yes, I'd like to say his was an isolated voice within the current Tory party but 20 years seems to have infected them with an awful amnesia. But then again, gove et al weren't the ones who were suffering from the war, so why should they care anyway? It wasn't even their money being squandered.

However, brexit will definitely force the Empire-nostalgists to review their options. The UK will have to review its pending priorities significantly and the anti-Soviet strategies of misile subs and the utterly pathetic aircraft carriers and the F-35 vanity aircraft too expensive to be risked in battle will have to be trashed.

The little englanders may find their brexit reveals England as having become very little indeed.

So, the open-ended excessive commttments that make re-entry into an armed conflict in Ulster simply don't make any sense. Surely even to an idiot like Gove

keep to the Fen Causeway

I think they'll abandon Ulster. They''ll run away.

They might, might, offer some form of small subsidy for re-location to unionist, but given what's happening in Scotland and what will certainly happen on the ground in Ulster, I think they'd be wise to cut their losses and get out.

keep to the Fen Causeway

They could treat it as a criminal matter for the police to handle, trying to track down the guilty parties and bring them to a fair trial, all in order to isolate the violent elements from the community at large.

Though looking at the so called war on terror, maybe they just can't help themselves.

The letter (facsimile), which is not linked to the article.

First, if Britain leaves the EU with no deal, we will work with our administration, your government, and our friends in the EU to minimize disruptions in critical matters such as international financial transactions, and the shipment of medicine, food, and other vital supplies.

Second, irrespective of how Brexit occurs, we recommit to the NATO security alliance and the "Vive Eyes" intelligence partnership. We also will advocate for a new bilateral trade agreement, as early as your Brexit terms would allow, that reflects the centuries of open commerce between our nations.

Finally, we pledge our friendship in the future of the United Kingdom. Our soldiers have fought together from the beaches of Normandy to the mountains of Afghanistan. Together, we have toppled tyrants and liberated the oppressed. The shared stroy of our special relationship is a great one indeed, and we look forward to adding more chapters still.

There is no "recognition that a hard border threatens the delicate peace," because the number of Irish republican fin-tech entrepreneurs in USA (21st cen. "diaspora") who give a damn is exceedingly refined. Surprising no one but Mr Rooney's parochial apprehension of US politics since 1922. Quoting another deluded "contributor," Mr Dowd:

[Tom Cotton] pro British stance in the event of a no-deal Brexit will put him and the GOP senators in direct opposition with the Irish government supporters in the Congress. Speaker Nancy ["Pay-go"] Pelosi and Ways and Means Chair Ritchie ["Show me your TAXES"] Neal have vowed to block a trade deal if there is a no-deal Brexit and an attempt to restore the border.

Because it costs nothing to jawbone when passing through Dublin. The House does not pass US "trade deals". It may vote to pass more cash to the grande bourgeoisie of the Republic, some day in a little remarked provision in the next NDAA, if the price is right for data transfers from behind the iron GDPR. quid pro quo, y'all.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

After partition in 1922, the small Protestant minority in the South declined from c. 10% in the south to c. 3% through a combination of emigration - as "imperial jobs" moved elsewhere in the British Empire, lower relative birthrates, the notorious Roman Catholic ne temere decree which required the children of mixed marriages to be brought up as Catholics, an unwillingness to live in a "Roman Catholic state", and isolated cases of intimidation and violence such as the killings of Coolacrease which were witnessed by my late wife's grandmother.

However the remaining 3% accommodated themselves to living in the "Free State" and then the Republic of Ireland without too much difficulty and there were genuine attempts by the new state to be inclusive. Two Presidents and several cabinet ministers have been protestants, and the last bastion of Catholicism - the Gaelic Athletic Association -  elected my wife's protestant uncle as President in 1994 (despite the fact that he played rugby not GAA in his youth). By the 1990's the population of Protestants had risen to 5% in part due to converts from Catholicism disillusioned by the extreme conservatism of the Roman Catholic Church.

Nationalists point to this relatively benign history of inclusion as indicating there will be no problem incorporating almost a million Protestants in Northern Ireland into a future united Ireland, but there are a few issues with this over-simplification:

1. Firstly, it is easier to incorporate a smaller and declining minority.
   
2. Secondly, Northern Protestants are "a different Breed" being more predominantly hardline fundamentalist Presbyterian rather than more liberal Anglicans.
   
3. Thirdly, southern protestants saw themselves as Irish, whereas Northern Protestants like to pretend they are British.
   
4. Fourthly, it's not just about religion. Northern Protestants have been the majority ruling class in Northern Ireland, quite ruthless in their determination to maintain that position by fair means or foul, and will not give up a dominant political and economic position easily.

That said, the potential for post re-unification conflict may be over-stated provided the transition is managed well. Even most Northern Protestants accept that re-unification at some stage is inevitable and will be irreversible, if only for demographic reasons, and their main objective is to put off that evil day for as long as possible.

Index of Frank's Diaries

< wipes tears >

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.