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[Frumple]

Sooo... EU just appointed an irish fellow as their chief trade negotiator, apparently. That's gotta' be 'fun' news for certain folks in the UK.

[smjjames]

Sooo... EU just appointed an irish fellow as their chief trade negotiator, apparently. That's gotta' be 'fun' news for certain folks in the UK.

There's certainly some irony there, but I doubt many are going to care much. Since the ministers are in theory supposed to be impartial when it comes to their home countries (in practice however....), it might not matter much. If anything, it might actually help in the long run because they might be able to represent Ireland better in figuring out what to do with the ROI-NI border.

[Reelya]

I thought NI has devolved government? Though from what I hear, it’s more of a mess than the US, or even the US and U.K. combined right now. And IMO the whole Sinn Fein not taking part in parliament likely only makes things worse, though it’s been the status quo for decades now.

It's a catch-22 situation. The reason so much money needs to be poured into NI is because it was taken over and they must maintain control. It's kind of the reason nobody really wants colonies anymore. They're expensive, unless it's like an oilfield or something and you carve out just the bit with oil as your "colony".

This has lead to dependency and also suppression of economic growth. So, taking the UK's support away would hurt, however it's that relationship which is the ultimate cause of the malaise.

EDIT: I'll just mention the fact that the counties which became Northern Ireland used to be the wealthiest part of Ireland, which is why the Brits really wanted to hold onto that bit, I guess. Now, it's the poorest. This should make it clear that it's the relationship with the UK, and not any inherent poverty of the NI region that's to blame here.
https://sluggerotoole.com/2018/03/26/is-northern-ireland-dramatically-poorer-than-the-republic/

[TD1]

*Spits out coffee*

Wot. A lot going on there.

First off, not a colony, m8. Democratically-voted-in-member-of-the-UK-with-representation-in-parliament-and-a-devolved-government here (well, devolved government if it chooses to sit). It's not an occupation. To quote myself last time it was implied I was an occupier:

Lol, the occupation. My family has owned the same land for four hundred years. Our name is on maps of ownership older than America. At what point will you stop calling me an 'occupier' and start calling me a native?

This should make it clear that it's the relationship with the UK, and not any inherent poverty of the NI region that's to blame here.

That is a hugely sweeping statement and I'd like to see your in-depth justification for it. Firstly, before partition all of Ireland was under British rule. Unless you're implying that Northern Ireland's development of devolved government and greater political rights in the U.K. is proportionally linked to economic calamity, Ireland has been under varying degrees of British rule since the late twelfth century when Henry II came over and said 'mine'. It's fun to read about, actually. The Irish monks were so happy they tried to get the pope to forgive him for the whole Becket misunderstanding.

But I digress.

I'm sure you'll want to expand on what 'maintain control' means? Police costs? I'm having trouble thinking what costs so much that it has humbled an obviously otherwise booming economy.

Though I'm no economist, I'll give my spin on Northern Ireland's shoddy economy. Northern Ireland was a world-leading ship-building area, which explains why Belfast and Northern Ireland were so seemingly disproportionately valuable. When partition happened in 1921, Northern Ireland was worth a pretty penny or two. As with every boom, though, there must be a bust. When the Wallstreet crash occurred in 1929, many jobs were lost and businesses began to shut down. The largest companies survived (albeit at great cost) and continued on. World War Two began in 1933, and in 1941 key shipyards were blitzed by the Germans. Following the war, production gradually fell and unemployment skyrocketed. Against all this was the constant thrum of dissident action which discouraged investment, destroyed infrastructure and was Generally Bad. This has only recently tapered off with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. While ships are no longer produced in Belfast for the aforementioned reasons, nevertheless with a ceasefire Northern Ireland has begun to diversify. Tourism and trade has increased, and the economy is slowly beginning to improve. Investment in new businesses is encouraged by the Council, so on so forth.

Apologies if there's any snark in there, it's half three and I've been writing my dissertation all day. Don't call it snark, call it borderline insanity.

[hector13]

Scotland’s High Court rules that prorogation was unlawful. The government plan to appeal to the UK Supreme Court.

[Il Palazzo]

Ideally, the UK splits into seven kingdoms again. Then Tusk breeds some dragons from dinosaur fossils and chicken DNA before descending upon Boris' Landing with Nicola, the Queen in the North, in tow.

[TD1]

The UK was never seven kingdoms. You're thinking of the English Heptarchy, a collection of seven kingdoms.

Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales weren't anything to do with it.

Well, no more than could be expected, hah.

[smjjames]

Pretty sure that's a Game of Thrones reference there th4dwarfy1. At least I think it's a GoT reference.

[TD1]

I got the reference, but he did say "the UK splits into the Seven kindoms again"

There was historical inaccuracy there as well as a reference, dammit!

[Il Palazzo]

Look, mate. I'm a simple guy. For me, it goes: Beaker culture->the Celts->the heptarchy->Normans->some kingdom(s) and or Cromwell-something-parliamentarians-something->the UK.
Don't diss me, that's more than you know about Polish history.

[scriver]

No I played the Witcher games

[scourge728]

There were some horse riders, a lot of being conquered and becoming independent only for the cycle to restart, and some being divided I think

[Il Palazzo]

You forgot about the dwarven uprising against bugbears in 1866.

[scriver]

First there was a Lech and a Czech and a Bellman, and then there was a people on the river, and then they united all the tribes, and there was much wiece. Then nothing happened until a Swede inherited the country in the 16th century, and there was much feasting of root fruits, and then Hitler invaded during the 30 years war

[Il Palazzo]

You know, there are vacancies in our educations system. You seem qualified enough for a historian.