If you aren’t going to post seriously
Much clearer pathway for that, of course.
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Yup, just needs the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to consider that unification enjoys significant support within NI for there to be a referendum.
Hard to know how those sentiments might change following Brexit. On one hand it creates more distance between NI and the rest of the UK. But on the other the arrangements might work well for NI as they are - they could be worse off if they joined a unified Ireland within the EU.
The next ten years or so will be really interesting on the island of Ireland. And for Ireland, that’s saying something!
Do you think England is ready to be a Republic?
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Personally I don’t but then I definitely lean in favour of the monarchy. It will be interesting how public sentiment will change upon succession.
I think the North will pull closer to the Republic - you can see that in elements like NI students continuing to have access to the Erasmus program through the RoI. Also, the massive social changes in the Republic over the past 25 years have really altered the calculus for moderate Protestants in Northern Ireland. However, I do think there might be an interesting regulatory space for Northern Ireland that makes some version of the status quo post-Brexit very appealing, like a European Hong Kong.
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Yeah, that’s my feeling too. I think the direction of travel as far as sentiment is concerned is towards a united Ireland but from a practical point of view I could see why it might be in the interests of both to maintain NI’s special status it now has. I can see that being mutually beneficial but particularly for NI.
Incidentally, I think the rest of the UK will be setting up a program named after Alan Turing which will replicate some of the aspects of Erasmus.
Yes - but one of the immediate surprises was that the Turing program is a one-way exchange, UK students abroad but no EU students coming to the UK. From the viewpoint of British universities, that has to be a significant loss, not just financial but also to academic culture.
Regarding NI’s position, absolutely possible it could be beneficial to the Republic as well. It will take a while to see how it all settles out, but one could readily see the emergence of all sorts of structures to take advantage of the dual status.
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With the Queen on the throne no.
With Charles on the throne still no but it would probably happen.
With William and Kate, Long Live the King.
Just my opinion.
What will happen to Canada, Australia, etc.
Who knows? We are largely monarchists of convenience here. Forcing the descendants of the oppressive monarchs of the past into a lifetime of ribbon-cutting servitude (albeit luxurious) seems an elegant solution to the ‘president’ problem of appointing a figurehead as head of state. The monarchy is largely irrelevant except as a collection of symbols, there is something vaguely unhinged about people here who are passionately pro- or anti-.
Very different of course in places with a different colonial history, including Ireland.
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Okay it’s a bit off-track, but what’s really the attraction of NOT becoming a republic. I understand some small nations gets some support (mostly in favorable trade) but countries like Canada, Australia, NZ are actually better-off than UK.
I personally think it is useful for democratic values to have executive power vested in a Prime Minister who is nominally subordinate to a figurehead - particularly in our case where that figurehead is nominally subordinate to a monarch. Obviously not an option for the UK, and I don’t feel particularly strongly about it either way. I just see absolutely nothing that becoming a Republic would accomplish, it would be an exercise in rebranding.
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Could it be a cultural thing! Canada, Australia, NZ share cultural similarities and still feels a bond even though they are independent.
That is there, but I think it is independent of any shared monarchist symbols - if Australia had gone ahead with the possible transition to a Republic in 1999, I don’t think it would have made the slightest difference.
Weirdly, I get the sense that Australian monarchists are more intense in their feelings that one sees here, but they have also come much closer than Canada ever has.
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Growing support for independence in Wales too.
If this all starts to gain real traction then the only move i can see being made by Westminster in the long run is to review the overall relationship between England and the rest of the UK. However in Scotland it may already be too late for that.
It has got NOTHING to do with Trump. Australia, Canada, NZ are parliamentary democracies and if they become republics they will have a figurehead President (like the one in Germany).
Merkel’s more than just a figurehead. Ah, you mean Steinmeier?
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Sorry mate 
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Lol
The way these fuckers line their pockets, supporting Lizzie and her brood would probably about one tenth of the ongoing cost…
And voting… imagine having to vote for ANOTHER level of government. The campaign, the cost, the middle class dinner parties discussing such and suches ability to do basically fuck all…
Nah, fuck that… I’d rather the side show
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