A Northern Ireland website posted an item about Meghan Markle: “Divorcee. Mixed race. Catholic-educated” and questioned if she was a suitable fiancée for Prince Harry. Unbelievable really, but it must be a Northern Ireland thing because the British public seem to love the American beauty.
British public opinion also turned on Donald Trump retweeting Britain First’s racist posts on Muslims, and the agenda at the moment would appear to show a tolerance of diversity including the attitude to transgender issues.
There’s no doubt that there are refreshing signs of social change in attitude; BUT scratch the surface only a little and we should remind ourselves that in Britain there are underlying harder attitudes. Certainly when it comes to views of Johnny Foreigner having too big a say in Britain, the island mentality played into the surprise vote to leave the EU.
And if we were in any doubt about the British attitude to the Irish, north and south, we’ve had ample evidence of it in recent months. Some of it patronising, some of it really evidence of a lack of understanding of the psyche of their nearest neighbour.
Following the DUP pact to keep the May Tory Government in power, the tabloid press went to town on the Unionist party with much of the coverage wildly over the top. And now that the Republic’s Government is flexing its muscle over the Border, some of what is being said about Ireland is astonishing.
That great voice of reason and balance (ahem) The Sun had some advice for the Taoiseach, describing him as naïve and young, telling Leo Varadkar: “Shut your gob and grow up.”
And offering the further helpful hint: “He is too busy disrespecting 17.4 million voters of a country whose billions stopped Ireland going bust as recently as 2010.”
Gee, Ireland, just be grateful for all Britain has done for you.
The contribution of Ian Duncan Smith was to suggest that Ireland’s stance over Brexit was being influenced by next year’s Irish presidential election.
What? Is the insulting and disrespectful guff from the UKIP wing of the Conservative party, David Davis, John Redwood, Duncan-Smith and Jacob Rees-Mogg et al really representative of Britain; after all they seem to be driving the Brexit agenda.
If the British failure to understand southern Irish wasn’t bad enough, this week they totally underestimated the stubborn northern nature when Mrs. May thought she had a deal with the EU, only for it to be scuppered in a phone call with Arlene Foster.
It’s remarkable that a nation such as Britain and 27 countries throughout Europe are focusing on what Ireland, north and south, will accept and do next.
It’s said that Mrs. May is between a rock and hard place. I’m not sure which of the DUP or the southern Government is the rock, probably the DUP to be honest.
While the coverage of the whole saga this week has made for fascinating television watching, with questions about did Foster phone May or the other way round, when did the DUP see the text, and “cock-up or conspiracy”; but it really all boils down to the status of the Border, that little 310-mile line on the map.
The DUP, regardless of the fact that a majority in Northern Ireland voted to remain and that many Unionist business people, farmers and ordinary voters see real practical difficulties with a restrictive Border, will not countenance any “special status” in any deal.
They insist on a position that Northern Ireland must not be treated any differently to the rest of the UK; that would mean a symbolic, as well as practical, weakening of the Union.
The Republic’s administration, however, is looking for assurances that there will be no “hard Border” and the EU is backing them with the promise of a veto.
I wrote a few weeks ago about memories of the Border, from butter being smuggled across, queues of cars at Customs posts and, from the 70s a rigid security frontier.
There have been some good pieces and clips on television recently, recalling the quirky situations along the Border. A house where the bedroom is in the north and the kitchen in the south, a road where the white markings suddenly stop and one where a man in a fight was punched in one country and fell into another.
It’s all interesting stuff, but so last century. To all intents and purposes, the Border hardly exists.
There are plenty of roads where you drive in and out of Northern Ireland and the Republic several times; where business trade both sides and freely move back and forth, and so on.
The thing is, despite all the drama this week, nobody wants to go back to the old days of road blocks and administrative nightmares, not to mention extra tariffs and additional costs because of delays.
Because of the uncertainty, though, businesses in particular are worried and there was one case of a Border business starting to break up its bookwork into two jurisdictions.
Can a deal be reached? There are pressures everywhere. Theresa May is incompetent enough, but she can hardly move with the Tory Brexiteers breathing down her neck, and the DUP threatening to bring her down.
The effect of that, of course, is that they would face an election with the prospect of a Corbyn Government, so they can’t overplay their hand either. And anyway, when did the British establishment think twice about shafting Unionists when it suited them?
As well, the Tory Brexiteers did for poor old David Cameron, and they’ll do for Mrs. May soon.
The United Kingdom as an entity has been a little shakey in recent times, and as soon as there was a suggestion that Northern Ireland would stay in the single market and customs union, suddenly Scotland wanted in on the act. And London!
Leo Varadkar’s Government is also in a tenuous position as well, and Sinn Fein in particular won’t give him much wriggle room.
With the EU and Ireland lining up on one side, and Britain and the DUP on the other, the one discussion we’re not seeing is that between north and south.
Well, Sammy Wilson has been talking about the south, calling them a bunch of political chancers; and generally Unionists are warning them to back off.
Historic positions are being taken up and a solution looks hard enough to achieve.
Yet, protagonists would do well to remember some 2017 context; Unionists are not in a majority any more, much less the DUP speaking for “the people” on Brexit.
The demographics have changed. There is an historic agreement in this part of Ireland which we should not destroy; and both Ireland and the United Kingdom are trading allies whose economies rely on each other.
Given the fact that everybody on these islands wants a solution, the question now is how will they find one?