Sunday 17 May 2009

Vision

My Norwegian friend was 30 yesterday, and I hope that he enjoyed his present.

It is always good to see a non-EU country win, even if it is a pity that so many entries are now in English, with almost all in the Anglo-Saxon style of one sort or another.

It was more than good to see all the states of the former Yugoslavia voting for each other, with no entry from Kosovo, there being no such country. Just how popular have the separatist movements ever really been, deep down? Dare we hope…? (The mutual admiration between Romania and Moldova is also interesting, if entirely unsurprising. When is Moldavia going to return to Romania, with Transnistria becoming a state heavily but happily dependent on Russia? Why should Stalin have the last word?)

And it was best of all to see another Southern Irishman enthusiastically commentating for the BBC (with a Scot, as ever, on the radio). If there were a word for “British” that was not in fact “British”, then that word would suit the Irish down to the ground. With the impending disintegration of the Eurozone raising more than the prospect of the re-adoption of the sterling accepted on a one-for-one basis well into the 1980s, and with Commonwealth accession now little more than a formality, this is very much a sign of the times. And it is one of the few really welcome signs of the times.
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5 comments:

  1. JohnJGMooney17 May 2009 at 22:38

    You are of course a much younger man than me but neither of us will see Ireland join the Commonwealth. It seems to be some kind of cause celebre with you.

    It has of course been suggested as a way of appeasing unionists in Norn Iron when they are about to become a minority or they cant circle the wagons outside the Lagan Valley.
    As some of the protocols of the Good Friday Agreement remain secret, we can only speculate.

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  2. David Lindsay17 May 2009 at 23:50

    Expect it when the Queen makes a State Visit. So sooner rather than later.

    It has nothing to do with Northern Ireland. Nothing in the Republic really has, of course. Any more than vice versa.

    The wagons that are circling are those of these Islands and the Old Commonwealth.

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  3. JohnJGMooney18 May 2009 at 12:21

    Apparently while I was in London last week, Queen Elizabeth was here.
    Today an tUachtarán na hÉireann will be on an official visit to Belfast. She is a regular.
    Among her plans are a visit to Victoria College (de facto Protestant) Grammar School in South Belfast and "Pips" (which is a charity dealing with potential suicide of young people in North Belfast.
    These regular official visits now number about three to four every week and of course those reaching 100 years of age get a choice of birthday card to display.
    She also has a habit of hosting garden parties for Northern charities in Dublin.
    And of course she attends the inaugeration of Church leaders (not just Catholics) in the North.
    Some "Unionists" tend to think of this as bad manners because she does not actually ask for permission to visit the North as protocol demands. But basically nobody REALLY minds.
    Some suggest it is wrong that her bodyguard "might" be armed.
    But surely the real point is that there are former (sic) terrorists who have been LICENSED to carry weapons. Indeed laughably the bodyguards of some of our Government terrorists have been instructed (sic) in weapons use BY the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
    Joint authority by Stealth!!

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  4. David Lindsay18 May 2009 at 14:21

    The deal is as good as sealed. Easter 2016? Why not?

    In SF can claim expenses as MPs, then they can hardly object to this.

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  5. JohnJGMooney18 May 2009 at 15:21

    You may have noticed my error that an t-Uachtarán visits the North three or four times a "week". This should of course be every "year".
    This of course excludes her regular private visits to the home she owns in Rostrevor, County Down.

    Easter 2016? No I think youre a little too "early" with that. A lot of work needs to be done on both sides of the border (sic)...on the other hand the work IS being done.
    No Id be surprised if there was a united Ireland possibly within the Commonwealth before 2025.
    But there is a certain inevitability.

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