Relations between Britain and Ireland certainly have deteriorated over Brexit – and in particular over the headache of the border. The Republic of Ireland is overwhelmingly pro-European and has made it clear that in any disagreement it will side with the EU against the UK.
There’s a certain historical resonance about Ireland being pro-continental and anti-British. All through the centuries, Catholic Ireland looked to Spain, Rome and France for deliverance from domination by Protestant England.
The Spanish Armada and Napoleon both had plans to align Ireland with the continental powers, but as Bonaparte reflected ruefully, the Royal Navy always proved an unsurmountable obstacle.
So the present Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, is following in the footsteps of Irishmen over the centuries by telling Theresa May that his first concerns are for the EU 27, not Britain.
Everyday practicalities, however, aren’t that simple. Apart from the border with Northern Ireland, there’s the question of trade between Ireland and the United Kingdom, which is enormous. For Irish farmers, the UK is still a hugely important market.
There are also major cultural and familial links. It’s reckoned that a quarter of Britons have an Irish parent or grandparent. Manchester, Liverpool, Tyneside and Glasgow are embedded with Irish connections that cannot be matched by Prague, Munich, Copenhagen or Amsterdam. The post-Reformation Catholic Church in Britain was largely built up by Irish congregations.
And then there’s geography. Britain stands between Ireland and the European continent. It is the “bridge” for truckers exporting their goods. This geographical position has sometimes frustrated Ireland’s interests, but it has also been a protection: Nazi Germany would have had to conquer Britain before invading Ireland (which it intended to do).
The EU has been good for Ireland, in terms of investment and enhanced status. But geography, language, culture, family links and trade – where all the connections with Britain are so strong – still count for a lot. I hope that Irish politicians, in their apparent eagerness to show loyalty to Brussels, will not overlook all this.
I abstained from voting on the Brexit referendum the first time around. Faced with a second ballot, I think we might all need guidance from the Holy Spirit …
…….
A woman approached me at a social event and said: “You won’t remember me, but …” Then she gave me an account of how, back in (probably) 1966, she had applied to become the third girl in a London flat share where I dwelt: but I had firmly turned her down.
She seemed a nice person, but I had no recollection whatsoever of the episode. I didn’t remember ever meeting her before, much less going through a process of vetting her flat-share application.
Of course I apologised if I had been unkind, and she laughed it off. But she had always remembered what was, I suppose, a rebuff. While I, racking my brains and even consulting an old diary, had absolutely no record or memory of the claim.
If we had been in a court of law and this lady had recalled her memory of this event and I had said, to the best of my knowledge, that I had no inkling of it whatsoever, we might have both been telling the truth, to the best of our ability. Memory is unreliable, subjective and highly selective.
…….
Yes, it’s been turning nippy since last weekend. But there are two (probably three) reasons not to turn on the central heating just yet.
One is that it is better for the environment to use energy sparingly. The second is that it is better for our characters. I have been following, on social media, a programme called “The Daily Stoic”, which, drawing on Greek and Roman classical traditions, urges us to put up with a bit of discomfort and show fortitude, rather than always taking the comfortable option. (This classical Stoic tradition also fed into Christianity.)
And the third reason is that it is good for our budgets. Energy bills can be shockingly expensive.
I notice that Peter Hitchens, writing here last week, has been accused of being so old-fashioned that he doesn’t have central heating. He assures us that he has. But he should take the charge as a compliment: unconsciously, the accusers are associating him with the virtues of the Stoic.
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