK Competition and Markets Authority, is undertaken and when also the FT reports (frequent paywall): “The investigation is not a big surprise — it seems like… Read more
A More Definitive guide to the DUP
It is general knowledge that there are two broad groups in Northern Ireland, the Protestant /Unionist /Loyalist (PUL) community and the Catholic /Nationalist /Republican (CNR) community. Historically the PUL community has been the majority and the CNR community the minority, but they are now getting very close to par. Nationalists tend to see themselves as… Read more
Is Italy the white hope for European reform?
The radical reformist and largely Eurosceptic coalition parties in the Italian government are declaring radical views. They have asked for 250 billion of Euro debt to be written off. Although it has been subtly since denied, it is entirely in character with their previous pronouncements and they still maintain that a pre-Maastricht system would be… Read more
Canada & Modern Money
I came accross this interesting, historical chart indicating how Canada’s debt and interest has boomed since it stopped getting its Central Bank to issue money. I believe the change was much influenced by US political pressure but it does prove, as I am sure that our Canadian Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney is well… Read more