Tag Archives: Ireland

While support for the SNP remains high and while many Scots support independence at least in theory, there is no question now that both face an intellectual challenge over EU membership. For this reason, the independence movement has become divided over how to overcome the challenges caused by Brexit. While …

France is a rather odd place. It is not merely the chunk of the European continent across the Channel. It also includes two islands in the Caribbean, Guadeloupe and Martinique, a little bit of South America, French Guiana, and two islands in the Indian Ocean, Réunion and Mayotte. These are …

All through the independence referendum in 2014 I campaigned on the basis that a Yes vote would mean Scotland had to leave the EU and how this would have negative consequences for Scotland. This was a true and a legitimate argument. But it wasn’t really about the EU. The SNP’s …

In most European countries there is only a moderate amount of coverage of American politics and American elections. They are interested of course in who wins, but they are not that interested. They don’t follow all the day to day details of American political life like we do in Britain. …

The British Government is taking steps at present to prevent the EU Withdrawal Agreement being used to put Northern Ireland into the position of France, Germany or any other EU member state in the event of Britain leaving the transition period without a deal with the EU. Some people think …

The interaction of sovereign nation states has always been a matter of power and self-interest. Britain lost sight of this during the Tony Blair years and tried to implement a so called “Ethical Foreign Policy”, which led to us performing some of the most unethical acts in our history, such …

Michel Barnier gained attention over his public summary of Brexit negotiations. Whilst progress has been made in some areas, the blame for stumbling blocks was firmly laid at the door of the British government. Where do we go from here? On the other hand, the UK negotiator, David Frost took …

The 30th of June was the last date for extending the Transition period for Brexit.  The BBC failed entirely to mention it on its nightly news coverage.  Since there is no agreement for an extended Transition by 1st July the UK will finally fully leave the EU by January 2021. …

I was a student during the troubles, and I came across a lot of people from Ireland. It always became clear after just a little bit of conversation where someone was from. Both communities from Northern Ireland frequently wanted to escape to Britain and this was often the case with …

The new Prime Minister appears to be standing his ground that the backstop must go. The EU’s key players still insist that the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) can not be changed. A key Remainer, Dominic Grieve appears publicly to accept that Brexit will happen. Philip Hammond argues that Boris is asking too …

European and British media were startled this week at a press conference when Donald Tusk made the shocking remarks. When Tusk said that Brexiteers with no plan ‘have a special place in hell’, the room was not only shocked but even Irish Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, realised that Tusk’s remarks would …

I had a chat earlier with a pal who’d have been reared on the “other side” of the Northern Ireland political divide from myself. Discussing the likely reaction of the Irish to mass immigration, should the EU decide to dump on them next on a large scale, as suggested in …

The stats for my blog have fallen off a cliff. No doubt this is because I have ceased running on the treadmill that kept them going. It had become something like an addiction watching the number of readers increase and fall each week. I would scramble to get next week’s …

This is the fourth in a series of weekly podcasts featuring Ted Yarbrough and Isaac Anderson. The podcast summarised the previous week’s articles to give in-depth analysis and perspective to what was published on the site. We hope readers enjoy the Weekly Globe podcasts. You can listen to it here: …

On June 23, 2016, the people of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland voted to leave the European Union. Since that time, the British people have had to wait for Brexit. Due to the fact that the previous government did no planning for Brexit, the Theresa May government …

Located near the midpoint of Ireland’s east coast at the mouth of the River Liffey, Dublin was founded as a Viking settlement. But for much of the country’s history and since medieval times, Dublin has been Ireland’s primary city. Today, it is an economic, administrative and cultural centre of Ireland …